Meet & Greet

Rehearsal Dinner

La Venta Inn

Wedding Day

Guest Arrival

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour

Reception

Farewell Brunch

Our Wedding

In October of 2019, Mandy and Greg met on Coffee Meets Bagel—a real-life success story of online dating! Greg had planned a nice dinner in Santa Monica... but Mandy just wanted to go to her local Starbucks for their first date (even though neither drinks coffee 😂). Don't worry, they eventually made it to that Santa Monica restaurant :) Many of their first dates revolved around the beach (hence the wedding theme), from a moonlit walk on the strand in Playa del Rey for their second date, to a day spent getting tossed in the waves (in November!) on a particularly rough day at Manhattan Beach for their third date 🌊 On their fourth date, Greg took Mandy to Palos Verdes for ocean views, including a stop at a lovely glass chapel perched high above the waves, planting the seed for a future wedding in Palos Verdes six years later... Several months after Mandy and Greg met, the pandemic hit, and they had to learn how to navigate the world of dating while quarantining and wearing masks. They spent a lot of time eating home-cooked meals together outside on Greg's patio, running, and playing duets on guitar and violin. Two years into dating, they tired of the 25-minute drive between Westchester and Redondo Beach and moved in together in Hermosa Beach! Over the years, Mandy and Greg have enjoyed biking and running together, concerts at the LA Phil and Hollywood Bowl and, most of all, traveling! ✈️ They've been to Toledo and Sweezey Lake with Greg's family and San Jose and Sea Ranch with Mandy's family, visited each other's college campuses in Boston and South Bend, and even linked up in Florida when they were both independently on work travel. Keeping on theme of visiting beach locales, they have traveled to the warm waters of Hawaii, Mexico, Greek islands, and Italy together. On their first full day in Italy last summer, Greg proposed at a surprise picnic (he knows the key to Mandy's heart is food) on an island with views of Venice!! They can't wait to share a snapshot of their life in Hermosa Beach with you during their wedding weekend ❤️

Our Story

Photos

In the summer of 1923, the first building on the entire Palos Verdes Peninsula was built: La Venta Inn. Then called “Clubhouse 764,” La Venta Inn was constructed by architect brothers Pierpont and Walter Swindell Davis with a Spanish villa style. The Olmstead Brothers, the renowned landscape architecture firm that designed Grand Central Park, layed out its grounds. The hope was that the potential land buyers would be so impressed by the beauty of the Inn and its natural surroundings that they’d buy in to the development. The Inn was an immediate success. It could only accommodate a few overnight guests at a time, but it became well-known as an elegant dining experience. It was a popular stop with visitors throughout the Los Angeles area. Celebrities like Alfred Hitchcock and Charles Lindbergh used La Venta as a getaway back in the early days. The venue has had many famous visitors through the years like Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, band members from Led Zeppelin, and hundreds more. The Inn’s location was used for military defense purposes during World War II. La Venta was sold to Stanley and Margaret Schnetzler in 1945, and the Schnetzlers used it as their private residence for several years. Operation of the facility changed over the years as the needs of the property changed. La Venta was a restaurant for a time in the 80s, and then solidified as a wedding venue for Southern California. On February 23, 1989, La Venta Inn was nominated as a state point of historical interest by the county Board of Supervisors. In 1990, La Venta Inn was designated a California Historic Resource by the California State Office of Historic Preservation. In 2021, the operation of La Venta Inn went to Made by Meg, our event caterer.

History of La Venta Inn

Wedding Party

Palos Verdes Estates is located 25 miles south of Los Angeles and is a half-hour drive from the LAX airport—if you're lucky, you may get to experience some famous LA traffic! 🚗🚙🚕🚐🚗🚙🚕🚌🏍️🚓 We recommend staying in one of the beach towns nearby such as Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, or Manhattan Beach since you will be a short drive from both Los Angeles and the venue. And if you stay near the beach, you will be within walking distance of the Marvin Braude Bike Trail (also known as "The Strand"), a 22-mile bike and walking path along the coastline.

We have reserved a block of 10 rooms at the Marriott for a discounted price, with a cutoff date of August 14. This hotel is located a couple miles from the Redondo Beach pier and is a 15-minute drive from our wedding venue. If you choose to stay here, please <a href="https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1748649267702&amp;key=GRP&amp;phoenix=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">use this URL to make reservations</a> or call the hotel and mention you are staying in the Mandy and Greg Wedding Room Block when making your reservation.

Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach

This hotel is located in the marina and is a half-hour walk to our meet &amp; greet and farewell brunch.

The Portofino Hotel & Marina

This hotel is located right on Hermosa Beach and is a short walk to the meet &amp; greet and farewell brunch, but is more expensive than the other options.

Beach House

Travel

One of our favorite things to do is go out for brunch and walk along the strand. We recommend Uncle Bill's in Manhattan Beach or Good Stuff in Hermosa Beach 🍳 We also recommend checking out the Redondo Beach pier (the marina often has sea lions for wildlife lovers 🦭) as well as Santa Monica's pier and 3rd Street Promenade for an amusement park feel and shopping. Our favorite spots to eat in Santa Monica are the Misfit, True Food Kitchen, and BIBIBOP. If you stop by Venice Beach, you can check out the famous Muscle Beach 🏋️‍♀️ and skate park, as well as walk along the Venice canals. If you enjoy museums, we recommend the Getty Center for its art, the Getty Villa for its gardens and architecture, and the California Science Center. Our favorite gardens are at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, but it's a drive. If you enjoy driving, Sunset Boulevard from Hollywood all the way to the coast is a beautiful (and famous!) drive. For the quintessential LA concert experience, don't miss the Hollywood Bowl in the shadows of the Hollywood sign. For movie buffs, catching an IMAX movie at the Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame or a Disney movie at El Capitan Theatre is a must. For hiking and outdoor enthusiasts, there are popular trails to the Griffith observatory and Hollywood sign, although they will be hot in September so we recommend getting an early start. If you're here for a longer stay, you may enjoy a day trip to Catalina island, Laguna Beach, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Solvang (a cute Danish town with excellent wine tasting 🍷), or Hearst Castle. There's a lot to do in LA, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! :) We've made a map of all these locations and others (including recommended parking lots) that can be found here: <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1cfbDueRr_lP2Wqs8w6kUgNBu6JT4eHE&amp;usp=sharing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mandy &amp; Greg's wedding map</a>

Mandy & Greg

Mandy & Greg

Registry