Renting Beach House for Wedding/Reception?

badcorebubbles · May 2010

I was wondering if anyone has ever rented a large beach house (I live in Southern California so I'm looking at Malibu houses) for their reception? I was thinking of having the ceremony on the sand (depending on how close the house is to the water, otherwise on the property if there is room) and having the reception in the house so it had a more intimate feeling. It would be for less than 100 people, but I'm not sure if this is feasible. Any suggestions?

aerinpegadrak · May 2010

I haven't rented one in SoCal, but we rented a penthouse hotel suite in Vegas for our wedding and it worked great. We were able to host several events there and use it as a home base during the wedding weekend. Just keep in mind that you'll have to either do setup/cleanup yourself or hire someone to do it for you.

t.kaufman · May 2010

I am using this same idea! We have rented a house in Arizona to host the reception on the patio which has great mountain views. I think it is unique and a fun idea, however, it takes a LOT more work than it would be to just go to a place that will organize your whole wedding for you. You will have to pick the house, get liability insurance for the event, find a caterer or chef, rent the tables/chairs/linens/glassware etc. It is a lot of work, but well worthwhile I think! Good luck!

AutumnEnchantment · May 2010

Wow, I never thought of renting a house to have the reception there. Sounds like a great idea to me!

jessicarabbit501 · May 2010

try vrbo.com for rental listings, you should be able to find a home there.

one thing though, you'll probably have to clear your event with the owners of the property as some property owners don't want tenants throwing events. they might also require that you insure your wedding or ask for a larger deposit to cover all the extra people and activities.

adnilemydal · May 2010

badcore, thanks so much for asking this question! I was wondering the very exact same thing. We want to get married in Lake Tahoe, but want to keep it really cheap. I wasn't sure where to start, as there seemed to be some strict rules about hosting such events at a private home. I posted a post on my local boards, but no one has replied yet. (Lake Tahoe is a small place; less people on the boards there I guess

)

If anyone else can help with more info, that'd be great! Thanks!

annamayp · May 2010

I've been looking at VRBO.com for at least two weeks now. There are tons of places along the coast in southern california but what are the pit falls for doing a wedding like this? Does anyone have an any GREAT venues or tips?

loveslug · May 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_renting-beach-house-weddingreception?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:9a6cab90-078d-42b0-8bca-05927697db54Post:bb63de88-7880-4f7f-9699-7e1ecb7cfeb1">Re: Renting Beach House for Wedding/Reception?</a>:
[QUOTE]try vrbo.com for rental listings, you should be able to find a home there. one thing though, <strong>you'll probably have to clear your event with the owners of the property as some property owners don't want tenants throwing events</strong>. they might also require that you insure your wedding or ask for a larger deposit to cover all the extra people and activities.
Posted by jessicarabbit501[/QUOTE]

Absolutely check into this...MANY rental home owners do not allow weddings/receptions/etc. on their properties. Be sure to ask and read the rental agreement carefully before you sign it. We had wanted to do this for my sister's wedding but could not find a single house in the area she chose that would allow it. Also, there may be other things to consider as well, such as noise ordinances for the area (many cities require noise/music to be subdued after 10 pm unless you get a noise variance) and parking issues, among others. Some rental properties are situated among homes with year-round residents, and noise/parking/other issues may bother the neighbors enough to call the rental management company, the owners of the house, or the police (one rental agreement I read stated that the neighbors to this house all had the phone numbers to the rental company and were instructed to immediately report any potential violations to the company's emergency contact-any violations would result in immediate eviction with no refunds.)

What we ended up doing is renting a house on the beach that served as the wedding prep area, and having the wedding on the beach in front of the house (all beach area in that town is public property), and the guests parked in a public parking area near the house and walked the short (half a block) distance down the beach to the ceremony site. The few guests who would have found the walk difficult were escorted from the house. The reception was then held in the town's beautiful community center about two miles away. It worked out wonderfully.

Good luck! I'm sure your wedding/reception will be beautiful!

BreeBugg77 · May 2010

I'm looking to do the same, but in FL!

[Deleted User] · May 2010

Islamorada, thanks for your great feedback. Was your caterer Debbie? I met her a few days ago and she was so nice and has been doing this for 17 years!!

Islamorada14 · June 2010

Caroline - I'm VERY late replying to this, but yes, my caterer was Debbie. She is an angel!!! I can't recommend her enough. I even contacted her a few days before we flew down to Florida, freaking out because I couldn't get ahold of the rental agent for the beach houses. Debbie literally got in her car and tracked down the property maintenance manager to make sure the houses were being prepared for our arrival. She's that devoted to all of her brides!

abbiewebster · June 2010

Yeh be careful because we are renting one it florida to have our wedding and reception and the price went up $3000 because its a wedding...ridiculous but by the time they told me i had already planned everything etc so didnt want to turn it down, we found ours on vacationrentals.com...im so excited for our house/garden/on the water wedding, good luck with finding a place.

a

abbiewebster · June 2010

wow didnt mean to bold that

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