First time poster, long time lurker
My FI and I just got engaged last week. It was a big surprise and it's still kind of secret. He didn't have a ring when he decided to ask me to be his wife, he used a ring he had purchased for me as a gift before. We have since picked out a ring and are waiting for it to be completed. He will "propose" to me again when we have the ring and thats when we will tell everyone...we want to save ourselves having to explain *why*.
Anyway, we would love to get married on 9.22.12. Not a ton of time to plan. Definitely not an unlimited budget either. We had our sights set on Island Palms on Shelter Island. The price is right, Michael is amazing, and the place looks really great. Since then, we have spoken to a videographer and photographer who both felt that the location lacked a great place to film. I don't remember having that impression when I was there, but what do I know? I spent some time google searching Island Palms weddings and was able to find a lot of weddings and photographs from the locations. I found a lot of great shots and I'm not sure that I agree that it lacks a filming location.
This led us to start considered the Ultimate Skybox at Diamond View Tower. I'm not loving the prices there as much and I'm also concerned about the type of reception to have there. We are going to look at the space tomorrow, so this is purely speculation, but the space doesn't seem large enough to comfortable host 100 people for a sit down dinner. I've google searched weddings at this venue, and it seems that most people do a cocktail/tapas type reception instead, which would fit our personalities perfectly. Not to mention we live on 10th, right outside Petco Park ourselves, this is where we started our lives together as boyfriend/girlfriend, what a cool way to start our marriage. We would definitely consider another location for the ceremony, I'm not crazy about the outside area for the ceremony. I think it's on the smaller side and would prevent the photo/videographers from getting close to us (again, purely speculation). I love Centennial Park.
Anyway, I'd love to hear from you! What are your thoughts on each venue? Have any of you been married at either? If you have had or have been to a wedding at Ultimate Skybox, I would love to know what you did and an estimate of total costs. I would love to know of your experiences at both venues.