Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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hey girlies :)…and guys :stuck_out_tongue:

since i’m new to this forum…and just had my baath paki last week, i figured i’d come here and seek you help :). i’m trying to look for venues to have a mehndi/wedding in the los angeles and orange county areas. tentative dates i’m looking for are the 4th of july weekend and thanksgiving. i’ve called a lot of banquet halls and gathered information…but its all conflicting and very confusing! i don’t know if they’re overcharging me and quoting me outragous prices since i have no clue! the cheapest quote i got was $9000 including food, service, hall, decorations and cake. the most expensive i got was $85/person for the same services.

how much do hotels such as hilton, doubletree, embassy suites cost for 250-300 guests? how much do caterers such as shahnawaz, bismillah, al watan charge for food and appetizers? what about the cake and photographers? any suggestions for the location, caterer, photos, hair/makeup/mehndi?? my budget is around $15k..is that too much or too little to have a wedding with approximately 250-300 guests?

also, is there any reeeeeeeally cheap/free places to hold a mehndi? i was thinking a community center somewhere but don’t know of any. where did you guys have your mehndi and wedding in the so cal area???

Please Help!!

…i’ll invite you to my shaadi if you do :slight_smile:

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

i wedding for that many with everything will be 40k at the least. good luck with 15k

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

$9000 sounds about right...we are planning a reception for 100 guests..and i ve been quoted $10000(ave) thats just the food and beverage min....if you are looking at the major hotels...they dont allow outside catering..but you can ask if their chef can cook pakistani food or not...most will say yes....you can check out theknot.com for a listing of local photographers/videographers/florists/decorators etc. They should have their individual pricing listed...for a mehndi venue..check out the local botanic gardens..they are usually reasonable..plus it looks pretty...dont go with a boring hall... :) goodluck

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

for 300 guests..you ll be paying around 10-15000 for just the food/night!!

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

it will be like this:
food and venue: 10,000-15k

photographer: 3-5k (for cheapest)
florist (for centerpeices and stage): 6-8k (cheapest)
dj: 600-800
invittions: 200-300

so itll be fro like 25k-31000 AT THE LEAST then factor in clothes, jewerly, favors, etc. this does not include mehndi day rental and food and stuff

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

I work for Marriott and we usually qoute people 10k for our ballroom. It accomodates upto 300 people and we do allow outside catering, however, there is a fee charged for the chef using the 'hallway' for setups etc. So I guess that would be the average cost you're looking at for a wedding at a big hotel. But there are some nice private wedding venues you can contact.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

$9000 for all that is a great price for that many guests... if you go to a hotel, it will be more. private venues are great but they're not all-in-one, so you would most likely have to outsource your catering, florists, stage, music, etc. to different vendors. since you're so confused, i'd suggest contacting a wedding planner and having an initial consultation with them regarding your best options. you don't have to hire them but you may be able to get a better sense of cost and vendors out there to go and do it by yourself.

shay, does the 10K account for everything, or just the venue? what about flowers, other decor, music, favors, cake, etc?

pakifairy: your other estimates are pretty close, except, i'd say the dj might be a touch more, and the invites will also be more, depending on whether you get them made from pakistan or somewhere in the US.

but for flowers $1000-$2000 should be enough, i'd think....

how elaborate a stage are you planning, nabz?

we had around 33 centrepieces (3 per table plus a couple of extra ones for the card table), 6 bouquets, and 7 boutonnieres and 3 corsages, and only orchids for the centerpieces and a mix of orchids and roses for the rest, and that came out to $1150 all in. im telling you this to illustrate that you can definitely find someone who can do your flowers for much less than 6-8K.
ask for seasonal flowers to keep the cost down.

also, your wedding is on a long weekend in july. this is prime-time for weddings and rates go up because many weddings will be happening then. so unfortunately, you're going to be paying a lot more than someone who gets married in "off-season" which is october to april. this also means you need to start booking your vendors asap... if you leave it too late you're going to have little choice to work with which might mean you have to pay higher prices.

traditionally, you pay less for events on friday and sunday... is there some way you could accommodate this into your schedule? ours was on a long weekend in august, so we had our mehendi on friday night and shaadi on sunday and since monday was off, it worked out beautifully and we saved money on both nights.

i'd say do tons of research, keep calling people, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate, and stick to your budget. you will have a fab wedding! :)

start by making a list of priorities and where you most want to spend your money, and then go from there. and remember, the best and most efficient way of cutting costs, is to cut the guest list!

can you tell im shifting careers to event management? :p

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

thanks for all the helpful info girls :).

at this point, i'm really just trying to find a venue and food for under $10k. my budget is somewhat flexible, but right now i'm concentrating on finding a decent place. i'd like to bring outside caterers to the venue so most likely i'll look for banquet halls rather than hotels which allow food. do you girls know how much food caterers like bismillah and such charge per head? does $15 sound reasonable? i want to have an idea before i call them and ask for quotes.

as for florists...i'm thinking i can come up with something for the centerpieces myself and save money. i would want someone to set up the stage though. one of my friends said she paid $1000 to have her stage set up, including the background and fancy chairs. she had to pay extra for the bouquets to decorate the stage. is that too cheap or can you have something look nice for that much?

invitations, favors, clothes and jewelry will be from pakistan so i'm not adding those costs to my budget at this time.

as for photographer...i know a lot of people have used Samson Pro and i've seen his work and it looks pretty decent. any suggestions for other photographers who are reasonably priced or is he one of the best?

