The Venue

I discovered that my frustration in finding a venue for our wedding was not unique. It's common for the budget-minded couple. And we did eventually find a venue. And I was relieved to finally have a wedding date. I was okay about the venue we had chosen...it wasn't my first or second choice, but it was my parents' favorite venue, and my fiance was actually okay with the cost.

The Irvine Hilton is where our wedding will take place next year. We're still not sure if we should do the ceremony there, so that's still up in the air. But we will be doing the reception and dinner and dancing there.


The picture above is the outside. It's very close to John Wayne Airport, which will be really convenient for our out-of-towners, and we expect a lot of out-of-towners. We were also able to get a discounted rate for our guests. Not to mention they're giving a honeymoon suite for the evening.

Here's a picture I took of the ballroom. There was going to be a wedding that day.



Here's a picture of the foyer where cocktail hour will held. I thought the chandeliers were interesting decoration pieces.


Here's what impressed me about the Irvine Hilton: the $10M renovation to the inside of the hotel.






The thing that did not impress me was the location of where the ceremony would be held: aka the patio area.





It's not a bad lounge area, but it's not a great ceremony area. The entrance is where the hotel lobby ends. So strangers would definitely be able to check out what's going on, and if I didn't pay for your butt to be there, I don't want you freeload watching my wedding. It sounds silly, but I want this to be about us and our guests. The other thing that really upset me was the cost, especially for our ceremony site to be right next to the pool and tennis court. What the freak Hilton?!

Anyways...there it is. We were able to get a discount by choosing a Sunday for our event. We got lucky and took the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend.

Next challenge: how to make it beautiful!

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