Scripps Seaside Forum - October 5, 2013!

erinlacey7

My Fiance and I booked Scripps Seaside Forum and I'm not really finding anything recent on here about it! Anyone else getting married there areound 10/5/13? I know that the gal the runs the place said that I could share draping with the brides on the Friday before or the Sunday after, has anyone done this before? I'm wondering how easy it really is! Also, not that the Hotel La Jolla is open again what kind of room rates is everyone getting? Has anyone looked into Estancia and or Torrey Pines Lodge? How necessary is it to get a wedding planner for this venue, would a day of planner do? I'd love to hear other brides ideas of how to dress the place up! I'm just so excited and want to know everything anyone has to say about Scripps Seaside . . . hahaha! ( ;

Chels&Jimmy

My date twin kay136 is getting married there! July 19, 2013.  

Congrats - it's a gorgeous venue! 

kay136

YAY!! Congrats!!!! That's where I am getting married as well. So excited.
Sooo- I x'ed the draping for two reasons. 1) It's really expensive and 2) I think it kind of looks funny once it's up. I would totally want to look behind it the whole time if I saw it at someone else's wedding. The seats really bothered me at first BUT when I looked at pictures of the room filled with wedding stuff and dimmed lights your eyes aren't drawn that direction so I don't think it will be a big deal.

I am getting married in July so room rates were crazy expensive. Hotel La Jolla was still under renovation when I was looking but they first gave me a rate of $223 a night and then randomly upped it to $320 a night! I don't think I would have went with them anyway. Most of my guests are from OOT and I want them to be in the heart of La Jolla. I looked at A LOT of hotels. The Torrey Pines Hilton was really nice but we wanted to be closer to the heart of La Jolla. We didn't look at Estancia beacuse we figured they would have a wedding that night but I've heard it's really nice. We ended up going with the Empress. It's a nice hotel. Not as fancy as I originally thought I'd have BUT i have the honey moon for fancy It gets great reviews AND you get free nights if you book a certain amount of rooms. Our rate is $199 a night for the middle of the summer so i'm sure it would be cheaper in October. I bet a lot of the hotels will be cheaper around that time.

I would definetly suggest a wedding planner for at least the day of. There are so many different vendors and pieces to put together that it will be really overwhelming day of if you don't have anyone. This venue has a lot of leg work because you have an empty space to work with but if you are good at putting things together I don't think you need a full on wedding coordinator. You have plenty of time too. We ended up doing week of because we will have a lot of OOT guests and I'd rather have her running around calling all the vendors that week so I don't have to

Def look at Coast Catering. They are AMAZING!!!!! Elle G Photography has tons of experience there as does Vynce Pham (DJ Music Phreek).

Congrats again!!!!

erinlacey7

Thanks so much for the information Kay! I'm so excited about my wedding, I actually ended up with Scripps out of sheer luck! Someone dropped their contract and I happened to see it before anyone else! Thanks so much for all of the information about hotels. I think you're right about being in the heart of La Jolla so I guess I'll go down there and check out the area. A lot of my guests will be from OOT as well and I can always have a shuttle!

Was Coast catering the only one you checked out? I have seen continental catering at a few different events so I was looking into them but they aren't very good about getting back to you, neither is Urban Kitchen (which just happens to be connected to one of my favorite restaurants - Cucina Urbana!)

How many people are you having at your wedding? Are you going to do seated or Buffet? I was wondering where I would put the buffet table if I did that. . . I ask a lot of questions, so if I am annoying I'm so so sorry! Are you planning on utilizing the caroline's cafe deck at all?

I'll stop now, but I hope we can keep in touch! So exciting to have someone to talk to about Scripps Seaside that has real experience!

kay136

haha you're post made me laugh! Ask away. I've had the place booked since November of last year so I've had lots of time to think! It will be good to have each other to bounce ideas off of.

How lucky did you get?!?!?! I was going to say I was suprised that it was available. That place books up ridiculouly fast. There was one booked for October 2013 when I booked mine in November 2011 haha. I am definetly going to do a shuttle. I haven't found one yet but there is plenty of time for that! Hopefully you can get some great hotel rates because you aren't in the heart of the summer!!!

I contacted a bunch of caterers to get some idea of what they could make and what they would charge. We aren't having any meat or fish at the wedding so I needed to make sure people knew what they were doing!! Funny you mention Urban Kitchen. I never could get a quote from her. We had a phone call and then nothing! After a few months of asking I just gave up on them. Giuesspes (sp?) was way to expensive so we didn't even do a tasting with them. Of all the menus we did a tasting at three of them Coast, Tapenade, and Culinary Concepts. They were all good! Culinary Concepts was the cheapest and it was really good but it wasn't what we envisoned for our day. It wasn't formal enough. It came down to Tapenage and Coast and Coast was just amazing! Barry is great and they really make the tasting special. You have the whole resturant to yourselves. You have to pay for the tasting but it goes towards the bill if you book them. They are honestly amazing hahaha. We are doing seated. I'm not a buffet kind of girl We also are giving our guests a selection which costs a little more but I felt like I had to.

