Destin, FL, USA < change city >

I had my wedding on Crystal Beach and we rented a beach house for the week and had our reception at the top floor. I know it can hold 40 people. Here is the link to our beach house: http://www.southernresorts.com/bre/properties/Royal-Beach-Palace/

We stayed at Gulf Paradise for our wedding weekend last May. We had the ceremony on the beach, but did not have the reception in the house. I think if 40 is your absolute max that would be okay, but anymore than that and it will probably be crowded inside. We did have a bbq at the house the day after the wedding and had about 60 people and with everyone spaced out between the beach, patio, and inside it was nice. The house is absolutely gorgeous!!! We loved it and can't wait to rent it again.

First off, congrats on your upcoming wedding! We had our reception at Brown Your Buns in Seagrove Beach (just east of Destin, between Destin & Panama City Beach). http://www.vrbo.com/173085 Ours guests continue to say it was the best wedding they have ever been too! I also wrote up a blue print of what we did for most of the wedding to help beach brides because I struggled for a few months planning a destination wedding from afar that is available on wedding mapper at http://www.weddingmapper.com/plan_wedding/fl/seaside/0r1k8h

Best of luck!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. We decided on renting Gulf Paradise as some of the other locations stated that they no longer allow weddings. Do you have any recommendations for a budget friendly caterer in the area?

Hello Jachartley

I highly recommend Cartagena de Indias, is beautiful, with a beach, breeze, sea, romantic and unique, is a welcoming city and is located within its possibilities

You can send your email to [email protected] with the following information:

Number of guests
Wedding Date
Preferred location for the ceremony
preferred location for reception

forward to your reply.

Thanks

Hello Jachartley

I highly recommend Cartagena de Indias, is beautiful, with a beach, breeze, sea, romantic and unique, is a welcoming city and is located within its possibilities

You can send your email to [email protected] with the following information:

Number of guests
Wedding Date
Preferred location for the ceremony
preferred location for reception

forward to your reply.

Thanks

I don't know why it is so difficult to find a wedding home in Destin area but it is. Why did you two decide to go with Gulf Paradise vs Serenity Shores? I am looking at both of these houses as well.

It was definitely a hard choice. Gulf paradise is a little bigger than serenity shores so we decided to go with it since we are having the reception in the home. Serenity shores does have beautiful windows and a bigger outside porch so that would be something to consider- I wish we could add the porch and windows of serenity shores to gulf paradise! After visiting - serenity appears to have a larger driveway, however it has houses close on both sides. Gulf is tucked into a dead end road with only one house on the side and some others across the street. My family and friends rented the houses close by so we were able to develop our own little court. Good luck on the decision- as I said it is a tough one since both houses are beautiful! I can let you know more of how things worked out in gulf after October if that would be helpful.

Thanks for the response. We plan to have outdoor reception so I am thinking we will want Serentiy Shores. I think reception would have to be in drive area of both homes. Serenity Shores seems bigger there and has a little more scenery. I would love to know how things work out for you in Oct. espeically with venders for other services. Good luck with everything!!