This post is a little bit late. I meant to write it a week ago, but I haven't gotten around to it until now. Anyway, the happy day that I speak of was last Tuesday. The reason it was happy was because Felipe and I actually booked our wedding reception venue! That means we finally have a date!! We ended up going with the LA River Center & Gardens which means that the wedding is going to be a little later than we had hoped. It won't happen until November 2009, but there is so much going on right now for both of us that at least it feels like we have a little extra time to plan and keep saving. These past couple months have been going by so quickly that I know this next year will fly by. That kind of makes me nervous too because now that we set a date, it's like having a deadline and there are sooo many things to do before that deadline gets here! Oh well. We can do it. One step at a time. For the meantime, I'm still trying to get used to my new schedule with work/school. I'm working only 30 hours a week now, but I still feel like I'm on a full time schedule with 10 hours of class a week. Plus, there are the hours of driving time. I'm taking 2 classes at Cal State Long Beach for this semester. USC is making me take a couple of prerequisite courses since my undergrad major wasn't Chemical Engineering. The good thing is that they are letting me take those classes at another univ. So in an effort to save some money, I deferred USC classes until next semester (or maybe year) until I finish these prereqs. The downside is the driving to Long Beach twice a week, though. grr..
So life has been a bit crazy, but I prefer it this way. It keeps me focused. It just takes some adjusting just like anything else.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
The search for a venue
One of the first tasks that Felipe and I were faced with was choosing a date for the wedding. While the engagement officially marked the beginning of the planning process, we really had no clue about the 'when or where'. Since we are both still working full time, going to school part time, and saving money we really don't feel the need to rush anything. Yeah, it's exciting and I really can't wait to become Mrs. Murillo but we need to make the wiser decision for us; which means to continue doing what we're doing and do the planning little by little so that it won't be too stressful for anyone. Initially ,we've decided to aim for late summer/early fall 2009. But, we still want to have a set date to look forward to. We didn't want to choose a date and search for venues with only one date in mind because then if the place that we liked didn't have the date available, we'd be disappointed. Instead, we decided to tour venues and churches, choose our favorites, and choose a date based on their availability. The whole venue/church search and touring process has been quite time consuming, though! It's taken up a lot of our weekend time and hours of internet research & email. It has been enjoying, though, and it's cool to learn about all these cool places in or near Los Angeles that I never knew existed. Anyway, here's a quick run through of sites that we have visited.
The LA River Center & Gardens
This was one of the places that caught our attention from the beginning. It fits the look and feel for the wedding that we are aiming for. And, since it's not privately owned the rental fees are pretty cheap and (best of all) they allow you to bring your own catering, do your own equipment rental, and everything else that pretty much will save us from inflated prices at private venues!
I love the garden, open-air feel, arches, and fountains at this place. It's really perfect. The only downfall about this place is that every Saturday is booked straight into November 2009. :( We didn't expect to wait THAT long, especially since the cold weather will start creeping up about that time of year.
Next...Rancho Las Lomas
Absolutely, hands-down, my favorite, favorite, favorite one. It was perfect. The look, the feel, the natural beauty of this preserved Mexican land grant property.
They even had their own private zoo (white tigers and all)!
I should have known it was too good to be true. At a minimum $150 per person plus a hefty rental fee, this spot was a weeeee out of our budget. Come on people, we are young enginerds in debt trying to start our life on the right foot. Why is the wedding industry so cruel?
Felipe and I took a trip to downtown LA one weekend to visit some hotels in the area. We visited the Bonaventure hotel to check out the banquet hall. We've been to the hotel before and it is really nice and has the typical downtown-LA/trendy/classy feel to it. I didn't take pictures while in the hotel, but it's probably what you would imagine - a big, fancy reception hall. We found that the prices here were relatively reasonable..not the lowest, but possibly workable.
Another spot just down the street was the Millenium Biltmore. I had never been to this hotel before and I was amazed at how beautiful it was when I stepped inside. I can't believe I never knew this place existed in downtown.
Picture of one of the halls. Not the best quality. It reminded me of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, esp with the frescoes on the ceiling.
The super fancy and pretty banquet room...
Needless to say, this place was out of our budget. Moving on.....
