Chaminade Resort & Spa

and attentive, answering all our questions promptly. The stunning views and impeccable service made it worth every penny. The venue offered excellent value for the quality and ambiance provided. We would definitely recommend Chaminade Resort & Spa to couples seeking a picturesque and well-managed wedding location."

see the ocean. To be honest, it's the only venue we toured, we were sold. All our guests raved about what a great time it was and our friends and family from all over enjoyed all being in one place so they could meet everyone and enjoy each others' company throughout the wedding weekend. Our rehearsal dinner was on the terrace, which was a low-key taco bar affair with a great view and a wonderful welcome to our guests. The venue was very accommodating to our (moderately) raucous group, who busted out our musical instruments when the catering ended. Our wedding was on the courtyard patio and our reception was in the ballroom. Overall, the staff was incredibly accommodating and wonderful, but it just felt like there weren't enough staff present. What I wish I had known ahead of time: 1. We were only allowed to check into our bridal suite 2 hours before our rehearsal started, if I had known this I would have booked us for Thursday night as well. Some of our bridal party did not get a room until after the rehearsal. There was another wedding the same day as mine at the hotel, plus a 3rd wedding staying at the hotel. There was also a conference checking out on Friday as all the weddingS guests were trying to check in. 2. In addition to the coordinator that the venue provided, I would have hired my own day-of coordinator because two weddings in one day proved to be too much for the staff. My maid of honor had to track down the venue coordinator once during set-up (when someone moved our flowers to a different staging room and put out the wrong number of tables) and for quite some time during the reception cocktail hour (when we didn't know where they had put our bag with the marriage license, and the venue coordinator did not do any crowd control as had been discussed at the rehearsal). The venue gave the impression that there would be a room for the bride to put some things, but they ended up moving our things to the same room used as a Green Room for the band (i.e. no privacy). 3. 7:30 end time for cocktails was too late for late September, we should have gone inside by 7:00. Many of my guests were huddled in hallways or in the hotel lobby. My wedding guests had to turn on the outdoor heaters themselves during cocktails when the sun went down and the breeze kicked up.

le and very patient with every little thing. The venue was beautiful and it was so nice to have an outdoor ceremony and then just walk upstairs for the indoor reception. It was also great to have all the tables, chairs, linens, tableware, etc. taken care of and not have to worry about all the set-up and take-down! The food was delicious and the service was great. There was a even a lovely woman named Shannon who kept checking in with my husband and I to make sure we had food! Overall, we were extremely happy with our choice to get married here.

to communication in the beginning. The resort worked for our needs to have everyone stay together and host a weekend of events, including our rehearsal dinner for 55, wedding ceremony and reception for 85, and goodbye breakfast for 40 so we had a full weekend celebration there and everyone stayed at the hotel. With the amount of investment we were putting in to it we had hoped that the cost of the hotel rooms for our guests would have been lower, but they were still pretty pricey. It wasn’t as smooth leading up to the wedding (I'm a Type A bride so I appreciate lots of communication and organization) and I had to be very proactive in checking in to see where things stood. We were sold on the renovations to the main building and that’s what we signed on for so it was disappointing that 5 months before the wedding no one told us that the renovations wouldn’t be happening anymore. Our Chaminade wedding planner also changed half way through and no one told us, she didn’t even intro us to another event planner to take over, we just got an auto reply that she had left and I had to call and track down a new coordinator which was unsettling for us and leading up to the wedding we had a lot of concerns. Thankfully we landed with Angela and she was our main point of contact and great to work with. When we arrived for the wedding weekend the grounds looked beautiful and well taken care of, the food at our rehearsal dinner, wedding reception and breakfast were all wonderful and we ended up having an amazing wedding! There were some hiccups day of, like the ceremony power outside wasn't delivered to the DJ on time, dinner issues where a couple of folks didn’t get the steak they ordered, food allergies were overlooked from our final headcount sheet, and heating lamps were in a shortage, but my husband and I didn't notice any of it and only learned of it after. There were some nice extras that Angela and her team added, like saving appetizers for us to enjoy during photos, getting a van for us to drive around the lot for photos, having a club sandwich, extra cake and bottle of champagne that was back in our room at the end of the night was an excellent touch and so appreciated! We really loved working with Angela and she bent over backwards to accommodate our requests and needs. Pros to Having your Wedding at Chaminade: - Location is convenient to the Bay Area and everyone can stay at the same place - Beautiful scenery and backdrop - Pricing is reasonable and all included which makes it so much easier on Brides - They worked with us on really any request we had (like eating dinner outside or specialty drinks) and were the most accommodating venue we met with Cons: - They do a lot of weddings so that might be why there was a lack of organization and disconnect - Prices for Guest Rooms are still high with the room block and the food onsite is expensive - The main lobby is pretty outdated, we were so excited for the new look and layout, but that didn't happen - Some parts of the planning process felt rushed and impersonal, again this may be because they have so many weddings but I just had to really stay on top of all of the planning and details