About this vendor
La Playa Carmel is the premier wedding venue located in the oceanside village of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Our staff provides unparalleled service amongst one of the most iconic backdrops the Monterey Peninsula has to offer. We are honored to host couples, their family and friends for unforgettable celebrations in this splendid setting known as the "Grande Dame of Carmel."
Facilities and Capacity
La Playa Carmel offers a wide variety of venues infused with glamour and old-world ambiance. The Courtyard features the captivating atmosphere of our award-winning English garden with more than 600 varieties of flowers. Flanked by these marvelous gardens, the La Playa Patio is a wonderful outdoor space for small gatherings. Indoors, the Pacific Room and Terrace feature amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. A fire pit and heaters are situated within the Terrace for the comfort of guests and enhanced ambiance. The Garden Room offers magnificent ocean and garden scenery while the Fireside Room is suitable for intimate events indoors.
Services
Coordinating everything from flower arrangements and table settings to entertainment, meals and accommodations, your La Playa Carmel Wedding Specialist and our trusted partners will assist you with all of your planning needs.
We are proud to provide the following services: Standard Ceremonies & Receptions; Elopements & Mini Matrimonies; Engagement Parties; Bridal Luncheons; Rehearsal Dinners; Farewell Brunches and Guest Accommodations.
Intimate Weddings & Elopements
Whether you wish for a luscious garden setting, a terrace with ocean views or historic indoor surrounds, you are sure to find an atmosphere that’s perfect for you!
Our Elopement Package is available for events with a guest count of 35 or fewer and includes the following amenities: ceremony venue, 1-night stay and champagne toast.
Catering & Cuisine
The culinary team has earned a reputation for enhancing event cuisine with fine dining sensibilities. Skilled chefs will strive to provide you with a feast worthy of your special celebration. Select from our meticulously designed event menus which offer a diverse array of dishes, or customize a menu tailored to your tastes.
Accommodations
Experience charm and romance amidst the sights and sounds of the Pacific. La Playa Carmel features 75 guest rooms with spectacular ocean, garden or estate views. Reflecting a sophisticated beach cottage style, each hotel room is as unique as Carmel itself.
History
Originally designed in 1905 by an artist for his wife, La Playa Carmel has a remarkable history. In 1917, Agnes “Alice” Signor obtained the manor, transforming the seaside estate into a high-end boarding house - “The Strand.” In 1940, additional rooms were added, turning the intimate inn into a full-service destination hotel. In 1968 Carmel legend, Howard "Bud" Allen introduced several amenities—including a full-time bar. In 1983, Steve Jobs unveiled the Macintosh computer prototype at La Playa Carmel.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
On-Site Accommodations
Reception Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Liability Insurance
Outdoor Event Space
Wireless Internet
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Ballroom
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Estate
- Garden
- Historic Venue
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Cakes & Desserts
- Food & Catering
- Service Staff
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Reviews
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3.1
out of 5.09 reviews
Great experience and amazing food!
The entire La Playa staff/team was amazing and helpful to make this past weekend incredibly special for my wife and myself.
Everyone from Sammy,...
Dana, Ian, Kathleen, Primo, Claudia and the rest of the staff provided great service and made everyone's experience enjoyable. The food and drinks were delicious and the property was unbelievable and perfect for a Spring Wedding. Our guests complimented that they ate the best food of any wedding they've attended. Despite the construction they were undergoing, the staff kept their promise to make the courtyard and gardens pristine and they delivered. The hotel staff was so attentive to us and our guests during our stay with constant offerings of iced coffee, champagne and anything else we could think of. Weddings are pricey, but when staff go the extra mile, it is worth it. It was the best weekend of our lives. Highly recommend.
We had our wedding reception at La Playa on August 27, 2022 and it was a day we will never forget! Though there was a bit of turnover at the beginning of booking our venue at La Pl...
aya in 2020, Sammy quickly jumped in and helped us feel assured and taken care of. Soon after, Aurora was our go-to wedding coordinator at La Playa and referred us to our amazing wedding planner, Sarah. Aurora and Sarah helped to bring our vision to life and we could not be more grateful. The staff at La Playa, from the catering team to the front desk were nothing short of amazing. They made everything run so smoothly and ensured that our guests were taken care of, felt welcomed, and had what they needed and more. We can't wait to go back for our anniversary and relive the magic of that day in La Playa again!
I'd just like to say that our wedding at La Playa was amazing and everything I had hoped it would be. However, the road to get there was not completely smooth. Like so many busine...
sses, La Playa has been shortstaffed and when we tried to book with them in the Summer of 2021 we had a hard time getting ahold of the right people. Fortunately we had hired the most amazing wedding planner and she helped us to navigate any hiccups that came up. We eventually were officially booked and we started working with Aurora at La Playa. Aurora and her team did a great job working with our wedding planner to coordinate our tasting, venue walk throughs, and creating a custom menu for our Brunch wedding. The day of the wedding was fantastic and I would do it the same way again. La Playa is a beautiful wedding venue and the staff ended up doing a great job on the day. I would strongly recommend booking your own wedding coordinator/ planner if you want to book with this venue because the event staff is more equipped to handle all things related to La Playa, but are not really equipped to help you plan your wedding.
