Venue detail - Occasions at Laguna Village, Laguna Beach, California

I'm really happy that my overview post on Southern California oceanfront wedding venues seems to be a great resource for planning brides! In light of that and the pictures on my harddrive sitting around gathering dust, I thought I would post more thorough reviews and pictures of the wedding sites that I visited. When I was planning, I wanted to see the sites from every possible angle before visiting. And it always ended up feeling/looking different from the photos when I visited. So I thought I'd share some of that with you!

First up.. Occasions at Laguna Village in Laguna Beach, California.

Overview: A gorgeous venue in Laguna Beach that plants you right on top of the ocean. No beach and sand in front of you, just waves out to the horizon.

Details: Completely outdoors. Max of ~175 people.

Packages: All inclusive, even things like DJ, cake, centerpieces, parking lot, coordinator, favors, and table umbrellas. Things that AREN'T included are drinks, personal flowers, photographer, and officiant.

Costs: $130-230pp BEFORE drinks/bar and site fees. Site fees range from $1,500-$4,800 depending on time of day/week.

Other: You can do ceremony-only or reception-only packages. Also, I can't remember what they do in the event of rain. Your tables all have umbrellas, and I'm sure I asked, but I can't remember! Rain is uncommon but always a possibility, so make sure you check weather forecasts and ask!

Bottom line: It's the most gorgeous ocean venue you could really find, with the ceremony and reception on a patio literally on top of the ocean. Surprisingly, it was not immediately out of reach as far as pricing goes, but it was still more than we were willing to go over our budget. Their package was all-inclusive all the way down to the cake and favors, so that is super convenient for someone who doesn't want to shop around. However, I knew my wedding was going to be crazily customized, so even though they try to allow as much customization as possible, it wouldn't have worked for me. Had I been willing to go over-budget and give up a lot of customization, I would have gone with Occasions for sure.

Pros:

- The view is breathtaking, especially at sunset. You won't find a venue like this anywhere else! All other ocean-front venues are either further away from the ocean, or on the beach itself, or marry you on the ocean and then put you in a windowless reception venue.

- Venue is very fancy. It feels like a fairytale!

- Packages are very convenient and nearly all-inclusive. Takes a lot of pressure off from finding your own vendors.

- One on-site bridal waiting room, which is small. One party will have to get ready somewhere else!

- You can go down to the sand for wedding photos!

Cons:

- Windy, cold, and high potential to be overcast. (Same for all ocean-front venues)

- No private parking lot, but a closeby (walking distance) lot is included in the fee.

- Packages include nearly everything without too much wiggle room. For example, you can customize the look of your favors, but they have to be molded chocolates.)

- Pricey

- Heat lamps are an additional cost, if necessary

- There's a restaurant with an outdoor dining area that overlooks the venue. (See photo) So you will have random people watching your wedding from above. Other than that, it's private.

- Weddings all have to end by 10pm at the latest, due to Laguna Beach city law. However, there is a bar upstairs that is open later!

- Four hours total for ceremony & reception.

(DISCLAIMER: All my information is from 2009. So obviously things may have changed since then!)

Photos:

To help orient you for these photos, here's a professionally produced floor plan:

On the left is your ceremony with gazebo and astroturf! Chairs are set right on the grass. (I think if you're over a certain guest count, they'll actually set up the aisle in the reception area and then clear it for tables.)

To the left of the previous photo, you can see how close the people eating at the restaurant will be to the ceremony. (To the left is the bar.)

To the right of the venue, the main reception area.

View from the circular platform of the reception area, looking the other way. Note the stairs in the back - the guests and wedding party has to come down these steps. There is a handicap elevator.

View on an overcast day!

Overhead view of reception area. When you're at ground level, you can't really see people on the beach unless you look over, which is nice.

Closeup view of the steps, also overlooking the ceremony site.

See more photos of live weddings, here!

- Occasions at Laguna Village gallery

- Carly Daniel Photography

- Blue Silver Photography

- Furious Photographer

- Gavin Photography's overview of photographic opportunities at the venue

Got questions or corrections? Comment below!

Wedding ring shopping in downtown Los Angeles

Wedding ring shopping in downtown Los Angeles



To anyone who may be reading this and does not live in driving distance of Los Angeles, I apologize for the envy that this post may cause!

Downtown Los Angeles is crisscrossed with one-way streets, smog, hobos, and best of all, tons and tons of specialized shopping districts that sell everything you'd need for a wedding at wholesale cost. This includes the fabric district, flower district, jewelry district, wholesale crafts, seamstresses, and other stores that sell feather, beads, toys, veils, petticoats, lingerie, clothes, sunglasses.. you name it!!

