We happened upon this venue one day and fell in love with its historical charm and beautiful natural surroundings. Grace Chapel was perfect for a small indoor wedding where my dad could still walk me down an aisle, and on top of that it was walking distance from the Seascape Room reception area.
The site coordinator Marisa was my hero. Her patience with people far surpassed mine, and I'd even call it superhuman. Throughout the whole wedding planning process, I always felt like we were in good hands. Even when I had no idea what I was doing (which was most of the time), as soon as our check-in calls were done I'd feel like I was okay without hiring a planner and could probably pull this wedding thing off.
Having a rehearsal the day before was absolutely essential. On the day of our wedding Marisa helped everything run rather smoothly. The ceremony timing and music went pretty much according to plan, plus the Chapel's built-in sound system worked perfectly. It was truly a beautiful place to have a ceremony and it felt so right for us. Many of our guests later expressed how beautiful the architecture was. When we all meandered to Seascape, we also utilized the jitney service for our older guests with mobility difficulties. We were only able to use the Seascape deck for cocktail hour because the patio had been reserved, but it worked out fine with the number and age range of guests we had.
The reception area had been set up as planned, with ample room for guests, buffet and dessert tables, and dancing. It was absolutely gorgeous.
The entire staff was just lovely, friendly, and so helpful. I heard that the food was very good, too. (Besides that incredible mushroom appetizer and a bit of salad, husband and I didn't get to sample much of dinner. Oops.)
Accommodations for us were cozy and we loved the thoughtful little care package. The view of the ocean and the dunes outside our window the next morning was amazing, and it was so peaceful.
Some minor cons: Guests should not expect luxury hotel rooms. They are definitely historic (To Asilomar I would recommend weather stripping on the doors-it got windy!) but they're clean and have their own charm.

Overall we highly recommend Asilomar Conference Grounds.
We are looking forward to coming back on our anniversary and hopefully before then, too. We are so grateful for all of the help and hard work that went into such an unforgettable experience.

We had the opportunity to book the Asilomar Conference Grounds for a 4 day / 3 night family reunion with 120 guests. From the beginning stages of the planning the process, Rosalie and her staff were great and flexible to help all of the guests get their lodging reserved and helped with special accommodations. We planned on doing three private event dinners throughout the weekend. I worked with Raquel who was very helpful, knowledgable, and flexible - assisting with accommodating guest's dietary restrictions, as well as helping us create a memorable menu. As the event developed, guests arrived, got checked in, and met for a welcome dinner. Edwin and his event staff were 5 star! They were professional, attentive, and would go above and beyond to help make the guest experience memorable. The food was presented on time - fresh, hot, and constantly restocked- as well as beautifully displayed.

Guests had a great time exploring the property - very close walk to the beautiful coastline and beach, along with being close to a variety of fun activities in the area.

To Rosalie, Raquel, Edwin and all the staff at the Asilomar- thank you for making our family reunion such a memorable event!! We will make sure to contact you when we have our next reunion in your area!!

I had the most beautiful wedding at Asilomar. I had a beach ceremony followed by cocktail hour across from the meadow and the reception on the seascape room. Marisa the wedding coordinator at Asilomar is great at what she does. She was very responsive to mine and my mother's millions or questions and requests. She was always willing to work with us and make sure we had exactly what we wanted. Asilomar is the most beautiful combination of forest and beach. The staff there works very hard to meet every need. The only real downside to Asilomar are the rooms. A handful of the rooms did not have heat (and it was pretty chilly when we were there) They worked hard to try and fix the problem and I believe everyone with room trouble did receive a refund. It really is the best venue in the area for the price!

We feel beyond lucky that we chose Asilomar for our wedding venue!!!

Atmosphere - beachy, woodsy, casual, but also elegant. I had a hard time describing the uniqueness of Asilomar conference grounds to guests before they arrived, but everyone LOVED the venue and couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it was.

Staff - Literally all Asilomar staff members I interacted with over the course of the wedding were fantastic. You get a site coordinator (no extra cost) to help you through the whole planning process, during the lead-up, and through the day-of events. I can't emphasize how helpful this was in making everything go smoothly and reducing my stress, both in planning beforehand and during the wedding itself.

Value - of all the wedding venues we considered, Asilomar was BY FAR the best value. Total cost was likely more than if you did a simple DIY venue, but also probably at least ~$10,000 cheaper than other beach resorts. You get a stunning setting, site coordinator, excellent food, and guest lodging at the venue. Since Asilomar does weddings regularly, they know what works and what doesn't. They will do everything they can to make planning easy and the wedding go smoothly!

I cannot recommend Asilomar enough!!!

