Ocean Institute Coastal Venue Reviews

I could not have asked for a better venue for my wedding reception!! It was beautiful and the staff were amazing! Highly recommend this place as a venue for your wedding. Just perfect!

Jennifer made our experience so great at our wedding! The venue was the perfect ambiance for our wedding. I had so many people come up to us at the wedding and say how stunning the venue was and even our photographer even said how beautiful the location is and how it had the perfect lighting.

My husband and I got married here in June 2016 and we were so excited about this venue!!! We loved it because it was not your traditional wedding venue but yet it was so captivating with the scenery and the ocean right in the background. All of our guests raved about how they loved this location. This was also an awesome way to have a wedding by the beach/ocean without having to pay that money. We were able to get some gorgeous pictures by the ocean and all of our out of town guests loved the view!!

The staff at the ocean institute were friendly and flexible. We were able to bring in all of our own vendors which also made the night more special and not so cookie cutter like other weddings. IN the long run you save more money when you do bring in your own vendors because all inclusive places will most of the time have hidden fees for every person. We saved A LOT being able to bring in all of our own liquor and not having a cake cutting fee! This place is magical and comes to life at night :)

I’ve never been just to visit, but I had my wedding at Ocean Institute and it was incredible. It was such a unique venue, a great fit for us. We got a TON of compliments on the location. The booking fee is not cheap, but they let us bring our own alcohol so we were able to make it work with our budget. Renee was really helpful during the planning process, always quick to respond to emails during business hours. And on the day the ceremony and reception ran really smoothly thanks to the great staff.

The staff was great from the get-go. Karin (Maritime Director) was so friendly and helpful. She was a pleasure to work with and made things so easy. They were extremely flexible with everything- time, hours, decorations, payment. The ship (The Pilgrim) was beautiful. They were well-organized and were great with communication. I can't say enough good things about the entire staff and location.

The Ocean Institute was the absolute perfect venue for us! We wanted something nontraditional but still reverent and beautiful, incorporating the Hawaiian traditions so important to my husband's family, with ample room for a fun (well-behaved) party once the sun went down. Jennifer and her staff were very helpful in explaining their policies and offering suggestions when we weren't quite sure what we wanted (she even suggested the most incredible month of coordinator), while being as flexible as possible when we had our minds made up. On the day of, they were there to make sure everything went smoothly, despite being under the weather. The OI has a number of pretty specific rules - not anything too much more extensive than a lot of other eco-conscious SoCal venues mind you, but specific nonetheless. We paid for an outside vendor and an additional cleaning fee and even on a tight budget it was well worth the extra couple thousand to have the wedding we wanted. It was truly unforgettable and I'm so grateful to Jennifer and the OI for helping make that dream a reality!