Wedding ceremony and reception venues in L.A.?

First let me just say... if you're not from L.A. please don't answer. Ok, so we've started researching locations for a late January mid-morning wedding and lunch reception. I figured catering/events are slow in L.A. around that time so no problem finding deals right? Wrong! I just had one venue tell me I had to add more appetizers and an additional hour of bar just to reach their $10K minimum!! Are you kidding me? We don't need it! And that was using 100 guests, to make calculations easier, but we're inviting closer to 75 guests. I'm not inviting people I barely know to meet a quota either! I'm pretty much willing to explore any options in the valley, with a preference for golf courses since they have great scenery for photos and do catering. Any suggestions on places that are reasonable and willing to negotiate? I checked out a few places as far as San Dimas and Simi Valley, but only online. Since I'm out of state right now this is proving to be more difficult than I thought.