who do you girls suggest for getting mehndi and makeup/hair? how much should i expect to pay for mehndi and do you know of any good artists? i know MAC is recommended over and over for makeup, but do you think they can emulate the makeup style of allenora and ather and shahzad?

thanks so much ladies :)

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

this site might helpful in the search photographers - you’ll probably be able to find a price range to work with - http://www.wpja.com/

for the florists, well you can come up with something yourself, definitely in terms of ideas, but i would not recommend doing them yourself- you’ll have a lot going on and assembling centrepieces will be the last thing you want to do on the night before/the morning of your wedding.

if you have trusted girlfriends and relatives who are willing to help out, then definitely you can explain your ideas, practice a couple of times with them, and then leave it to them to assemble, deliver and set up.

if you’re doing them yourself, try to find a wholesale flower market near you since you’ll be buying flowers in bulk.

the cost of your stage sounds good but i would negotiate so they throw in the stage bouquets too. or you can ask them to do a mix of real flowers and silk flowers to save additionally. letting a vendor know you really like their work but are on a fixed budget and is there any way they can work with you… that worked like a charm for me and the hubs when we were making our rounds! :slight_smile:

$15-$20 a head sounds good for caterers but i’m not in your area so i dont know what the average is there. in the end, it really comes down to the menu you choose. the more items and the more elaborate the items are, the higher the price. again, though, anything is negotiable.

MAC would work if you found a desi makeup artist working for MAC because she’d probably be aware of the intensity of the makeup compared to a gori bride. otherwise, i’d suggest having a trial with your MAC makeup artist of choice, showing them lots of makeup pics of the kind you like in desi brides, and coaching them on the look you’re going for as they work on you. it might be helpful to tell them you’re looking more for fashion photography/runway makeup than for a wedding. or you could save the hassle and find a desi parlour in your area.

and of course, one of the best ways to find a vendor, is to go through recommendations of people you know, and to look up vendors from weddings you’ve attended and loved.

oh, and one last thing, go for cake tastings! its one of the best parts of the whole planning process… most tastings are complimentary and you get some great ideas from shopping around in terms of design and price.

this website www.theknot.com also has a ton of links from your area for vendors, so you might want to check it out too.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

^^^SGC youve nailed it…wonderful…i am learning as well…i ve got my wedding planning binder all worked up…andf i ve narrowed my search down for the photographers/videographers/florists/etc…and i have come down to this
Florists $1500
Photographer $2000 for a 4 hr event including the hr before the arrival coverage..and the album of my choice. (plus 500 edited prints and online access with 4 enlargements and a bridal shoot.)

Videographers–$1200—2 for 4 hrs with 5 copies of the DVD (edited with music of my choice)

Makeup–$200 --including mehndi,hair and dupatta setup
i am having the stage decorated by a desi event planner…he is the only one who hasnt given me a quote yet… :slight_smile: because he wants to go see the venue before he can name his price!! i was like..whaaaat? i emailed him samples of stages i found on gupshup…and he s like..'no i vant to see theee place fast" i was like oki…
venues…hmmm thats where i ran into some trouble…if i decide to get a private hall or something of that sort…i will run into extra cost of decorating it…
so i thought what if the place was pretty…and i can get away with min. decor…it will be enough…so…i talked to adolphus in dallas…and the mediterranean villa…were my top 2 choices…so lets see…we are going to check them out after new years… :slight_smile:
oh and i found a cool site that shows bridal makeup being done by some makeup artist…here it is..

The Random Thread
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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

ooh, do your potential venues have websites? i’d love to check them out!
this was my venue- www.parkwoodestate.com
i really wanted an outdoor wedding and this place was perfectly suited. and like you said, when the venue is so pretty, you don’t need a lot to dress it up!

and what a lovely end result of that makeup artist link you sent! it illustrates the desi look perfectly.

Timepass
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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

here are the 2 that i really liked..
http://www.mediterraneanvilla.net/
http://www.hoteladolphus.com/adolphus_home.aspx
i knowwwww i wanted an outdoor wedding…but since my nikkah was outdoor…(it was really pretty) and also the reception is in december 2008…and texas is very unpredictable in terms of the weather…so i wanna keep it safe… :slight_smile:

if i could have it outdoors..id have it here

http://www.fwbg.org/weddings.htm
or here
http://64.143.20.141/Tour/Main.htm

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

OMG! LOVE your venues! both of them have such different and unique styles... gorgeous!

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

oooh that’s saqib- he’s a good friend of mine. he’s based in lahore and is quite famous for his makeup. i’ll put up some pics of his brides later.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

hehe..the parkwood estate...is a lot like the Med. Villa!! coincidence!!

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

SGC- The 10k covers all the basics- rent of the ballroom, linens, flowers, stage, tables/chairs, silverware, etc. It doesn't include music, favors, cakes though. If you want your own customized designs for what's included in the 10k then you have to pay extra to whoever is doing it.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

^ thats a pretty good deal... i dont think many hotels in toronto include either the stage decor or flowers.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

^Yep, considering that they are one of the upscale hotels in CT and located right in downtown also, it does seem like a good price.

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

all this planning talk is making me want to get married again! haha im sure the hubs would receive that news kindly... not! :p

chanda, you know the gold chiavari chairs they have in the med. villa? man, i SO wanted those for my wedding but everyone said the legs would sink into the lawn. diss. in the end, we had white folding chairs which did look better in the surroundings, but i still love chiavari's. is it nuts to love a chair? haha

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Re: Wedding Venues in LA/OC (southern california)

wpow how did you all find florists for that range. my florists are all qouting 5000-12000! wht do i tell them/.?

Wedding photography in Karachi