i'm taking a break from jewelry prepping (i have a party this week - eek), i was starting to go cross eyed looking at the wires and beads, not to mention i've lagged on blogging this week!
without further ado : the Wedding Venue Hunt
there's just something so typically Southern California about getting married at sunset with a view of the beach... ever since i was young, i've always dreamed that for my wedding. when we got engaged i knew we weren't working with a whole lot of time to secure a venue and that we couldn't be picky about the date either.so, about as soon as we returned back from Jackson Hole (where we were engaged) i was on a mission to find the "perfect" wedding venue.
here was the search criteria:
- had to have an ocean view
- capacity over 150
- an wedding ceremony location (preferably outside) as well as a reception venue onsite
- have hotels nearby for our large number of out of town guests
- also not be the typical "resort" wedding and reception (ie. St. Regis, the Ritz, the Montage)
when i was younger i always thought that a particular hillside venue that overlooked San Clemente beach would be the perfect location to get married.
after a little research i found out that is was called Casa Romantica (a bit of a cheezy name), and it is a neat historical South Orange County venue.
it also has changed hands since my youth, and isn't in nearly the same condition as it was when i was a teen. plus a lot of their policies weren't conducive to hosting our wedding there.
but here are a few pics of the no-longer-in-the-running potential venue:
outdoor ceremony location
inside which could be used for a lounge or cocktail reception (with a live pianist)
another view of the historic building's interior (from back in the day)
view of San Clemente State Beach and Pier - from Casa Romantic
the next venue i stumbled upon while online venue shopping was
it has a similar feel and ambiance to the Casa Romantica, which is very common architecture and style for the San Clemente area. the beach club also has quite a fun history to it, which makes it instantly more charming, you can read about its history on the website.
view of beach club facing the ocean
aerial view of the club and the public pool & park - the patio on the roof is where receptions can be held
park which can be used as a wedding lawn
a wedding on that same lawn, use your imagination and it could be pretty beautiful!
another view of the roof top patio for receptions, not a big fan of those chairs!
the problem with both of these venues, they couldn't handle the guest count we were planning for... also the more research we did, we'd have to bring in rental, valet service, independent caterers, etc... also, both are governed by the city of San Clemente which has and extremely early noise curfew/ordinance... no bueno!
both options were out
while i did find two very unique venues, they just didn't thrill me or jump out as the one!
so the search continued, while i heard the clock ticking because when shopping for a So Cal venue, you usually need 1-1.5 years to book a venue.... we got engaged just shy of a year before our August 2 wedding date! lots of work ahead of us....
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