I am looking for a great wedding location in southern california. I had always wanted a destination wedding in Hawaii but unfortunately in doing that many of the guests we would want there couldn't afford to come so I am settling for somewhere here in Socal. I would like somewhere preferably with an ocean view, as tropical and romantic as possible. I prefer big and grand over small and charming. Give me any ideas in all price ranges,thanks!

Hi xmelissax. Several questions jump to mind: Approximately how many guests are you thinking you'll have? Also, what month and year is the wedding? Do you already have a caterer or are you looking for a venue with an in-house caterer? Even though you said all price ranges, might you have a max? I only ask because there are many gorgeous private lestates that can be rented, but they're not always realistic for most wedding budgets

Right now the date is still pretty far off. We're still in the first stages on planning and the first thing is to look into places to possibly have the wedding/reception and go from there. I am still open to different times of year. I'm going to look into in house catering vs. outside and there are going to be around 250 guests. Lets just say that money is not an option so any ideas you may have no matter how extravagent they may seem would be appreciated!

Sorry, hope I didn't sound too nosy or demanding with the questions I was just trying to narrow down the list since the answers do make a difference (especially the # of guests.)

Oops, looks like we were posting at the same time.

Shutters on the beach. Wonderful but good thing money isn't an option. Also, have you thought about Catalina Island?

Go to TheKnot.com and do a search on destination weddings.

Our son and his bridal unit did a forced march through wedding location options in greater LA and have settled on the Adamson House in Malibu, for their big day in '06. http://www.adamsonhouse.org/

There are several places in the South Bay with ocean views:

www.laventa.com
www.catalinaroom.com
www.verandasmb.com
www.oceantrails.com (now owned by The Donald)
www.wayfarerschapel.org
Good Luck!

I was going to suggest Wayfarers Chapel. The location of Ocean Trails is beautiful. A friend of mine used to be the golf pro there so I went there for an occasional lunch-(I don't play golf). The setting is breathtaking. Saw them setting up for a few weddings. I am sure you could get the same view at other venues in the Palos Verdes Pennisula.

The Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego came to mind immediately. It's definitely got the ocean view and a bit of a tropical feel. The Hotel Del is grand rather than quaint, and is the type of place where you could go back time and time again for anniversary weekends, etc.

Hotel del Coronado is the immediate idea. A bit farther up the coast but would fit the bill perfectly is Four Seasons Biltmore, just south of Santa Barbara (it's actually in Montecito). If you can consider that "SoCal" do have a look at it.

The Montage Resort in Laguna Beach is very beautiful, and ranked one of the very top resorts in the US by Conde Nast Traveler. If price isn't an option, this would be a great place to check out!
The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel is in a wonderful ocean front spot, too.
The St. Regis Monarch Beach is just across PCH from the beach and it is a really "grand" hotel...
Let us know what you choose!

We went to a beautiful wedding at the Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach...the hotel is right on the beach, nice rooms, and the reception was wonderful.

There are several counties in California that will deputize anyone and allow them to perform a marriage ceremony. I've seen friends married by a great grandma, a favorite uncle, a favorite schoolteacher shared by both the bride & groom, a son, and by the movie star Jimmy Stewart.

laguna beach is beautiful - that would be my recommendation. for the guests coming in, it's not too far from san diego so if they have kids, they could stay there for less expensive hotels.

I guess it's not technically southern Calif. but the wineries in Paso Robles and around Santa Ynez have some beautiful views (not ocean) and many can host weddings. More that I'd recommend in Paso but that's 4 hours from LAX (2 from Santa Barbara),

The view up in Palos Verdes is nice...my friend got married up there.

But a word of caution...depending on when you get married, we have june gloom...which can be anytime in the summer it seems! Also gets foggy in October. It can be perfect fair and sunny everywhere else, but about a mile from the coast, it's a thick haze...sometimes it's only right at the coast. The wedding I attended in PV was nice, but the ocean view was completely gone. Just gray haze.

The Ritz in Laguna is nice, but I think it's overrated. Currently it's going through renovation, and the rooms should be wonderful after that (I stayed there recently, and the older rooms are very outdated...stains on the sheets, etc). The other issue with that hotel is that people often complain it's wedding central...they may even schedule multiple weddings in one day.

There should be some other beautiful locales in Laguna though. I'm also not sure if the south facing beaches have as much gloom as our west facing ones do though. I remember sometimes long beach is clear when manhattan beach is not.

Good luck!

I got married last July at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. I recommend the Ritz because it's beautiful (overlooks the ocean) and it was SO EASY; we had 250 guests and the wedding planner (which the hotel requires) and catering department did all the heavy lifting, and the entire event was elegant and beautiful and just as I imagined it would be -- how many brides can say that?
That being said, the Ritz-Carlton IS part of the wedding industrial complex. On the Saturday we got married they held something like 8 other weddings! They have multiple (like 4 or 5) venues where they hold weddings and they will definitely schedule 2 a day per venue. It sounds like hell, but our spot (Pacific Promenade, or something like that) was actually removed from the main bit of the hotel and so we didn't see any other guests or weddings. So, if you do choose the Ritz, I recommend that location.

Other venue suggestions would be the Montage, a new resort in Laguna. There's also another huge, swanky resort whose name I can't remember.

My final advice: check out theknot.com regional board for Orange County, CA. Those women know EVERYTHING about weddings in Orange County, especially Laguna. And good luck!