Venue Winner: Bleu Boheme

I had intended to blog about all of the other venue runners-up before telling you about the winner. But many of you have already heard (from me) that we've booked Bleu Boheme, and I'm sure you're eager to hear more about it.

Bleu Boheme is a French restaurant in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego. It's rustic countryside French, not "fussy" French -- the menu is populated by peasant favorites like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin. Since we're both huge foodies, you know it's delicious! I personally thought the duck confit that we had the last time we were there was out of this world.

The decor is, as JT's sister-in-law expertly put it, both elegant and adorable. There are huge chalkboards lining the walls with the day's menu. The walkway from the bar area to the dining room is made out of corks. The whole vibe was perfect, and led us to the "bohemian chic" theme that will be our wedding.

Some of the other major selling points were the cost and the helpful staff. Because we are having the reception during the day, the minimum food charge is super low. And there is no bar minimum -- we're just charged for what is consumed (which can be regulated a bit by what you choose to have them stock). The dining room can seat 80 snuggly, which is perfect for us. We wanted to keep it around 70-80, but we didn't want everyone sitting in a giant room where the tables are 10 feet apart from each other. Tight room = more interaction, more fun! The bar area will have some extra seating for the cocktail hour, which will be cleared during the meal for a dance floor afterwards.


Plus, Alana in the events department has been fantastic to work with so far. She's made it a breeze, offering to let us adjust the menus however we see fit, suggesting that we plug our Ipod into their sound system rather than having a DJ (gee, she read my mind!). We couldn't believe how much Bleu Boheme ended up being exactly what we were looking for!