Santa Cruz Dream Inn Reviews

Covid bride rescheduled from Dec 2020 to May 2021, The Dream Inn never wavered in support. The whole team was so accommodating, answering continuous questions and working with us to make our wedding happen in any way that it could, safely. The day of went without a hitch and it is the MOST BEAUTIFUL setting to get married. Highly recommend the Dream Inn for both the beauty as well as the service - especially Dan and Danielle. Thank you all!

I can't rave enough about this venue. During my rehearsal, everyone in my wedding party "oohed and aahed" as they got to see the view for the first time. We chose the Dream Inn because Santa Cruz means a lot to us and we love how close it is to everything, especially the beaches and th Boardwalk . I loved working with Katie, who was super responsive to all the little questions that I had. I was very anxious about the planning, but she put me right at ease. Our ceremony and reception turned out beautiful. We had so much fun and our guests had positive feedback about the food. We stayed at The Dream Inn for the whole weekend and everyone was super helpful and made us feel especial. We did a lot of the decor ourselves so we needed lots of help bringing items back and forth. Thank you, Dream Inn!

We absolutely loved our wedding at The Dream Inn! The venue was gorgeous and the staff was incredible both leading up to and the day of the event.

Let's start with the venue. We looked at a ton of venues. You are simply not going to find a more beautiful venue in Santa Cruz. All of our guests were raving about the views of the beach. There is floor to ceiling glass windows that give you a panorama view of the boardwalk, beach and ocean. Unreal. We were even able to slip out onto the beach during sunset to snap some photos in the sand.

If you book the Dream Inn, you'll have the chance to work with Katie. She's wonderful. You can skip hiring a wedding planner because Katie takes care of so much. She did an unbelievable job for us coordinating everything and providing creative input. It's pretty tough trying to figure out what vendors are really legit, but she was able to give us some honest recommendations on who to use and who to avoid. She worked with them all leading up to the event which took a ton of work off of our plate. She's incredibly organized and took care of every little detail on the day of. We just had to show up and the whole place was setup exactly how we had envisioned it.

Katie and the Dream Inn staff were awesome! They went above and beyond expectations and I highly recommend having your wedding, or special event with them!

The Dream Inn, newly owned by Woodside Hotels, is an excellent venue for a beach wedding and amazing reception.
We turned the reception banquet room into a magical, gorgeous space. Floor to ceiling windows showcased the beach and sunset. Katie, the wedding coordinator for the Dream Inn, is absolutely fantastic!
My daughter's wedding was a dream come true and the Dream Inn made it perfect.

I recently had my 50th birthday party at The Dream Inn and I have to say, it was an absolute *knockout*!

From the planning process with Aurora, Noelle and Marjorie all helping me out to make sure the party met my expectations to Alisha and her amazing service crew the night of the event, my family and friends were made to feel like VIPs the whole night. When a small hiccup occurred re. the location on-property of the scheduled after-party, Alisha stepped up and made it more than right... FAR more than right... and our guests were thrilled.

After the whole thing wound down EIGHT HOURS LATER (!!) we ended up spending an unforgettable night in a tower suite. It was unbelievable : )

It really was one of the great nights of my life and I can't think of anything more the Dream Inn could have done to make it better. I send my deepest thanks to them for a job fabulously done.

We had a small ceremony on the pool deck and then a reception in the Aquarius bar and restaurant.

Everything was perfect. Vinny the Pool Manager took charge and listened to exactly what we wanted, then made it his business to make sure we were the most important people at the hotel that weekend.

I cannot thank him and the staff enough for a perfect day... it was totally amazing

The Dream Inn was absolutely stunning. The view was remarkable and the set up was perfect. Noelle and Aurora were extremely responsive and helpful throughout the entire process. It was absolutely perfect. The ONLY disadvantage was that while the reception was located in a hotel, no hotel room was included with the package. This I found very odd, however everything else was amazing. Valet was free for all of the guests, the room was stunning, the food was amazing, and the staff was friendly. They were kind enough to do rose petals for the room and send up brunch the morning of the wedding which was a nice touch (brunch even had a nice note as well). The wedding was absolutely stunning. Would HIGHLY recommend this vendor, just be prepared to pay for a room stay!

I worked with Aurora and Noelle to secure a wedding room block at the Dream Inn and also host my rehearsal dinner there. We had some challenges with the room block early on due to their reservations system, but it was fixed and everything worked out great. Our guests loved staying right on the beach -- and we did too, of course! The rehearsal dinner kickstarted what was a perfect wedding weekend. Their team was so accommodating and I was able to customize a menu and have the Chef prepare ribs (my favorite food!) which typically isn't on the banquets menu. They allowed me to come in and do a trial beforehand also, which was great. After the dinner, we reserved fire pits by the pool and invited all of our wedding guests to join us. It was the quintessential way to welcome everyone to Santa Cruz! On the wedding day, I started my morning with yoga on the beach and my husband started his by surfing. You can't ask for a better way to start to the best day of your life!! So many wonderful memories were made at the Dream Inn, and we can't wait to go back.

Fantastic venue! You can't beat the view! It took a week or so to get the first round of communication going (I was calling in July - busy season), but for an October wedding, so I needed to move fast. The initial options were all plated dinners, but because I was doing a Sunday wedding, they were able to accommodate our desire to have heavy appetizers instead. Had they booked the space for earlier in the day, we wouldn't have been able to set up at the time my florist and day-of coordinator needed to, but we were lucky to find out about a week in advance that the room was available in the morning.

The day before the wedding we met with Aurora and Noelle for lunch to talk about last-minute things buy honestly, everything was set. My day-of coordinator worked with Noelle to review timelines because the most recent updates were sent the day before (from me) and we wanted to all be on the same page.

The only thing I would have changed was to have the food come out MUCH faster. Our guests were standing at the entrance to the kitchen waiting to grab apps from the servers. We had enough food, it just wasn't coming out quick enough.

Aurora and Noelle decorated our room for us with rose petals and even went as far as to deliver a dessert we had mentioned at lunch the day before. It was truly amazing!

We had our wedding reception at the Dream Inn in October of 2010, after having the ceremony at Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz. Aurora Smith was so amazing – she helped us not only with the reception, but gave us advice on many aspects of wedding planning that we didn’t know about. I really don’t know what we would have done without her.

The Dream Inn was a perfect place to have the reception – the views of Monterey Bay and the beach were beautiful and our photographer had us slip away and walk down to the beach to take some of the best pictures of the whole event while everyone was drinking and eating. The staff was great, they clearly really know how to organize a wedding and everything was just perfect.

Also, we had most of our guests stay at the Dream Inn and they LOVED IT! We had a lot of out of town guests, and a good friend of my husband’s had a brunch the morning of the wedding for everyone poolside at the Dream Inn which was a great way for people to hang out in a relaxed manner before the big event.

In more than one area, Aurora really went the extra mile, which made the day worry-free. We felt all along the planning process – and especially the day of the event – that we were a special couple with a special event (even though the Dream Inn does a lot of weddings). It really was Aurora’s touch that made everything amazing. As an indicator of this, we got tons of compliments from our guests about the whole event.

Awesome venue overlooking the boardwalk and beach. Very professional staff. Katie the Sales and Marketing Coordinator was very helpful.

Ensure which day you can have your rehearsal. We had planned on a Monday, the day before the wedding, but it turned out our wedding planner was out that day and didn't tell us until a few weeks before the day. We ended up not having a rehearsal at all and this was stressful for the groom and the bridal party. Katie was very helpful the day of in planning and logistics. She helped organize the bridal party and keep things to the schedule. She was checking in with us throughout the wedding and we felt properly taken care of. The bride was on a special diet and could not eat the regular buffet, so Katie had her food all set up and ready and got it microwaved and then packed up the leftovers. She was such a huge help with this important detail. The hotel sent up champagne and chocolate strawberries after. Not only that but they remembered that the bride loves Diet Coke and included a few cans of Diet Coke as well. This added touch was super thoughtful. It was a wonderful day from start to finish and this venue really made it special. All of our guests loved the view and the space. Definitely ask for Katie when you go!

We stayed here for our wedding including a few days prior to the wedding. There was a lot of confusion with our rooms, and my husband and I ended up getting charged extra for our room. The rooms are gorgeous and the view is beautiful, but for group events it can get very confusing for the front desk to accommodate. If you are staying here be sure to check your bill.