Bay Area Venues - The Finale

If you are a Bay Area, Cali bride, you can check out my previous posts on budget friendly venues for large weddings (200-300ish range).

Bay Area Venue shopping
Bay Area Venues - Part 1
Bay Area Venues - Part 2
Bay Area Venues - Part 3

Cocoanut Grove - Santa Cruz, CA

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Fiance and I had decided that we would spend a day of FUN on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. And since I was in high-gear wedding planning mode, I made our trip dual duty and made an appointment to see a venue that was located at the end of the boardwalk. You see that dome looking building that's sticking out near the end of the boardwalk in the picture above, the one with the American flag on top of it? Yup, you are looking at our beloved venue. Fiance and I loved it the moment we walked in.

Here is the entrance our guests will see when they enter from the street side. Of course, the sign would be changed to our names.

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This room is called the Sunroom and it is sooo beautiful. I wanted to get married in this room but our guestlist was too large for it. *Sigh*

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We are actually renting out two rooms; the Bayroom and the Ballroom. The Ballroom is really huge and is so pretty. The pictures really do not do it justice! I am very sad that I did not take pictures of this place. I think I was so excited when we were touring it that I forgot all about my camera!

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Here is the Bayroom. The windows are shut in this picture, but you can see the beach from here. Do you remember the very first picture above? This is the dome-looking building.

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Between the Bayroom and the Ballroom, their maximum capacity was 1,000. We were so excited!! Finally, a place that could hold all of our guests! And since they were used to holding large events, they had all the necessities such as having enough tables, chairs, linens, dishes and silverware so that we didn't have to rent from another place (some venues will only have enough for 100-200 guests, so you may have to pay extra in order for them to rent some from another place). We will be using the Bayroom for our ceremony and then the Ballroom for our reception. With such a huge space, I am excited to start planning for decorations.

This was truly the perfect venue for us. It was budget friendly (kinda), kid friendly, large, and beautiful. We decided on a morning wedding so that our familes, friends, and out-of-town guests can play on the boardwalk afterwards. Who wouldn't want to play on the boardwalk? I will definitely be out there in my wedding dress afterwards. I'll be riding on the rollercoasters and ferris wheel, and eating hot dogs/cotton candy/funnel cake. I can't wait!!

Here are some pictures I took that day (after I got over my venue-bliss and remembered my camera) of the boardwalk.

How many venues did you check out before finding The One?