Wedding/Reception Venue

TysWife2Be

Hello ladies!I am new to the boards...I am on theknot.com ALL the time but have not posted anything in the boards yet. Well I am getting married 10-10-10 and am having the hardest time finding a venue!!! I have browsed online for hours and days and days and hours and there is NOTHING that is standing out for me. I feel like I have been on every website possible and have googled every possible option to try to find more venues. I am starting to get a little stressed because I feel like I should have had my venue by now and because of my date, should have been booked already. Has anyone else gone through this? If so, how did you find that perfect wedding venue?PLEASE HELP!!!

Soon2B Mrs.V

did you try herecomestheguide.com?

TysWife2Be

I sure have! The only thing is we want an indoor wedding and reception because we do not want to take a chance on the weather. Perfect Example: It was raining the other day and now today was extremely hot!I dont know if I am being too picky but I dont want a hotel or a banquet room. We want something unique...is that asking for too much?

xxquemirasxx

What area are you looking for?

TysWife2Be

To be honest, at this point,  I am open to everywhere. The way I see it is if people are going to come to the wedding, then they will come, no matter the drive. I was looking at places in la, south bay, long beach, but have now decided to go even further...so I am pretty much open to everything at this point. It is all about finding the right place.I dont want to have to pay for something that I am not particular about.

phiaska

I LOVE my venue - it's the City Club on Bunker Hill. Indoors, in downtown L.A. with AMAZING views. Check it out. If you like it, let Kim know that Randi and Tony recommended it.

TysWife2Be

I guess I should include this information as well. We plan on about 200-250 guests...so that cut that location out.Originally I wanted a tent reception but we realized that may cost us more in the end. FI said we can get a room and decorate it and give it a tent affect. With the tent thing, I fell in love with the all white look so I guess I am leaning toward something like that...Also, we prefer a church wedding but we said that we would be ok if we could not have one. Only thing with a church wedding, your reception venue has to be somewhere close (in my opinion). So I dont know...Im ready to pull my hair out already!

Soon2B Mrs.V

If I were to marry my husband again, I would consider getting married at Il Cielo.

AshleyBilly

Hi! I was the same as you and couldn't find anything I liked and didn't want a hotel/ wedding factory etc..  I got married at The Ebell Club that is in the Arts District of Long Beach and loved it! It was so different and unique.. it was built in the 20's so the architecture is just amazing.  It has an "indoor courtyard" for the ceremony as well as a formal dining room with gorgeous chandeliers and a parlor for cocktail hour.. check it out, I loved it! Pics also in my bio.  It is also priced pretty reasonably and they handled pretty much everything for me! Good luck!!!

TysWife2Be

We actually are going to see that venue next week...so we will see what happens. There are a few things that I wasnt too fond of though...the fountain I am not too fond of and the stairs that I saw in some pictures. I think I am being a little too picky but I want everything to be PERFECT!I will let you know how I liked it though...

AshleyBilly

Yeah I wasn't too fond of the fountain as well but in the end it was fine as everything else about the location outweighed it.. make sure they show you the Bride's room upstairs as well.. : )

TysWife2Be

Will do!Also, how do you add pictures and tickers?

AshleyBilly

For pictures you need to upload the picture to an image hosting site such as photobucket.com  and it will create an html code for the image that you put into your signature.  For tickers its pretty much the same thing.. TheKnot has them somewhere where you create it and it will give you the code that you just copy and paste.  You can find your signature when you edit your profile. Im not as technically savvy as some of the other girls here but that should work!

garavito_16

Have you looked at the Biltmore in downtown L.A or the Figueroa hotel?  If you are looking into a tented venue, I know Calamigos Ranch in Malibu has a white tented facility that can accommodate a guest list your size.   Santa Barbara is also an option. It has quite a few unique locations that will probably interest you. There are a few ladies here that had their wedding out there and could give you some suggestions.  Good Luck!

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I'm getting married 10/10/10 and I just booked a venue on Monday. Talk to Rob Carson at Patina Group. I was considering going with him. He has the 5th floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion available for that day. There's no room rental fee, only the food, drink, tax and gratuity for the reception. The area will hold up to 300 people I think, and it's really pretty. DCP is located in the music center downtown, next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.I also looked into the Victorian in Santa Monica, which certainly has room for 250.I know it's stressful - I feel much better knowing that I have my date secure now that I actually have a venue booked. Basically, if I liked something, I emailed them, and if they actually got back to me, I continued the conversation. Good luck!

TysWife2Be

By any chance do you know if the Walt Disney Concert Hall is available? I emailed quite some time ago but they never got back to me. Goodness...I feel like this is a NEVER ENDING search...Has anyone been to Castle Green in Pasadena? If so, what is your take on it?

julybm08

While you are in LB checking out the Ebell you should check out The Sky Room. There is a beautiful chapel on the floor where you enter from valet. It's all white so you might like that feel. Also, the LB aquarium does indoor weddings in front of the aqurium and they can definitely fit a ton of people. In fact, we wanted to have our wedding there but we only wanted 50 people and they had a 100 person minimum.

TysWife2Be

I looked online at The Sky Room and I LOVE the chapel...I would LOVE if I could find a reception site like that too...lolAnyway, I will be calling them in the morning to schedule an appointment so we can go and check it out. This chapel is BEAUTIFUL!!! My goodness!Why cant I just find EVERYTHING that I envision in one place? Am I being too picky or what?

