Wedding Site #4 - Humphrey's Half Moon Inn

In the middle of Shelter Island is Humphrey's Half Moon Inn. At this point, we had spent a good couple of hours looking at the previous three sites. It was also a pretty humid day in San Diego, so we were hot and a bit tired. I thought grumpy Adam was ready to call it a day, but when I asked him if he wanted to see this last location, he agreed to go see it since we were already there.

I can't believe we almost didn't see this place!!!

We had been praying that God would guide us and help us with our wedding decisions. I'm so glad that He nudged just a little further to go see this location because we just fell in love with it. And I think it's pretty safe to say that Adam fell head over heels for it. (And for the first time in this whole planning process, I think Adam was actually *FINALLY* excited about this wedding! You can see in the pictures that he's finally smiling and no longer grumpy pants.)

I also think God had a hand in this especially because for the past year, I've been receiving flyers from this location. (I got onto some wedding list somehow.) The dork that I am, I totally thought this location was in Half Moon Bay up in the bay area. Shows you how little I know. Surprisingly though, this is the only place in San Diego that's snail-mailed me something. Hmm?

On our way to the lobby, we passed by the concert area. Apparently, Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay is located here. They have this huge circular concert area that sits right by the water. The stage is huge! However, it is a very open space. (More on this later. *wink*)

We walked towards the ballrooms and poked around the Marina Ballroom. Again, we thought it'd be tight for 150 people. 150 COULD fit, but there'd be a pretty tight dance floor if we put 15 round tables in there. We walked over to the other ballroom and some of the catering staff were cleaning up what looked like the leftovers from an earlier function that day.

The head houseman (sp?) came over and introduced himself to us. His name is Anastacio (sp?). Remember how first impressions speak volumes? Well, Anastacio not only introduced himself but also genuinely congratulated us on our engagement. He was the ONLY person to do that today, by the way. It was nice. He walked us back to the Marina ballroom and he asked how many people we were planning on having and we said 150. And get this, he was HONEST with us and said that 150 would be tight in that room. He said it was doable, but real tight. I appreciate a man with honesty! Instead of trying to sell us the room, he was truthful. Love it. He showed us where he would put the cake table, the gifts table and what not. It really showed us that he had a great handle (and loads of experience) on running events.

We were talking outside of the room and Adam asked about the concert area. And these were his words (magically ingrained in my memory hehe), "Let me paint you a picture... two buffet tables back here, cocktail tables for guests to hand out next to the buffet tables, dance floor in the middle, cake table by the stage and your head table or sweetheart's table by the water so you can see everything that's going on."

Oh man, we were floored! :) He "painted" the picture beautifully in our minds and we just fell in love with the place. He mentioned that there'd be a wedding there next weekend with 300+ guests if we wanted to peek at it. (300 guests?! Wow! Maybe I should remind Adam of this number in comparison to ours when he has his next freak out moment about the number of people we're inviting. Hehe. I love you!)

The space is beautiful! It's right by the water. It could easily fit 150 people with space to spare. The DJ can play from the stage. And, a big plus, it'll be OUTDOORS! An outdoor reception! Of course it's not as spectacular as Mike and Kelly's outdoor reception that was written right out of a movie, but we love it. It's all enclosed in the circular area so it can feel intimate and not incredibly spaced too far out. Plus, it means we can have a large dance floor.

We continued to have a great conversation with Anastacio about his family and two daughters. He was such a pleasure to chat with. The first real person all day. I can see how it'd be a pleasure working with him too.

So with our mouths wide open, we walked over to the ceremony garden area. And I think this was what sealed the deal for Adam. :) It was so pretty. Very intimate. It sits in the middle of an area surrounded by rooms. All covered with grass. It has an archway with flowers and plants all over it. (Very nice because we can save money on decorating it!) There's actually an area that people can practice putting on. :) Too cute. Adam and I stood under the altar and everything just felt so right. The garden can easily fit 150 people with room to spare. And att that point of the day (close to 5ish) there's enough shade for people to not roast in the sun.

We were in love.

Moment of truth: we walked into the lobby to get some wedding info. We sat down and looked at the brochure and it is pricier than we were hoping for. It's not quite as expensive as Kona Kai, but not by much. There are options for different buffets (Italian, Seafood, Polynesian, and Asian). But it IS pretty expensive per person. There are entrees that are a little cheaper per person, but I think a buffet would be nicer. People can eat as much as they want... AND I don't have to deal with meal choices on the RSVP cards and what not. (Always a planner at heart, aren't I?)

We actually went back out to see the garden area again. :) Adam was so smitten at this point. I hadn't seen him with that much excitement about this whole wedding thing ever. I think he thinks it's a conspiracy against him or something. Men, gotta love 'em. From the garden, we took the short walk past the pool back towards the concert area for one more look. And we found something else we liked about the place... the short walk opens up to a space by the concert area that really lends itself to a grand entrance into the reception area - not only for us, but for our guests! Wow... absolutely breathtaking.

It was hard to keep our excitement to ourselves when we left this place. I could totally envision our wedding there. I tried to revel in Adam's excitement because it made me so happy to just see how giddy he was. Now if we can figure out a way to afford it, we'd be sold!




My overall impressions...

Pro's:

• Another great location
• OUTDOOR ceremony AND reception!
• Enclosed area = intimate space
• Our guests can stay there
• Reception space is right by the water
• Great customer service from Anastacio who really didn't have to take the time to talk to us like he did
• Beautiful altar in the garden area
• Enough room for 150+ people
• We LOVE it. :)

Con's

• The only con I can think of is that it's expensive

You know what I think, now what about you?

Photo credits:

• Slideshow photos by: Jasmine Marie Photography
• All other photos from Half Moon Inn website