Adventures by the Sea

We had an absolutely wonderful wedding with Adventures by the Sea. As close as you can come to all-inclusive, Adventures by the Sea is fun in the most superlative sense, and takes a lot of stress out of having to coordinate with too many vendors. We used them for the following: the ceremony which is right on the beach, the venue which is a big boat house at the same location which they make look fantastic, catering (everyone raved about the food), the dj (everyone loved Kelley), and they also put in the order for event rentals (with Hodges Rentals). The ceremony itself is set up beautifully, and after the ceremony, they convert the ceremony area into a beach party zone with a bonfire, seating, and tiki torches. I have to hand it to them--they have the beach wedding/party down to an art form. Hats off. Very important to us was that our guests enjoyed themselves. We were worried about our Vietnamese guests not enjoying the "American" food, but both sides were vocally smitten with the buffet-style barbecue. I can't emphasize enough that guests (we had about 130) are bound to have a ball here. Nothing but rave reviews. Also, Adventures by the Sea staff is eager to make any changes that you suggest and is totally flexible about any special request you may have. However, beware that they do lots of weddings, and if you call them when they don't have your file right in front of them, don't expect them to remember all the details you've gone over.

As far as disappointments, there weren't very many. When we initially booked the venue, we were dealing with Michelle Skeen who we thought was fantastic. Unfortunately, Michelle was laid off which meant that a new person, Susie Corbett, had to pick up where we had left off with Michelle. We much would have preferred the continuity of working with Michelle as Susie was new and often times could not readily provide us with definitive answers. Also, the rehearsal was a little bit less than ideal. Our officiant was a first-timer, and while Kelley gave us a very brief run through, a better rehearsal would have made for a smoother ceremony. So, especially if you have a first-time officiant, try not to rely on Adventures by the Sea or Kelley, if he is your DJ, to direct the rehearsal too much.

I recommend Adventures by the Sea to anyone who wants their wedding to be: on the beach, fun, informal (can still be elegant), and/or planned with out a wedding planner. For the price, I don't know if Adventures by the Sea can be beat. 5 stars overall.