Finding the perfect venue

As soon as we got engaged, David and I promised we would give ourselves some time before we started wedding planning. Yeah, that lasted all of about a week after I got home. It was good in theory but when everyone asks you when and where the big event is going to happen, you start to feel like a slacker for not having an answer... and I have never been good with that feeling.

So, we (ok, I) went off and running to answer this question. I immediately looked up every exotic location I could think of. My top choices were amazing, but not realistic.

1. Buglari hotel's water wedding venue in Bali, Indonesia:

2. Amanyara on Turks & Caicos

3. Villa d'Este in Lake Como, Italy

Yes, perfect for the Princesa but then the Princesa realized she is a princesa in nickname only and the lack of title and sufficient royal funding would have to keep her closer to home. So I scaled back and at least started looking just in the States... but at this point, I was still swooning over fairly unrealistic choices given that we do actually have a budget that revolves around us not going into debt.

1. Ritz at Laguna Niguel, CA

2. Amangani (part of the same hotel chain as Amanyara above) in Jackson Hole, WY

3. Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, CA

Finally, I gave in to the reality of our cash flow situation and started looking at site after site in the wedding magazines and wedding websites (www.herecomestheguide.com has been a big help). In Northern California, people tend to gravitate to the wineries. While they're pretty, I just haven't felt drawn to them the way other people seem to be. If they had a beautiful garden or a nice cliff-top venue overlooking the valley, I would consider it but I haven't been getting really excited about anything (except one beautiful garden spot - Beaulieu Gardens - that was insanely expensive).

So David and I have decided we should narrow the field a bit so we can visit a few places that we may want to have the wedding for reals. I have started looking up and down California for some places we could visit on a road trip. I really want to be warm... that's really all I ask. Unfortunately, that rules out the city... "coldest winter is the summer in SF" and all that good stuff. Oh, and I'd like it to have beautiful views so we have beautiful vistas to enjoy and pictures to remember the moment forever (that's where it starts getting tougher). So far, a few places have really caught my eye... here are my top 2 and then I need to figure out the rest.

San Ysidro Ranch

Rancho Chiquita

There is definitely still the possibility that we eschew the whole "big" wedding thing - big in quotes b/c we're thinking only 80 people at the absolute max and probably more like 60 in reality. Sometimes it seems ridiculous to spend so much on one day when that means we can't save for things like the honeymoon, a house, kids, etc. Every time I feel overwhelmed with this process (often), that options looks and feels so good.

So fingers crossed that we figure out the venue situation soon... probably more to come on that.