Looking for East Coast All Inclusive beachfront wedding (resorts, dress, ceremony)

[pinetar10]

I am searching for an all inclusive resort along the east coast (preferably in the south) for a beachfront wedding. I've been looking online, but every place I look at seems great, so I wondered if anybody here had any personal experience.
Places that I like are Florida, either coast, and South Carolina (looked at Hilton Head). Casa Ybel in Florida looks really nice, but may be a little out of my price range.
The wedding will be during the first week of July, 2013, and we plan on staying for the whole week.
There will be a total of 16 guests.
I may even want to rent 3 beachfront condos if I could find 3 that are next to each other somewhere instead of staying at a resort.
Total I would like to pay is $3,000 or under for the wedding and $2,500 or under for each condo/hotel room for the entire week.
If anybody knows a place that would work for me, please let me know.
THank you

[Sundaydrive00]

Originally Posted by pinetar10

I am searching for an all inclusive resort along the east coast (preferably in the south) for a beachfront wedding. I've been looking online, but every place I look at seems great, so I wondered if anybody here had any personal experience.
Places that I like are Florida, either coast, and South Carolina (looked at Hilton Head). Casa Ybel in Florida looks really nice, but may be a little out of my price range.
The wedding will be during the first week of July, 2013, and we plan on staying for the whole week.
There will be a total of 16 guests.
I may even want to rent 3 beachfront condos if I could find 3 that are next to each other somewhere instead of staying at a resort.
Total I would like to pay is $3,000 or under for the wedding and $2,500 or under for each condo/hotel room for the entire week.
If anybody knows a place that would work for me, please let me know.
THank you

Renting a beachfront condo for under $2,500 might be a little hard to do 4th of July weekend. Not saying its impossible, but you will have your work cute out. That means you are looking for something around $200 a night, considering most condo rentals also have a cleaning fee that isn't included in the base price. When looking at condo rentals I've seen cleaning fees anywhere from $100-$500 so be sure to know if there is a cleaning fee, and what that fee is going to cost you. Also know that being the week of a major US holiday, that rentals (and even hotel rooms) will fill up quickly (and might be pricier), so make sure to book as soon as you decide on a place.


Personally, I would choose a condo over an all inclusive resort during fourth of July. The resorts are going to be crowded, and they are going to be all about fireworks and "patriot" games. Not knocking the 4th (I love 4th of July), but just something to keep in mind for your wedding (which I'm sure you already realize is the week of the 4th). Of course a free firework show during the wedding/reception is always nice. I think it would be best to find a vacation house that is located somewhere with private beach access and get married there. Then you can have a place to host a catered reception that is in your housing budget, and gives you a little extra room to work with for food, drinks, photographer, etc... Usually permits to get married on the beach (if thats what you want) will cost somewhere between $20-$100. Be careful about getting married anywhere located within a State or National park, as they may charge each vehicle/person that comes in a separate fee (I've heard of people that get married on Anastasia Island near St. Augustine running into this problem).

As far as exact location to get married? I'm not sure, although I wouldn't choose Hilton Head. Its too touristy, and will just be full of drunks for the 4th. If you are not particularly attached to any certain location, I would look into a smaller sleepy beach town along the coast. Prices are more likely to be cheaper, and you won't have to worry about a bunch of drunk tourists blowing up your wedding with their fireworks.

When I think of places that I would want to get married at in the Southeast Flagler Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach are two that come to mind. Here is a rental on Flagler Beach for $3,000 (5 Bedroom Apt. / Condo Rental in Flagler Beach, Florida, USA - Blue Ocean Breeze BeachFront House, Sleeps 16 to 20, HDTV, Wifi) that sleeps 20 (if you want all your guests in the same house) and has its own beach access. There is a resort in Ponte Vedra that has wedding packages (not sure how much) or I've seen condo rental available at the Sawgrass beach club for around $2,000 a week. I don't have actual experience with dealing with any of these places, its just some of the things I have come up with in my own research over the past few months.

[pinetar10]

thanks a lot for the ideas, i'll definately check those places out as im' not set on anywhere right now.

[Thursday007]

I planned a wedding at the Marriot Hotel in Key West Florida - it's absolutely top notch goregeous, sprawling lawns and hammocks and the consergie was also a notary and could perform the ceremony which was done right on the beach on the property.
It was simple, it was beautiful and inexpensive. The Marriot Compound in Key West is gated.

Key West Hotels Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel Florida Keys

Pictures

[pinetar10]

that does look very nice. How many guests did you have and how inexpensive was it?
did you have a reception at the hotel or did you just have the actual ceremony there?

Thank you

Originally Posted by Thursday007

I planned a wedding at the Marriot Hotel in Key West Florida - it's absolutely top notch goregeous, sprawling lawns and hammocks and the consergie was also a notary and could perform the ceremony which was done right on the beach on the property.
It was simple, it was beautiful and inexpensive. The Marriot Compound in Key West is gated.

Key West Hotels Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel Florida Keys

Pictures

[Thursday007]

Originally Posted by pinetar10

that does look very nice. How many guests did you have and how inexpensive was it?
did you have a reception at the hotel or did you just have the actual ceremony there?

Thank you

I actually planned it for another couple who just wanted to get married alone and her aunt and uncle lived in Florida so they drove down as witnesses. So, it was just the four of them and they didn't use the Gazebo and did it right on the beach itself. She just wore a simple floor length cotton dress

When they came home they had a small wedding with just the family in an old historic church - they did it for their parents. It too was quite understated. She did the full dress wedding with one bridesmaid.

The Marriot in Key West can do everything from flowers to the wedding itself and will accommodate as few or as many guests as you want. It really is a beautiful place I did go see it several years before I did the wedding and the nice thing is I only had to talk to one person to do the whole thing for them not 6 like the flowers, the pastor, the caterers, the dress makers blah blah blah. The concergie did everything with me via a couple phone calls and emails. Don't forget to tip the consergie

As far as price it all depends on how many people and how elaborate you want it. With plane tickets for the two of them and the wedding and just a long weekend they got away with less than a couple grand. Just call them and talk to them about the number of people and what you want and they will quote you a price depends on how elaborate you want it.