Darlington House

The Darlington House is a beautiful, large, historic home in La Jolla, California. It's a unique location for a classic, elegant wedding just minutes away from the ocean. There are so many beautiful architectural features to this home and it makes for an incredible backdrop for a wedding celebration. With so many cool areas to explore and roam, it's an amazing place for an intimate wedding or a large celebration. The gardens are gorgeous, but the architecture is what's really stunning. Working with Carly was wonderful! I love this venue and can't wait for more beautiful celebrations in the future.

Arenlace Events had a fantastic time being the wedding planner for Brittany and Dominic’s wedding on December 17th last year. Arenlace Events is a North County San Diego-based wedding business, so planning this wedding at the Darlington House was such a breeze! The staff, venue, and all the vendors worked amazingly well and strived to make this experience awesome for Brittany + Dominic. We’re so excited to be able to work with other couples here at the Darlington House!

This is the venue of my dreams - outdoor garden vibes (gorgeous weather for our wedding at the end of April), historical interior. We booked our venue during Covid and actually received a discount for booking without an in-person tour. It ended up working out for us but to be honest I am not sure that I would have been as happy with the location without the discount! There are several rules that make this venue difficult. Definitely make yourself aware of these / ask to see the contract prior to booking in case some of these are make or break for you. First, you can’t actually get ready at the venue, so the wedding party needs to find another offsite location to get ready and perfectly time arrival so groomsmen and bridesmaids don’t bump into each other. Not a huge deal but it causes complications such as time constraints and possibly paying your photographer additional for extra travel if you want to take “getting ready photos” at your getting ready location. Also, food and bev are not allowed inside so no champagne popping pics for the ladies. Second, you have to start wrapping everything up at 9:30pm. I thought it would be fine but it went by so quickly- only about an hour on the dance floor! Seems like so much work to get all the rentals out and such a short time to have fun!!! We ended up having to spend more money for an after party because of the curfew. The curfew is due to the neighboring houses which is totally understandable! Third, the string lights you see in practically every photo is not a part of darlington. You need to find a rental company to put those up for you. I think it cost around $600. Yup, taken off and put up for every event… And then there are other restrictions like no hard liquor shots allowed, no real flower petals, no tosses of things such as rice, glitter, confetti, etc. Also just a heads up that because it is a garden wedding there are definitely bees. Pack that epipen if you are allergic! And finally, this location is not super handicap friendly. Although they do provide a ramp, it takes out a lot of space to put chairs in the ceremony area. Bathroom entrances are tight and large wheelchairs may not fit. We put our photobooth in the Egyptian patio and the bar in the library. I’m not sure if you are able to have the bar in the rose garden, but because both were in separate locations hardly anyone was on the dance floor! I would definitely move the photobooth in the rose garden if there’s space. And our guests also didn’t know there were desserts because they’re hidden in the summer house. Definitely ask your DJ to announce desserts more than once. And finally…. Because where the bride comes out shares the same entrance as the guests, any late guests will have to wait outside the house and wont be able to view the ceremony. Make sure to stress to your guests to be on time or wait a few minutes past start time to walk down the aisle! Overall we had a magical and memorable day with friends and family. Carly was a pleasure to work with and responds very timely!