South Seas

hearsal dinner and ceremony outside on the beach and Kings Crown Lawn respectively, with our reception inside Kings Crown. To say our special day was a dream come true, is an understatement! What made our day even better….was getting to work with our wedding coordinator Kelsey. She literally made the impossible, possible (and multiple times!). Words cannot describe how amazing she truly is. She is kind, sweet, calming, patient and professional. I could not dream of planning our wedding without her and I know our wedding would not have been the same without Kelsey. I only wish all brides were lucky enough to work with Kelsey and I cannot thank her enough for everything she did for my husband and I before, during, and after our wedding!

ortant decision that I want give a warning. My mom, my sister and I all flew to FL from 3 different states to meet and visit wedding venues. We didn't have much time here so we packed our schedule pretty tight. We had an appointment at a different venue in the morning and drove 3.5 hours to meet with the wedding planner for our appointment at South Seas. I worked with Ashley to coordinate my visit and appointment. First, the resort was not located in a very convenient location as it's pretty isolated. Check in started at 4 and we arrived right on time. It was extremely crowded and we waited in a long line to check in. We were given a "discount" on the room but still paid $177 a night for a room in the tennis villas. It was awful. Even if it would have been in pristine shape, it would have been a 2 star room. But it had not been well kept. There was a huge stain on the carpet, and stains on the curtains. The walls had mismatched paint, there were scuffs all along the baseboards and even though it had a balcony, there was no view. The room and even the outdoor facilities were dirty. Even though we were not satisfied with the room, we decided we would still give the wedding venue a chance as I really liked the pictures I had seen online. I tried to call the coordinator to let her know we were there early and see if we could meet. When I finally got through to someone in the wedding dept, they said Ashley wasn't on the property that day and asked to reschedule. Ashley had confirmed not only with me, but with my mom as well that we would meet at 6. She didn't just not show, she didn't even try to call to let us know she couldn't meet. And the lady that I talked to didn't even seem apologetic for the mistake. I don't understand how you can blow someone off that flew across the country to meet with you and was looking to spend so much money in the hotel. Not only that, but how you don't even attempt t contact us and apologize. It is crazy to me that this is how they treat their guests. And if this is how they treat you before they've made the sale, I cannot imagine how they treat you after. I would never host my wedding at such a place and I would warn anyone considering this venue to beware. Very disappointed.

We love love love south seas! Worth every penny! We had the best wedding ever!

heck in / check out, by Neil throughout the weekend, and by various other staff including security, accounting and housekeeping was truly exceptional. Not only did they respond to an emergency, but after we checked out, ensured three important items left in the Villa or lost were either shipped or personally delivered to a remaining member of our party. We LOVE SSIR, and its Staff - thank you for a weekend of a lifetime! Room Tip: We loved our Lands End Villa for its spaciousness

stayed in love through our visit to the resort to see whether the site is as gorgeous as the pictures (it is) and then again through our eventual wedding and honeymoon there. Every person we came in contact with was beyond helpful, friendly, and generous. For example, when we went to pick up the top tier of our wedding cake the day after our wedding at the reception location, the director of catering asked what we planned to do for the day. After mentioning planning on brunch and some mimosas, he sent someone out to buy us mimosas to send us off with! Another South Seas staff member offered us a pool cabana after hearing that our planned outdoor wedding had been moved indoors due to a thunderstorm that blew in at the most inopportune time (literally minutes before the ceremony was set to start). I have to admit, I do not envy our wedding catering manager, Kelsey, for having to break the news to the occasional bride this happens to. But she does so with evident sympathy. She is a pleasure to work with and really cares about making your wedding day go as smoothly and as perfectly as possible. The King's Crown Dining Room was recently renovated and was the perfect backdrop for the simple elegance we were looking for with our wedding. We had the best possible wedding day at South Seas and a spectacular time during our stay. I would highly recommend this venue to future brides for their destination weddings. It is simply beautiful.

