Wedding Site #1 - Tom Ham's Lighthouse

Adam and I went to visit several ceremony sites on Harbor Island and Shelter Island right by the SD Airport this past Sunday. We searched online on Saturday for sites that had reasonable prices. It was quite fun to look at pictures online with Adam and just see what we wanted and what we didn't want. San Diego is such a great place to get married, but also such a PRICEY one too! I can't imagine having a wedding that costs over $100 per person. Adam and I both don't want a lavish extravaganza for our wedding because that wouldn't be "US," but I think we both agree that we want it to be nice and intimate.


We first visited Tom Ham's Lighthouse on Harbor Island. Harbor Island is directly across from the SD Airport and right on the bay. My coworker Joanne (who will be celebrating her 1 year anniversary this August) highly recommended having our wedding here because of the reasonable prices and great location.


Tom Ham's is actually a restaurant that serves lunch and dinner. It's at one of the tips of Harbor Island so it's a bit secluded. What I like the most about this place was how it felt intimate. It didn't feel huge and impersonal. Cute little lighthouse.

The building itself is two stories high. When you walk in, there is a foyer that leads to some banquet rooms and a big staircase that leads to the restaurant located on the 2nd story. We noticed that there were a couple of events going on and we peeked into the rooms. There was a wedding in the California Room (which is the one that we would be renting out if we were having our reception here). It was a rectangular room that looked very intimate and we think we could fit about 150 people in there. What I loved the most about that room was the huge windows so you had a great view of the bay and the downtown skyline standing from anywhere in the room. I didn't get any photos of it because there was an actual wedding going on inside, but we did like the room at least from what we saw while we were nosy peekers.



We went upstairs to the restaurant and saw the view from the huge windows. Gorgeous view. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful city. The view from the 2nd story is directly about the outside patio area where the ceremony would be held. The patio area is actually above the water. Very beautiful. However, when we talked to a manager, he said that the maximum capacity for the outside area is 120. Adam and I are trying to aim for 150 (an ideal number) so we won't be able to fit our guests in their ceremony area.

The menu prices are VERY reasonable though. After we poked around, we went outside and down the road a little bit to get a side view of the place. It sits over the water. Absolutely breathtaking.



My overall impression...

We both like this place. The location is wonderful and it has a great view of the bay. It's a lot space-ier than Bali Hai (where we went to a wedding last Saturday). I love that it's intimate and reasonably priced. However, we don't think we'll be able to fit more than 120 people in our ceremony. Maybe we can put 30 people on a boat and they can watch from there? hehe.

Pro's:

• Great location and beautiful view
• Very reasonable prices (highest price for dinner is about $50 per person with taxes and gratuity)
  
• Intimate

Con's

• Won't be able to fit more than 120 people in the ceremony area
• Can be considered "small"

What's your opinion?

Photo credits:

• Slideshow photos: Jasmine Marie Photography (that's me!)
• All other photos: Tom Ham's Lighthouse website