Oceano Hotel & Spa

I cannot emphasize how incredible Oceano is as a venue. It's an absolutely beautiful hotel in a really breathtaking location (think: coastal elegance, elevated simplicity -- not pretentious but definitely classy). The hotel is close to a lot of natural spots for hiking and exploring, and downtown Half Moon Bay is close enough where it's still convenient to enjoy the abundance of cute restaurants and shops, but far away enough where the hotel isn't overrun with tourists. Right behind the hotel is a very nice plaza with a few shops and a brewery (pro tip: have your guests meet up at the brewery the night before your wedding!) Not only is the venue just beautiful for a wedding, but Oceano also does in-house catering. I cannot emphasize how EASY it was to get catering, guest lodging, and venue, all-in-one. Oceano's chef is really accommodating of your dinner dreams and can take any dish requests you might have! Not only was the food DELICIOUS (all of our guests raved about it), but Oceano served so much of it, between the cocktail hour and reception -- nobody went hungry at any point of our wedding! All of the Oceano staff, from reception to bellhops to restaurant staff, are so friendly and helpful. The staff really went out of their way to accommodate every ask of me and my husband. It really felt like the whole hotel was OUR hotel for the weekend. We were able to store decorations and flowers (which a lot of venues WON'T let you do) leading up to the wedding, and we weren't rushed to clear our stuff out immediately the day-after. Which brings me to the highlight of having Oceano as our venue: Nancy, the special events coordinator who provides day-of coordination and planning support leading up to the wedding as part of the venue package), is an absolute gem. She's such a warm, friendly, and caring person who really, REALLY wants to make your wedding special. She was so responsive to every call and email for the entire year leading up to our wedding. She accommodated so many of our unique requests, facilitated the wedding rehearsal (and had everybody rehearse the ceremony TWICE, just to make sure it was perfect), managed all of the day-of logistics so that I didn't worry about a single thing, and even drove us to a photoshoot location herself during cocktail hour so our photographer could shoot me and my husband on the coast. I really cannot say enough how easy Nancy made the entire wedding, from planning all through the day-after. I never felt stressed while working with her, and she did such an amazing job coordinating every little detail of our wedding. She's been in the wedding coordination game for years, and you can so easily tell that she just really loves her job. I cannot sing her praises enough. Finally, money stuff: my husband and I were planning to have ~175 guests, which meant that we were on a tight budget in terms of venue and catering. Oceano was really the perfect price point for us -- and again, they included day-of coordination in the package! I'll also mention that Oceano didn't charge us for pesky little extra details like bringing in a dessert vendor, and they're also very open to having vendors who aren't on the pre-approved list. Oceano also included a really incredible villa for the night before the wedding that my bridal party and I used as a dressing room day-of, AND the honeymoon suite -- all as part of the package deal. My husband and I really loved our Oceano wedding and cannot recommend it enough!