Also- originally we had planned to do the cocktail hour on the deck becuase what a great view!! I really had my heart set on that. We are having about 150 people and ended up deciding that it wasn't a good idea. You have to go around to get up there and the space isn't that big. Then it costs more to set up another bar up there. etc etc. I think the most we will do is put a few belly bars up there in case people want to go up there.

Have you planned anything else??? I'm so curious!!!

We def need to keep in touch!

erinlacey7

This is so awesome! I'm so glad to have you to talk to! 

I had a caterer that I had my heart set on, they catered my dad's bday, but they're not on the list so I'm just not sure what to do! I guess I'll get to tasting and make my decision that way! Are you doing an all vegetarian dinner? I'm a vegetarian, and I would LOVE to do that too, but my fiance is not and only about a handful of the guests are so I'm outvoted. I'll just make sure to have a really good veggie option for those of us that are ( : I hate buffets too, but everyone is telling me to do that! I think if I can afford it I will be doing seated as well. The gal that showed me the venue suggested cocktail hour at the entrance area, so I'm figuring we'll do it there. I'm going to have 175ish so I don't want people to feel cramped. I'm really worried about the seated dinner and not having enough room for a dance floor!

I don't really have anything set in stone yet. I'm super wishy-washy about photographers because it is such an important element for me. I pretty much have my band booked, my moms friend is doing the flowers (I'm usually worried about using friends but she did my sisters wedding so I know she'll do a good job) I'm talking with a planner right now and I'm working on my color scheme . . . which I woul totally love ideas for! Who are you using for your band/dj? 

kay136

I had a caterer my heart was set on too and tried sooo hard to have them let me use them but they wouldn't budge. There are a lot of good caterers on the list so I know you will find one you love! We are doing an all vegetarian dinner. I'm actually vegan so my compromise was allowing dairy products and eggs haha. It will be about half vegan. Vegan food can be really amazing but people are just scared of it. I know they will love it. My parents and his parents were weary about it for a while but my FI and I are paying for most of our wedding so I wouldn't budge. My FI knows how important it is to me not to have meat there and most importantly not to be paying for meat ourselves so he compromised with no meat/fish. I'd rather a vegan wedding and he'd rather have meat there so that was the compromise! haha.

Do you mean the cocktail hour at the entrance of the reception area or the area thats a little to the right (if you are looking at teh reception area). I think we will do it in the area that is off to the right. I've seen some people do it right in front of the reception area outside but then I feel like you are almost doing everything in the same area just a little farther back each time. That's just me haha.

I'm sure if you did buffet it will turn out fine. I think that's a little less formal if that's the idea you are going for too. We just aren't buffet people so it didn't fit with us

Def check out Elle G photography. It's a little pricey but man is she amazing. She has lots and lots of experience with the venue too.

Our colors are going to be blue (sky/ocean), sand, and champagne with spalshes of hot pink and lots of sparkle. haha.

We are using DJ Musik Phreek for our DJ (Vynce Pham) who is amazing! We are having a steel drum player (Dano) for our ceremony/cocktail hour. Still working on a florist!!!

erinlacey7

That's so cool that you are staying strong!! Your guests are going to be pleasantly surprised I'm sure, when they realize just how good vegetarian food is! 

The cocktail hour would be in this area here: 

To the left, there is a big planter that doubles as a bar and there is a bunch of benches that I'm going to put pillows on (I'll start making them when I figure out my color scheme!) 

I really wanted to use a steel drum player for my cocktail hour but my band is covering the whole day, so I'll probably just have the lead singer do an accoustic one-man set. If I can fit it into my budget though, I'll give the band a break and use a steel drum! 

I'm not sure if my moms friend does weddings regularly or if she's just helping us out, but if you want I will get you her information! I know that flowers can be rediculously expensive, and I'm pretty sure she would be reasonable! 

I will definitely check into Elle G, I have seen her name a lot when looking for ideas for SSF, but never looked into her for some reason! 

Here is a stupid question for her . . . FI = Fiance, right? I'm so not up on the lingo (;

kay136

Yes, that is where we are planning ours too. I was trying but failing to describe it well. haha.

The steel drum player wasn't too much. $400 I think for the ceremony and cocktail hour? However! bands are super expensive usually so if those hours are included I would definetly use them!!

Yes! Let me know about your mom's friend. I am trying to spend as small an amount I possibly can on flowers while still making everything look nice. WE shall see how that goes haha.

Yes FI is fiance. There is a list somewhere of what they are all but you will start to picku p on them

danny&lisa

I have many questions for the ladies that have gotten married there:
1. concerned about the number of people we have (200 max). will they all fit? will they be able to see the projector for a slide show?
2. how much was the event insurance you had to purchase?
3. which caterer did you use? did you do buffet or plated dinner?
4. which hotels are the best? we are hoping to keep costs around $200/night for our out of towners, and maybe with shuttle if that's possible.
anyway - thanks so much!

WeddingOfficiator

I just officiated a wedding there a few weeks ago and it is such a lovely place- wow are you lucky.  one of our coordinators did the day of coordination.  You should definitely get someone to handle everything for you that day.  I think there is a promo for day of services going on right now.. you should visit our website or hit me up.  Congrats!

erikarenee83

Hi Ladies - I'm curious about how much the insurance costs? & who did you rent tables & chairs though? Do the caterers you used have all of this avilable? Thanks!!! _Erika