eptional. The lawn was spectacular and the inside of the Kings Crown had just gotten brand new hard wood floors and chandeliers which looked beautiful. As for the food…..during our tasting months before, we enjoyed several fantastic options. Of course we wondered if when served to 100 guests the food would be just as good...well I have to say it was. It was AMAZING in fact. Two of the three entrée options included steak and I had several guests comment that their steak was as good as if they were in a 5 star steakhouse. Everything from the hor d’oeuvres to the dinner were presented beautifully and delicious. Also, it was a plated dinner and everything came out on time-the staff was wonderful, they never missed a beat. The day was perfection due in large part to the efforts of the South Seas Island Resort staff. While the entire staff was exceptional I have to point out our wedding coordinator at the resort- Kelsey Holloway- in particular. Over a year ago my parents, fiancé and I were in Captiva looking for a venue. At the time Kelsey was working for one of those venues. While we ultimately decided South Seas was the ideal spot for our wedding, I remember Kelsey making it a tough decision because she had made such a positive impression on me. When my Mom and I were later told that there was a new wedding coordinator at South Seas and her name was Kelsey I was very hopeful it was the Kelsey I loved from my prior visit to this other venue. It turned out to be Kelsey Holloway and my first impression was correct. Kelsey was professional, attentive, patient, accessible, calming, organized and a complete delight for my mother and me to work with the entire time. She worked well with our vendors and went above and beyond to ensure our special day was perfect. It was a true gift to have her as our wedding coordinator. Overall, I would recommend South Seas Island Resort, Kelsey Holloway and the entire staff to any bride-to-be. You won’t be disappointed!

best wedding and reception they had ever attended. The food was outstanding! Kelsey, the catering manager is absolutely fantastic and will make sure every detail is exactly as you wish for the wedding and reception. The location is breathtaking, with many sites to offer within the resort, depending on your desired location. Our location was at the Kings Crown Lawn for a morning wedding and morning cocktails, followed by a wonderful lunch reception. Perfect!

ade sure that all of our questions were answered in a timely fashion. She was patient, professional, and responsive. She also provided an excellent list of recommended vendors that were all fantastic. The food and service were outstanding.

er-nature just wouldn’t cooperate. The back-up locations that South Seas provided were amazing and just as beautiful. The staff is so friendly and professional. Our coordinator Lexie Shireman was truly amazing; she was extremely helpful and was there for us for the whole time. She brought everything together seamlessly and was so much fun to work with. Again our experience at South Seas was awesome and our guest had such a great time too and loved the venue and friendly, caring staff. We love South Seas Island Resort and the experience was worth every penny!!!

work with and made the whole process easy for us as we were planning the wedding hundreds of miles away. Our coordinator Lexie was fantastic. She guided us through the entire way, was available during our entire stay and even checked in with us after the wedding, on her day off. We 100% recommend having a wedding at South Seas and your guests will thank you as well.

the first South Seas Gate. Firstly, Captiva Island in and of itself is a beautiful draw. South Seas resort encompasses a huge portion of the island. We loved the idea of our guests having a true vacation while at our wedding. Many of our guests extended their stay 5+ days. It was a great opportunity to spend quality time with them before our event. Many are planning on traveling back every year now. Planning with South Seas was a great experience, due to our amazing coordinator Lexie Shireman. We were so lucky to have Lexie walk us through the planning process. She was very responsive, knowledgeable, flexible, and a joy to work with. We threw A LOT of details and requests at her and our wedding turned out perfectly. Lexie mad our day perfect! We hosted two main events at South Seas. We held a welcome reception Beach BBQ at the beach, and our wedding was at King’s Crown Lawn. Both of the locations were beautiful. The catering department at South Seas provided a vast menu to choose from and our guests are still talking about the food. The service was wonderful and the courses were timed perfectly with speeches and such. Our experience with South Seas was a dream come true.

my day was special!

ess. The facilities and accommodations were top notch and all of our guests were blown away by the resort

ean and accommodating. We did have some trouble with timeliness of answers, rooms and set up from the resort as well as trouble with the front gate in letting our guests in.

chose this venue primarily because it's the only one on Sanibel/Captiva that easily accommodates the 10pm noise ordinance and allows the party to continue as late as you want. But overall it ended up exceeding our expectations: the staff is very professional, the food was as good as I imagine wedding food can be, and the property provides guests with tons of activity and dining options to keep them entertained. I had a lot of customized things for our wedding and none of them were overlooked. Our beach ceremony and indoor/outdoor reception at the Kings Crown were absolutely breathtaking. Many guests commented that the lights strung in between the palm trees made the lawn feel like a tent! If you're planning a semi-destination wedding that's not very small and looking at Sanibel/Captiva, SSIR is the way to go. I could not have been happier with how our special day turned out.

