Beach Themed Wedding

vanillaxsuga

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, as I just recently got engaged!  My fiance and I are planning a beach-themed wedding and have started researching wedding venues.  This is very hard since I live in North Jersey and am very familiar with great places up here, yet no one I know has ever been to a wedding down the shore area.  It's also hard because I am not a picky bride at all, and everything just looks great to me!

So far we have appointments with The Water's Edge, Windows on the Water, Channel Club, and the Crystal Point Yacht Club.  We also are looking into The Mill.  Anyone have info about these places.  Our #1 is the food, #2 is the beach theme.  We need a location with an outdoor ceremony and hotel nearby.  Thanks so much. 

tinydancer842

Water's Edge - I wouldn't have a summer wedding there simply because of all the shore traffic & a wedding on the beach wouldn't be very intimate/private. Also, my family has been to weddings there & the wait staff are teens who rush their guests through dinner. I also wasn't impressed with their food.

Channel Club - The staff there seemed very nice, but I wasn't impressed with the venue. 

Crystal Point - I think the outside isn't nice & I don't like the motel it's connected to. I was also not impressed with the food & the fact that they had more than one event at one time.

The Mill - It's beautiful & probably my favorite out of all of the ones on your list. The food wasn't impressive, but not bad either.

I would check out the Molly Pitcher in Red Bank -- they have a beautiful deck to have a wedding on that overlooks the Navesink river (see pic in siggy). Their food is also amazing -- try out their restaurant -- it's the same food.

Heather822

We got married at the Channel Club and it was beautiful!

Let me know if you have any specific questions!

colmckenn

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.  
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....The venue is under construction right now for a full renovation...even the old way, 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.

colmckenn

When you have your appointment at Windows on the Water...make sure you talk to Pete (even if your appointment is with Ashli).  He is the head chef...so creative he is. He really thinks outside the box.  We have our menu set-up appointment April 2 and the tasting May 13!!! SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!

akmackay

We got married at Channel Club as well, and I went with a "beach chic" theme. They are doing great improvements and renovations there, and I was even impressed with how they changed the cocktail hour room from when my wedding was. The staff is great there. Minimum in May 2010 for a Sat wedding was 150. I wouldn't put any more than 200 in there though.

Good luck!

diamondx423

I'm getting married at the Crystal Point and we love it. I've been to several events there and always loved the food. They're making major improvements to the outdoor area (getting rid of the pool) as well as the ballrooms (added uplighting that every bride can use for free). If you have any questions let me know-- one room there is 150 person min and the other is 100 person min.

agu101

We looked at many of the same places you're looking at, plus Clark's Landing.  Clark's was the first place we looked at, and by far the most impressive.  The food is amazing, and they designed the facility with tons of windows that look out on to the Manasquan River.  Needless to say, I'm getting married at Clark's Landing. We're doing the ceremony on site there as well in a beautiful set-up they also have overlooking the water.  Clark's is owned by the same people who own Crystal Point & Channel Club.  All 3 of them are lovely establishments and you can't go wrong with any.  Definitely go to Clark's and meet with either Don or Nicole- they're the best!

The only other place that was a close second for us was Windows on the Water, mostly because was could get married right on the beach.  We walked through a construction site, so didn't get to see the final product.  However, one big turn-off was the sales team we met with.  I found them to be extremely unresponsive to my inquiries and it was nearly impossible getting a hold of someone to even schedule an appointment.  Plus, I visited there in January, and no one has ever called to follow-up with us, which I just find rude if these are the people I'm supposed to trust run my wedding day.  

We didn't look at the Mill, because we have good friends that got married there and we didn't want to copy them.  But there wedding was very nice, although they didn't do the ceremony on site so I can't say what that looks like.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions about places down the shore- we visited a ton, and I live around there so I've been to weddings at most of them.

reese511

what is your budget?  my friend got married at Bonnet Island Estate.  it was amazingly gorgeous!  SUPER expensive, tho.

vanillaxsuga

Our budget is around $150 a person.  We are fine with doing a Friday night if we have to to meet our budget.  Thank you so much for your replies!  Any other must-sees down in that area.  We don't wanna go any more down south than Pt. Pleasant area.

colmckenn

I would agree with the difficulty of getting in touch with Windows on the Water. I deal directly with Pete...he is much better at responding and a pleasure to work with. I am not a huge fan of Ashli thus far but I am overly pleased with Pete so I just deal with him. 

katenchris820

I am havign a beach themed wedding, at the Spring Lake Manor and the place is beautiful inside, they didnt require a huge amount of people. the staff is wonderful and they work with your budget!! check the place out.

rgross531

Please let me know what you end up going with! Besides the fact that I need it to be on a Saturday night, all of my "requirements" are the same as your own.  Beach, 250 people, need overnight accommodations, etc. I am about ready to give up on the beach requirement as I am not seeing ANYTHING decent. I am really surprised about this as well.  Bonnet looks amazing but their site fee is way too high.  I am trying to stick to $150 per head as well. 

Please keep us posted!

Thanks!

vanillaxsuga

I'm about to give up as well!  I'll keep you posted, I have about 5 more appointments planned and I hope on deciding by the end of the month.