San Diego Travel Forum

My daughter wants to get married in San Diego in July 2010. All well and good, except we live in Ireland! So now I have lots of research to do and where better than VT? I'll throw my questions out there and if anyone can chip in with an answer here and there I;m sure we can give her that special day.

1. Is it possible to arrange a wedding in a centrally located Roman Catholic Church? And just to make things more awkward she likes the idea of a little white chapel.
2. We will be having a reception for 25-30 guests so suggestions for a nice hotel or restaurant with private facilities that could accommodate us would be welcome. Also,it may be necessary to hold the ceremony at the same location, so please factor this into any suggestions.
3.Are there any popular, picturesque outdoor locations commonly used for wedding ceremonies in SD?
4. All the guests will be flying over from Ireland, so accommodation will be needed. Some will only be staying for a few days and just need some decent quality budget accommodation. Others will make a holiday out of it and will bring young children along, so something central with a pool would be ideal. And some of the younger guests might want to stay near the nightlife of SD. Suggestions for all would be most welcome.
Finally, I would like to say that I visited SD on my honeymoon 30 years ago and I'm really looking forward to seeing it again.

For #1, I am assuming they are Catholic. There are a number of requirements needed to be married in a Catholic Church. Banns, Marriage Courses for an example. If this is what she wants, I recommend you have a chat with your local Parish Priest and set things up with him and a Catholic Church in San Diego.
Otherwise, a civil service is pretty much open game

Thanks,Dave. That will be my starting point. No doubt our local priest will carry out all the necessary pre-nuptial courses.

If you want an incredibly memorable wedding, see if you can arrange it at the San Diego Mission. It's one of the historic California missions. It is white! It is just beautiful. There is a garden there too if you prefer to be married outside but the inside is a dream.

I just posted some Mission photos on a San Diego Page. Here's the link. There are a couple more under Tips, Things To Do and click on the little photo for one more. In all there are 5 photos.

It is so beautiful but you do need to contact them to make arrangements. I have no idea what is necessary but there are the bans mentioned above and probably other requirements.

Here's the link: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/7ba16/b8708/

Good call Bella Sol

WOW, I just looked at the list of Churches

http://www.diocese-sdiego.org/set.asp?link=parish.htm&in=FAQs

http://www.thecaliforniamissions.com/index.htm

Above is the historic information. Below is the parish web site where you can actually contact them. The top link has photos.

http://www.missionsandiego.com/

The San Diego Mission would be fabulous! It's so pretty there!
Getting married on the beach is nice, but I don't know that you really can. I have friends here that did, but they did it on Coronado at the Naval Base because they knew someone.
There's also Point Loma. Maybe look into Mount Helix. There's an amphitheater up there and I'm sure you could rent it for the wedding for fairly cheap. There's also the park at La Jolla Cove.
Try to get everyone into one hotel, if you can, because you'll get a better per room rate for the more rooms you book. It would be best to put them somewhere within walking distance of interesting stuff, and, in San Diego, that's going to be Coronado, the Gaslamp/Downtown or La Jolla. Almost all of the hotels in those areas run $100+ though, particularly in the summer, but you may be able to negotiate something.
Also be aware of San Diego's "June Gloom." July is a little late for it, but it sometimes carries over.

Hi James,

My first thought was also the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. It is the first of the historical, twenty-one Missions built along the coast side of California. It is an active parish where mass is still said every day. The problem with using this one, if you do get permission, is that it is in a more residential area, not so convenient to hotels and restaurants. The SD Trolley does have a stop here that you could use as transportation, but having the use of cars would be most convenient.

In Old Town San Diego there is a Roman Catholic Church that is quite often thought, by tourists, to be the Mission de Alcala, it is located in the midst of the activity in Old Town and called The Catholic Church Of The Immaculate Conception. Neither of these Churches are small chapel types, both are white and charming in their own way.

The advantage of using the Immaculate Conception is that there are several hotels and restaurants within walking distance and plenty for your guests to see and do in the area even if they have only a day or two to spend. The SD Trolley is about three blocks from this main area so, getting downtown to the Gaslamp Quarter--the best night life in SD--is pretty easy.

The Hacienda Hotel, Old Town, part of the Best Western system does have a swimming pool. It also has rooms to offer for events, like a reception, that would accommodate 30 or more guests.

A more budget priced, bare bones, type hotel a few blocks away is the Western Inn and Suites, no pool that I know of, but might suit some of your guest's economic requirements.

On my "Old Town San Diego" page I give more info about these and other hotels in that area.

I also know an Irish priest here who may help you with suggestions about how you might get around the, "...must get married in the bride's parish," rule. E-mail me if you are interested.

I have attended a number of weddings in the San Diego area. I am sure you could google them. Many of the big resort hotels cater to weddings all the time. some that come to mind are on Mission Bay. Humphrey's on Shelter Island was one place that had decent accomodations for guests, also the Outrigger or the Bahia any of the resort hotels offer this service for an outdoor wedding. The Darlington house is an old mansion that is popular for weddings and some people get married in Balboa Park, I have heard the Prado hotel has a wonderful terrace or La Jolla Cove. So much to choose from I would just Google.

Hello!

I would definitely check with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego as far as all the requirements. I know that generally they require 9 months of prewedding preparations within the diocese, but I'm not sure how that would work since this is going to be a destination wedding. As far as actual church suggestions, the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala that several people have mentioned is a beautiful historic church and I've been to a lovely wedding there before. I would also like to suggest the Founders Chapel on the campus of the University of San Diego (our Roman Catholic university). I've never actually been there but I know that it is a popular ceremony site. There is also the Immaculata that is also on the USD campus, but it is a lot larger, more like a cathedral, but it is a very beautiful church. USD is centrally located, about 15 minutes from the airport and downtown San Diego. As far as outdoor wedding sites, as mentioned by someone else, the park at La Jolla Cove is also a popular outdoor wedding site. I've also been to an outdoor wedding at Harbor Island (close to the San Diego International Airport) but this couple rented tents, etc. and it was actually quite a large wedding (300+ people). The many parks around Mission Bay would also be a nice place for an outdoor ceremony too. For something a little out of the ordinary, I did want to mention a harbor cruise as a possible reception & ceremony site. There are two companies that I know of that do these cruises - San Diego Harbor Excursion (www.sdhe.com) and Hornblower Cruises (www.hornblowerweddings.com). Also, for the legal stuff, such as getting a marriage license and associated fees, check with the County of San Diego's County Clerk's office. Their website is http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/default.aspx and they have an office in downtown San Diego at the County Administration Building, fairly close to the airport.

I can't recommend any hotels as I live here but I would recommend staying in Mission Valley (zip code 92108). Mission Valley is centrally located, pretty much north of downtown and extending east, and the churches I mentioned above are either in Mission Valley (the mission is on the east end) or close (USD sits above Mission Valley at it's western end). Someone also mentioned Old Town, which is at the western end of Mission Valley, and this would also be a nice place to stay too. There is the Old Town State Historic Park so there would be something to do there. For those with young kids, Mission Valley is also close to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, so those activities would be a short drive away (Unfortunately public transportation isn't that great and there is a good chance you'll have to rent cars to get around San Diego). There is also Legoland in Carlsbad, which would be about a 45 minute drive north from Downtown/Mission Valley. For young adults, Mission Valley is also a great central point as there is a lot of nightlife in the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. It's also close to Pacific Beach, where there are also a lot of bars/clubs (these tend to be more college aged people though).

The best of luck to you with your planning!