Location Hunting: Casa Sirena & PC Yacht Club

Sam and I finally went to see some possible reception locations today: Casa Sirena Hotel and the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club. They were thankfully in the same general location, so we didn't have far to travel, but getting there by the route Yahoo Maps suggested was quite hairy. Anyway, here are some thoughts about them.

Casa Sirena Hotel
I think there are three things that I like about this place. 1) The view of the harbor is pretty. 2) It's quite affordable. 3) The staff seems nice. However, I was honestly not thrilled with the appearance of the hotel itself. It's a fairly old hotel that's going to be remodeled soon (after our wedding date, of course...). Don't get me wrong - it seemed clean and not at all trashy. It was just worn down. Worn carpets, doors, bannisters, elevators... And the banquet room they wanted to give us was small. The guy (named Bart. Ha!) assured us that 60 people could fit in there quite comfortably, but I didn't really believe him. Okay, yeah, we could all fit in there with the tables and chairs, but we wouldn't have much room to walk around and chat. And they'd have to remove a table in order to clear up the dance floor. So they'd come in and wheel out a table after dinner? And where would the cake go? So if we do go with them, we'd definitely request a bigger room. But the banquet room opens out to a large balcony, and the view overlooks the harbor. It's very pretty.

We toured the hotel rooms too. They gave us some decent offers, but while the rooms had some nice amenities and cool layouts, I wasn't terribly impressed. Again, it was more because everything was old... I wouldn't mind staying there at any point in time, but I'm willing to bet that I can find a better room at another hotel for about the same price.

We might call them back soon to schedule a tasting, to see if we like the food. It smelled yummy while we were walking around, so we're hoping the food itself will be good too. And so far, this is the most afforable place we've encountered yet, so it's basically the top contender of the moment.

Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club
First, let me just say that this will definitely not be a where we'll hold our reception. Even if this place were available on our wedding day (which it's not), it seems to be too rich for our blood. And that's a real pity, because this place was awesome. (Which is why I'm gonna talk about it)

So we go in there (after wandering around the harbor area for a while) and this place is just super swanky. And not in that overly glitzy, everything made of marble, 4-star hotel way. More like that rich, warm, and classy way. I really liked it, even though Sam and I both felt a little out of place. We waited on a couple couches while the manager guy (a Frenchman by the name of Michel) was busy, and when he invited us into his office, he immediately offered us our choice of wine, coffee, or beer. My mind went "Whaa? Free wine?", but I politely refused. Michel kept insisting that Sam have a beer, so Sam finally accepted, and the assistant was sent to fetch him a beer. When she came back, she poured Sam a Miller Lite from a bottle into a frosty cold glass! So swanky. Anyway, at that point, Michel told us that our date was already taken by some charity event or something. He offered us another date, but our date was pretty much already set. He went so far as to call up the charity people to ask them if they could move their event, but that was crazy... Sam and I decided to stay and hear the information anyway cuz we felt bad. He was being so accomodating and, well... it'd be a waste of free beer.

Anyway, he went through the expenses, and I think he saw us as a naive, young couple. He gave a very long speech about the costs, but also a lot about what people should do when they're planning a wedding. He was very nice and even funny at times, but he was also pretty serious. And everything he said was translated into my head as "Appetizers are expensive, cocktail hours are expensive, alcohol is expensive. Funny joke about people swarming plates of shrimp... etc." Then he gave us a tour of the lovely banquet room and pool area. After the tour, he gave us a wedding packet, we returned Sam's glass, shook hands, and off we went.

What's interesting is that the dinner itself would not be very expensive, and neither would be the room rental fee. The appetizers and alcohol are what would really put us over the top. We could do without the appetizers, but the alcohol is a little necessary, and we can't bring our own. They also charge a cake cutting fee if you don't use their assigned bakery. Ah well. This is really all a moot point. They don't have our date open anyway.

But did I mention the free beer? (I'm easily impressed by anything free.) Free beer!

I'm still trying to gather more ideas of locations to call. Even though Casa Sirena has our date free and is very affordable, I think it's smart to try to shop around a little more. I'd like to see if there's someplace Sam and I would like a lot better.