Wendy & Sean | October 26, 2013

Posted on November 8, 2013 by seven4admin

Wendy and Sean met, like more and more couples these days, online! After getting to know one another, via email and phone, they decided to meet face to face, here in Laguna Beach, and felt a connection instantly!

Sean proposed to Wendy, after about 6 months of dating, over a candlelit dinner on the beautiful island of Maui.

They both love the beach and decided to find a venue in Laguna, since they had their first meeting here! SEVEN4ONE stood out to them as being an intimate, coastal, chic, private hotel that would allow them to have the wedding of their dreams.

The photos below show you just some of the highlights of their amazing wedding!

Carmen & Chris | September 30, 2013

Posted on October 4, 2013 by seven4admin

Carmen and Chris are high school sweethearts. Carmen was new at the High School for her senior year, and Chris knew he had to pounce before someone else got to her! jkjk It was no coincidence they shared homeroom and had lockers next to each other. As High School ended they decided to focus more on each other, and have been together ever since.

Chris knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Carmen, so he pretended to be going on an out of town business trip for work, and was supposed to be home the following day. Little did Carmen know that when he left early in the morning, he wasn’t leaving town, but buying flowers, decorating the apartment and getting dressed up. When she came home from work Chris came out of the bedroom in a suit with flowers and a ring, got down on one knee, and the rest was history.

Originally they wanted to have their wedding in a Castle, but there are so few of them in Southern California, and none that really fit their vision. They wanted a place that would be private and special for their moderate guest count, close to the beach without the “beach house” feel, and SEVEN4ONE was definitely that. They knew immediately after touring that this is where they wanted to get married.

Some of their favorite moments from SEVEN4ONE include, the amazing rehearsal dinner for their friends and family, and the incredibly relaxed atmosphere of the whole weekend. As you can see below, it was a great party where all of their friends and family could be together the whole time.

Fiona & Elvis | August 17, 2013

Posted on September 27, 2013 by seven4admin

We met in a Japanese jujitsu class. I saw Elvis in the corner of the room working out with his cousin. Immediately I thought, “ooh…kind of cute”… but after watching him for a bit, I figured he wasn’t training seriously (which was important to me) and most likely would be a jerk. After class that day, I ran into him as he was leaving and I said “Hi”. He returned my “Hi” quite unemotionally and I thought “Yep, I knew it, jerk”.

To my shock, he continued coming to class and even began asking me questions on how techniques worked. After talking in class and via text for about 2 months, he passed all my tests and I asked him out.
Our engagement was the biggest non-surprise surprise. We had decided almost 2 months prior to getting engaged that we were going to get married. We had already begun looking at photographers, florists and venues. We even had Seven4one already booked!
Unbeknownst to me, Elvis had asked both our families to show up for dinner one evening. It was a Friday and we both had gotten off work early so we could meet with a photographer and get out to Malibu. (Funny enough, that photographer ended up being the photographer we chose to do our engagement and wedding photos.)

Elvis was very insistent that we arrive at sunset. Once we got there, he dragged me down to the beach, heels and all, where he had laid a blanket down with rose petals. As soon as we got there, he popped the question because I had already started crying. Both our families were on the Gladstone’s deck cheering on, as well as the rest of the restaurant.
We definitely had a lot of small special touches to the wedding just to make the day ours. We wanted to just do it our way and show people what we, as a couple, were all about.

Elvis’ wedding ring was a custom ring. He is at heart an old man that loves wood accents. It was only fitting that his wedding ring have an olivewood inlay in it. You can’t see the wood when he is wearing the ring, it looks like a regular wedding ring.
We made all our own favors. We like functional gifts and hated all the ridiculous favors that people were selling. So we decided on making handmade lye soaps for everyone. Not only was it cost effective, useful after the wedding, but it was something that we made with love for all our guests.

I baked all the desserts for my dessert bar. I am a pastry cook by trade and worked in a Michelin star restaurant and there was no way that I would serve my guests mediocre desserts.
One of our biggest issues was always costs, we cut costs in any way possible and did many DIY items (invitations, favors, desserts, programs, flower basket, ring pillow).

Everything in our wedding was designed by us down to our logo. We did not have room in our budget for a photobooth, but have always loved polaroids and ended up with a polaroid station made up of a giant foam polaroid frame to create a photobooth polaroid look.
In the end, we are beyond ecstatic about how the wedding went. It was perfect down to the “T”. Two months later, people still tell us how much they enjoyed our wedding. The staff at Seven4one was beyond amazing and made our day perfect. The attention to detail was amazing. They worked their tushies off to give us the wedding of our dreams.

If we had to do it over again, we wouldn’t change a thing.
~ Fiona & Elvis Chen

From Hippie Flophouse to Luxury Wedding Venue

Posted on September 14, 2013 by seven4admin

“What a long strange trip it’s been…”

While Hotel Seven4one’s inception back in August of 2008 represented an exciting new chapter in the landscape of Laguna Beach’s downtown hospitality district, the major architectural and practical transformation of the longstanding Eiler’s Inn Bed & Breakfast did not happen overnight. In fact, it’s taken five years.

This building wasn’t always the chic, clean & modern space it is today. It was constructed in 1940 by the couple who would run Eiler’s Inn for decades, serving as a quaint, simple bed & breakfast at the beach with none of the frills - literally. Even into the 21st century, the rooms had no televisions or phones. Gas stove broiler-heaters and cottage art comprised much of the in-room decor. The common spaces throughout the building were littered with vines & plants, bolstered by a large, New Orleans-style fountain at the center.

And there’s a lot of history in this building’s bones. The Eiler’s Inn was named after an infamous and eccentric Laguna Beach character; it quickly became a beloved and intrinsic part of the Laguna community. In the 1960s and 1970s, it served as a hippie flophouse of sorts, playing host to some interesting lives. The most notable guest was Timothy Leary, who stayed for extended periods of time while he was publishing his writings and running for governor of California. He ran against Ronald Reagan in 1969 with a campaign dubbed “Come Together - Join the Party.” It was for this effort that John Lennon wrote his song “Come Together.”

Fast-forward nearly a half-century and, after a complete “studs-up” renovation, this same building is actually hanging its hat on its ability to facilitate people “coming together” at some of the most important and special times in their lives. But it hasn’t been an easy journey.

Hotel Seven4one was inaugurated in 2008 with the idea of providing modern-day vacationers and business travelers alike with a boutique hotel experience otherwise absent from one of the most prestigious and beautiful seaside resort towns in the United States. So initially, Seven4one operated as a traditional hotel - you could rent individual rooms, pop in for a drink and an appetizer at the bar, or simply stop by to lounge on the upstairs patio and catch the sunset.

Today, under new ownership & management, the idea is a turnkey wedding or event experience. You’re getting an entire hotel to yourselves - its guest rooms, common areas and facilities - for a night, weekend or longer. Included is a team of dedicated professionals to flawlessly execute every aspect of your event and stay. An in-house wedding and event coordinator comes with the venue, directing a full service event & hotel staff to do everything so guests are simply celebrating and relaxing.

Although intimate and unique “Wedding Weekend” experiences are our forte, there are countless ways to use the property; really, any excuse to get a bunch of your favorite people together to take over a hotel is a good one. It sounds awesome to have an entire boutique hotel at the beach in Laguna to yourselves, doesn’t it?