Marisa and her team were wonderful to work with. They made sure things were exactly as we wished them to be.

The minute my husband and I saw Asilomar, we knew we had to have it for our wedding venue! We loved the rustic look of the polished wood, fireplaces, and all the natural light let in by the many windows in the Chapel and reception hall. Natascha was a big help at walking us through everything and was not only a great venue coordinator, but also a day-of coordinator. We had a morning wedding and the brunch menu designed by chef Greg Lepesh was delicious! We got so many compliments on the food and the venue in general.

When my husband and I began looking for venues we knew we wanted to get married somewhere in Monterey. Neither of us had been to Asilomar before and as soon as we got there we knew we had found our venue. Not only was it convenient to have the ceremony and reception all at one place, we also had the pleasure of working with Natascha!! Seriously, she deserves an award for being so awesome and amazing. Natascha was so responsive and made sure everything turned out perfect the day of our wedding. We had our ceremony in the meadow area and it was absolutely beautiful! Also made it super convenient for our guests to walk a few steps to cocktail hour and then right to the reception. They also have a wonderful service, the jitney, that would offer rides if anyone needed to go back to their rooms. We are so happy we chose Asilomar for our wedding. Our guests kept commenting on how beautiful everything was. It was the perfect day and we could not have done it without Natascha!

When my then fiancé (now husband) and I were in our early stage of wedding planning, after seeing couple venues, we knew Asilomar was THE venue because of the convenience of having both ceremony and reception sites in one vicinity. We love the ocean and nature so Asilomar was the perfect location for our special day. We had our ceremony at the Asilomar State Beach and reception at Seascape Room. We were very lucky & privileged to have Natascha VonThiele as our event coordinator. I can’t tell you how thankful we are for her. She was very responsive to any form of communication from start to finish. She is reliable, organized and on top of things. Our wedding day ran so smoothly all thanks to her. I give Natascha so much credit for how our wedding day turned out. My husband and I couldn’t be happier having Natascha as our coordinator. She is truly a gem.

We chose the beach for our ceremony location and Seascape hall for the reception. This property is a beautiful blend of beach and woodsy, which was exactly what we wanted. We live locally and surveyed a number of locations for the wedding and found ACG to be competitively priced.

Coordinator - the wedding coordinator, Joselynn, is a dream to work with. She is very responsive via email and really willing to work with you and help you get the very most out of your budget. I loved working with her and cannot recommend her highly enough.
Food/Wine - My family is extremely picky when it comes to food (they are foodies for sure) so I was very worried about having bad wedding food, but everyone raved about the food. We didn't know exactly what our wedding food would be; the chef will design the meal based on what is local and in season, so we had a general idea of what we would be getting but we didn't know exactly.
Lodging - since this is a conference grounds, the lodging here is more rustic and does not include some amenities that people might look for (TV, updated rooms, etc.) Included in the wedding package (if available), is a complimentary room for the couple the night of the wedding. We had a room right by the water and could hear the waves crashing all night - it was heaven. We were secured a small meeting room for during the day as a getting ready local for the groomsmen - cheaper than selecting an overnight room.
Ceremony - Asilomar contracts with a local company to handle the ceremony, (chairs, sound, arch, etc.) The vendor requires that you bring your own music for the ceremony, which I found to be a bit overwhelming (others may not!), planing pre-, during and post-ceremony music felt a bit daunting. You had to provide the music to the vendor on a phone/mp3 player yourself. We did not get the arch we requested nor did he play our recessional music, but otherwise everything was perfect.

I loved getting married here and wouldn't change a thing.

When we were in the early stages of planning our wedding, my then fiance (now husband) told me that he only has 2 non-negotiables: 1) it has to be a beach wedding and, 2) dinner has to be plated. I was trying to look for beach locations that are not too common and Asilomar perfectly fit our needs.

Asilomar was the second location we visited and at the end of the visit, we already knew that this is the place where we want to get married. We were supposed to visit another location after Asilomar but decided to cancel because it really felt like we have already found the perfect location. We both loved the rustic look of the entire conference grounds (I love the Hearst Social Hall!) and my fiance especially loved the beach area. The entire area has a lot of picturesque locations where you can take post-ceremony bridal party photos and that was actually the part that my husband was most excited about. One thing to note though is that the beach is a public beach so prepare yourself that you won't have the beach to yourself on the wedding day itself. But the beach-goers are respectful of the wedding ceremony and they try not to be in the way.

Aside from a very nice beach location, Asilomar also had really nice service. The event coordinator was very responsive and very pleasant to work with. The food was amazing - a lot of our guests told us how much they enjoyed their dinner. The waitstaff was also very attentive and made sure all our guests have what they need.

We are very happy that we found Asilomar!