location location location

For months before we got engaged I envisioned an outdoor wedding with a short dress, Tom in a seersucker suit and a picnic reception. It sounded fun and casual, very relaxed and laid back. Neither of us are very showy people. So an extravagant affair with a tux and beaded dress really never was part of my plan. With that in mind I thought of every possible place in the bay area. The early runner was the General's Residence on Fort Mason. 

Beautiful isn't it? I love the look it has as you drive up. It would make for some great pictures. 

photo from fort mason 

Even more I loved that this window looks out on to a huge lawn that looks right over the spot we got engaged. Which if you read the engagement post you know is also a spot from our first date. I thought it would be really cute to get married here and tie balloons on the pier where we got engaged. While this place had the ideal view it was a little rundown and not the ideal price tag. So we kept looking. 

photo from fort mason

We looked into the presido which has a handful of venues you can use for weddings. This log cabin was one option. I was drawn to it because I saw pictures of other wedding here and they were really pretty.

Plus this outdoor area would be great for lawn games. Tom was never sold. It was too rustic and didn't look very nice on the inside. Plus the backdrop of the lawn was freeway construction. You can't tell from this photo but it was there. This location is also extremely far away from everything and since the majority of the guests would be coming from out of town it wasn't really going to convenient. Not to mention that while this place was cheaper than Fort Mason it wasn't by a lot. 

With the idea of an outdoor wedding starting to come together for both of us we started talking about the idea of leaving the bay area for the wedding. San Francisco has a couple major draw backs as a wedding location. The first is what you get for the money isn't a lot. The second, you can't count on the weather. It might be nice and sunny or it might be socked in with fog and freezing. Since I am always cold that sounded horrible and certainly not the right setting for a fun outdoor wedding. So we headed to San Diego. 

We considered a couple places but only looked at one. When we pulled into San Dieguito park and saw the wedding gazebo in person we were happy and ready to commit.  

We went and looked at the park then went and got Jersey Mike's Subs and came back to have a picnic on the lawn. As we pulled out of the parking lot on our way to Michael's to buy a stamp for the save the date postcards I booked the gazebo and the picnic area for May 19, 2012. The park is near Del Mar which is a beautiful beach area of southern California. You can almost count on the fact that the weather will be beautiful in San Diego during May. 

For an idea on what the pricing is like in the bay area: 

Our whole wedding cost just a little more than the rental of the General's residence.

The combined cost of the caterer, park and chair rental was equal to the log cabin

The wedding gazebo and picnic area were under $1,000

We ended up with a destination wedding. The day we booked the park was in the middle of January. 130 days before our big day. The location turned out beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. We really made the right choice and had the perfect location for the wedding we wanted to have.

 Next week is the big announcement and details on DIY May-nia.

brought to you by myself, Ashley from The HumberHome Project, Kelly from Corner of Main, and Melanie from Mailbox Journey. More details next Monday!