Shephard's Beach Resort Reviews

I can not say enough about having my dream wedding at Shephards! Leah was wonderful. She took care of all the details and acted more as a friend then the staff! Tommy and Cindy were amazing during the reception! Everything from the beautiful views during the ceremony to the vibe during cocktail hour and reception was perfect. You can not go wrong with this resort for a wedding! Even the next day Cindy saw us and treated us! Shows how they made it personal!

Our beach wedding was absolutely spectacular at Shephard's! Leah was so helpful and attentive. She even helped us decorate! This was a destination wedding and we were worried about how it would come together but we had absolutely no worries! The food was so delicious and abundant. The staff was amazing. Couldn't have had a better venue and experience. Highly recommend!

It would take me a week to write about all the positives we encountered at Shepards as our wedding venue. All I can say is this unique beautiful spot is perfect for your Florida beach wedding. Leah, the manager and wedding coordinator, Brandon, the house DJ, the absolute beautiful sunset, and everything in between is absolutely perfect!!!!!!

We had so much fun. Leah, the manager, was outstanding. Service was first class all the way. The front desk, valet, and everyone made the process from check in to check out stress free. Highly recommended.

Every step of our beautiful wedding was easy & perfect! From day #1 of our arrival up to our special moment yesterday and today, breakfast and now relaxing on the water. Ever single person has been friendly and helpful. Leah, Director of Catering, was AMAZING! I cannot say enough wonderful things about this woman. She changed our contract 4 times all the while calming my nerves and making my dream come through!

Without hesitation, book it!
Shephard’s is an all inclusive resort, the perfect place for a destination wedding! ( and, we live here)!!
(73 reception guests)!

I had my wedding there in March. They did a great job. Leah helped me secure whatever vendors I had missed and the day went seamless.

Leah made our special day perfect! Everything was in place in a timely manner, the staff was amazing!! The food was really good!

Everyone involved from the event coordinator, room block, know what they are doing. Everything went smoothly. The ceremony area is blocked only for you. I had an amazing time. Regina at front desk is very lovely.

Maryland COVID bride here, planned the initial destination wedding for November 2020. Found Shephard's Beach Resort online and met with Leah Herring the day that we decided to book this as our wedding venue. Little did I know, there were not many options where you have a "private" area of the beach to get married on. This was very very important to me at the time. The fact that this resort also was a one stop shop for everything else like after party (venue turns to a night club after hours), this sealed the deal for us. Leah was amazing to work with and she was super responsive throughout our whole planning process. We had to reschedule due to COVID for today, April 3rd, 2021. Leah was SOOO understanding and allowed us to reschedule without even batting an eye.

We went for a menu tasting the next time we were in Florida and the food was out of this world yummy! We got to bring my husband's mom and step dad along for the ride. We also brought my niece and Leah and the cooks prepared her her own little special chicken nugget meal as we tried wedding food. Leah was so accommodating to us.

Just over a couple months ago, my husband and I found out that we were expecting our first child. The anxiety of COVID along with our doctors recommendations unfortunately meant we had to cancel our rescheduled wedding all together. Leah again was SOOO understanding and let us out of the contract. She wished us well wishes for our future baby! She was super helpful and communicative throughout the whole planning process and really made me feel comfortable about having our wedding here from the start! I wish we got to use this venue and her services in the end, but know we will be using her in a few years for our vow renewal ceremony in Clearwater.

There is truly not a better venue out there! From the views of the gulf, floor to ceiling windows, gorgeous sunsets, private beach, BEST FOOD IMAGINABLE, to the wonderful staff. I would get married over and over again and Shephard's was the reason why! Thank you so much for giving me my dream wedding. All my guests could not stop talking about the wedding itself and every other aspect at Shephard's! GO BOOK YOUR DREAM DAY HERE!

Sandy is the best. She is good at her job as day of coordinator. Shephard's Beach Resort is a great venue for a wedding. My family thoroughly enjoyed the venue.

Sharyn (the coordinator) was amazing to work with. She was professional from the beginning and gave us a full tour and budget breakdown the day of our tour based on our expected needs so we knew exactly what we were getting at the price. She was always responsive to emails and allowed us to customize our wedding while still maintaining their standards of excellence. She was willing to meet with us whenever we were in town, just to touch base and keep an open line of communication.

Day of, she was attentive, in communication (without being stressful or overbearing), and attentive to details (I forgot a table number on a place card and she not only found the error, but corrected it). She let us go and rest for ~20 min. after our first look and personally came to tell us it was time to be married! The ceremony was stunning and set up beautifully. She had suggestions for picture locations and communicated with all our vendors so well.

At the reception, the food was AMAZING and the service was phenomenal. They were dressed in appropriate tuxes that were professional, but not out of place and they were fantastic at keeping everyone full of food and drinks! The MC was a blast, he communicated with us what would be happening in chunks of time and made sure we had everything we needed. After that, he ran the show! The DJ staff was great, we gave them our breakdown of songs and events we wanted to have happen and let them run the soundtrack for the open dances and they did a fantastic job.

