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!

Southern California wedding venues

I am crazy about reading people's reviews and experiences with things I'm considering spending money on, and there was certainly no exception with wedding planning! I used my mad Google-fu to conjure up vendor reviews and impressions from all over the internet when making my decisions. So I decided to let myself continue to be long-winded and overly detailed and share my wedding venue impressions with you! This will really only be relevant to southern California (Los Angeles in particular) brides who are interested in oceanfront venues. But I hope someone can stumble across this and learn something! These are just *my* personal impressions of the venues and their relation to what I was looking for, but by no means were any of these bad places. You might just find something you like in one of these!

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Venue reviews:

When we started looking at venues, our number one leading requirement was an oceanfront venue. And I don't mean on the beach or just an "ocean view", but right on the water. So our search proceeded keeping this in mind, looking up and down the southern California coast until we finally settled on our venue... which ended up not having even an ocean view at all!


1) Occasions at Laguna Village (Laguna Beach)- 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. Click here for my more detailed review of Occasions, with more photos!


2) Surf and Sand Resort (Laguna Beach)- It was a nice venue, with great lounging areas and overall an upscale hotel in general. However, I found it to be way overpriced and not what I wanted at all. The wedding site was really just a patio overlooking the ocean in front of three or so hotel rooms, which they require you rent for the wedding for a few hundred dollars apiece. The reception venue was also just a generic hotel ballroom, and I didn't want to pay money to only get married by the ocean and not be able to see it throughout my reception.


3) Best Western Shore Cliff Lodge (Pismo Beach)- This venue had both the reception and ceremony sites right on the cliffs and had reasonable prices for everything. We ended up deciding that we wanted to do something local, as most of our guests are in southern California.


4) The Cliffs Resort (Pismo Beach)- Really nice, fancy venue, which also ended up being overbudget. It was a really nice hotel with great spots for the ceremony and reception on grassy fields in front of the ocean and a classy cocktail hour space. But again, for the same reason above, we decided not to have our wedding in Pismo Beach.



5) The Best Western Shelter Cove Lodge (Pismo Beach)- I actually hadn't even planned on visiting this venue since they only had enough space for like, 70 people for ceremony only. But we ended up driving past it and popped in. They have two ceremony sites, one of which was the most killer 25 person ceremony site ever. It was basically just this little gazebo on the cliffs that you have to walk to on a really narrow walkway thing. It was totally epic, but obviously not what we were looking for.


6) Wayfarers Chapel (Palos Verdes)- SO gorgeous. I've lived in Palos Verdes my entire life and yet I'd never been to Wayfarer's Chapel! It was amazing.. the trees, ocean breeze, and the unique wooden architecture gave this place such a tranquil feeling. But the real deal-killer was the fact that it only allowed 100 people and that they book you in very tight timeslots, usually with other wedding parties coming in before and after you. While I'm sure the ceremony is boring to some people and that some guests may opt out of the ceremony, I feel like I still want to give everyone invited the opportunity to see it. I attended a cousin's reception where the actual wedding had already taken place earlier that day (they did the traditional Chinese 'groom visits the bride's house' dealie), and while it was wonderful to celebrate with them at the reception, I feel like I really missed out on the actual "wedding".


7) Chart House (Redondo Beach)- Really, really nice place for a good price. It's a restaurant right on the beach and there's even an option to do the ceremony right outside on the sand. The cost was pretty much just the cost of the entrees; there was only a very minimal fee that covered linens and non-alcoholic drinks and cake and staff. (What a nice change from all these other wedding venues that way overcharge for food!) It would have been a very nice reception except for a few things. There was a very strong smell of tar when we were there (and we also got tar on our shoes walking around outside). The venue also had a restaurant layout, with the tables separated in sections around the entire floor. The dance floor was off to the side, so there wasn't a central place to do things where the guests could watch from their table. The Yelp reviews for the food at this place weren't so hot either.


8) Malibu West Beach Club (Malibu)- The best cost savings venue that we looked at, but ultimately it was not a very inspiring venue for me. It's basically just a main room and a large patio area, and they include all tables and chairs. There's quite a stretch of beach in front of the beach club where the public can mill around and get in your wedding photos, and also this huge bright blue/yellow colored playground in plain view on the beach. They allow you to BYO food/alcohol, which is an enormous cost savings. You do, however, have to rent parking space at a nearby parking lot for guests.



9) Malibu Nature Preserve (Malibu)- Really, really cool nature-y spot. There were ~3-4 different areas where you could have your ceremony/reception, including this AMAZING cliff area that they shuttle all your guests up to for a 360 panoramic view of Malibu. They also had areas where you could marry in a grassy field or in front of beautiful trees. It felt really secluded, and the staff was really nice. You do have to rent tables/chairs/etc from an outside party.


10) Calamigos Ranch (Malibu)- The place we ended up going with, despite the complete lack of ocean view! calamigos Ranch is this 160-acre "ranch" that's basically a big event space. There's about 4 or so different areas you could have an event in, each completely isolated from each other so that they could even host events simultaneously with no overlap! They had lights strung up in the trees through the entire complex, and so much of the venue was pre-decorated to the point where you'd only need minimal decorations of your own. The price was great, the staff was great, and the venue was so tranquil and picturesque that I couldn't stop thinking about it after we saw it.


11) Rancho Del Cielo (Malibu)- LOVELY venue high up in Malibu with a breathtaking 360 degree view. Very charming, isolated venue where you basically get the house & grounds of the house for your exclusive use for a day. I really envy the lady who gets to live there! The people here were the nicest wedding venue people we came across; they would have been wonderfully pleasant to coordinate with, as they were just so excited about weddings and the unique things they had seen couples married at their venue do. However, all the venue really has is the site; you have to pay for parking lot rentals, shuttle buses, tables/chairs/etc, catering, and everything else in addition to the pricey venue cost. It ended up being way too expensive for us.

Also two places I didn't end up visiting (as it would have been around the same price as Calamigos and we were pretty much in love with it already) - Ambassador Mansion & Gardens in Pasadena, and Villa del Sol d'Oro (Alverno Villa) in Sierra Madre.