Wedding Blog

Before Mr Frenchie and I were engaged, we used to throw around ideas about where to get married. Very early on in our relationship we talked about The Labradors’ city of Savannah, GA. Like I said, I’m a Southern girl at heart, I was born in Atlanta, GA, and used to visit my family just outside Baltimore, MD once a year. We dreamed of a wedding with “Southern Romantic Charm”, in a beautiful location such as this.

Look familiar?

But, alas, when it came down to it planning a wedding across the country, in a city neither of us had ever been to, while we both worked full-time and while I was in school, just wasn’t realistic.

This was about the time we realized we probably shouldn’t plan a destination wedding, even if it was still in CA. That crossed Napa, Los Olivos, and Camarillo off the list.

Napa Source

Los Olivos Source

Camarillo Source

And a venue of a completely different nature, The Del Marcos Hotel, in Palm Springs, CA. Along with loving all things with Southern charm, the Frenchies love Mid Century Modern. Mr Frenchie discovered this hotel while looking for places to take his best friend (and now Best Man) for his Rat Pack-themed Bachelor party, when he was getting married. Mr Frenchie and his Best Man, B, are all about modernism. Mr Frenchie and my first date was the weekend after he and B had gone to Modernism Week.

Cocktail Hour by the pool

Getting Ready pics in this cool room

After deciding against the destination wedding, we started looking at venues closer to home.

Option 1 - The Orange County Museum of Art

Honestly, I got this idea when a good friend of mine said she was considering the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art as a venue, so part of me wanted for forget this idea just in case she decided to have her wedding at the San Diego Museum. She won’t be getting married until 2010 (law school smarty, waiting ’til she graduates), and I don’t want to steal her wedding thunder.

Beautiful outdoor ceremony…

source

Modern/Contemporary Cocktail hour, inside…

source

Nice outdoor reception…

source

We didn’t end up going with this location, because, sadly, the city no longer allows them to do weddings. (However, they are still listed on Here Comes The Guide, so maybe they are permitted again.)

Option 2 -The Sherman Library and Gardens

This location is only 2.5 miles from option #1, and both are 15 minutes from my office. I pass The Sherman Library and Gardens every day on my way home from work. This is a very popular wedding venue in my area, and you can see why.

Source

Source

The problem we saw with this location was the ceremony site. If we decided to get married at the venue, instead of my church (a high possibility), it looked like our ceremony would have fountain in the middle of it.

Source

No thanks!

Option 3 - Park Ave Restaurant - Stanton, CA
Mr Frenchie discovered this restaurant while looking for 1950s/’60s modern restaurants on the web. We thought it looked so cool, and I took him there for his first birthday we celebrated together.

Photo by Me

Like the Del Marcos in Palm Desert, this place has that mid-century modern style that we love.

Source

Plus, the food was FANTASTIC! I really cannot say enough good things about Park Ave. This place was a top contender for quite sometime, that is until we figured out our guest list, which came to about 170 people. In order to fit all our guests in this location, not everyone would be in the same room, or some people would be outside, while others would be inside. Mr Frenchie and I were heartbroken.

Mr Frenchie grew up in San Diego, and his father and Best Man still live very close to his hometown. We go down to San Diego at least once a month to visit FFIL Frenchie, his Best Man B, or to hang out in a number of our favorite places. One of those favorite places is The Bernardo Winery.

Source

While dating we went here a couple times for wine tasting, and to walk around the grounds.

Source

I may have mentioned it to Mr Frenche as a wedding venue once before, but it didn’t sink in for Mr Frenchie until we visited the winery after B’s wedding this past October. There was another wedding that day, and Mr Frenchie looked at me and said, “We should get married here!” Since we weren’t engaged yet, I just smiled and agreed, and we went on with our day.

Come November, when we were looking around, Mr Frenchie was pushing for this location, hardcore. I had trouble reaching their coordinator, Annie, and when I finally heard back, the only available dates in August were Fridays and Sundays. I really wanted a Saturday wedding, so we kept looking. The weekend after Thanksgiving, Mr Frenchie and I spent the whole weekend driving all over Orange County and San Diego being disappointed by venue after venue. We were pretty depressed with our options, and were considering going outside our comfort zone to Temecula, in order to find a venue.

Thank God, when I got home there was an email from Annie letting us know a Saturday in August had opened up, and to get back to her ASAP if we wanted it. That Monday, my first phone call was to Annie to snatch up that day, and that is how we decided on our venue.

Our guest will arrive and head down Zinfandel Walkway, to Rosario’s Pavilion (on the left).

Source

Inside the Pavilion, our ceremony will take place at Rosario’s Gazebo.

Source

Our Cocktail hour will take place under this covered area, and the reception will be on the grass.

Source

Were you disappointed that a venue you loved couldn’t accommodate all your guests? Did you try to pare down your list or did you move on to a different venue?