We had confirmed an appointment with the wedding coordinator, Sammy Ramos, over two weeks ago to meet for a tour and quote on an agreed upon day and time and we were stood up at th...
e hotel today. We waited for over 30 minutes past our appointment time but they were still a no show even given the front desk receptionist calling them several times. We also hadn’t even received an email apologizing for standing us up today. Very disappointed as the venue looked beautiful but I wouldn’t want my wedding coordinated by someone who can’t be punctual.
Let me start off by saying that La Playa is a gorgeous wedding venue with photo opportunities everywhere you turn. They keep their garden well-manicured and it shows. Their caterin...
g staff is AMAZING and put on a delicious dinner for us and our guests. The staff that was present at the wedding reception paid attention to detail, and they saved me from giving this venue two stars. Our wedding day was beautiful. Everything before that was not.
As previous reviews have mentioned, the turnover here is very real, and the wedding “planner” you start your planning process with at La Playa most likely won’t be the one you work with on your wedding day. We ended up going through a total of five separate “planners” (there are quotes around “planner” because they don’t do a whole lot of planning; they just merely tell you the capabilities of the venue and what they might offer). About two months out from the wedding, it was taking about two weeks to receive answers to questions regarding our event (we sent emails, voicemails, etc.), so we ended up contacting Classic Hotels corporate to let them know how bad the situation had gotten. We have to commend their corporate office, as they replied quickly and actually flew event planners out from their corporate office in Arizona to help try to get the venue back on track. This helped tremendously.
On the day of our rehearsal, which was also the day before the wedding, we went to La Playa’s front desk to confirm that we would have the bridal suite the night of our wedding. Turns out that even though they comp you the room for the night of your wedding, no one on La Playa’s staff had actually booked it for us (even though they had told us months before that they would take care of it). Had we not asked about this, we wouldn’t have had a place to stay the night of our wedding! Their staff quickly scrambled to get us the room booked, and were eventually able to do so. We provided this anecdote in order to show that it’s these little things you need to stay on top of with this venue; don’t assume ANYTHING.
My suggestion if you do end up going with La Playa is to hire a full-time wedding planner who can take care of the headaches for you. If you don’t have the means to do this, at LEAST hire a day-of coordinator, because their “planners” don’t really do anything on the day of the event. Our wedding day ended up being beautiful, but looking back, we may have looked elsewhere if we had known how much effort and coordination was needed on our part to make it so.
Turnover is a big problem at LaPlaya. They kept assigning us new coordinators and information was not saved. The result was that our event was nothing like what was planned. It was...
a bait and switch operation. Stay away from this hotel. If you do deal with them be very very careful. We found them to be sneaky and unethical.
Jeff W
La Playa Carmel, while a beautiful ceremony venue, would advise to look elsewhere in Carmel to have your wedding ceremony. On the day of our ceremony, 15 minutes prior to the cerem...
ony start, no one from La Playa events had checked in with the wedding party, as when we booked the event, we were told a member of the events team at the hotel would be on deck to ask the guests to take their seats, and cue the exit of the bridal party. Only after calling the front desk, did they frantically send someone else to ensure the ceremony started. Throughout the planning of our event, it was extremely difficult to get in touch with any member of the events team, their unresponsiveness was unprofessional, and their lack of regard for finding backup on the day of the event and ensuring events run smoothly was surprising for such a classy hotel establishment within Carmel. Their hotel day of coordinator for our room Robert was the only saving grace of this venue, able to get our room ready so that the bridal and grooms party could get ready in separate venues. My advice is to stay away from this venue for any wedding celebration of any size- small, large, elopement or otherwise.
My fiancé and I love Carmel and really wanted to have our ceremony and reception at la playa. Because it was essentially like pulling teeth to correspond with their current wedding...
cooridnator, we decided to go with another vendor without as much sentimental value to either of us. All coordinators I've come across are responsive and professional...and have out of office messages! This one did not leave me with a sense that I would have a carefree wedding experience so we took our business elsewhere. No room for stress inducing vendors.
The other thing that is not of good value here are room block requirements. Guests are asked to make long reservations and the cost for rooms can be as high as 500/night...the hotel room size does not warrant charging ritz prices.
The La Playa Hotel has gorgeous gardens and a historic and charming feel. It was the perfect place for our July wedding! Our wedding coordinator was Richard, and he was helpful thr...
oughout the planning process, especially when I was planning a CA wedding from AZ. We had our ceremony and cocktail hour in the gardens at the gazebo, and the staff were all very friendly, helpful, and courteous. They were even stationed at all the garden entrances during our ceremony to keep oglers at bay. =) Our reception was held in the Poseidon Room plus the terrace of the Terrace Grill. Having the terrace area really made the reception feel open and gave guests another place to mingle. The banquet captain for the reception was always making sure that we had everything we needed throughout the night, and we really didn't need to worry about a thing the whole day. If you plan to have your wedding here, I would also recommend booking the Executive Suite, which is basically the 2nd floor of a small building adjacent to the hotel itself, and has lots of space to get ready and relax (and after-party!)!
Contact
Camino Real at 8th Ave, Carmel, CA
