About this vendor
Have you thought about hosting your wedding or special event at the Ocean Institute while enjoying the splendor of Dana Point Harbor and the Pacific Ocean?
Ocean Institute is a unique location offering outside catering, bar and other vendors of your choice allowing you to create the wedding of your dreams. We have a variety of facilities including getting ready spaces for both bride and groom.
Come and see first-hand why the Ocean Institute was Voted Best Wedding / Special Event Venue 2023 Best of Dana Point.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Settings
- Backyard
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Historic Venue
- Museum
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Reviews
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4.3
out of 5.010 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 3
Our wedding here was a dream! This is a spectacular and unique location for anyone who wants a beach wedding with the convenience of a traditional reception + dancefloor area. Jenn...
ifer was a pleasure to work with and made it easy for our planner + team to make our vision come to life.
Guests loved the views from the seawall and enjoyed the touch tanks, which we left open during cocktail hour (fun fact: Spongebob Squarepants was inspired by this part of Ocean Institute!) The giant whale skeleton and screen in the main hall were also quite the spectacle. The ease of parking, comfort of the fire pit, and availability to roam within or outside the property (to the beach) were also great aspects of OI.
Apart from the touch tank staff, we did bring in all outside vendors, but everyone we interacted with was kind and professional. Do not hesitate to have your event here!
We were satisfied with the venue decor and food.
However, the bartenders were very slow and inefficient; guests had to wait up to an hour the bartenders took 5 minutes to make ea...
ch drink. You couldn't even grab beer or soda on your own, it was all behind the bar.
At the exactly 11:00 pm, the venue staff rushed everyone out of there saying the deposit wouldn't be returned if people didn't leave right away. It was very rude and made the guests feel uncomfortable. This is not how you want people to feel when they leave your wedding. It turns out we had until midnight to clear the venue, so there was no reason for them to be so pushy. The staff even harassed the bridal party, following them into the back room and hovering over them while they packed up their stuff.
I would not recommend this venue due to the many factors that contributed to poor guest experience.
We couldn’t be happier having chosen The Ocean Institute as our wedding venue. This venue truly has it all. Indoor and outdoor space, a dance floor, a stellar oceanfront view, and ...
plenty of fun touches for guests that really made our wedding unique and fun (starfish touch tanks, outdoor fireplace, beach access, and more).
The venue also provides a ton of flexibility for helping bring a custom vision to life. We were able to bring our own bar/catering, and even had the In-and-Out truck pull up for the late night snack! Jennifer and the team were easy to work with and helped make everything run smoothly.
The Ocean Institute was a dream as our venue. We love the ocean, marine science, education, and modern architecture, so the OI was the perfect venue for us. From the first time tou...
ring it, the staff welcomed us with open arms and made sure all our questions were answered. Our younger guests loved the ocean play area, and all the guests loved the touch tank. Our sunset pictures over the rocks just outside the OI were magnificent. We were happy to support a nonprofit as our venue. We highly recommend the Ocean Institute for any event.
The only reason I did not give 5 stars is because there are some limitations that can crunch your timeline to keep in mind, some are due to the nature of it not being a facility th...
at is exclusively an event center so you can’t entirely hold it against them. It was otherwise a wonderful facility, and being a non profit it’s so nice to support a great cause rather than be gouged for money by a venue that’s solely in the wedding industry. The space was gorgeous and the staff was great, their events manager at the time, George Peppas was so practical and helpful, which made working within the venue constraints very manageable. During the event itself, some of the school aged kids cornered a staff member on site and he happily answered all of their marine biology curiosities, leading to several families returning the next day to visit the facility to further explore their peaked interest.
