New Jersey

Questions about wedding at McLoone's Pier House

Has anyone held, or been to, a wedding at McLoone's Pier House in Long Branch?  I have questions about the indoor ceremony, pictures, the reception layout, and hotel accomodations:

We opted not to have the outdoor beachfront ceremony because it's more expensive and we didn't want to make everyone walk in the sand.  How did McLoone's transition between the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception when they all share the same middle/dancefloor area by the section of windows that slide away to the side?  Especially when they say the cocktail hour will start a half hour after the ceremony starts?

For pictures, how was the beach for photos?  Were there a lot of people on the beach that would be in the background of the shots?  Did you feel weird with lots of onlookers or was it OK?

Also, the layout is a little out of the ordinary, being that all the reception seating is on one side of the dancefloor in two rows... did anyone find this setup extremely awkward during the party or was it OK?  It looks nice in pictures and it seemed do-able when we went there in person...  We are planning a 2nd bar at the end of the tables section, and also considering putting the sweetheart table more in the middle of that area instead of on the end by the dance floor, to make the layout more comfortable for guests, but this still bothers me somewhat.

In addition I have a third question about hotel block - I wasn't going to use Ocean Place (too expensive) but I just found out the Eatontown Sheraton we were planning to use has a 2-night stay minimum in the summer!  Dealbreaker in my opinion!  Has anyone used Staybridge Suites next to the Sheraton, or any other hotels in the area?  I'd like a hotel that's not too far away for before-and-after shuttles, and preferably with a bar or lounge for that casual after-party scenario.

Thanks so much!!  Especially since I have so many questions! 

Re: Questions about wedding at McLoone's Pier House

  • uppereastgirluppereastgirl member
    2500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I went to a wedding last summer at McLoone's.  The wedding was on the beach, with a million onlookers.  None were on the beach -- they were on the pier -- but there were tons.  Not sure whether that would bother you for pictures.

    I didn't remember any gap between the ceremony and cocktail hour.  Maybe because the ceremony was on the beach?

    The transition between the cocktail hour and the reception was kind of awkward but I don't know if the couple is to blame, or if it is standard for McLoone's.  First, we only had half of the room for cocktail hour, which made it very crowded (and there were very few tables).  It was hard to get a drink because so many people were crowded by the bar.  After cocktail hour, we were all brought downstairs and out to the beach to take a group photo (so the rest of the room could be set up for the reception).  We had to abandon our drinks, gather our belongings, etc.  The first photos they took then were bridal party and family, so we all were stuck standing on the pier watching (which was a little boring, and I would have preferred to have drinks and such).  This is probably the photographer's fault, but after what seemed like a long time we hadn't figured out when or if the group photo was going to be taken, so most of us started back towards McLoone's.  Only we couldn't go up there because the room wasn't up yet.  So a most of the guests just aimlessly wandered around the outside of the building waiting to be able to go back upstairs.  This is probably in large part the photographer's fault though -- the guests were never given a clear sense of what we were supposed to be doing and when.

    I wasn't a huge fan of the layout because it is long and narrow and everything felt kind of far from where we were sitting (we were in the cheap seats), but your ideas sound like they'll help a lot!!!

    It sounds like you have a lot of good questions, and you are concerned about your guests, so I'm sure you'll figure out how to work around these things.  You may want to ask a contact at the venue to see what couples have done in the past to work around these things.
    image
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks so much for the detailed account!  McLoone's did say that they typically do the beach group photo between cocktail and reception, I guess so they can set up, but looks like the photog didn't coordinate that very well with the guests.  We're rethinking the indoor ceremony at McLoone's now too, since that would have also been in the same cocktail/dancefloor area, so that would mean 2 awkward transitions - between ceremony & cocktail, then cocktail to reception!  And from my visits there it seems like there's nowhere for guests to go besides the main room, except the downstairs bar, the boardwalk, or the beach.  But not anywhere that's serving out the open bar drinks included in the wedding :)

    For anyone else looking at McLoone's - the beachfront ceremony sounds kinda nice but we're avoiding having to do that since it's $700 and that excludes $100 for the arch AND $3 per chair.  If we wanted a beachfront ceremony with 150 chairs and the arch it comes out to $1250!

    I'm going to email the banquet coordinator at McLoone's again with some additional questions and report back in case anyone else was interested.

    And please if anyone else out there has additional insight please add thanks!!  I need all the info I can get before committing all this $$  !!
  • smw42smw42 member
    2500 Comments Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I'm in a wedding at McLoone's this August and they're using the Courtyard and the Holiday Inn Express. The prices were outrageous for the other hotels in the area since it's summertime at the beach. The Holiday Inn Express has been recently renovated and much much nicer than you'd expect.
    Anniversary Photobucket
  • Heater020780Heater020780 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Whatever you do, do not stay at the Holiday Inn in Tinton Falls.....full review in bio. 
  • edited December 2011
    Hey Hey. I'm getting married at The Ocean Place. We do have a block set up at Ocean Place, also mostly with 2 night minimum.  
    We created a seperate block at Holiday Inn Express in West Long Branch - VERY reasonably priced. The only negative is they do not have a shuttle (I think the Sheraton does?)

    That's my thoughts on booking! There is also a LaQuinta in town you may want to check out.
  • Reilly626Reilly626 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I would do the outside ceremony, although Im probably background in lots of pics- why are you having a reception at the beach and not incorporating the  ocean?   I didn't care for the food at McLoones, ask for a taste-test!  Why not rent a condo for the week, its prob, cheaper than that hotel, although that hotel is so convenient.
  • edited December 2011

    Ive been to a wedding there last may, it was supposed to be outside on the beach, but it rained. The ceremony was inside, which was ok. For the cocktail hour they sectioned off the room with a wall and set up a few tables, it was kind of tight. Then opened up for the reception.


    The seating was a little off, it had seats on one side of the dance floor, in two rows, a bit tight also. On the other side of the dance floor was the bar.


    They did set everything up beautifully though, so that made up for it.

  • ebarracoebarraco member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I know I'm late, but we just got married at McLoone's 3 weeks ago and you should totally disregard all the negatives people are saying on here.  It was amazing and we could not have asked for more!  We had the ceremony on the beach and did have an audience but it just made it that much more special!  They were all very respectful and noone unwanted was in our photos! 

    Regarding the seating, they are totally flexible so you decide what works best for you.  Ours was a smaller wedding with only 12 tables so we had them put us in the middle of the reception floor and have all the tables pointing towards us.  It worked out really well and we didn't have the awkwardness of being off to one side where only a select group could see us. 

    If you have any more specific questions, please feel free to ask.  I cannot say enough about how great our experience with them was.  Everyone raved about how beautiful it was and unique.  Definitely not your traditional reception hall and that's exactly what we wanted.

    Good luck!!
  • stroodlesstroodles member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm thinking of booking my wedding at McLoone's - how was the food and the service? any complaints?
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