Weddingbee boards

My fiance and I are looking into the Crowne Plaze (having the reception and backup ceremony on their rooftop), Southernmost on the Beach (for their all on the beach event), or Ocean Key resort (which offers the event on their pier).

I can't decide which venue I like most. I was hoping some of you have had your weddings at one of these places and could give my your input. I am leaning toward Crowne Plaza because it is more all-inclusive, though the big problem is that it is not on the beach, thus we would have to coordinate the ceremony ourselves since having my feet in the sand for the I Dos is a must! 

Any advice??

Thanks!

I am planning for my Key West wedding for a similar time and have struggled a little bit as well. My original plan was to do everything at Southernmost Resort. The resort seems beautiful, I've read a lot of great reviews and the staff that I've been in contact with thus far (Melissa and Judi) are great! They respond to emails quickly and thoroughly, which I like. My only issue is that because of my party size (100) I can only have an all beach event which I don't want.  In that case, they recommend a tent, and will even require it if bad weather is expected. This was an expense I just don't want, especiallly since I really wanted something rooftop.

 The Ocean Key seems nice but it I just don't love it. 

The Crowne Plaza took over a week to respond to my email which I didn't like much.

 I think planning the reception myself will be easier than planning and coordinating the ceremony so my plan is to have my room block for my guests and my ceremony at SMR (the people are great and I know they will make our big day a success) and have the reception at the Rooftop Cafe Restaurant which is only a little over a mile away. We want to have the wedding not cost an arm and a leg but to still be a great event and I think this is a great compromise.  The lady at Rooftop Cafe is very helpful as well.  Hope this helps... Let me know your thoughts!

@buffsbabygirl:

@buffsbabygirl:According to Melissa at SMR, they don't do ONLY a ceremony. You must have a reception there, too. You'd have to rent the restaurant for 4K in order to have the indoor option. That's what I was thinking about doing as well. I love the beach set-up, but with how hot it will be, we want the reception inside. We are going to have the wedding at Smathers or Fort Zach. and we will be having our reception at Crowne Plaza. The woman had replied to me rather later than I wanted, or hoped, but I spoke with her and got such a great vibe (even better than SMR). She was so open and welcoming to my ideas and was very flexible! It was kind of like she was reading my mind, and I needed that:)

I looked into Rooftop for my rehearsal dinner. It's gorgeous! I personally would try to get involved with a company that can give me a more one-stop-shop kind of event. If I had to plan everything myself (and individually; i.e. officiant, caterer, florist, cake, decorations, bar), I'd go insane!

As for the ceremony outside, have you heard anything about Weddings To Go Key West??? I like their inclusiveness for the beach ceremony and price, but their snarkiness on their web site toward people and photography creeps me out!

@ agorter - I didn't realize that the ceremony alone wasnt an option!!!!  OMG!!!  Every time I think I have things beginning to line up, I have to change them again..  AHH!!!  LOL  I liked Crowne Plaza as well but they seem a little more expensive than what I want to spend.  Do you know if their wedding menus can be customized at all?  I have heard good things about Weddings to Go but their website kinda freaked me out too.  Let me know what you come up with. 

OOH I love Key West and lived there for 8 years..check out THe Reach Resort I think it's a Waldorf Astoria now.. gorgeous beach and a really cool gazebo you can get married on..with shade, I used to work there too and have seen it set up really pretty for weddings. Or the Casa Marina is fabulous too..I was just there in March and it's been re-done and looks great.

Also check out East MArtello towers..or maybe it's West MArtello, the one near the airport, its a beautiful garden you can get married in, cheap too.

If you need a great florist check out Mama FLowers..ask for Dana.

Good luck, Key West is a beautiful place to get married..I miss it!

@ agorter - I was told today that SMR will do a ceremony only.  IDK how we are getting different information.  I saw the $4K min catering tab but Melissa's assistant emailed me and told me that you can still have the ceremony only.

Buffs: Yeah, I checked my email and Melissa specifically wrote "we do require the reception dinner to have the wedding ceremony on our property." If they told you different information, that blows my mind! I loved the property and really, really wanted to have my ceremony there, but didn't want to have the reception outdoors. We have booked the Crowne Plaza since then. The menu is totally customizable-to decrease, add, or increase items. The minimum is 3,500K for the reception. I have a friend who used The Reach, she loved it, and also know someone who used the Marriott (but, whoa! expensive!).

Ah! I can't get over the SMR.

We also are not going through Weddings to Go or any other of those companies. The photo policy just really made me think: if they are going to say and post that on their Web site, then god knows how shippy they would get on my wedding day.

I agree!! Love all the Key West 2011 brides! we are getting married at Fort Zach and reception at margarhitaville. Kristin (Fort Zach) and Stacy (Margarhitaville) are amazing and extremely helpful!

@princs.sweetie: we chose key west because we wanted a great party with a laid back feel.

I am getting married in Key Largo @ the Marriott Beach Resort, but I did see some AMAZING weddings that took place at vacation homes in Key West. You rent the whole house out and then have the reception there. I just wanted to bring it up so that maybe you can look into it. You'd have to hire a caterer obviously, but you'd probably save a ton of dough doing it that way. VRBO.com (vacation rentals by owner) is a good resource if you want to check out this route.

Hi All!!

I got married @ fort Zachary Taylor in Key West 4/3/11!!

We rented out the OLD TOWN MANOR B&B - it was amazing to have everyone under one roof. We had the reception at Croissants de FRance ... they have the most amazing cakes!!

Here is my do's & Don't post:  (link removed due to self promotion policy - sorry!)

IT has tons of fun key west things!!!

If you want more pics than the post...(link removed due to self promotion policy - sorry!)

I LOVE KEY WEST!