New Jersey - South

Shore Venues

Hi all!  I was married in October and posted on this board sometimes (and Philly too)...My sister just got engaged and I'm basically her wedding planner and may become a frequent poster here Sealed

Anyway, I was hoping you can all recommend some shore venues.  They want to get married on or near the beach this September - nothing crazy expensive.  They don't have a budget nailed down, but let's say One Atlantic would be out of their price range (we did look into this and it was just starting at $150 pp).  They will have about 150 guests and want something nice, but laid back - and nothing ballroomy!  A deck or patio/tent overlooking the beach would be fab.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

Re: Shore Venues

  • edited December 2011
    You can check our Flanders in Ocean City, they are a bit more expensive than others around here and you have to supply the alcohol (OC is a dry town, so no one has the alcohol) which we were told is pretty cheap to do. They are right on the beach in OC and section the area off for events.

    There is also Seaview, which does a lot of events outside, but they're not on the beach.  They're in Absecon, about 10 minutes from AC.  They were just purchased by Stockton College (but Dulce the company who owned it before is still on as managing the facitlies).  they're closed right now due to renovations to update the facilities and should reopen in March but I believe they're still there taking calls and inquiries. 

    There is also Smithville Inn which overlooks a lake and is a very quaint, calm place.  It is a gorgous room (and place) that doesnt have the ballroom feel at all. 
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  • edited December 2011

    Congrats, first of all on your sister’s recent engagement!!! That is very exciting. I am planning a beach wedding for June 2011.

     

    OK, first... things down the shore are already booking for 2012. So, I'm glad to hear your beginning right away in the planning process.  A lot of places we considered needed a 175 guarantee for a Saturday night event and a smaller required number for a Friday night or Sunday wedding.  FYI--A lot of the places offered a 10% or 15% off discount for doing a Friday night or a Sunday event.

     

    Of the places that didn't require a 175 head count--> all the following places are under a 135$ per head charge in the Monmouth and Ocean County Area are....Tim McCloone's Supper Club (Asbury Park) (Tim has like 4 or 5 places down the shore, so make sure the website your looking at is the Supper club), Brielle Riverhouse, Waterview Pavilion (Belmar), Riverview Pavilion(Belmar), Merri Makers Water's Edge(Sea Bright) (same thing...Merri Makers has a bunch of venues), and Windows on the Water (Sea Bright)....

     

    Tim McCloones Supper Club... LOVEEEEEEEEED IT. It is in Asbury Park, right on the boardwalk next to Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre...they do beach ceremonies (FYI there are 3 trash cans in view in all the pictures I saw of people that used this beach site...however, there are jetties and a cool boardwalk that make for other cool pictures and it is right by the stone pony.) This places offers an outside cocktail hour overlooking the ocean and then the reception moves inside to an awesome room, very lounge-y feeling...leather booths and a huge bar...smaller dance floor though (FYI- might not sound so cool, check out the pics- http://www.timmcloonessupperclub.com/gallery.php ) We ate at the downstairs restaurant for lunch one Saturday and the food was really good. Apparently its the same chef, parking is okay, its all metered....we were told you could work a deal with the parking lot that is privately owned across the street, the Berkley hotel is 1 block away and walking distance, they allow blocks of rooms to be booked (not sure the rate).

      

    Brielle Riverhouse-- we went here to check it out...parking situation was HORRIBLE, the room was okay, it was, well on the river, didn’t really fit what we were looking for.

     

    Waterview and Riverview Pavilions- they’re ON Route 35 in Belmar, it is over looking 5 lanes of traffic and then a parking lot, a building before the marina...the location turned us away from looking inside so I don’t have to much info...we just felt that we could find a better view for the same prices...if we were paying the prices to be on the water...we wanted to be ON the water.

     

    Merri Makers Waters Edge- Valet parking is provided...I wasn’t as big of a fan of this place as I thought I was going to be.  They hold ceremonies outside on the sand (white arch with white chairs and its very pretty), but then they make you come inside for the cocktail hour...they said outside cocktail hour causes bugs (personally, I think it has something to do with their liquor license), the cocktail hour room looks over an in ground pool and playground and beyond that is the seawall and then about 14 inches where if your lucky and tall you can see some ocean....again I felt like if we were paying beach prices...I wanted to be ON the beach or at least hopefully weather permitting outside for cocktail hour.  The room upstairs had a huge mirror on one wall making it appear 2 times as large; the bar was hooked in the back corner behind a wall. We have heard from family friends the food was great and they enjoyed weddings there...personally, we weren’t into the inside cocktail hour.

