Dear Ms. Awesome…
Yo peeps! I got this email a few days back and instead of just responding to it myself I decided to post it here in the hopes that you all will pitch in and help M find an awesome location! LA venue hunting on a budget is the pits and so the more brains and bloggers who pitch in the quicker we can find M a location and get her on her way to being hitched! Here’s her note and my response. Feel free to chime in. Pretty Please?
Dear Ms. Awesome,
I just stumbled on your blog this morning will google-ing LA DIY-style locations. Now I can’t stop reading. Our wedding style was seriously separated at birth. I’ve got the Fabric flower headpeice, the short white dress, the food trucks, the flower market trip all on my inspiration/planning board. The future Mr. & I are shooting for an October 2010 wedding but still cannot nail down a venue. Arrg!
Would you mind telling me about the prices you were quoted for The Wilson Harding Clubhouse and any other reason you didn’t chose them? I live in Los Feliz and have always had a place in my heart for Griffith Park weddings & quinceneras.
My dream location was also Marvimon – but my budget is teeny.
I thought a downtown location was perfect too but our ceremony will be at our church in Studio City and we’ll be hosting out of towners who have already expressed to me how nervous they are about LA freeways. With the Sportsmans Lodge newly re-opened, that would sure be easy, but limit our catering/bar choices drastically.
Another top pick is the Eagle Rock Art Center, but they haven’t gotten back to me.
I’m sorry to dump my issues on you, but after trolling the wedding blogs for months, you’re the first whose opinion I feel I can trust because your aesthetic is so dead-on. My mom is no help (she comes from the hippie mindset of why have a wedding reception at all when you can order sandwiches and a keg and call it a party). My bridesmaids all live out of town.
Thank you for your time. Hope to hear (commiserate with) soon,
M.
Yo M!
Flattery will get you everywhere…First off thanks for the awesome email and congratulations on being our wedding doppelganger! Clearly you’re a lady with great taste!
Second- your mom sounds effing awesome!
Now to get down to the brass tacks and find you an affordable and awesome LA location for your October 2010 wedding reception. Preferably this perfect location will be cheap, aesthetically awesome, and near studio city or easily accessible for your scaredy cat out-of-towners too right? Yeesh girl! That’s one tall order. Here are my thoughts:
Option #1
Griffith Park is sweeeeeeeeeeet! And I’ve heard rumors that you can throw an awesome party in the park for only $400!! Not sure if that’s true, but I heard that delightful rumor here, so maybe you can verify and let us know? And check out the gorgeous wedding photographs while you’re there! The drawback (or why is it only $400?) is that I’m pretty sure you can’t booze it up or be too loud with this park option, so if you’re a boozy loudmouth like moi then keep reading.
Option#2
Griffith Park- The Wilson Harding Clubhouse. I think that price wise it was in the $1600 for 4-6 hours range plus a host of miscellaneous other fees. It wasn’t too bad honestly, but girl it’s no Marvimon!
Option #3
Box Eight. Go check out one of my fav LA wedding bloggers, Bowie Bride, and all she has to say about her awesome location here, and here! It’s definitely the budget Marvimon (but in a good way)- all the Marvimon flavor at less than 1/3 the price! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and had we not already booked Heritage Square we’d so be there.
Box Eight is downtown though which we know is not exactly next to Studio City…
May I suggest public transit?? How scared are these scaredy-cat out-of-towners is the real question? Mid-west scaredy cats might wanna skip this one, but if your guests are flying in from anywhere else they just might jump on this option and even find it to be a redeeming quality for this dear city of ours.
If taking public transit is too crazy then I have to go with Dana over at Broke-Ass-Bride and recommend this:
(Go see the rest of the drop-dead, oh-my-god-gorgeous photos here.)
Add a double decker to the mix and you can have your damn reception anywhere you like!
And please do let me know what you find/where you end up!
Sincerely
your honorary local bridesmaid
aka.
ms. Awesome
Thank you so much for being my honorary local bridesmaid. After much back & forth, the future Mr. & I have settled on a reception in the church hall. And by settle, I don’t mean begrudgingly, but peacefully, and stresslessly. The church is giving us an amazing deal and we can decorate just as we’d like. It’s truly the blank canvas we were looking for and it was right under our noses the entire time.
We’re getting awfully excited now and I’ve got even more inspiration thanks to you and your blogroll. I’ll keep you gals posted.
Now… I just need to find the right afterparty location….
Yay! I’m so glad that you found a reception locale that you’re happy & excited about! Can’t wait to hear about your planning adventures! Ane we’re ALL about the afterparty!