Beach bonfire wedding

No with catering of course

Isn't Irvine one of the locations of the brush fires in LA? Or was that a few months ago?

Sounds like a really fun idea. The only thing is I dont think its legal to start a fire on any public beach becsuse of the hazard to others. You could try finding an AirBNB with a private beach.

I think that sounds like a fun idea! What's great is that if it's only 30 people that means it's the closest people to you and you don't have to worry about impressing anyone. I think there are a few beaches that have public fire rings near you, especially Huntington Beach, but you might end up with a lot of people in your photos you don't know since it will be busier. If you want to use chairs and do the whole wedding thing you may have to check which beaches legally allow you to do a wedding.

In Southern California there are bonfire locations at different beaches. I think you need a permit to have a wedding on a beach though, so you might want to look into that. There's a place called the Beachcomber in Corona Del Mar that has on the beach weddings for small guest lists. I looked at it but we have too many guests (I think it has to be less than 100)

You'll have to double check which beaches still have fire pits. They've been taking them out of most of the beaches in Orange County and SD. I think Huntington might have some. There's also the San Onofre campground that might still have them. If your date is right on your profile it'll probably be freezing though, especially once the sun goes down. And you'll need to get there super early in the morning to guarantee you reserve a fire pit. They're usually claimed by lunch time. And then have someone stay there with it all day because you can get a ticket if you just leave some stuff, or risk someone stealing it or commandeering the pit. You'll also need to figure out how to get catering all the way to the fire pits. I had an event at the ones in Huntington once and it was a literal pain in the ass. You have to drag all the stuff across the sand from the parking lot which is not close. And the public parking is a nightmare especially on the weekends.

Your best bet might be to have someone go in an RV and camp in the RV lot so you have easier access.

Ocean Beach (San Diego) has fire pits at the beach still...not the prettiest or most dramatic views, but it would have your fire pits.

Have you looked into Sealegs at the Beach in HB?