Hollywood Beach Marriott...

PaolaC21

My fiance and I both decided on the Hollywood Beach Marriott and we are signing the contract at the end of this week. I haven't found much on here about this hotel so was wondering if anyone has been to a wedding here or is planning their wedding here as well. We were in between this venue, Parkland Country Club, and Hillcrest Country Club. All three worked well within our budget but we decided on the hotel because we have so many out of town guests... I'm still not sure we are making the right decision. I've read such great reviews about all three places and all are so pretty! Opinions??

KimA85

I have an appointment to check out the Marriott this Saturday.  I've never been there so I can't tell you anything, but my dad highly recommended it and suggested we check it out, so we're giving it a try.

Sorry I can't help, I'm a step behind you!

PaolaC21

lol, well at least I'll have an opinion after Saturday (even though I'm signing my contract on Friday). I personally think the ballroom is beautiful and, although we are not getting married on the beach (church wedding), I like the idea of pictures on the beach. I think regardless of what venue we choose I will always be second guessing myself because I really liked all three. Let me know how your visit goes.

KimA85

Did any of the ballrooms have a view of anything?  Or even a window?

I would like a place either on or across the street from the beach.  A beach wedding isn't necessary, but an outdoor ceremony location is.

I originally wanted a beach ceremony, but just found out that my great grandma (98 years old!) is planning on attending, and we hadn't anticipated that.  She's in a wheelchair, and I don't want to embarass her by having a ceremony on the sand, requiring someone to carry her to her seat.

KimA85

What date are you signing for?

PaolaC21

No, unfortunately there is no view from the ballroom. It is a very beautiful and elegant ballroom but no view to the ocean or anything like that. I'm not sure where, other than the beach, they would hold a ceremony. I know they have an option to hold your cocktail hour outside by the pool but not sure if the same area works for the ceremony. You should definitely ask... The hotel is right on the beach (their backyard is the beach).

We are getting married in the summer (7/15/11) so anything outside would not work for us... way too hot! We will be having both cocktail hour and reception inside.

KimA85

Oh, that's disappointing.  Thanks for the heads up so I can avoid a :-/ look during the visit, lol!

PaolaC21

lol no problem!

anaroo87

I'm getting married at the Parkland Country Club and love it! But I never looked at either of the other two so I am not sure how they would compare.
I do agree that the beach hotels are super convenient for the OOT guests though, that's the only thing that was holding me up from signing with PGCC, but then I found out many of our OOT guests were planning on making it a vacation and coming a week or so before the wedding so essentially they all would be staying at various hotels and I decided it was no longer necessary to worry about the hotel part as much.
I think if you really like several places you will always second guess yourself. I LOVE! PGCC, but have always, always wanted a wedding by the beach so every once in a while I still contemplate whether I'll regret not going with my original wants.

PhiSigFly

The Hollywood Marriott was actually our second choice (we booked at Hillcrest) and the MAIN reason we chose Hillcrest was for the ceremony location. We're having the ceremony and reception at the same venue and really did not want to be ON a public beach. Since you're not worried about the ceremony, the ballroom is beautiful, it's easy for OOT, and it's really nice that they only book one wedding per night (you don't always find that in hotels).

However, this is a big decision, and you want to be sure before you sign anything. You guys may want to visit the locations again or look at their facebook pages to see pictures from different events. You definitely don't want to book something and have second thoughts or regrets about it after!

PaolaC21

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. I'm going to hold off on signing the contract. I actually have an appt. on Sunday with Hyatt Regencey Pier66 in Fort Lauderdale. I always liked the idea of having our reception in the Pier Top ballroom but never thought we could afford it. Suprisingly enough we can! I emailed them just out of curiousity and they do have packages that can be accomodated to our budget. I'm very excited so we'll see what happens.

Anaroo and Physigfly, we absolutely loved PGCC and Hillcrest. I wish they were hotels! lol Both of your weddings will be beatiful at those locations!

JenBrendan

We chose the Hollywood Beach Marriott for our most recent wedding ceremony & reception.

Positives: On boardwalk, directly across from beach. Venue has an antique like style with dark wood & mismatched furniture & chandeliers. The spa staff was nice, and location was clean. I recommend the exfoliating scrub & swedish massage.

Negatives: the front desk failed to give out the welcome bags to our guests when they checked in. In fact, my mother in-law (and a few other guests) received the WRONG welcome bag - the front desk staff gave her the bag from a wedding the weekend prior). There were a ton of issues with reservations - some were cancelled inadvertently, some families requested double beds (as there were 4 in the party) and they could only get 1 KING bed (which obviusly cannot hold 4 Adults). The valet staff at the hotel were RUDE and UNHELPFUL. The only food options around the Hotel was the Hotel Restaurant (Lattitudes-which is overrated & overpriced), and a few decent restaurants within driving distance (or if your famiy enjoys walking, they are about 3-5 miles on the boardwalk). As for the reception, it was my understanding that the top tier of the wedding cake could be stored in the refrigerator of catering department until the next morning (when we planned to leave the hotel) but on the night of the reception, we were told this was uncommon & they forced us to take the top tier once the reception ended at 10pm. Also the food was DRY (filet mignon & mahi mahi with a tropical salsa) at the recepion - and it wasnt quite the quality we tried during our tasting. Lastly, there are only 3 elevators - which are used both by hotel staff & patrons of hotel, meaning LONG wait times.

Even though this was the location of our ceremony & reception, it left such a bad taste in our mouth due to staff confusion & details promised which were not delivered. I do not recommend this place.