Some things to keep in mind:
-Each room itself can have a fee, so don’t assume you’ll get board room and surfside room with the Samuli (the main room rented for receptions)
-The Samuli and Surf Side do not have AC. During sunny days especially the Surfside gets a lot of sunlight and during afternoon hours may not be worth even using
-You will likely need to use a caterer from their list of about a dozen options
-Your set up time is extremely limited. 3pm for outdoor courtyard at the earliest and 2pm for Samuli reception area. With a 10pm end time, unless you pay for extra hour, that can be tight
-You will likely need wedding coordinator for day of to do set up and take down
-You may be limited to using a bar service they recommend if catering doesn’t do bar service, they have liquor license and certain spots for sat up limitations
-The tide is high behind the venue so don’t expect your grandma or pregnant bridesmaids or your loubotin wedding shoes to scramble the small boulders you’ll have to climb over for photos
-You may be limited in photography locations given the limited set up time and areas of solid shade are limited (and lack of access to additional rooms if rented until 3:30p thus eliminating “getting ready” on site photos)
-There are a lot of people walking around the public area behind it so make sure you hire an experienced photographer
-You will have the coolest wedding photos and party ever! It was such a huge hit. Plenty of parking (though a lot of nearby beach goers did park there, but it seemed to work out and clear out in time.) It was such a great space for a kid friendly and fun wedding. There was a desert feel, nautical feel, modern feel, and coastal feel all in one location - and it supports a great cause!
BEAUTIFUL place to get married. A unique venue with fire pit, Beach access, and touch pools!
They do have a bunch of "fees" that are pretty high, so just check before you sign a c...
ontract to make sure you're paying for what you need
Modern and clean! Able to customize the venue to whatever theme or look you are going for! The size is perfect for an intimate setting. Fire pit outside set a romantic scene. Cockt...
ail hour was outside / learning centers so our guests could check out the sea life. Renee, the event coordinator was so easy to work with and her assistants made everything run perfectly the day of our wedding. The view is gorgeous.
The Ocean Institute is an ideal place to have your wedding. Picturesque, unique, and beautiful, I had first seen this showcased in a wedding blog and my fiancee and I fell in love ...
at first sight.
An intimate, wonderful venue for evening receptions and/or ceremonies. We chose to have both our ceremony and reception here. During the ceremony, the sun did not shine directly in guests' face (even though we had our ceremony at 5:30 PM and the sun didn't set until 7:00-ish).
Note that the wedding on-site coordinator is included in the venue fee, and staff will be there the day of the wedding to direct around your vendors although they are not responsible for actual day-of coordination. We brought our own wedding planner but Renee (the Ocean Institute coordinator) was very involved since day one, organized, and made sure the caterers/bartenders, and etc. were all on time for our event (even though Renee will not be there on the actual day of your wedding).
Ocean Institute has picky rules, so we couldn't really do everything we originally wanted to do (flower petals, bubbles, certain decorations are not allowed during the ceremony), but overall the caterer/florist should help you execute your vision anyways.
Note that although the Ocean Institute is next to the ocean, the way that the venue is structured, it virtually shields you from the wind, so you don't need to worry about messy veils, makeup smears, and outdoor props flying away.
The venue allowed us to buy our own alcohol which saved us a tremendous amount of money.
Also note that there is extra fee associated with A/V (slideshow/microphone), although it is worth every penny since the projection screen is large and covers the entire room.
We had a photo booth for cocktail hour/reception, and it was located outside by the firepit. The firepit is a nice touch and is included in the venue fee. Note that you may want to work with the caterer in renting extra chair/tables for the outside as Ocean Institute does not include the cost of patio furniture (except for the standard chair/table set that is already by the fire pit).
There is also a designated bucket/pail section for smokers by the lobster tank, and you can pay extra to open up the exhibit halls (which we did not decide to do).
Ocean Institute will walk you through the day-of and prior to wedding festivities, you can even show up with your caterer to try the table setup (which was appreciated). Venue cost comes with 10" rounds and office chairs - we didn't like the look of the office chairs so we asked our caterer to price in some prettier Chivari chairs that went with our pink & gold theme.
Just keep in mind that you will have to work off of Ocean Institute's list of approved caterers (which ranges from 4-6 that you may choose from).
Note that if you have your reception here that they will promptly kick you out at 10:30 and that music must stop at a certain time due to local residents.
The surrounding area is quite lovely as you are literally right next to the harbor and beach and can take pictures around the area that look beautiful on film.
During our actual ceremony, there was a loud party boat that was circulating around the harbor and you COULD hear the music on the boat, but we didn't think it was too big of a distraction given the lovely setting.
beautiful, spacious, relaxed, and even had a firepit!
The area is great. In the harbor good parking alot of area both inside and out.
Contact
24200 Dana Point Harbor Dr, Dana Point, CA | Southern California