The jewelry district is a FANTASTIC place to shop, as it is littered with 15+ story buildings packed with jewelry shops on every floor. The prices are unbeatable, and you can buy anything from rings you see at Robbins Bros, to loose diamonds, to custom created pieces. You can even have your existing rings redesigned!

First and most importantly, RESEARCH before you go. There are HUNDREDS of jewelry shops, and after awhile they all look the same. And how do you really know that what you're looking at is real gold, or even real diamonds? The best way to get around this is to go with a trusted vendor. Google and Yelp are your best friends! It's also great to visit a Robbins Bros or other chain to get an idea of what you like first. It'll also give you a better appreciation of how much money you're saving!

Here are the places I visited (parking at Pershing Square):

(1) Bridal Rings Company - My favorite of the bunch. Really professional store with great prices and selection. It's Robbins Bros-ish in that a sales person generally gets assigned to help you, but they don't pressure you at all. They're more than happy to give you any information you need and have you come back later. They can also customize something to order. At this moment, there's a Yelp discount for 5% or $50 off. Yelp link

(2) Icing on the Ring - A wide variety of rings on display - traditional bands, rings with various stones, white/yellow gold fused bands, non-traditional bands with interconnected leaves/flowers, etc. They gave some really great practical advice - I was really interested in the bands with leaves and flowers, but they were very honest in telling me that rings like that don't last as long as traditional bands, especially if I was rough on my rings (and I am!). Yelp link

(3) Eli's Jewelry - Fantastic family run store. They had a good selection, but the true differentiator of Eli's was the beautiful custom design work that the sons of the family do. While we were shopping there, one of the sons showed us his handiwork on a engagement ring and wedding band set. It was meticulously designed and beautifully crafted, with each angle of the band taken into consideration. We were really impressed and will definitely come to Debebians for a custom piece (or to add on to my engagement ring for a future anniversary) in the future!Yelp link

(4) Debebians - The people who helped us at Debebians were GREAT - young, friendly, and professional. At the time, they didn't have a store yet, so they were totally happy with us sending in a whole list of rings we wanted to see. When we went in to their office, they had all the rings in a little display tray in the proper sizes, and they were so nice and accommodating. We did try to get a customized ring from them, however, and whether it was the fault of us not drawing out a detailed diagram of what we wanted or their own quality issues, it didn't come out as expected. However, they were totally willing to rework the ring as much as needed, and in the end gave us a full refund with no hassle because it just didn't match up to our specifications. I honestly DO recommend them for their quality and selection, however. They had a lot of rings that we had seen at Robbins Bros for a lot cheaper.

(5) Titanium Kay - GREAT selection. They had a ton of men's rings that we had not seen anywhere else, and we looked all over! The salesperson who helped us was not great at English, but they were really organized in that we brought in a list of rings we liked from their website and they pulled each one for us to examine. Yelp link


Tips:
1. Plan your trip by researching trusted vendors, and make a list of places & addresses to go. I wouldn't recommend just dropping in without at least a starting point. Once you're there, feel free to wander in to stores that catch your eye, but remember that you're doing so without a good idea of if they're legit!
2. Ask how you can make a particular piece of jewelry cheaper. Everyone I spoke to was more than willing to quote prices based on changing out the metal, or removing the engraving, or a variety of other options.
3. Check if they have a service plan for cleaning or resizing!
4. Offer to pay in CASH. A lot of vendors will comp the tax.
5. If you plan to customize a ring, get detailed information on how the vendor goes about making the actual ring. For instance, will they show you a drawing? Will they make a 3D model on a computer, and then a wax/plastic version for review before casting the actual ring?
6. Take a photo of the rings on your fingers. Even better if you can put a few different rings on your fingers and have them all in one photo! Like so! Isn't it a nice and easy comparison?

7. Bring a notebook and write down EVERYTHING - price, style #, designer, diamond size, etc. You'll see so many that you'll just forget.

As for me, I did the rounds at Robbins Bros and a few other stores before going downtown. The rings we ended up are:

Engagement ring (purchased online at Blue Nile): Heart-cut diamond on a white gold band
Bride's ring (first seen at Bridal Rings Company but bought elsewhere): Infinity band with pave set diamonds, white gold
Groom's ring (purchased at Robbins Bros): White gold with rectangular cutouts, designed by Frederick Goldman




Lastly, here's a very approximate map, including where I parked and the 5 stores named above. HAPPY HUNTING!