San Diego Reception Venues: Part II

The past few days I have been feeling exhausted over trying to find a reception venue! Even though our wedding is still a year away, for some reason I feel like time is running out! Today, I used one of my favorite sites, Yelp and put in the category "Venues & Event Spaces" for San Diego, and have got a pretty good turn out. So far, I've emailed 3 new places, and also revisited some we looked over when we started this whole mess.

The one I'm really excited about as of right now is The San Diego Wine & Cullinary Center. As a lover of wine, and 2 people who want our reception to be more like a party and less like a stuffy sit down dinner, this option is right down our alley! I've already emailed them.... lets hope the prices aren't too much, and I'll let you know when they come in!

Another cool one is The Numero Water Boutique, which personally I've never even heard of or been too, but the Asian style decor, and zen like atmosphere seems to be the perfect balance to the chic party we want to throw.

Lounge SD located downtown looks like a VERY swanky spot to hold a reception, and is probably way out of our price range, but if you're a bride who can afford it, I would book it 100%!

The Wonderhaus is an industrial space that is HUGE, and is probably mostly rented out for photoshoots, filming and fashion shows. I wonder if they would section off a teeny tiny little piece for our reception and charge us very little?? We shall see.....

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San Diego Reception Venues: Part I



Being a native San Diego gal, one of my first instincts was to try to find an awesome reception site in the naturally beautiful Balboa Park. Immediately, I began to google and came up with at least 10 areas in the Park to have our reception at.

The one which we were immediately drawn to was MOPA: The Museum of Photographic Arts




We went and met with them, however, the price for such an event rolled in at $3,000 for JUST the rental fee. We would have to then add one of their preferred caterers, decor, linens, flatware, lighting, etc. It all added up WAY past our preferred budget of $15,000 (which is even more than we can afford.... or even have).

The next place we found that we really loved was The Handlery Hotel.



This Hotel was not only super cute, but the outdoor space that we wanted to use was private and beautiful. The packages that the hotel provides are very customizable, which we loved, and the price was all inclusive, ringing in at $85 a person for: Dinner, 4 hour open bar, cocktail hour, tables, chairs, linens, coffee bar, 5 hours, all set up/break down, dancefloor, etc. We would only have to add 5 things: 1. Photographer, 2. Cake, 3. DJ, 4. Flowers/Centerpieces and 5. Ceremony. We wanted to book our date here right away, but they wanted a $1,000 deposit to save the date, and right now we're very tight on money. Even though our date is a year away (9-18-10), the weekends before and after were already booked. Ya. I know.....

The last place we looked at a few days ago we really loved. It took us back to Balboa Park, but was in a Courtyard, the Casa del Prado Patio B:


Source

We loved the idea of having the wedding outside after looking at The Handlery. And we loved the idea of Balboa... so we merged them! The cost of getting a permit for the wedding (required if outside anywhere in Balboa, visit The Park and Recreation website for San Diego) was very cheap, about $360 for 5 hours of rental. The 2 downfalls were that we would have to be cleaned up and out of there by 10 pm (we previously had been planning a later reception), and there is NO amplified music, READ: NO DJ!!! We would have to do an ipod wedding.... something my fiance, as a musician, was NOT keen to! Although after reading this blog post by another blogging bride to be, I am more receptive to this creative idea.

Thus far we have 3 possible reception spots, all of which we love, none of which are working for us..... The search continues daily as I google more ideas. Thoughts?

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The Beginning


We have decided to start a blog that is solely for wedding planning and relationship stuff that both Matt & I can write in and have access too. For me, Blogging is a passion of mine, I just love it. It's a way for me to express myself! In this blog we hope to give insight into all that it takes into planning our own wedding, being healthy, losing weight, dealing with money problems, and just trying to not kill each other in general! Look for daily updates and in depth blogs. You can also follow us on twitter!

PS. This picture is the first pic of us ever together from our first date. We went to get my lip pierced and I made him hold my hand.

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