The resort itself was great, friendly staff, and the honeymoon suite was comped for 2 nights! It was so fun to allow everyone the opportunity to do what they wanted without any pressure. Estelle, one of the front staff in the lobby, was AMAZING. She upgraded our room and helped us with everything we needed and proceeded to check in with us to make sure everything was to our satisfaction whenever she saw us around.

Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better experience!

SHARYN WAS FABULOUS...THE WEDDING COORDINATOR..AMAZING, GORGEOUS PLACE TO HAVE A WEDDING

Sharyn was awesome! She was a pleasure to work with and was also our Officiant. The venue turned out beautiful and it was nice because all our family could stay right on site. I got many compliments about how amazing the weekend was. My family even thinks we should have a reunion there every year now. My only complaint is with the valet service, the spilled an entire pot of food in my front seat and then told me it was my fault for not telling them it was there. Really, it's sitting right next to you and why are you driving my car so fast that it toppled over. Needless to say I'm still trying to get the stains and smell out of my car, with no help from the valet.

Ask for Sharyn! She is the best!

Loved this place! Getting married on the beach means that the weather is always a possible issue. They had several back up plans in place already, which is good since we ended up needing one!

Wedding Coordinator was amazing very patient made us feel really comfortable and stress free on our day, our room was amazing there was a beautiful view of the water from our room amazing staff. words can not express how pleased I am.

Sharon, the event planner for Shephard's, was truly a wonderful help for our wedding reception. She is truly super professional and capable and I can easily say that without her help, our reception would not have been the success it was.

My husband and I would highly recommend Shephard's Beach Resort for your wedding ceremony and reception. The venue is phenominal and our wedding location was so private. Our family and friends enjoyed their stay. There is a lot to do at the resort. Our wedding was completly worry free due to the wonderful staff. We hope to vacation there again someday.

We used Shephard's for both our ceremony and reception site, and were so absolutely pleased in both areas. You get married right out there on the beach, yes it's a small beach, but you don't have beachgoers in the background of your photos etc. They have an arch you can use or a larger one that my mom was able to decorate however she wanted, which I would suggest, she just used silk flowers and vines, toulle, etc. We also got some awesome pictures out on the rocks at the shore and with the ocean in the background of our vows, etc. So pretty. They stop the band music from the bar doing your service. Granted you wouldn't want an hour long service there, but it's great for relatively short services. Sharyn is the wedding coordinator and is fabulous, very responsive and helpful, we asked her opinion on many things, she even recommended me a great and affordable place to get my nails done down the street the day before the wedding! You would go through her to plan your wedding, linens etc (yes, linens are included too! and tip is already in the price per person) The food was awesome, seriously, we got so many compliments, like we cooked it, ha! A. There was tons of food, buffet style, we had three choices for main course (can be beef, pork, fish, or chicken, great, not boring salad and bread, pasta bar with many choices, couple side items. B. It was all delicious C. You also get the champagne included (one glass) for everyone which I think is pretty standard. We also got appetizers separately which were also delicious, scallops, bruschetta, shrimp. We really liked that it wasn't a set menu, you chose everything individually unlike many other fancy, shmancy places. We had the reception in The Wave, only downfall is you have to be done with the room by 9:30 however everyone gets bands and you can come back in The wave or go to the tiki bar, which we would recommend, fun times! They just redid all the walls booths, etc in The Wave and its much prettier and wedding-friendly, neat white walls and booths, several tv's which we played a slideshow on and everyone could see at their seat plus theres a big screen tv to show it on. We used their DJ Mike, but you don't have to, however we recommend him highly as well, very fun, young, many selections, and he can use the cool lighting system since he regularily works at The Wave, otherwise your Dj would not be able to use the lighting equipment. We were so happy with our experience at Shephard's more affordable than many other places, worth the $ too! Oh yeah there's no separate "room rental fee" or anything like many other places charge you $2000 just for the room, not at shephards!

Just wanted to add after reading the other person's review, yes you would want to stay in the tower, because poolside rooms etc will be noisy, and older guests would probably not want to stay there at all, it is honestly more of a party place, so we blocked off rooms both at shephards in the tower and at the nextdoor hotel which is quieter for those who prefer that, problem solved. It being a party place makes it so fun w/ the tiki bar before and after right there for your guests, and the ceremony and reception are very elegant and again we were very pleased! we stayed in the sunset suite for honeymooners at shephards and got a super great discount on it and loved it, we didnt have any problems with staff, we had a problem with the jacuzzi and got help immediately, didnt hear anything bad about the staff or plumbing, etc, except a bartender at the tiki bar, which had nothing to do w/ the wedding and was a lil bit our fault actually. very much recommended!

Everything was absolutely beautiful. The whole staff went out of their way to make this the most wonderful day in our lives! Thank you Sharon and everyone else that worked that day. You're awesome!

oved everything about Shepards from the reception venue (wave room) to the food. Sharon, our coordinator, was excellent. She was great at keeping us updated and returning phone calls. The wave room is a really popular venue and books up really quick on Saturday. We had to settle with a Friday wedding at a slightly discounted rate. One thing I didn't like was the banana boats and jet skis in our photos. Overall great venue.

