Wedding Venue Ideas?

RobinGandy

Hi there! My fiancee and I are having our wedding Sept 15, 2012. Now right now we live in San Antonio, TX and are moving back to San Diego area sometime in March 2012. So out venue planning has to be out here for out there. The only resources we have to look at venues is online. We will be flying to SD for a couple days in Sept this year to reserve a venue. Im not that familiar with California at all since I only lived there 1 1/2 years. I didnt go far to put it that way haha.

I was wondering what ideas you all had for a BEAUTIFUL venue for both reception and ceremony or just ceremony. For the ceremony, as much as I would LOVE an outdoor wedding, my fiancee prefers indoors. So we want something that is with high celings if possible and really big windows where we will be standing at the altar. We are going for an elegant feel and Im wanting that grand entrance . Thanks so much for all the suggestions ahead of time!

luvbug1022

I am a little biased since I am getting married here, but you should check out the El Cortez.  It doesn't get more elegant than that!  It is a historic property built in the 1920's and used to be a swanky hotel.  It is now condos, but they restored the ballroom (Don Room) and it is absolutely gorgeous!  Hardwood floors, gold ceilings, and an amazing chandelier.  You can get married inside the ballroom or outdoors on the patio.  We are getting married at a park down the street because the patio has more of an urban vibe (since it is in the middle of downtown San Diego) and we wanted more of a "garden feel"  then cocktail hour on the patio and the reception inside the Don Room. 

I also loved the Rancho Bernardo Inn, but it is more rustic than what you might be looking for.  but iti s absolutely gorgeous as well and they have a few ballrooms to check out. 

megmac24

I'm getting married at the Grand Tradition Estate in Fallbrook. It's gorgeous. Check out the website. Our ceremony is outside and our reception is inside the mansion in the ballroom! I fell in love with it the minute I stepped through the doors. Definitely worth checking out. 

AllyG303

I second Grand Tradition...it is really beautiful.  FI and I wanted to get married there, but it didn't make much sense with all of our guests being from OOT...not a lot of nice hotels are within 5 minutes of the place.

LauraChristin

Hi Robin!

Check out: 

The Grand Del Mar http://www.thegranddelmar.com/

The Hotel Del Coronado

http://www.hoteldel.com

The University Club in downtown San Diego was recently remodeled and is high up in a building downtown with beautiful views: http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/University-Club-atop-Symphony-Towers

and I second the El Cortez suggestion although this would definitely be a "flipping situation" (see below)! http://www.elc.cc/

The Four Seasons Aviara (North County) http://www.fourseasons.com/northsandiego/

I would venture to guess that most of the venues here in San Diego are geared towards an outdoor ceremony with an indoor ceremony spot being a backup plan or rain option.  Most of the time in that case, though, they are using the ballroom or room for the reception as the ceremony site and then "flipping" that room for the reception (having the guests do a cocktail hour elsewhere on the property while they break down the ceremony set up and then set the reception up in the same room). I'm not sure how you feel about that but with an elaborate reception setup it's not always practical because there isn't much time so when you get in touch with the venues check with them on that!

A few of my favorite wedding planners in San Diego are:

Erin with Behind The Bride

Brenda with Swann Soirees

and Rachel with Bliss Events

Lindsay with LVL Events

They would all be able to help you scout for the perfect spot, too!

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

-Laura

RobinGandy

Thank you all so much for all of the GREAT ideas!

Bridal411

The Hotel Del Coronado has a beautiful ballroom with views of the ocean and grounds. Its elegant and window to window so a beautiful view.

hcontreras3

My fiance and I are having our ceremony at The Immaculata (a Catholic church on USD campus - BEAUTIFUL!) and our reception at The Bahia. The wonderful thing about the bahia is that everything is included: they have packages that you can add/eliminate whatever you want, as long as you have a specific dollar amount. We'll be in the Mission Ballroom, right on the water and has HUGE windows. Look into it, I've seen it set up for events and its GORGEOUS! Their packages incl cocktail hour, 2 bottles of wine at each table, another hour of open bar after dinner, the cake, displayed hors d'oourves and tray passed hors d'ourves (which we opted out of), a room for your and your future husband, and if you have 100+ guests you get the room for a second night. Like I said, things can be added or eliminated.

Good Luck, SD is such a beautiful city, you're likely to find a great location anywhere in the city.

KellyRenee1979

I'm a San Diego native and have a bit of planning experience from when I was engaged 9 years ago (I broke it off & now found my prince!).

I'm looking at all kinds of sites.  How many guests are you having?  Mine is around 200, so that is ruling out a lot of places that are 100-150.

Good Luck!