Being the nerds that we are, we drowned our sorrows by making a stop to the Los Angeles Public Library which was right across the street from the Biltmore. It's one of my favorite places in LA.
You can actually rent part of the courtyard area adjacent to the cafe at the library for private events. But I don't think very many people would enjoy homeless people crashing the wedding.
Another place that we visited was a bit of a ways from LA. It was the Mission Inn in Riverside.
The place was gorgeous and Felipe and I both loved it. The prices were pretty reasonable for the type of venue that it was. The main downfall is that it is a little over 40 miles east of LA, which would be a long drive if we plan to have our church ceremony in LA.
The latest venue that I check out was a little privately owned property in Culver City. It used to be a smog/car shop and the owners fixed it up to be a hip and modern event venue.
I liked this place a lot. It's pretty unique, and they allow you to do your own catering and rentals. The main downfall is that the rental fee is just as much as any of the other nice places with a set rental fee. It just doesn't seem worth it for a place that is not quite as spacious.
And so that is where we are now. After all of that, we still don't have anything set in stone yet. I really can't wait to just pick a place and move on with the planning! For now, we are just trying to weight the pros & cons of our favorite venues while searching for others on the side. It is just so time consuming! (But still fun!) One day we will have a wedding day set. Hopefully soon...
The LA River Center & Gardens
This was one of the places that caught our attention from the beginning. It fits the look and feel for the wedding that we are aiming for. And, since it's not privately owned the rental fees are pretty cheap and (best of all) they allow you to bring your own catering, do your own equipment rental, and everything else that pretty much will save us from inflated prices at private venues!
I love the garden, open-air feel, arches, and fountains at this place. It's really perfect. The only downfall about this place is that every Saturday is booked straight into November 2009. :( We didn't expect to wait THAT long, especially since the cold weather will start creeping up about that time of year.
Next...Rancho Las Lomas
Absolutely, hands-down, my favorite, favorite, favorite one. It was perfect. The look, the feel, the natural beauty of this preserved Mexican land grant property.
They even had their own private zoo (white tigers and all)!
I should have known it was too good to be true. At a minimum $150 per person plus a hefty rental fee, this spot was a weeeee out of our budget. Come on people, we are young enginerds in debt trying to start our life on the right foot. Why is the wedding industry so cruel?
Felipe and I took a trip to downtown LA one weekend to visit some hotels in the area. We visited the Bonaventure hotel to check out the banquet hall. We've been to the hotel before and it is really nice and has the typical downtown-LA/trendy/classy feel to it. I didn't take pictures while in the hotel, but it's probably what you would imagine - a big, fancy reception hall. We found that the prices here were relatively reasonable..not the lowest, but possibly workable.
Another spot just down the street was the Millenium Biltmore. I had never been to this hotel before and I was amazed at how beautiful it was when I stepped inside. I can't believe I never knew this place existed in downtown.
Picture of one of the halls. Not the best quality. It reminded me of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, esp with the frescoes on the ceiling.
The super fancy and pretty banquet room...
Needless to say, this place was out of our budget. Moving on.....
Being the nerds that we are, we drowned our sorrows by making a stop to the Los Angeles Public Library which was right across the street from the Biltmore. It's one of my favorite places in LA.
You can actually rent part of the courtyard area adjacent to the cafe at the library for private events. But I don't think very many people would enjoy homeless people crashing the wedding.
Another place that we visited was a bit of a ways from LA. It was the Mission Inn in Riverside.
The place was gorgeous and Felipe and I both loved it. The prices were pretty reasonable for the type of venue that it was. The main downfall is that it is a little over 40 miles east of LA, which would be a long drive if we plan to have our church ceremony in LA.
The latest venue that I check out was a little privately owned property in Culver City. It used to be a smog/car shop and the owners fixed it up to be a hip and modern event venue.
I liked this place a lot. It's pretty unique, and they allow you to do your own catering and rentals. The main downfall is that the rental fee is just as much as any of the other nice places with a set rental fee. It just doesn't seem worth it for a place that is not quite as spacious.
And so that is where we are now. After all of that, we still don't have anything set in stone yet. I really can't wait to just pick a place and move on with the planning! For now, we are just trying to weight the pros & cons of our favorite venues while searching for others on the side. It is just so time consuming! (But still fun!) One day we will have a wedding day set. Hopefully soon...
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