Plaza de Magdalena — Local services in San Juan Capistrano

I had my wedding here this summer 2025 and it was very difficult planning with the venue manager Patti. She did not respond in a timely manner to emails, phone calls or texts when I would contact her.

Patti wrote in our contract that we could have 200 people in the courtyard and reception. Months later when we gave her the final guest count within the timeline we discussed she said that we wouldn’t be able to fit the 194 people we had invited and that the 200 number in the contract was just there as a placeholder. When we pressed her for the actual number of people we could fit, she would not give us a straight answer but kept giving us a range of “around 160-170”. My fiancé had to go in person to talk to her because she couldn’t give us a definitive answer. even after she said 160-170 people. In the end, some of our guests ended up having to stand in the back or up on the terrace.

Patti also told us that there would be 10 chairs per table and on the wedding day, there were many chairs missing from each table. We had great day-of wedding coordinators who handled everything but our guests were standing around during our grand entrance because of this issue.

In addition, the venue started using a new payment system midway through our time working with them. Patti informed us that we had not paid our security deposit but our records had shown that we had. After a lot of back and forth with Patti, she realized that she had made a mistake in the new system and that we actually had paid for the security deposit. She ended up making the correction but it was hard to get a hold of her by phone or email.

Additionally, with the new payment system, we were sent an invoice that had a random extra charge that had no explanation. When we asked Patti to remove it and she said she had no idea what that charge was for and removed it.

Patti also did not let us schedule our rehearsal dinner because she “had to hold the spot for another party.” This “another party” was not booked for that day she just had to keep it open just in case. The night before our rehearsal dinner she emailed my wedding coordinators saying that we can have the rehearsal at the venue. At that point it was too late as we already had made other plans.

Overall a very frustrating experience with Patti but the venue itself was beautiful. Trying to coordinate and lock in details with Patti made the planning of our wedding much more stressful than it needed to be. The rest of the staff we interacted with did a fantastic job. At the end of the day we got married and that’s what matters but would not recommend working with this venue or having a...

We held a memorial service for our son at Plaza de Magdalena and we were extremely pleased with the venue, the staff, and the food. Lisa was our contact for arranging the details and was friendly, efficient, and extremely pleasant to work with. The cost was very reasonable for all that was provided by the venue. There was no need to order the chairs, tables, linens, and sound equipment. All was provided by the venue and made our experience much less work and strain. The chairs were beautiful chiavari chairs and they had tables in different shapes and sizes to meet our needs. The items provided were of excellent quality and made for a beautiful, relaxing, and pleasant environment. Lisa was there during the event to oversee that we were happy with every detail. Our media presentation was aided by Orlando who ran the equipment during the event and happily agreed to a trial run the day before. The staff was happy to be of help when we requested the tables be rearranged. And they even provided extra fresh baked cookies when needed. This is an attractive and very well run and staffed venue. The food was excellent. The costs were very reasonable given the caliber of the facility and the location. We highly recommend Plaza de Madalena in downton San Juan Capistrano and thank their gracious staff for helping us celebrate our son's life in a beautiful and...

This is the perfect location for a wedding! I recently coordinated a wedding at Plaza de Magdalena and let me tell you, it's specially designed for weddings and they've thought of everything! The ceremony area has gorgeous bistro lighting to create an enchanting ceremony vibe (option to use their arbor), the reception area has lighting and speakers included, and the venue takes care of all of the tables, linens, napkins, chairs, you name it! This was a stress-free option for the bride as the venue coordinator is exceptional at her job. Patti is a true wedding expert and will make sure you are well taken care of on your wedding day. I would coordinate weddings here every weekend if I could because the staff at the venue are A+ (so helpful, hard working and FRIENDLY!!), the food is insanely good (almost too good to be true) and it comes fully equipped for weddings. Christie Rose Events loves everything about Plaza de Magdalena! True wedding...