Pretty but inexpensive venues

laurieurban711

I am starting to look into venues in the San Diego area.  We are expecting maybe about 50-60 guests.  I'd like some place with a very pretty outdoor area (we want some excellent pictures) with possibly an ocean view.  I'd also like to have a reception there too and would prefer if they have food options available (without having to bring in my own caterers).  I'm visiting San Diego in a few weeks and want to maybe check a few places out.  So far I really like Bali Hai but I think they have a minimum fee which would probably be way too high if we're just having 50-60 people, but if anyone knows their minimum fee let me know.  I think we'd like to keep the rental fees and food/drink costs around $5000-$7000 (we want some alcohol but not that much) so if anyone knows of something that would fit all of those options that would be great!  Thanks!

[Deleted User]

Hi there,

I am in the middle of selecting a venue and one of the places we love and considering is the Mission beach woman's club.  Its located right on the bay with a patio.  you rent the club for $1200 on a Saturday or $1000 any other day.  You have a couple options for the wedding site if you want to get married there  you can get married on their patio area, or on the bay(you will have to get a permit from the city she said it was $200 -$300)  The rental includes tables and chairs.  You do have to set up and tear down too but she suggested the catering company we hire could do that if we arranged it.  here's a link to their facebook page, they have sooooo many pictures.  the lady's name is nancy and she is so nice! 

https://www.facebook.com/MissionBeachWomensClub

Hope that helps!

Chels&Jimmy

If you're willing to go to a different location for your reception, I suggest checking out some of the Shoreline Parks, like Cuvier or Sunset Cliffs. You will need to obtain a permit from the city which is $270-ish dollars. Rent some chairs and voila! Inexpensive venue with an ocean view. We are having our ceremony at Sunset Cliffs at our reception at Marina Village. You may want to check them out too. They have small rooms that can fit 50-60 people, at a good price. You can bring your own food and alcohol, other vendors. etc. I have heard good things about the Mission Beach Women's Club too!

laurieurban711

Thank you both so much for the different options and including prices, that is really good to know!  I'll definitely take a look!  I was also looking at bit at Marina Village, they seem like a pretty good option too, it is starting to look like hiring someone to cater is better than trying to meet some outrageous minimum.  I guess I just worry about trying to get it all coordinated from afar, I only go back to the California area about twice a year (it's where my fiance is from).  I hope your weddings turn out beautifully!

Chels&Jimmy

Glad to be of some help! One thing I will say about Marina Village is that the flexibility they offer is awesome, but bringing in all of your own vendors does take some coordination. We hired a DOC to help us with all of that. That may be a good idea for you too (in general) since you are planning from afar.

laurieurban711

That is good to know, would you recommend your DOC?  It seems a bit overwhelming trying to coordinate different vendors but we have quite a bit of time before the wedding anyway so we can figure it out if it saves us a lot.  Thanks!

Chels&Jimmy

Yes, I would definitely recommend her. Our wedding is coming up in July, so I can't exactly give a review of her day-of services, but we have been planning with her since last year and she has been awesome so far! Check her out - Tawnee Gomez of Urban Shindigs.

When is your wedding, and from where are you planning? There are so many wedding-related options in San Diego!

laurieurban711

Great thanks, I'll definitely keep her in mind.  My fiance and I are actually going to California in a couple weeks (his family is in Orange County) so we're going to check out a few places at least, we go back a couple times a year.  We are planning for summer 2015 so we still have a lot of time mostly because of school reasons (We are both graduate students going for a PhD, and I'll be taking my big comprehensive exam next summer so we're postponing it a bit) but it's never too early to start looking and thinking about it.  We are both in Hawaii actually, and many people would probably wish they could have their wedding here but we want to have something much more accessible to all of our family and friends.  So we're wanting to keep it tropical and Hawaiian themed.  So this is why I'm trying to find something outdoorsy but since we're both just grad students we can't afford anything too elaborate!  But any other recommendations for San Diego things would be excellent!

Chels&Jimmy

That's great - you have a lot of time to plan! It is never too early to start looking around and checking things out, especially if you are on a strict budget like me and my FI. We got engaged in Nov. 2011 and we are now about 2 months out, and let me tell ya, time flies.

I was born and raised on Oahu and most of my family lives there, so I feel you on the Hawaii wedding deal. Even my FI really wanted for us to get married there! But with his family traveling from Michigan, we just felt like it wasn't really "fair" to them. San Diego is fine for us though, since (1) we live here and I didn't want to do long-distance planning and (2) we met here and have history here.

This is just a random thought - if you are interested in a tropical/Hawaii theme, check out this San Diego musician named Nick Weiss. He plays steel string guitar and uke for weddings. We hired him to play for our ceremony. He's not like that Jake Shimabukuro guy or anything, but we have asked him to do some Jack Johnson and similar music (acoustic) so we have a little bit of a local vibe going. We booked him last summer for $250 but I think his price has gone up a little since then. Anyway, just a thought!

laurieurban711

That must be exciting getting so close, that's a pretty long engagement too, glad the time flies, right now if feels like it is so far away! 

That's crazy we have the connection for Hawaii, I am living on Oahu now, my fiance and I are both graduate students at UH in the astronomy department so we love getting to use the telescopes on Mauna Kea.  So many people in Hawaii are saying to get married in Hawaii and then it will be small and intimate but a lot of my friends and his friends are graduate students all over the country so flying all the way to Hawaii is hard for most people!  It's funny your fiance wanted it in Hawaii, it definitely is tempting!  It's good you don't have to plan long distance, I'm actually going to visit California in a couple weeks to start looking at venues. 

Thanks for the advice about Nick Weiss, that sounds really fun!  I guess we'll look to see if it's possible in the budget.  We do know that we want to incorporate some hula, I take hula classes so we want to do a fun hula together.  Our goal is to make everyone feel like they are in Hawaii!  So the ukelele player would be a nice touch.  Are you adding any other Hawaiian flare to your wedding?

Chels&Jimmy

Oh man, when we first got engaged I was like, "17 months is plenty of time to plan our wedding." And it is. But I'm a procrastinator. Regardless, the time really does fly!

Hope your trip to Cali is productive. If you are looking for a Hawaii-themed venue Bali Hai would be perfect. You could also check out Paradise Point, although I have heard it is kinda pricey. 

Besides the ukulele player, we are not really doing anything Hawaii-related. My dad did ask me over the weekend if we would wear a lei po'o and maile lei at the reception and we said definitely. So maybe that.