CANDEE43

I was in the same situation as you are.  250 guests, indoors, close by.  I've been engaged since September '08 and tbh I didn't find what I was looking for.The Ebell only holds about 180 my friend is getting married there nxt April, and I figured out I was being too picky for my budget.  If you don't have a budget check out the Vibiana LA.  That place is gorgeous.  They have a church ceremony.Also Rancho Las Lomas in Silverado accommodates that guest count.  There is no church ceremony there at Rancho though but there is indoor seating.Also check out The Mission in San Bernadino. ( I know it's far, but those are just the venues I found could accommodate my guest count.)My fiance and I decided to just change the date because it was so difficult finding a venue that wasn't a hotel or banquet hall.Hope the venues help

TysWife2Be

Our date is set for 10-10-10...It will have been 10 years and 10 months that we have been together. Changing our date isnt an option.   :-(Only 180 at Ebell Club...that may be a downfall for me but I still will go and check it out. Vibiana we both loved but we read reviews about it being in skid row and it kind of turned us away. On top of that, we really dont want a wedding downtown. We do have a budget and perhaps I am being too picky for my budget BUT I want what I want...I dont want to have to settle...I am keeping in mind our budget and kind of looking based on that as well...Im not sure...it just seems like a NEVER ENDING search...

TysWife2Be

Sorry for the double post...Since our wedding is in October, we didnt want to take the chance of having our ceremony outside...

kikikatie9

Hi there, You asked earlier about the Castle Green in Pasadena, I'm not sure how much help I will be because I have never been to a wedding there, but it is really pretty.  However if you are looking for a more modern feel this may not be the place because everything is original in the hotel from when it was built so it has a very old victorian feel to it.  However the ballroom is gorgeous and does have white marble so it may work with your theme.  I would definatly call them and check it out cause it is an awesome place plus it is right in downtown pasadena so that would be good for your OOT guests and give you lots of options for a rehearsal dinner. HTH!

mrsinoct

Hi there,We're getting married this weekend and just like you, didn't want to take a chance with the weather.  We wanted something unique, where we could do the ceremony and reception inside.  Finding the venue was probably the hardest part of this whole wedding thing! We're getting married at Cicada in downtown LA.  We're doing both ceremony and reception, but you could just do reception. It may not be your style, though, since it's dark wood inside.  On the plus side, you can have up to 300 guests or less, like 100 which is what we are having. There are also a lot of churches in downtown that are close by. A couple of other places we liked for an indoor ceremony and reception were the Portofino Hotel, which wasn't very hotel like and had a beautiful view of the water from inside,   and the Redondo Beach library, which was really unique, but not sure how large of a group they can handle.  We also looked at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach, which had a beautiful tent setup outside (the ballroom was too ballroomy for us). Good luck!

bigsillydays

I haven't seen the white tent at Calamigos ranch in Malibu, but I did go see Calamigos equestrian in burbank and their polo room had that very white feel to it that you may like.Also, I agree with the previous post about Castle green. It is beautiful, but has that old fashioned victorian feel. Lots of reds, greens, and colors along those lines. The Romanesque room right next to it I believe was more neutral and classic, but I don't know if it holds 300.Good luck!

TysWife2Be

Mrsinoct - I like Cicada but I think what turned me away from it was the black and white dance floor. I am starting to feel like I am being a little too picky...has anyone else felt like this?So I really liked The Sky Room...I called them and I asked about 10-10-10 and it was booked back in August...the lady also mentioned that she had to make a decision on who to allow to have their wedding that day.I like Portofino...FI and I have stayed there but Im not sure I would want our wedding there. Redondo Beach Library will not hold my guest count for the indoor ceremony. I will stay on the hunt...man oh man...this is getting cery tiresome...

TysWife2Be

very*

mrsinoct

Bummer about the Sky Room being booked.  I don't think you should worry about being too picky - you want to be happy with your decision.  It took us forever to decide on our venue, but am I happy with our choice. I'm not sure about the black and white dance floor at Cicada?  I've only ever seen the regular brownish wood one that looks like all of the others I've seen.  Maybe the black and white one you saw was a special rental for an event?I had another thought - what about the Queen Mary?  It's unique, not super expensive, and can fit a large crowd?Oh, by the way - in the end we ended up hiring a coordinator just to help us find a location because we just didn't like what we were finding.  I didn't want to spend the extra money, but we realized that because she was a coordinator, the venues were more willing to give us a cut.

CANDEE43

I checked out the Castle Green but while we were taking the tour, the residents were walking around, yes, residents.  They do not steer clear on your wedding day either.  The woman who gave us the tour said they live upstairs and they go and come as they please even when there is an event, but don't mind them they will walk right in and walk right out. =/That to me was enough to walk away from that venue.Good luck i know you'll find something and it'll be perfect!Remember in the end, the day is about you two...that's what helped me choose on a venue. =]

CANDEE43

forgot to mention...did you check out the nixon library in yorba linda?That's where my FI and I decided to have our wedding.We booked the date and caterer and everything, but we had an unexpected tragedy and have since decided to have it somewhere else.  we lost out on the deposits but nothing we could do about it.anyway, I highly recommend nixon..it's absolutely gorgeous!

TysWife2Be

Candee...Wow...residents? I dont know how I feel about that. As far as Nixon Library goes, I dont really care for it in the pictures.  With that being said, I wonder if I am counting some things out based on the pictures that are online. How do you really know its not what you want if you cant really tell the true looks of it by the pictures that they post online?I feel like I am kind of being cheated because of that...as if I was selling some places short or something.

TysWife2Be

Let me rephrase that...Its not that I dont like it or its not nice, its just not what I am looking for.