Wedding in California; We live in Chicago

LittleLadyy

My fiance wants to have our Wedding in California, with a beach setting. I have TONS of family in Arizona and having the wedding in California would be much easier than having it all the way in Chicago.

So, how do we go about planning this from another state? I fly for free, so if needed to, I can always fly out there and look at things, if he can't come with.

Cackle6

Do a lot of research beforehand, email vendors, get quotes, and then set up a bunch of meetings in the same weekend and fly out to see venues, meet vendors, have cake tastings, etc. I ended up making 2 trips to MN to meet all my vendors and have various tastings. Everything worked out great. Yes, it's more work, but if especially if you fly for free (super jealous!) you shouldn't have many problems.

jentastic339

Hey there,

My wedding is in November of this year in San Diego and I live in Boston. We got engaged in February of this year...Here's what I did...I booked a pretty "inclusive" venue (Hornblower Cruises and Events) and the rest of it (makeup trials, cake tastings, dress shopping, floral plans, decor plans) I did in a one week trip to San Diego last week. I highly suggest going with a venue that includes pretty much everything you need.

lostmykeys

Get on the California specific knot.com board.  We are from Texas, and did a wedding in Kansas City, MO.  The Kansas City knot.com board was very helpful

coopsbaby

Yep check out both the California board and the Destination board. We're planning a wedding in Las Vegas and we live in Wisconsin and it has been great due to the Vegas board! I got recommendations from other brides, checked out vendor websites, made some calls, checked prices, location and stuff, then we made a trip out there to meet with some people (like the wedding coordinator and baker) and finalize details. It has been really easy and remarkably stress free so far! Hope it goes just as well for you.

LittleLadyy

Thank you ladies! Great tips and advice

LDubHawksFan

Start by picking a location in CA.  Are you thinking LA, SD, Orange County?  And then zoom closer to which city you want.  I live in OC, and could try to help with location ideas.  It depends on what you are looking for.  Post on the local boards (fyi, OC is usually pretty dead though).  Then do a lot of research.  You will probably have to make at least one trip before.

Since you mentioned beach, the one that sticks out from when we were choosing was Hotel Laguna in Laguna Beach.  It's an older hotel, but is right on the water, and you can get married on the sand, which is hard to do elsewhere unless it's like 10 people.

Lethinagrl5

I live in So.Cal and am having my wedding in Hawaii, luckily I have a ton of family out there so it helps when planning. Where in California are you and FI thinking? I have a good amount of info for beach weddings in the Ventura and some Malibu area that I can share. Definitely go to the California local board and look around there. I also suggest doing research online, calling places, venders etc that you are interested in that you saw online to make sure they have/can do what you want. Good luck and let me know if you would like that info.