Santa Monica Proper Hotel

The Proper Hotel in Santa Monica was the perfect venue for our wedding! The property itself was beautiful and impeccably designed, and the team led by David Houde made the whole process seamless -- from the flow of the event, to the incredible service, to the delicious food. We had so many compliments from wedding guests about how special the venue was and how good the food & drinks tasted -- we couldn't imagine getting married anywhere else! And to top it all off, the interior design made our pictures look and feel like they were out of a magazine!

Long story short - we were supposed to get married on a private beach in Sayulita, Mexico, underneath the palms. I always knew I wanted a beach wedding where everyone could feel like they were on vacation. But due to an unexpected turn of world events, we had to cancel our Mexico wedding just 24 hours before we were supposed to board our flight. Somehow, within the next 48 hours, we managed to plan a magical weekend in LA with 100+ of our closest family and friends. Almost all of our guests were able to pivot at the last minute, and with the help of the incredible team at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel & our families, our entire wedding weekend came together in the most amazing way.

Even though things took an unexpected turn, the change of plans led us somewhere just as meaningful - Los Angeles, and specifically the Proper Hotel Santa Monica. What started as a last-minute pivot ended up feeling like a beautiful return to a place that’s deeply woven into our love story. The hotel, designed by Kelly Wearstler, has always been one of our favorite places. Every inch of the hotel is thoughtfully designed, blending California vibes with a really cool Art Deco style. It truly couldn’t have been a more perfect venue!! In the end, we were beyond happy with how everything turned out and are now eternally grateful to Proper Hotels and their amazing team for making it all happen. WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT THEM!!

We got married here last June 2025, and could not have imagined a better experience. From start to finish, the hotel delivered an incredible wedding weekend that our guests are still talking about.

One of the biggest draws for us was the vibe of the property, the hotel has such a stunning costal modern aesthetic that it practically decorates itself. This helped a lot with also not having to spend a ton on other things like flowers and rentals. We wanted a place where all of our events could happen in one location without needing transportation, and the Proper made that possible. We hosted four events on-site: a rooftop welcome party, an outdoor terrace ceremony, a ballroom reception, and a farewell brunch by the pool. Every space felt unique, beautiful, and perfectly suited to the moment. Our guests also felt like each event was at a different venue since they were all held at different spaces in the hotel.

The planning process went smoothly overall. While there was a bit of staff turnover that caused occasional delays, the team was accommodating, especially when it came to letting us visit over the holidays while we were traveling from across the country. We worked closely with our amazing wedding planner, Susan Dunne, and the hotel team coordinated seamlessly with her on catering and logistics.

A special shout-out to Katrina Ramirez, who went above and beyond all weekend. She made sure we felt taken care of at every turn and helped ensure the entire celebration unfolded effortlessly.

The food, drinks, and service were phenomenal. Our guests couldn’t stop talking about the Late Night Taco Station — even though, ironically, we never got to try the tacos ourselves! We also received an overwhelming number of compliments on how gorgeous everything was and how perfect the venue felt.

If you’re considering the Santa Monica Proper Hotel for your wedding, we highly recommend it. Having a great planner made the process even smoother, but the venue itself is exceptional. We wouldn’t change a thing and are so grateful for such a memorable, beautifully executed wedding weekend.

5/5 — Truly unforgettable.

We held our wedding at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel for ~120 guests and our greyhound who was our ring bearer. The hotel is probably the most dog-friendly I have ever stayed at, and having our dog be a part of the ceremony was very special. The Olea terrace was beautiful, and the venue's provided seats, furniture, etc were fantastic and did not require any additional vendor support. The Canela lounge was the perfect space for our cocktail hour - our guests were instantly impressed. The bartenders were kind and extremely efficient all night, and the base bar package was more than generous with the quality and selection of cocktails. The Canela ballroom was warm and easily accommodated our DJ's uplighting with room for a second bar setup and Counter Culture coffee served through the night!

One night stay was comped with the venue, as well as an additional room for getting ready the day of the wedding. For our party's needs, we decided to upgrade to the one bedroom suite which was an incredibly beautiful space - it made getting ready and meeting with our friends/family all the more exciting and convenient. Highly recommend doing this if you are able.

The hospitality and attentiveness of the banquet team were noted by several of our guests. As the wedding couple, we felt genuinely pampered throughout our stay — from the concierge and bell staff to the kitchen team and chef. Everyone we interacted with was warm, excited for us, and made us feel truly celebrated.

Lastly, we want to give a huge shoutout to Justine who handled all of the coordination, wedding day details, and venue planning with ease. She provided just the right amount of hands on and also gave us plenty of space on the weekend of. Very professional communicator, and we had a great time hanging out during our tasting leading up to the wedding.

We had such an incredible weekend at the Santa Monica Proper. It was as close to perfect as we could have imagined - we would recommend this venue to anybody without hesitation.

We had to move our wedding at the last minute (less than 2-months before the date), and we were lucky that our date was available! They gave us nice discounts that made the venue more affordable for us. I'm grateful for that. However. their entire team is slow to respond. It made planning frustrating. I don't blame our planner. I think they may need to hire more support. Justine, our planner, was solid otherwise and would recommend working with her. Also, they weirdly did food prep in their loading dock which was a really unpleasant thing to learn after the fact. Lastly, wrapping things up was frustrating with their accounts receivable team. We needed separate invoices broken out to best optimize credit cards points, which is what we had done with the initial deposits. It was slow response times that bled into my honeymoon. I'm an events professional. I've been working in the industry for 12+ years. I hope this review is helpful.