     

    Windows on the Water...Sea Bright, NJ....let me tell you, when we opened the front door, we knew!!! THIS WAS IT! I could go into much more detail if you want it....I don’t want to brag too much if you aren’t that interested. But to begin the front porch is super cute with rocking chair and other furniture that over looks the Navisink (spelling) River...you walk into the nice, clean, white lobby...straight through you can see the palm trees (shipped in every May...I don’t know what date you are thinking, but the palms only come in around Memorial Day so an early May wedding might not have them) They have a huge, gorgeous deck that, if you choose to have the whole reception and all outside can accommodate for 220.  They have a white wood isle that leads to a white gazebo in the sand where they perform beach ceremonies that is surrounding by swaying palms!! The grounds also has dunes and jetties (perfect for photo ops, they do have an ATV so you can go faster and not waste time), upstairs has a huge bar and the biggest dance floor out of any place we've seen, It accommodates 180 upstairs. We chose to do a stations reception because the cook is convincing. He has a good point in that sitting down here for 2 hrs or whatever will take away so much of the relaxing free flowing atmosphere.  We weren’t crazy about the cake place they use (Piece O' Cake. Shrewsbury....I think we might actually try to get them to not put it in our formal contract and go somewhere else). This place is FREE 12 and under. 105$ for 13-20 and 130$ for 21 and up!! Which is reallllllllly reasonable for down the shore, this location and with what they have to offer. At the end of the night for 750$ you can add a beach bon fire which lasts for 1 hr and has beer and wine and soda!! We are most certainly doing that.....

     

    Also, we went to go see Breakers (Spring Lake). This place to me was very 80s still. I haven’t heard great things about it, but was rather disappointed with how out dated it was.  The parking situation was okay, they offer boardwalk gazebo ceremonies (it only seats 20). From what I remember, they require a 180 minimum.

     

     

  • angel33284angel33284 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    One thing your sister has to consider is whether the guests will be able to drive home after the wedding or if it will be too far. The reason I say this is because just about all shore hotels will require them to book the whole weekend and not allow them to book just one night. So if many of the guests will need to stay their expenses will quickly double.

    Or if they choose to drive home and it's a long drive you can probably count on many guests leaving the reception earlier than normal, which is obviously not a desirable side effect.
  • edited December 2011
    Col - OMG you are amazing for all of this info!  I am going to go through all of it tonight.  I appreciate this so so so much.  Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail.  :)
  • l.simpsonl.simpson member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I got married on the beach in Stone Harbor, and my recpetion was at that Yacht Club of Stone Harbor.  I really loved it- they basically let me do what I wanted (they did know my husband's family, but I think they'd still be accomidating).  I've heard good things location wise about the Avalon Yacht Club- I've never been to a wedding there, but ,y SIL was there recently and said the food wasn't great.  FWIW, I loved the food at my wedding- guests raved about it and in fact, still tell me how great it was even almost 2 years later...

    The hotel thing is definitely right- most of my guests stayed for 2 nights- which made for fun, weekend full of celebration.  Really, during September, the two night stay is going to be sort of pricy (in some people's opinions) but I sort of looked at it as if you were paying for just one night at a pricey location- ie: a friend of mine was married at One Atlantic this past November, and we stayed at Caesars.  It was a discounted rate for a Saturday in AC, but pretty close to what a lot of my guests paid for 2 nights.

    Also, my bff got married at the Chelsea and loved it.  The food was great, location was really cool, etc.

    Hope that helps!
  • edited December 2011
    P.S. We are getting married on June 11, 2011. We had no trouble finding hotels with only one night blocks. We are using the Redbank Lyncroft Marriot and got a group rate of 109 a night.
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_south-new-jersey_shore-venues?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:128Discussion:24266c32-659e-45cc-8be1-7ff44d8d29a6Post:4e4082aa-5f4c-4d04-be26-bb49556cf4b6">Re: Shore Venues</a>:
    [QUOTE]Also, we went to go see Breakers (Spring Lake). This place to me was very 80s still. I haven’t heard great things about it, but was rather disappointed with how out dated it was.  The parking situation was okay, they offer boardwalk gazebo ceremonies (it only seats 20). From what I remember, they require a 180 minimum.    
    Posted by colmckenn[/QUOTE]

    I agree about Breakers.  It also smelled like fish to me when I went inside to tour the place.  I did not like the lady there either because she couldn't answer some of my questions and seemed rather distant.  Something that is in Spring Lake that could be an option is The Mill.  My friend is getting married there in July, actually.  The Mill is awesome!   These places get booked up quick though, so keep that in mind.
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