Beach Wedding Planning Fiasco. What To Do?
I was hoping to get married in a land far, far away, but budget constraints and parents would have me looking a bit closer to home. Lucky for me, home is where many people go for a destination wedding! Santa Cruz, CA is a beautiful beach location, but I haven’t the faintest idea if it’s more cost effective to do it this way.
I know renting a public beach should be fairly inexpensive (compared to places that are equipped for weddings) but then I’m on my own for party rentals, like chairs, tent, tables, plates, etc…
I’d like to have my wedding and my reception in the same area. What I want to do it rent a large tent with side walls (something like this: http://www.mendocinocoastevents.com/images/PacificStarWedding2.jpg ) and furnish it with tables and chairs for 50 people, and a small dance floor.
My biggest problems are this:
*Finding a beach in the area that allows alcohol and open containers in the permit (most of the ones I’ve been finding expressly forbid it). I’ve tried googling private beaches in the area without much luck.
*Knowing what I need to order. For example I can find pricing on tents but I have no idea realistically what size I’ll need. What kind of dinnerware should I be getting, and how much of it? These are all things that boggle my mind.
*Finding rentable portapotties in the area that aren’t what you’d find on a construction site. I’ve heard of ones that are nice, with sinks and flushing toilets and everything, but I can’t figure out where to rent them in the Bay Area.
*Knowing what obstacles I’m going to be facing this way. On the one hand it seems like I could be saving a bucket of money, on the other it seems like it could quickly run out of my price range.
Anybody that could help me out with any or all of my questions would be greatly appreciated. I just feel like I’m in over my head.
Look for a hotel with a private beach, they would probably provide tents, chairs, food, booze and bartenders
A bunch of them have package deals that are cheaper than doing it yourself. A bathroom wouldn’t be a problem then, and any traveling guests have a convenient place to crash. Not to mention a honeymoon suite. This hotel below is the first one I found, and it has the pricing online! $1500 for the beach ceremony with chairs etc. The reception looks pricy though, $95 per person. I guess it depends on how many guests you have coming… And I know in CA things are much more expensive than in little old TX, ha ha. Check some other sites though, places like that do weddings all the time and will probably make it fabulous.http://www.oceanohalfmoonbay.com/?p=last…
You’re probably better off finding a venue that can do all that for you… Here’s a link to Here Comes The Guide, it’s a CA website that has all the venues organized and tells you what they allow, what they provide, and how much it’ll cost:http://www.herecomestheguide.com/locatio…
Getting all that stuff together yourself can be EXPENSIVE as well as nerve-wrecking, unless you have some fabulous wedding planner. Yeah going with a place like a private beach wedding venue can be costly, but it could end up saving you a lot of money. All inclusive venues really aren’t all that bad – I’ve priced a few “options” out (me and the boyfriend have been talking about getting married, but no ring yet), and from what I’ve learned it’s far cheaper to go with a place that provides everything. Plus you can simply tell them your budget and guest count and see what they can do for you. In these economic times, wedding venues seem really willing to work with you (or maybe they’ve always been like that, who knows).
Search around Google for a while – a month or so ago I found a place in the Central Coast (not sure if it was Santa Cruz or Monterey) that did pretty awesome looking beach weddings (that were really cheap), but I’m not one for sand on my big day so I didn’t bookmark it or anything. Mendocino is nice too, you could look into venues up there.
OH, and here’s a link to a fabulous little blog I’ve found along my way that has TONS of tips on how to have a nice budget-friendly wedding:http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/50-…
Good luck!!