Whimsical Seaside Wedding at Scripps Seaside Forum

"Our wedding was better than how we ever envisioned it. Sam and I really wanted our wedding to be fun and whimsical - like us! Which is evident in every detail of our wedding. We wanted to take traditional elements of weddings and put a modern twist on them in ways that we thought people could really enjoy. When we thought about our wedding we wanted it to be so fun but cultivate a feeling of intimacy with all of our friends and family. Sam and I have an amazing group of people around us and so our vision for our wedding was for our guests to have an amazing time and feel like they are part of our love story ( through music, food, dancing, drinks, atmosphere, desserts, etc.) Sam and I are both originally from Las Vegas but both of us went to college in Southern California. We knew that San Diego was the perfect place to get married as it wasn't too far from most of our friends and family but still gave us a destination wedding. La Jolla is beautiful and we wanted our guests to feel like they were in vacation mode while they were celebrating with us."

How did you choose your wedding venue? Before Sam and I even got engaged, my sister had to run an errand for one of the weddings she had coming up. After stepping foot on one wedding venue site, it led to another and another before you knew it we were driving around San Diego with me pretending to be my sister's client. The last venue we stopped at was Scripps Seaside Forum and as we were pulling up my sister said, I have a feeling this is going to be it. It was. It quite literally took my breath away. I loved that it was everything good about a beach wedding (the ocean and sunset and cool breeze) without the sand! I loved that it was a venue that was on the grass overlooking the water - there were some privacy and intimacy to that. And most of all - I loved that there was a place to go after the ceremony that was indoors! Sam and I are big on comfort so as much as we wanted to be married outside by the water - we also wanted to be able to create an ambiance inside that would allow for maximum dancing and where people could be comfortable eating their food and drinking. It's amazing because you are technically inside but there is a glass door on the back wall that makes you feel like you are beachside (you're just warmer and cozier). :)

Tell us about your wedding cake? Again, we didn't want to do the traditional wedding cake for everyone because there are so many more fun dessert options! So we did a donut wall and dessert bar. We had a variety of donuts, cake pops, bars, cookies, etc. For cutting, Sam and I wanted a funfetti cake. Yes - we literally had a funfetti wedding cake (but it was beautiful and tasteful (not to mention tasty). I found our cake topper on Etsy and it "said" always. This cake topper was an easy choice because Sam and I are huge Harry Potter fans and "always" is a line from the last book/movie where we find out that a character has loved another character for his whole life. The line is ' After all this time' and he responds, "Always."

What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip? The guest experience!!! Of course, this was "our day" but we honestly saw this as "OUR day" - meaning a day to celebrate with ALL of our loved ones. We knew all of our guests were coming from around the country to celebrate with us in San Diego so we wanted to make sure they had the best weekend. We gave recommendations on things to do when they weren't at the wedding, made sure we recommended hotels that were close by our venue (got room blocks when we could) our food, bar, and decor were all decided upon with the guest experience in mind. We even had pashminas handy because it was by the water and we didn't want anyone to be cold! Also, when it came to food and drink - we wanted people to feel taken care of! We didn't like the idea of the traditional chicken or beef and we wanted to serve food that would be more fun/embody the foods that Sam and I love! This meant we HAD to do a pizza station - we had multiple flatbread options (meat + veggie) with a summer salad. Another station was chicken and waffles with sweet potato fries. Then lastly, we had a sliders station (beef or pork) with lemon and garlic roasted brussel sprouts. We also did a selection of beer and wine with signature cocktails. I had a blackberry margarita (with blackberries to garnish) and Sam had a Moscow Mule. In addition to tray passed champagne with lavender sprigs. For our bridal party, we booked a party bus to pick the boys up - come get the girls from our house - and bring us all to the venue (after Sam and I did our first look). During our first look, the bridal party got to stay on the party bus with drinks + music. It was apparently really fun and a small portion of me wishes I didn't miss it!!!

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Whimsical Seaside Wedding at Scripps Seaside Forum