Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

Hi Girls!
I got engaged on March 16th and am soo excited to get married. The only thing is that it's been less than a month and we are already getting stressed out finding a RH that is both beautiful and with great food. We both come from off-the boat Italian families so we know that no matter how gorgeous the place is, if the food isn't excellent, the wedding will be a disaster. We went the Marina Del Rey and fell in love with the place, but neither one of us have been to a party there. We love the fact that our guests can arrive an hour early and will be greeting with champagne coffee and cookies until cocktail hour begins. We also thought it was nice that guests will be getting fresh doughnuts, coffee, and water on their way out for the ride home. My FH's family is from Connecticut so these were all pluses for us. The menu options we were given are listed on one piece of paper and are not impressive at all, compared to menus that other places offer. The Surf Club is going to look amazing when the renovation are completed and the menu looks great..but we still have out heart set on Marina's Bellagio room with a nice view of the water and the bridges. We would like to go for a tasting preferably on a Saturday night to see what a wedding looks like, but I work every other weekend (I'm a night nurse) and we have family parties my next 2 Saturdays off. If anyone can offer advice or reviews on either place, we would really appreciate it! oh and pictures of cocktail hr and venetion hr would be very helpful. Thanks so much girls..this website is my new bestfriend! <3

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

You have FM!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I personally like the SC better. I feel they give you more food than the Marina Del Rey. Also I didnt like the idea of the entire hall sharing one bathroom. SC is going to be brand new and esp if your FH is from CT it is closer.
Also my family is off the boat italian and we know tons of people who have gotten married at SC and they all said the food is amazing!The head chef is Sicilian.

Btw I love A Te- Did you see him in Feb when he was in New York? He was amazing!!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I went to a wedding at Marina Del Rey and it was amazing. The food was very delicious, loved CH had so much food. Entree was good, the room was beautiful and amazing view. Had no complaints at all, we had a great time.

I cant comment on surf club bc ive never attended a wedding there. BUT I know somebody who did attend a wedding there and raved about it. She said the place was amazing and food was great and VH was insane.

Ive only heard great things about both places and either way don't think you can go wrong, just will come down to what they offer you and what is best for the two of you. Also they are both in different areas so depends what will work best for the two of you. I think just going to both places and seeing them will help you decide when you get the feeling which one is best for you. Maybe asking for a food tasting will help with your decision.

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

aww..i know its so hard when the italians need the perfect food...i have heard nothing but great things regarding both places....have you looked into russo's on the bay...they are known for there unbelievable food...

HTH

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I have never been to Marina Del Rey but I have been to the Surf Club and would highly recommend it.

ETA: this is perfect venue for an Italian Family.

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I have been to both ..Marina for my HS prom and SC for my debutante ball both were very nice.....but I preferred the food at Marina better

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

My friend's sister got married at MDR and while I didn't go their pictures are what made me want to look there and everyone raved about how wonderful the food was.

That said... I definitely recommend you go back and look at MDR a second time. I was so excited the first time I went there that when I brought my parents back the second time it looked entirely different to me. I think if these two are your front runners you should revisit both places preferably when a wedding is going on or if they are setting up for it so you see it for all it is. Good luck!!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

my FH is pretty into food and his fam is off-the-boat too. if u havent looked at sandcastle i would check it out. we did a tasting w both our fams and no one was disappointed! GL!!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

Ok, well I am getting married at SC. the food is EXCELLENT!!! I had a tasting there. My big thing is that pasta can not be ENJOYED unless your home because most restaurants and halls over cook it... its a personal pet peeve, and not many people don't understand it, unless they are Italian lol. SC's pasta was on the money and tasted amazing. The SC is going to be beautiful and we are getting married on the beach. We booked the grand ballroom ( the big one on the first floor). The views off the patio are magnificant, and it really is so reminicant of Italy. I walked in there and it felt so right! And with the new decor, it will be so Italian-Villa-ish that I just thought that we struck gold upon booking them...

Now I have been to MDR, and the food is great and the venue itself is beautiful. The wedding that we attended was done so nicely! The difference b/w ours and our friends is that they got married on a patio that overlooked the water and we will be married on the beach. The only thing that perturbed me about MDR is the one bathroom that all weddings use... but the truth is, if our friends weren't just married there, we would have considered MDR.

SC Pros:
Food!
Property!
The newly renovated venue as a whole
The con:
The pool situation that really may not effect us but its just the principle.... they close at 5pm

MDR Pros:
The venue
The cool cocktail hr on the boat
Cons:
The bathroom situation
Locations for pics are limited....

You have a hard decision to make, best of luck!!!
Let me know how it goes :)

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

OMG, hands down Marina Del Rey!!! I've been to both locations. The food at Marina Del Rey is tooooo die for!!! I originally had my wedding booked here, but had to cancel because I won a dream wedding giveaway and am having my wedding in a yacht. I went to a food tasting at Marina Del Rey and it was amazing!!!! There staff is great! Joe Orzzo was the person we met with and he was very helpful with getting us what we wanted! There gazebo is also beautiful and the view by the water is amazing! Surf club is also great, but I say Marina hands down!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

Congrats on your engagement.

