Wedding Planning Wednesday - The Venue

Who knew May was such a popular month for weddings? I expected June/July/August/September to be busy, but thought that May was a safe date! Apparently I was wrong however, because several venues Mando and I called were already booked for 2012! We realized that we needed to book our date fast and the hunt for the perfect venue began...

I originally had my heart set on finding and old, rustic barn but believe it or not barns are few and far between in Orange County and the ones that we found were way out of our price range. After the bitter realization that I would not be able to get married in a barn I was determined to find something equally lovely. I had a few requirements for the venue:

• I wanted the wedding and reception to be at the same location
• I wanted it outdoors
• I wanted to get a 'rustic' vibe from it

After checking out 6 different places we ended up choosing the Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim Hills. The nature center offers stunning scenery that just takes your breath away when you see it for the first time. 300 year old oak trees tower over you and you can cross several gorgeous bridges and creeks to a number of hiking trails. It's quiet and tucked away and many people don't even know it's there. The ceremony site consists of rows of wooden benches facing a platform for the bride and groom complete with a wooden arbor. There are 3 options for the reception site, but we like the area to the left of the ceremony site best. To the left of that lies a gorgeous bridge leading to the rest of the nature trails.

What I love is that it meets all of our requirements, is under budget, and all of the money to book the venue goes towards preserving wildlife. I do have some reservations about the backless benches and how 'rugged' the terrain is (we are concerned for our older guests) and I also have a lot of decisions to make regarding decor (Should I get rid of the pink in our wedding colors?) but I'm actually really excited to have our wedding here... I know no matter what I can make it work and our wedding will be a beautiful day!

left: the ceremony site                                            right: the reception site

A closer look at the ceremony site and benches

the beautiful bridge to the left of both ceremony and reception site leading deeper into the nature center

side view of the ceremony site and a view of the 300 year old oak trees