Inexpensive Venue in LA/Santa Barbara

daniellekreinik

My fiancé and I just got engaged and are already looking for a venue. We want something fun and interesting but affordable. It seems like every venue milks the fact that you're having a wedding. We'll probably be having about 175 guests and luckily we have a little over a year to plan. Does anyone know of a venue in either LA or Santa Barbara that is interesting and has an outdoor area (I could settle for indoors for the reception) but is affordable and not cheap looking? I know that's asking a lot, but I wanted to put it out there. Thank you SO much! 

True Blue Events

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!  We are a Event Design & Coordination company in Santa Barbara.  We would love to work with you and help you find vendors and the perfect place to have your special day.  E-mail: trueblueevents@yahoo.com for a free initial consultation.  We look forward to it!

[Deleted User]

Not sure what qualifies as "affordable" but my fiance and I got engaged in December and I contacted seriously about 100 reception sites and physicial visited 25 of them.  We have a guest list of 200 and our wedding is on a Sunday (not sure what day you are planning for but most places discount for Fridays & Sundays so if you are on a budget like we are, it really is your best option).  Below are the places that came in on the low end.  It all depends on what "extras" you want as to how expensive they get, but they do start off low for our area.

- UCLA Covel Commons (has a huge outdoor terrace)
- Courtyard Marriott Westside in Culver City (the lobby level room has an outdoor area, beautiful room comes with white padded folding chairs, but has low ceiling)
- V Lounge (club in Santa Monica, if you are going for an unconventional look)
- Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach (is indoor/outdoor.  they were a little on the high end for us, but should offer to try and work with your budget)
- Simon's Banquet Hall in San Pedro (is indoor/outdoor.  they are expensive but Cindy will most definitely work with you - we almost booked this venue)
- Bungalow Club (restaraunt/club near Melrose & La Brea - also unconventional but has a beautiful outdoor area.  Drawback is the dancing is upstairs and seating is downstairs)
- Radisson LA Westside in Culver City (inexpensive but in my opinion just another ballroom, although it does have a small outdoor balcony of sorts)
- Recreation Park in Long Beach (another golf course, not as nice as Skylinks but less $)
- Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo (has 2 ballrooms, 1 with an outdoor patio but the ballrom has low ceilings and is kinda narrow)
- Pickwick Gardens in Burbank (beautiful and Robbie worked with us on pricing because it was a Sunday)
- Automobile Museum in El Segundo (caterering by Salt Creek, they have discounted pricing for Fridays & Sundays)
- Courtyard Marriott in Marina Del Rey (for Sundays they rent the room w/ no catering for $3K so if you have a cheap caterer you could come out pretty low)
- Marriott Downtown (offered discounted pricing, but for their small ballrom with low ceilings - we didn't particularly care for the contact person here.  also parking is valet ONLY)
- Long Beach Petroleum Club (by no means a lavish venue but if you have a large decorating budget I can see how the room could be transformed, but it's super cheap)
- South End Club in Torrance (for a Sunday it's $2600 for the room -but might be lower for less than 200 people- and the caterer is Carlos, you get separate pricing with him)
- Vatican Banquet Hall in Van Nuys (beautiful room with 2 levels and 2 staircases and an outdoor patio.  great pricing but we didn't click with the owner as well as the place we decided on)
- Michael's Tuscany Room in San Pedro (this is the place we chose and Carol Ann gave us great pricing because we booked far in advance.  It was top 3 of the 25 places we physical saw and bottom 3 in pricing)

I have pictures of all of the places and could email them to you if you want.  I also have a list of places who are slightly more than these listed above if your budget is higher.  Feel free to contact me if you have questions or want more info.  Good luck!

nikojamm

True Blue:  NO VENDERS ALLOWED!

Danielle:  I 2nd Pickwick Gardens.  We had our wedding there in Oct and it was awesome!  We also worked with Robbie and she was fantastic all the way through!  They have a beatiful garden area for  the ceremony!

daniellekreinik

Thank you both! That definitely helps. We are going to have a Sunday wedding so that will be helpful in knocking down the price. I'll check into those venues. 

Traceythomasian

Could you send me pictures to corderomichelle@yahoo.com  ?