I don't know much about the Surf Club, but Marina Del Rey is awesome.. rooms are beautiful, view is gorgeous & the food is delicious.. can't go wrong!

Good luck!!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I looked at MDR for my wedding and also wasn't thrilled about the whole building using 1 bathroom (which is by the other ballroom, not urs).

The main room def is BEAUTIFUL! No question with that but i agree with what someone said above, after looked at other halls (MDR was the 1st) i realized that they weren't giving us that much food for our $$.

Can't talk about the surf club but my friend is getting married there in 4 months and i'm SURE she wouldn't have chosen that place unless the food and place was AMAZING!!!!!!

I actually think SC has showcases coming up. That might be helpful to check out.

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I've heardc they are both great, I think your fine either way =)
Also I know Surf Club is or was doing renovations to the lobby.
Sorry Im not much help!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

i went to both places... at first i loved marina del rey.. but then i saw the surf club and it blew me away.... we saw surf club and marina wasn't even an option after that....

the things that helped me choose were

1. we are also a big off the boat italian family so we wanted to make sure there was LOTS of food... marina didn't look like they offered as much as the surf club...

2. yes the room is gorgeous but i didn't like the idea of the vienese hour outside in that tiny section

3. surf club has a much better cocktail hour.. on the patio right on the water

4. surf club is gonna be renovated and compltely brand new and gorgeous

5. the food at surf club is AMAZING.. i usually never like pasta anywhere but home but this place makes it delicious

I'm not putting marina del rey down.. but i def would choose surf club :)
but in the end you gotta pick whatever you think you will be happy in and where you think you will have an amazing wedding

good luck!

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

FH & I've been to weddings at both places. We both love Marina Del Rey better. Love how the place has a water view and the food was excellent. When we went to a wedding at MDR, they also offer second entree and the viennese hour was amazing. The only problem at MDR is the bathroom situation and that's it. We like SC too but felt that the food wasn't as good as MDR. Good luck in choosing !

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

So FH and I got all dressed up saturday nite and went to see what a cocktail hour would look like at Marina Del Rey..it was an italian wedding so I thought it was the perfect chance tosee what my wedding would be like. We both went there with high hopes and left broken hearted..we felt like there wasn't a lot of food at all. What they consider a 'station' turned out to be a tray of food. The presentation was not very impressive either. We got to taste some things and they werent bad for the most part..but coming from a family where every party is usually at Russo's, this did not compare. We loved the fact that our guests were able to hang out in the lobby before CH and sip champagne, and as silly as it sounds I loved the idea of everyone getting fresh donuts and coffee as they left for the ride home, but after seeing the CH, we decided to go with Surf Club. We called the Surf Club today and had our names penciled in for Sept 25 2010 and have decided to go back with our parents and finalize the deal when the renovations are complete (which our BM said will be later than expected..the fountain delivery is delayed due to the earthquake in italy). I'm excited that we at least have a clearer choice but saddened that it's not Marina. Don't get me wrong i loved SC also and it's going to look amazing when its completed, but MDR's view was breathtaking!

Thank you ladies for all of your advice..I appreciated them all..I'll let you know how it goes with Surf Club!

Carmela

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

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Posted by anneandchris

I have never been to Marina Del Rey but I have been to the Surf Club and would highly recommend it.

ETA: this is perfect venue for an Italian Family.

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I love the song..I cry everytime I hear it!! the words are perfect =]

I had no idea Jovanotti was in NY! I would have def gone to see him

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

I haven't been to MDR but I had a not so good experience with SC. We felt like the BM who showed us around was a really ridiculous person and kept trying to sound super Italian to FH's parents who are literally off the boat. He kept doing weird things like over-pronouncing the word mozzarella haha and like trying to act like he was all in the know about Italian people and parties... My FILS thought it was weird and annoying. I know that's not a good enough reason not to book but there were some other reasons as well. (although it would be embarassing if he acted like that to guests at my wedding bc even though he was prob Italian himself it was almost like an offensive generalization like he wanted to be Tony Soprano or something and my FHs fam is just a friendly big immigrant family...)


One other issue is that we were promised that the renovations would be done by our wedding (which is NOW in 40 something days) and as I understand it- it's not even close to done and at the time I had no reason to be worried about that but jeeze I'd be nervous now! Another thing is that he was itemizing the sh*t out of EVERYTHING and we felt like there was ZERO give on their end. We were envisioning a wedding on the beach and wanted to be walked down the same path that the guests would (kind of like reenacting how it would be you know) and he kept just pointing to the ceremony area below from the cocktail hour patio. Well, my MIL got a little pushy and was like I REALLY want to walk there and it turns out that if you book the large upstairs ballroom and want your ceremony there outside your guests are led around the side of the building on some really dingy path and past a dirty empty pool like as if you were crashing the wedding or something. It was a HUGE turnoff (which of course is not an issue if you're not doing the ceremony there). BUT I heard the food is great and I'm not trying to scare anyone- but that's just my two cents on Surf Club.

Re: Marina Del Rey vs. Surf Club

Hey ladies Im looking into a beach wedding for my friend and wanted to know if anyone would share prices with me?

whats the average for the surf club and marina del rey?????
TIA