Choosing the Venue: California

Korea has the fancy venues, but America has the cozy ones. the vintage ones. the fun, ourdoor beach ones. It took me a while to decide the type of theme that I wanted  for my American reception.  All I knew was that because Korea’s wedding would be formal, fancy and grand, I wanted my American reception to be laid back, cozy, and fun.  I wanted the guests to enjoy the night as much as we would. My ultimate must-haves for my reception would be GREAT FOOD and festive atmosphere. 

Hotels didn’t fit the laid-back theme I was looking for, but I’ve decided to check them out anyway because I’ve always wanted to hold my wedding at Beverly Hills Hotel if I were to wed in America. It’s classy, fancy, and historic. But when I called them, I was quoted $70,000 just for the reception alone. It may have been worth it if I’m just celebrating my wedding once, but with two weddings in the picture, I was looking more for a budget wedding that’s DIY and PIY (plan-it-yourself) inspired.  Here is a picture anyway, because I just adore this historical landmark:

Choosing the Venue: Korea (Part 3)

Our final venue of choice is Ritz Carlton 🙂

We pondered between Ritz and Shilla for a week or so, because we couldn’t let go of the thought of being wed @ Shilla’s beautiful traditional 영빈관 (Youngbingwan: Korean castle). But I really didn’t like that the main ceremony hall, separate from the reception area, was so small in size and would not have the heightened walkway + high ceiling that I looked for in hotel weddings. So Ritz Carlton it was, and here are the reasons why it made #1 on our list:

1. Main ballroom is not as big as Hyatt or Shilla’s Dynasty Ballroom, and fits maximum 350 people. FIY: if you have high number of guests, which is pretty common in Korea, the rest of the guests would sit OUTSIDE the ballroom as a “opera” type wedding where they get projections of your wedding.  I thought this was pretty rude for the guests because the area seems a bit secluded, so I’m curious as to why anyone holds it here when they have bigger guest count. It looks something like this: