Island Palms Hotel & Marina Reviews

We chose Island Palms for its location right on the bay and closeness to the airport. They have great, affordable choices for wedding packages. Our reception had a little over 100 guests and was held in their largest room, the Grand Marina Room. Most of our guests were from out of town just as we were and stayed at the Island Palms as well. Everyone complimented on the beauty of the place and the menu was awesome. The rooms were wonderful, especially their suites. We definitely recommend the Island Palms.

I cannot say enough good things about the Island Palms and Lauren and Samantha, their event/ banquet coordinators. Lauren was super helpful, answering all of my questions before and after we signed the contract. We were able to drop off the decorations that we were providing the night before, and the banquet staff set everything up for us. They even picked up our flowers for the reception hall when our florist messed up our order. If you want an as stress-free as it can be experience, with multiple package options to choose from, amazing views from both the marina and harbor side of the hotel, this is your place!!

Great experience with them!!!

We had our ceremony and reception here on September 13th. From our first visit to the last minute of our wedding, Lauren and Samantha were super helpful and responsive to us. They help us with booking our rooms, setting the ceremony site and reception hall. We made our own centerpieces and they helped set them on the tables. Guest service at the hotel was great. We had 100 guests and more than 75% of them stayed at the hotel the night of the wedding. Our family loved the venue and the hotel. It's absolutely adorable, peaceful and beautiful. Their food is delicious. You get to go to a free tasting session before you pick the menu. We went with their Italian buffet, got the salmon, pasta station, wild rice, garlic chicken and prime rib station.... they were all super yummy! Our guests said they went back for seconds and thirds. I would recommend Island Palms 100% to anyone looking for a marina wedding.

We decided to have our wedding here and make it easy for all out of town guests and for ourselves, by booking all of our activities in one place. I had my bridal shower here, then the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and even a post wedidng brunch. In short, I was at this location many, many times throughout the last year. All of the staff members are friendly and very customer service oriented. All of our events were a success, very classy, fun, and each in a different room/location, as they have options to choose from, so that created a nice variety. We were very impressed and so happy with how everything went. Lauren Miller is whom we worked with and she went above and beyond for us, making the whole process smooth and stress free, we had the best wedding ever, and received many compliments from our guests regarding how much fun they had, and how beautiful it was. The location was perfect for us because it was a great way to showcase the city we love by being on the water. We really wanted an outdoor ceremony with great views, that would be accomodating to our guests. Island Palms offers bike rentals and free airport shuttle service, so makes it easy to get to and around. The Blue Wave Bar and Grill inside the hotel, also has yummy food and drink options, and the food for our wedding day was even more delicious then when we had gone in for our tastings. When compared to other vendors, we were most pleased with the package options and everything that is included, it is really a hidden gem, and we are so happy we found this place for our special day!

My fiancee and I began the wedding reception venue search at San Diego's bridal bazaar for our March 8th wedding. We just happened to pick up a brochure from the Island Palms Hotel and Marina and boy was it a blessing! After inquiring about prices, we set up an appointment to meet with Michael Da Silva. He was laid back, yet listened to what we were looking for in a venue. We looked into other venues, but what sold us on the Island Palm is their willingness to negotiate several things with us, and even allowed us to bring in our own wine and champagne (with a corkage fee, but it still saved us money). Our entire planning process was smooth, stress free, and they kept us on point with when to do certain things (order linens, sash, etc). Half way through our planning process, Michael left and our event was given to Lauren Miller. Now, we had heard nightmare stories from other couples about this happening, but the transition was so smooth it's as if Lauren had been working with us from the beginning. She picked up exactly where Michael left off and was amazing and easy to work with. They have incredible vendors that you can choose to work with, which made coordinating the cake and flowers super easy. Anything we needed they were there to help us out. The venue is beautiful and combine that with amazing service and San Diego weather and what results is a beautiful wedding. Our guests loved the food and the service was on point. We received so many compliments about the location. Our families stayed in the hotel the entire weekend, and they loved the rooms and beautiful views. They even gave us a discount on rooms without been tied to a particular number of rooms. Island Palm is a hidden gem! They are super good at getting back to you and ensuring that all goes right on your special day. We are so happy we picked them as our venue. Thank you Lauren and staff at the Island Palms for making our big day so incredible!

I loved working with Michael DaSilva and the staff at Island Palms Hotel and Marina. From the start everyone was professional, kind, and attentive. Michael was always available to discuss details of my wedding reception. As an out of town bride I required a certain amount of accommodation. Michael and staff had no problem working with me. My guests are still talking about the amazing view, food, and service. I was very fortunate to find the Island Palm Hotel and Marina. I cannot imagine my wedding at any other venue.

Island Palms is a scenic waterside location.The reasonable prices are totally inclusive in their generous package.No hidden fees to surprise us unexpectedly.Rachel's catering suggestions were extremely helpful.Her attitude is an absolute pleasure to work with.

They made my wedding day magical!

Excellent location to have everything you need and want onsite and it's absolutely beautiful. Staff is fantastic to work with as well. Overall fantastic experience...highly recommend! :)

The bakery I was sent to created such a unique cake for my motorcycle loving hubby.
The florist Rachel recommended also created beautifully to my specifications.
Island Palm's view,food,servers and bartender helped round out a perfect celebration!
As far as we're concerned they are favorite venue in town.

Everything about doing the wedding at the Island Palms was amazing! Rachael was the coordinator (we originally started with Martha, but she moved) and she was so helpful! We originally planned on having it in a smaller room, but when the bar would have to be outside and we were concerned, they upgraded us to the medium-sized room at no extra charge with the same food & beverage minimum! Everything went off without a hitch, they really went out of their way to make our wedding special. And it was. Definitely. Prices were also extremely reasonable, and it was nice to have an opportunity in the package to have centerpieces, cake, and alcohol all included!

We had our rehearsal, wedding, and reception and the Island Palms and we had an amazing time. The wedding was gorgeous, the food was DELICIOUS, and the service we had there was great. Mike was helpful and was willing to help out however he could. He set up everything and made things very easy. Guests thought it was great!

Food excellent and banquet staff was great.

This place is not only beautiful, it is cost effecient. I had about 80 guests and the total with food, ceremony, linens and a bartender came under $8,000. Can't beat that with an excellent staff as well. Just one downfall, if your wedding guests are looking to get together afterwards don't do it in this hotel. Security will harrass you until every guest is out of your room and there is not so much as a snore heard from inside. The wedding was absolutely amazing though and the staff were great as well as the event contact Michael.

Shelter Island was like the forgotten paradise during the time of my husband's and my wedding.

We were lucky enough to find them at the right time for the right price. Their package deals were excellent. Compared to many of the other venues we shopped, Island Palms included a lot of planning elements that helped save us money and gave us peace of mind.

Our favorite person, Brianna, is no longer there but she certainly was like having a fairy godperson.

Friends and family had such a good time there. Out of towners, especially loved being able to walk along the nautical boardwalk.

Most importantly, we weren't stuck with having to order the chicken meal. We surprised our guests with the steak and salmon combination or a vegetarian alternative. People loved it. We loved not having to make them choose.

I had an extremely superb experience having my reception at the hotel. The catering was wonderful and the staff attended to my needs wonderfully.

This really is a hidden gem in San Diego. It is a beautiful location with a little bit of funk and character. There are many different room types on the property but they are beautiful and very unique. For our wedding, all of our guests were from out of town and many had families with kids; this made the multiple hotel swimming pools and kitchens in the suites a big hit for our guests.
There was a bit of miscommunication during the sales process. Because our planner negotiated a customized wedding package for us, we thought we were getting certain perks that actually the venue only gives to those who select a preset package. (Examples: a free night stay in the wedding suite or a quote for centerpiece flowers for our reception). Also keep in mind that the venue's promised "20% off nightly room rate" discount for your wedding guests' accommodations is only applied for as long as the hotel is less than 80% booked. Once the hotel reaches 80% capacity, the discount disappears and guests are mostly on their own.

Despite some confusion along the way the whole staff was super friendly and helpful. Any issues with our guests reservations were taken care of with a quick phone call to Jessica in the reservations department. Any questions we had about anything basically were handled in short order. Lauren Miller our banquet sales contact was extremely helpful. She is laid back and friendly but always on top of her game. We are so in love with the venue and location that we plan to head back for monthly anniversary visits!

Working long distance from Iowa to California was made very easy by the staff at the Island Palms Hotel. Both Michael and Rachael were very responsive to our questions and concerns. They were very flexible and helpful in making sure we had a gorgeous looking ceremony site and reception hall.

The food was AMAZING, and the catering staff was very attentive and responsive. We couldn't have asked for a better destination wedding.

Island Palms Hotel and Marina is an absolutely beautiful backdrop for any occasion, but especially for a wedding. They have two gardens and a marina where you can have your special event. However, I had always dreamed of having my wedding on a beach and Martha, the event planner in charge of our wedding, made that happen. Martha was such a great help in planning our event from so far away (we live in Cincinnati, Ohio). She did such a great job and was always very accommodating and responded quickly to my e-mails and calls. The cost of the wedding was pretty reasonable considering all that it included. It was kind of difficult to meet the food and beverage minimum, but the staff was very helpful in trying to help us meet that number (although we still didn't!). Part of the problem was that we did not have as many guests as originally anticipated. The only things that could have gone better were the ceremony music (I think there was a bit of miscommunication as to who was supposed to set up the CD player) and coordination of the reception (my husband and I are vegetarians, which made the order a little more complicated AND the event was running behind because of the issues with the ceremony music). Other than those two things, everything was a dream come true. Thank you Island Palms for making our special day absolutely wonderful! I would recommend this venue highly to anyone for their wedding.

I worked with Caitlyn. She was so great through the entire planing process! The venue was gorgeous! Everyone was raving of how perfect the room and the patio area was. We were in the Grand Marina room downstairs. We had 100 people and it fit perfectly. The food was fabulous! I loved the filet mignon, it was cooked perfect!! There are beautiful areas right across the street and on the property for photos. The suites were perfect for getting ready and being so close to everything.

The Island Palms is a gorgeous place to get married and hold a reception. The hotel staff is amazing, kind, and very flexible. Lauren Miller is easy to work with and makes the process of planning easy. The serving staff during the reception were rude to guests which is why I gave them 4 stars, however the GM handled the situation and made me feel a lot better.

The venue was beautiful! We had both our ceremony and reception here and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. I worked with Caitlin and she was very responsive throughout my planning. I always had emails and phone calls returned within a few days and often within 24 hours. The day of she was helpful to my family who were helping with set up.

This is a great venue in which to get the most "bang for your buck." Lauren Miller was my event coordinator and she was extremely responsive and assisted with so much. If you book here ask for her. As with all wedding days there were some things that did not work out as planned. The grooms dish was cold, and in hind sight we should have requested another meal for him but didn't. I also provided things for the day of such as a hand held lighter to light the ancestor candle, a Ganesh for the table as people entered and the cake serving set and two of these were never returned to me and one was not returned in the manner it was provided to them. Other than that everything else went pretty well. The other thing to know is the bar closes very early as well as bars in the neighboring locations.

As far as the hotel itself, the groom and I were disappointed in that the bridal suite, though the request was made multiple times, was not serviced after the bride got ready so at the end of the night the room was a disaster. The air unit was also not working and had it not been 4am when it made sounds like a train was going through our room we would have requested a room change. So in that regard I'm not certain I would completely suggest staying there. The mother of the brides air unit was also not working and had maintenance in there a few times. We had around 15rooms booked and the mother of the groom requested to be on the second floor and that was also not accommodated. I'm not sure I would stay there again or recommend that but I would however recommend this venue for a wedding to anyone.