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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Other venues we passed on...

I hope this can help some couples out there in their search.

This was one of my mom's favorite venues. It's the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, and it's a hidden gem. Off the 5 on Avery, it sits at the end of the street. It was a really cute place, but adding up the numbers put us over our budget. So this one was a pass for us too.

I so loved the Tustin Ranch Golf Club.

It was perfect! Seriously down the street from our apartment. The entrance you drive through to get in was just majestic! I could not believe I didn't hear more about this place before. I loved the ceremony area! Their motto is "Public with a Private Feel." So true. It looked very high-end...and the prices reflected that. This was definitely at the top of my list, and I was so sad to let it go.

The El Adobe Restaurant in San Juan Capistrano was very affordable! SJC is such a cute city. While visiting the restaurant, FI and I had to walk and check out the park and other historic buildings in the area. Mom wasn't too crazy about the place, however.

We also checked out the Franciscan Gardens in SJC. We weren't super impressed...we felt like it was a backyard, and the price wasn't worth it to us.

The Westminster Rose Center was another affordable venue, but the menu was just not that impressive. I tried to like it, but I just couldn't picture my wedding there.

We ventured to LA and visited the RecCenter Studio...for the avant garde bride and groom. You could do so much with the space...and therein lies the problem: you would have to do something to the space; in fact, you would have to do a lot of work, but it's got so much potential. It's a blank slate to work with. Parking was kind of sketchy too...not guaranteed. And it was in LA...the traffic is so unpredictable, and the place was kind of difficult to find. But the venue rental fee didn't sound too bad at all. And I loved the uniqueness of it!

The Betty H. Reckas Cultural Center is a fairly new venue. The space was nice and large. A Greek Orthodox church sits across from the ballroom. If you plan to have your ceremony at the same location, you'd probably do it right in front of the church. This didn't do it for us either. But again, another venue with lots of potential.

It's been difficult for us. We finally did find a place. It made top 3...its location, convenience, and price allowed it to take a spot. It feels good to have a place though, and a date. It's really official now. We're getting married!

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A Favorite Venue...still not ours

The Orange County Museum of Art was a favorite of mine. I didn't even know that we had such a museum and that it was right down the street from where I work. It was such a cute place! I love the inside! It has so much potential. I wish it was a little closer to the water, but you can't have everything. The area where the ceremony would be held is alright, but again, here's where imagination really helps.

Pricewise...I didn't think it was hair-raising scary, but I think with additional costs of decorations, photography, and catering, the bill might go over our budget. However, what's nice, is that they don't charge more during peak wedding season, so it's a definite possibilty for my dream June wedding. Though i've come to terms to accept an off wedding season wedding...hence, the reason we are starting to look now.

The weather now is still a little bit too chilly for my tastes, however. I'm going to hope for a wedding between April and June (including June).

Pictures from OCMA (I apologize for the quality; these were taken with my phone camera):

The glass garage doors would be open for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and part of the reception. They would be lowered once the party started, i.e. music and dancing. The ceremony would be held outdoors.

I love how the bar looks!

The entrance hall or lobby (looking from the inside).

The cereony area. Chairs would be arranged to face the white backdrop.

The left side of the ceremony area (looking towards the white backdrop).

Looking at the OCMA building from the outside (white backdrop behind me).

Making a 360 turning left. There's my honey. He's holding my clipboard with all my questions. Hehe. Yes, he came. The coordinator was pleasantly surprised with his presence.

The glass doors would be open. This area would double as the cocktail hour and dancing. The projections screen and dj would be placed behind me. There was an art piece there, and we're not allowed to take pictures of them; that's why I couldn't show you the entire area.

So there it is. I wish I had better pictures. Pictures of the place decorated are awesome! I don't have any of those on hand.

One more picture...of the bar.

I called in late May to inquire about available dates next year, but I was told they were no longer accepting events for the rest of 2008 and for 2009. So...this is not our venue.

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Still not our venue...

The other venue was the Lido Isle Yacht Club. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it's still a good contender.

Likes: It sits right on the ocean. The caterer said that it's got a great catering kitchen, and our food would come out really fresh. We can be in there until midnight.

Dislikes: It's a little smaller than what I have in mind. It's divided into 2 rooms. It's in a neighborhood, so parking might be a little horrendous.

I'm also having a bit of a hard time envisioning the place decked out for the wedding. So...some pictures:

The entrance.

...to the right of the entrance. The ocean behind...

Looking out the window...towards the ocean.

The back room. This is where the ceremony would be held. Or we could do the ceremony right on the beach. But I don't really want to walk on the sand, and I want to wear my shoes.

The bar.

The main room.

More of the main room.

The patio outside.

The dock right outside the club.

The other side of the club.

Looking across the street. Guests would park alongside the curb. Love that street lamp though. This neighborhood is so gorgeous!

But...still not our venue.

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A Pretty Venue

Alright...so I probably can't afford my dream venue, but I suppose I could get close???

At first, we were looking at places we really wanted, but could definitely not afford. So now, we've (when I say "we", I really mean "I") created a list of criteria to which our affordable venue needed to meet:

1. complimentary parking
2. outside catering allowed
3. low venue fees and low minimum food & beverage
4. holds 1 event per day
5. can hold ceremony and reception
6. noise constraints are minimal
7. must be in OC
8. 11:00PM ending time

Park Prive in Costa Mesa met almost all of the criteria. The only one it did not make was the allowance of outside catering. But we hear that the food is pretty good, so I'm not worried about that. No venue fees for Park Prive either, which I liked! The location isn't as close to the water as we like; in fact, the location is a bit unorthodox, but it's also kind of unique as well. It's in the middle of a business park, and next door...a small vineyard. When driving there, you would totally think you're lost or going the wrong way, but when you get there, you are pleasantly surprised.

Here's the thing though...I've crunched the numbers, and with taxes and service fees, for a guest list of 150, we hit right under our budget. This is not including photography, florals, a dj, favors, and the photobooth I soooo want to have (could double as favors though). I'm estimating we would need another $10k (I'm including tips we would have to pay to servers for the day...are tips really necessary?) for the rest of that stuff.

Some pictures I took on the day I went to tour the site:

The outside courtyard.

The park in which the ceremony would be held. You can also have the reception outside.

1st room

where the reception would be (this set up was for a meeting they did earlier)

This would be the dance floor.

The bridal suite. With climate control and natural light.

The groom's suite. With climate control and TV.

And two of these rooms for the kids...both have TVs in there. I love this.

Fi has never seen it though. And we received an actual proposal with some surprise fees that were never mentioned before...like staffing and the ceremony site fee (what happened to no venue fees???).

I've had put 2 dates on hold...but budget restrictions prevailed...and Park Prive is out of the running.

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