June, 2011 | San Diego Weddings Of Distinction

Andrea Pena – Catering Sales Manager at The Prado at Balboa Park

Come discover why there is nothing else like The Prado at Balboa Park! Even the most discriminating bride will fall in love with its natural beauty and stylish setting. Create your dream wedding in the historical gardens at the House of Hospitality, in the elegant banquet rooms or the grandeur of the historic Casa Del Rey Moro Gardens. With over 22,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space you can have an intimate wedding with only 20 guests or a grande feast with 2,000 guests! Contact Andrea Pena, the Catering Sales Manager, so you can take a personalized tour of the most stunningly romantic venue in all of San Diego.

1549 El Prado Suite 12
San Diego, CA 92101

Andrea Pena
Phone: (619) 557-9441 x213
Web Site:www.balboaparkweddings.com
E-mail: andrea@pradobalboa.com

Lois Mathews, of Lois Mathews Design, is dedicated to creating a unique wedding for each and every bride. Lois’ years of floral and party experience, coupled with dedicated service and extraordinary vision, help to create your “dream” wedding. Lois takes a personal interest in each bride and adapts her designs to suit her bride and groom’s personal tastes. Prior to starting her own business, Lois worked at various venues around San Diego, including the legendary Hotel Del Coronado. Lois possesses an intense passion for her work and exemplifies trustworthiness ~ key factors for success. As advice for brides, Lois can adjust her design materials to fit any client’s budgets. One way is to buy seasonal products from local markets. Another is to take advantage of equipment and décor items Lois has gathered and stored over the years. To plan for your special day, visit Lois by appointment at her vintage barn and garden studio in Bankers Hill.

Lois Mathews
Phone: (619) 255-9144
Web Site: www.loismathews.com
E-mail: lois@loismathews.com

Photos courtesy of Bauman Photography

We were privileged to meet at The Abbey, a truly unique venue–there’s nothing else like it!–located in downtown San Diego. Also unique was our delicious luncheon, with very creative dishes, such as cold melon soup with a creamy dollop, and Portabello mushroom/leek loaf.

Our hosts, Kristi and Jill, pleasantly interacted with us throughout our time together; they ate with us and participated in our open discussion. Host Kristi shared with us concerning the Abbey. Built in 1910, it served as a church building for fifty years, then as restaurant for 25 years, then for 25 years as it present venue. As the Hornblower’s “land” location, it hosts weddings, proms, dinners, and many other events. The Abbey can customize any food item.

The Hornblower provides full service event planners for its seven different-sized boats as well as for the Abbey. The boats also give harbor tours.

President Ann opened the meeting by introducing an open forum, which addressed good business practices, emphasizing the importance of our being “vendors of distinction.” As we dined, our industrious board members gave a well-organized, helpful presentation, along with a printed outline.

Strongly stressed was the value of high integrity, in such matters as timely response to clients, consistency, sincerity, and compassion toward often-stressed brides. We were advised to pay attention to our branding–identifying our own specific type of client–and also to consider using free service of interns for assistance in our business activities.

Next month we’ll be meeting at the studio of Hartworks Floral Design and dining on delicious San Diego Paella!