Weddingbee Blog

I left off with telling how we had visited three possible venues. All beautiful, but none stood out above the rest. So on we went to our fourth and final venue.

The Padua Hills Theater

The Padua Hills Theater was an actual working theater built in the 1920s. It was a Mexican dinner theater built to promote a relationship between the native Mexican people and new settlers.

Image via www.chantrellescatering.com

When Mr. Castle and I arrived we were greeted by one of the venue’s preferred photographers. I thought, “Oh, what a coincidence—I wonder why he’s here…?” It soon became clear after he spoke to us a bit, gave us his card, and left that he was there to meet us! That made us feel pretty special. We were then given a tour of the area outside the theater. We saw where the ceremony and cocktail hour would take place. It was very beautiful. They really set the mood with music playing out of speakers in the trees. It felt kind of like Disneyland…in a good way.

We then made our way inside and were brought into the theater, which has been converted into a banquet room. We walked into the room pictured below, minus the tables and chairs.

Image via www.carolinetran.net/blog/ / Photography by Caroline Tran

This picture is beautiful, but it doesn’t even do it justice. We were floored. My eyes immediately began watering. I couldn’t even speak I was so amazed at how breathtakingly beautiful this room was. And it used to be a theater! How perfect for Mr. Castle and me since theater is such a big part of our lives and what brought us together in the first place.

After we walked around the room a bit their preferred DJ, Entertainment Express, took over and gave us an awesome demo of what he could do with the venue’s sound and lighting system. It once again took our breath away. They have a bubble machine for the first dance, spotlights for your grand entrance, and if you want they can make your reception look like you’re in a club, complete with lasers and strobe lights.

We were there for about two hours, getting details and walking around. We left in a daze. We both obviously loved it, but it was way more expensive than the other venues. As we drove away I asked Mr. Castle said what he was thinking. I expected his response to be, “Well, it’s great, but for the price I don’t know,” or “Well, if we win the lotto we can get married there.” But surprisingly he said, “That’s it. I mean, we have to get married there.” I was shocked. I felt the same way, but I didn’t know if it was going to be possible.

So we went to talk to the man in charge, my dad. He has amazingly offered to fund his only daughter’s wedding. We showed my him the info and prices we got from all the venues. We didn’t push Padua, but we did tell him it was our favorite. We were very upfront and honest about the price differences. My dad looked at us and said, “I think you should go with the place you love. You only get married once, hopefully,” he laughed, “and I think you guys had a strong reaction to this place, so go for it.”

So with his blessing and approval we made our choice! We can’t wait to get married at the Padua Hills Theater!

Some more eye candy:

Image via www.chantrellescatering.com / Photography by Enchanted Portraiture / The ceremony location

Image via www.chantrellescatering.com / Photography by Enchanted Portraiture

Image via weddingchicks.com / Photography by Palos Studio / What it looks like at night!

I’m so excited! I now see that if we had picked any of the other places Padua would have always been in the back of our minds. Finding and finalizing our wedding venue was one of the most thrilling moments of this planning journey.

Anyone else walk into your venue and get the feeling of “Oh my gosh, this is it!?” Did it work out for you?