and 3 different dinner events, Friday night at Kings Crown, Saturday night at Sunset Luau, and Sunday Wedding at the Cove and reception on the lawn and each event was flawless! We have heard from over 20 different people that this was the best wedding they have ever been to. John Blaharski, our wedding coordinator, was many things to us at South Seas and we couldn't have done it without him: Organized - I always felt that John had a great grasp on the plans and I felt very comfortable leaving many decisions to his better judgement. We had not seen the property prior to committing to South Seas, so it made us feel at ease that John was always on top of everything from the rooms, to the lighting, to the timelines, to the transportation, to the menus, etc. Flexible - It seemed like whatever we wanted, John found a way to make it happen. This included my husband and I's trip down the waterslide in our wedding attire after the wedding reception! To this day people are still telling us that that was one of the most memorable parts of the wedding and it was all thanks to John! Committed - When I ran into an issue, John was always right there to fix it. I came to Captiva with the security tag still on my dress for the rehearsal dinner, and John somehow took it off of the island and found someone to remove it in time. I'm still not sure what I would have done without him! Solutions-Oriented - John always knew the balance between telling us what to do, and letting us decide. He obviously knew the venues better than we did, so we really appreciated his candor when we were deciding the logistics of each of the events. Although it was always clear that we could do what we thought best, he made us aware of the various options and their implications before we settled on a decision. We really appreciated the unique ideas and solutions that he brought to the table. The Pre-Wedding Experience - The planning prior to the wedding was also a great experience. I felt like the entire team was very accommodating with our unique requests, which was very important to us. The chef and John were both very helpful with our requests to keep the meals Vegetarian/Kosher and to put together theme dinners so that each night had a different look/feel. It was also meant so much to us that John was so flexible with his meeting times during the planning phase. Both my husband and I work a lot and John was always readily available to talk to us at night and on weekends. I think he even took our call on Mother's Day when he was at dinner with his family. The commitment that he showed to us prior to the wedding made it clear to us that the event was in good hands. I was an Event Manager for weddings here in Michigan for 4 years, so I will be the first to admit that I probably wasn't easy to handle, but John took my demands, added his own little twist, and turned our wedding weekend into a masterpiece. I highly recommend a wedding at South Seas... you won't be disappointed.

, was there to do whatever I needed him to do. We were married on the beach and it was a day I'll never forget. I wouldn't have gone anywhere else.

ase and the guests raved about their weekend at the resort!

d his staff were excellent.. it couldnt have been a more perfect Venue... We hope to go back and visit on an anniversary!

elieve what a wonderful resort they have. Many can't wait to go back and vacation with their families. It was my dream wedding come true.

hich I respect, but this was a deal breaker for us.. I would have loved to have worked with South Seas. Their coordinator was so nice and helpful, I hated to not work with her. It is pricey, but for a intimate beach wedding, I highly recommend South Seas Resort!

e exact time of a thunderstorm, but the south seas team pulled it together to swtich some things around that made the day even more spectacular than how I planned it. They really care about making your day special. They have a very organized and reliable staff. Everyone came to south seas from different places in the US, everyone raved about it. It was an excellent way to have a family vacation while celebrating! My only negative comments are: - The venue is a longer drive than expect from ft. meyers airport. - The place is very family friendly. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your wedding type. - Rooms are a bit pricey, but the views are worth it!

ay before and came by the room to check on us. It was a great experience!

iful the property is. We had our ceremony on the King's Crown lawn and then the reception followed in the King's Crown building space. Although we did hire an outside wedding planner, the event coordination staff at South Seas was very hands on and helpful. The catering staff was also amazing. The food was delicious! We worked with the chef, Sebastian, who helped us design a unique tapas menu which turned out wonderfully. People were raving about the food which made me so happy since good food was a top priority for me. I would recommend South Seas to anyone who would like to get married in Southwest Florida. The only negative I can think of is that the place is a bit pricey but thanks to our wedding planner, we were able to negotiate some of the prices down to what we thought were fair. I wish I could do it all over again!

l as dolphins and manatees. Our pictures on the golf course say a thousand words.;There are seasonal bugs called 'noseeums' that bite.