Remember when I told you that I get help plan a wedding? Well – not only do I get to help with Kaitlin and Joe’s wedding, but she actually asked me to be her maid-of-honor! …. I can’t tell you how blessed I feel by being in this Schubert family…

Secret: I suspected she *might* ask me to be in her wedding, but I NEVER thought she’d ask me to be her maid-of-honor. I almost cried when she asked me. True story. Don’t tell her.

Her other bridesmaids are all girls from school – 4 girls that Kaitlin spent almost a month studying abroad in Ireland with. One of them even moved to an apartment in the same complex!

Last weekend, I drove down to Long Beach to spend the day with Kaitlin and 3 of the girls to go looking for her perfect wedding venue … . Kaitlin had about 5 or 6 venues on her list (for Saturday, and then another 8 or so for later in the week).

One of the things that made the day so easy was that Kaitlin had already found a venue that fell in her price range and that she really really liked. So of the places we saw Saturday – some of them we were able to eliminate right off the bat with out wasting anytime, just by comparing them to the location she already liked.

4 of the 5 bridesmaids and Kaitlin (center):

One of the locations we went to was Harborside Restaurant and Grand Ballroom in Balboa, CA, and was surrounded by water. They were holding a small event at the time, and since we didn’t have an appointment, we were just going to glance around the corner to get an idea of the layout of the room, etc.

As luck would have it, we actually ran into one of the venue’s coordinators and she was more than generous with her time and information (even though she clearly had other things to do).

We got to see one of the smaller event rooms, all set up with tables, centerpieces, chairs and chair covers, just waiting for an even later that evening.

Look at this view: Such a beautiful sight to look out on for her guests if she were to have her wedding here. … and imagine the yummy light at sunset? All the walls along the outside of the room are basically HUGE windows.

Close up image of the centerpieces for the event that night. Katie specifically asked for this shot – these look very DIY and low-stress, right? The coordinator told us those are fake flowers in there – the bride just bought a long stem of silk orchids at Michaels (or similar) and pulled off the blooms …

Since it was about 1p by this time, we stopped off downstairs at Harborside for lunch.

I’m sure the waiter was laughing to himself at 5 girls all pretty much ordering Diet Coke, but what can you do ?

After lunch, we had about 3 more locations to look at. .. so Jackie punched the addresses into Nicole’s GPS … and then it all went downhill. Somehow, the GPS got ‘confused’ and pretty much told us to make 4 U-turns. 4. … ah, the perils of relying on modern technology.

We eventually figured out where we were going and ended up at one of the more beachy of the venues Kaitlin had found to check out …

Unfortunately, it was a lot more beachy (read: casual and public) then she thought.

It was a really cute little area, with interesting wooden staircases, and driftwood and very beach culture-ish. We discussed coming back to this spot for an engagement or Extreme Bride portrait session.

It’s just not at all what Kaitlin was envisioning for her wedding.

We stopped at one or two other places – both beachy and not. … We drove straight past a resort that Kaitlin had considered visiting because we could just tell from the outside it was going to be out of her budget to feed any of her guests …. I think we saw 5 or 6 venues total on Saturday…. including one where I took a couple self-portraits in the bathroom mirror ….

By the end of the day we were all feeling a bit discouraged. Between pricing being more than she expected and the locations being underwhelming, Kaitlin had not yet found any venue that was a real possibility (although, I think she wishes she could afford Harborside).

Finally, at the last venue of the day, we walked in and were instantly excited about the possibility of this location.

The Sea Cliff Country Club in Huntington Beach – we walked in, without any appointment, and immediately got the undivided attention of one of the event coordinators (I think her name was Whitney).

She first took us out to the terrace where the ceremony would be held. It’s a large tiled area over-looking the golf course…. She was excellent in pointing out all the places that would be available to the wedding to take portraits (a girl who knows her weddings!) …. She knew the answers to all the questions Kaitlin had and was quick to point out options (like the small discount offered for Friday weddings).

Of course, you’ll want to contact the venue yourself if you’re looking to have a wedding here. I am absolutely unqualified to sell you on this location or even tell you all the correct details, but this is what I remember Whitney telling us.

This is one of the rooms that is available for (smaller receptions). It’s just inside the door from the ceremony-terrace, and I would imagine the rectangle tables would make a welcome and interesting change from every other wedding your guests go to with round tables …

Another difference with this room is the dance floor is separated from the tables by the bar … which means if you maybe have several older family members who really can’t handle the music and dancing, this might be good option to break those things up …

They also have a much larger reception room (closer to the front door) with round tables, a dance floor, a small outdoor terrace and a bar …

All in all, I think Kaitlin is excited … even just having the option of the SeaCliff Country Club. Up until that point in the day, I think we were all assuming we wouldn’t be able to find anything that worked aesthetically, with the budget, with the guest list, with the location …. so many things to consider.

I know she still has about 16 million more venues she is looking at this week… but will hopefully be able to make the decision soon ….

Wish us luck!