Descanso Beach Club Reviews

Our Daughter (only child) wedding was on 8/26/17 at the Descanso Beach Club. Needless to say this was one of the most important days in our families lives. The Descanso Beach Club staff and venue were perfect. They saved what could have been a horrible memory for my Daughter, Son-in-law and parents. I want to express our thanks to Chris / Lindsay and DJ Les for doing an amazing job with trying to ease the stress, disappointment and angry we felt after the ceremony.

Let me begin with saying the wedding planner - Catherine Machado should have her license revoked!

She allowed the wedding to begin WITHOUT CHECKING TO SEE IF THE OFFICIANT WAS THERE - READY AND IN POSITION. The wedding party was in place, groom in place, bride and father ready to walk down the isle - wedding march playing AND NO OFFICIANT! The officiate - Reverend Mark was not on site. The one moment we've been waiting for the past 29 years - was taken from us - GONE. I can't even express the utter disappointment. Realizing what was taking place I scrambled and asked a dear friend of our family to step in and attempt to save what was a most uncomfortable and sad situation in front of all of our family and friends. He did a fine job under the circumstances, but by then our daughter, son-in-law and both sets of parents were beyond disappointed.

WARNING - be very careful which vendor you select on the island. Because it's a destination event you may feel that you should pick a vendor that's on the island. I'm not saying that ALL vendors on the island are not good choices. Our DJ, photographer, florist did their jobs as contracted.

FYI - The wedding coordinator CATHERINE MACHADO told us that this has never happened in the 20+ years she's been doing weddings. WHO CARES!!! Well Ms. Machado - it happened at our Daughter's wedding! We only had one shot at it - and you didn't do your job! SHAME ON YOU!!!!

Proud Mother of the Bride

Loved having our wedding on Catalina Island. We booked Descanso Beach Lawn for the ceremony and Catherine's Terrace for the reception. If you are booking a wedding on Catalina Island do yourself a favor and book through The Santa Catalina Island Company. They are the big guns on the island and they know everything. Our wedding felt super custom and special. (not cookie cutter or cheesy like some Destination weddings can feel) We worked with Eileen and Alicia and they were amazing. They created floor plan options, had rain backup plans in places, had multiple suggestions for pre and post wedding guest activites. We got a custom DIY wedding without the stress and hassle of DIYing. So happy with our special day. Our guests keep telling us it was the best wedding they've ever been too.

SCIRS was an absolutely fabulous team . They were so accommodating and kind.
Jessica led up her team with total professionalism while maintaining a feeling that
she was a "close friend". Thank you so very much!!

It's been almost 2 months since my daughter's wedding and we're still pinching ourselves daily over our great good fortune to have chosen this venue. It is not only absolutely gorgeous, but comfortable, relaxing, and easy at the same time. The staff were very helpful and accommodating in planning our event and they really delivered on the big day. The overall quality of everything was superlative- the food, the bar, the service...all first rate. Our expectations were exceeded and we remain beyond pleased and very grateful!!

My husband and I really enjoyed having our wedding reception at the Desconso Beach Club. We had our wedding on a friday and were able to take advantage of the BBQ under the stars buffet they provided. It was spectacular. Even tho we did not have a "room" to ourselves. They grouped 8 picnic size tables together to acomadate our entire party so we could sit together. And even provided a seperate table for our cake and unity candle to be on. Every one that attended our wedding has commented on how they have never been to a nicer wedding and reception. And the food was great. Sides and drinks and all silverware and plates were about 12.95 per person and you bring your own meat and BBQ it yourself

Everyone and everything at the Catalina Island Visitor's Country Club was classy. The venue was beautiful, and, though my small budget and group size made it impossible to rent the prettiest location, I managed to have a gorgeous wedding in one of the smaller locations. Their look is very Spanish, with stucco and colored tiling throughout the building, and their default linens are classic white with silver napkin rings and white china. I loved it! The food there is amazing. They utilize as many organic, wholesome ingredients as possible, with great attention to flavors and presentation. I loved how, though we had a buffet wedding, as the bride and groom, we were served at our little sweetheart table.

The staff is professional, friendly, and responsive when not on vacation, though I will warn you that, like most wedding vendors, they will try to get you to add on things you don't need, like custom linens. My wedding planner worked with them to ensure we got good deals, though.

Because we had such a small group (30 people) and signed some paperwork promising not to sue if we were stupid enough to food poison ourselves with the leftovers, we got to reuse what little food was left over for our Saturday brunch (we got married on a Friday). They were not, however, flexible about the time. Even when I paid for six hours, they tried to shoo us out after four. We ended up leaving an hour earlier than scheduled, but, on the plus side, they refunded our extra rental fees for that hour within days after the wedding.

Overall, I am very happy with them, and would recommend them to others.

Let me start by saying that this venue is GORGEOUS! It completely fit the vibe my now-husband and I were looking for. It turned out beautiful and I'm pretty satisfied, but the very low rating is just due to how unprofessional and unorganized the venue coordinators are while it being pretty pricey. Catalina is where our relationship started and this was the only venue we looked at, so I'm not sure if this experience is considered normal. After touring the venue with my parents and agreeing to get married there, we signed a contract, paid a deposit, and then the communication was completely downhill from there. I was told that I would be assigned an event coordinator through the venue that would work in conjunction with my chosen wedding planner just 3 months before my wedding date. Obviously a ton of planning needed to happen prior to the 3 month mark, and I was just being bounced around from person to person before then. While all four of the girls that work for the venue who I was in contact with were super nice, it seemed that none of them knew what they were talking about at all. They would each give me different answers to my questions, which I had to follow up on many times before even getting an answer out of them at all. I asked about a tasting several times without an answer until I finally was told that I only had one more week to schedule a tasting before missing out on it completely becasue they won't hold tastings during their high season. I had to scramble to make their dates work only to have them almost cancel on me because I didn't submit my tasting menu selections in time, even though they never asked me for that. This is one of the many examples where there was a lack of communication and then last minute scramble. Beware that when you're paying thousands of dollars for the venue, all it comes with are tables and chairs that look like they are in a retirement home. You'll pay $500 there, $400 here, $250 there, for each piece to actual wedding space