California or Georgia?

Unless you have a pretty decent budget, I would stick with Georgia. California can be soooo expensive and weddings are already expensive enough. Georgia will be especially great for an outside wedding in September!

I agree that your budget will likely go a lot further in Georgia that in California.... I see brides post on here that they are looking to do a very small wedding in So Cal for $****, and I always think, "Yikes! I don't see how that's possible here." I don't want to be mean, but having been through it, based on our experience that's going to be REALLY tough (we spent over $30,000 on daughter's 100 guest wedding, and it was off-season and not at all over the top; CA is just so expensive). Also, in another post, I know you asked about military discounts. I'm guessing those are easier to find the closer your location is to a major military base, so I'd take that into consideration in choosing your location as well. Good luck! (And, thank you both for your service.)

Definitely California... no competition (especially SoCal)!!! It’s simply the best state there is LOL!!!! #truth But also, you can get all of the choices you mentioned.... beach, wineries, rural (and more) along with great weather! ☀️ 😎

Georgia will be much less expensive, and much simpler to coordinate a wedding in the location where you currently live

We got married at a winery in California. Food and beer/wine was $200 a person and our site fee was $20k. So if budget is an issue I would recommend Georgia.

I also think Georgia may be more friendly to whatever budget you have in mind, but I am partial to our CA locale. I will caution that September in CA (especially So Cal - not sure if you'll be stationed in SD or Pendleton or elsewhere) can be very warm. While it's not normally too humid, it can be REALLY hot. Not sure about how common it is, but our venue in particular offers a military discount. Maybe call a couple venues that you like in both locations and see what average budgets are for their weddings so you can make a more informed decision.

What part of California are you from/moving to? Northern California is a lot less expensive than So Cal or the Bay Area. If your looking for a winery Amador County has beautiful wineries and is not as expensive as Napa. There are also beautiful wooded areas. Mount Rose on the north side of Lake Tahoe is reasonably priced for Tahoe. I’m doing a weekend wedding at Tsasdi Resort in Lakehead. It’s a rustic resort with a deck overlooking the lake.

I don't have an insight on where would be better, but I would assume GA is overall cheaper. My only thing would be to consider the cost to travel back and forth if you choose to have a GA wedding while living in CA. Our wedding is only two hours away from where we live and I can't even tell you how much we've spent in gas to make it to vendor meetings.