Our renewal was in the Wave Room. Beautiful room with an imazing view at sunset. Greg's was our service manager and he was outstanding. He went out of his way to make sure we had everything we needed. We felt like super stars. Our guest were very empressed with the food, it was definately 5 stars and more.

Our cordinator was Sharyn she was great!

Shephard's was absolutely amazing. Sandy was very receptive and extremely helpful from the beginning to the end, and made sure that everything was exactly how I wanted it. For the price, we got what we wanted. The food was awesome as well. Only slightly disappointing thing was that we had to have our reception within 4 hours. I would have loved just a little bit more time!

We loved everything about Shephard's! The wedding coordinator Sharyn was professional and very helpful throughout the wedding planning process.

Considering there were a lot of bad reviews for this place, I was very nervous about having my wedding here. I must say, it was very convenient for all of my out of town guest. Our Honeymoon Sweet was perfect- exactly what I wanted. We had our bachelor-bachelorette party in our room a few nights before the wedding. It was spacious enough to fit us and still keep us close without smothering. We had family in the room directly below, which was very convenient as well. I'm not going to lie, we did our share of partying, but we had layed back time as well. Their was no way we could entertain 60 people ourselves, so this place really helped having so much to do there. Don't get me wrong, we came across quit a few problems, but between Sharyn (the lady that did it all), Lindz (my maid of honor), and myself, it was a dream come true. Everyone told us it was one of the best wedding's they have ever gone to.

So far so good, our go to person is like a wedding planner and helps keep things together.

Sherpherd's was a very busy place and great party atmosphere. The area was rented was okay, but was too hot outside for a reception. The service was great and the employees were wonderful, but we should have booked somewhere indoors.

Beautiful beach side location, food was fair (fish over-cooked and bland), wedding coordinator demanded cash payment and not helpful prior to ceremony and disappeared during ceremony. Staff serving at dinner were prompt and professional.

We were looking for a destination beach resort. Using wedding wire we landed on Shephards beach resort. Leading up to the event I felt like I was alone in the process. One of the reasons we chose the resort was based on the amazing reviews of the wedding coordinator. Unfortunately, she had left prior to our booking the venue. The new wedding coordinator Sandy was unorganized. I had to remind her of when money was due, menu choices, ask for timelines of the wedding, and reiterate colors/choices of linemen. Even after meeting with her the Thursday before to finalaize some details were missed at the Friday rehearsal. On the day of the wedding, our tables were not set up properly even though we had made a diagram at our final meeting. Lastly, Sandy left at 7pm for the night of our wedding, when the event ended at 10:30. Thankfully the head waiter Warren was amazing and took care our needs with tables and throughout the night.

Overall, the beach was great and the venue is beautiful. However, if I would plan my wedding again I would chose another resort based on lack of coordination and professionalism by the wedding coordinator.

So much went wrong with my vow renewal at Shephard's Resort. Let's dive into it, the morning of my vow renewal I arrived at Shephard's to check in and no one could find my reservation. The front desk lady had the audacity to ask me if I was sure my event was today. By this point, I am mortified. My bridesmaids start coming in from the car to check on me and I'm panicking, but trying to downplay the situation because I was so embarrassed. After over 30 minutes to an hour the staff finally realized someone (event coordinator) had checked us in the day before. How were we suppose to get a key or know we had been checked in without communication. Also the events coordinator was MIA at this time.

Then, we check the Wave Room and it's not set up yet at 11:30 a.m. they are still rolling tables out. We get up to the room and drop our dresses off and the room smells like musty mold. With the chaos of checking in we are running late to the salon. It caused a domino effect all day. We end up in a bit of traffic. Things happen, right? Instead of the coordinator easing the stress and just shortening or eliminating cocktail she goes up to my mom and starts running her mouth and says "No one has ever been late before." She went on to say this to my mother 3 times. She had my mom so upset her blood pressure was through the roof because she would not stop running her mouth about the bridal party being late. The coordinator then decided to come up to the suite and try to force her way inside my room to cause more drama and two of my bridesmaids stopped her as I was getting my dress on. I was only approx. 35 minutes late. Our ceremony was short and sweet around 10-15 minutes, so it was not the that horrible for timing. The ending time for my event did not change, so me being late did not keep any of the staff at work longer. I did not ask to push out any of my timeline for my vow renewal (The Wave Room turns into a night club at 10 p.m. any events are done at 9:30 p.m.), but the hotel events coordinator decided to have an attitude all night. She did not say five words to me all night. She was passive aggressive all night. She allowed people to walk through my ceremony and my mother-in-law had to ask them to please exit twice. During the pictures people were in the water behind us and the photographers asked them to move and one of the hotel guest became extremely disgruntled and acted like he was going to get out and fight one of my photographers. Another couple of hotel guests decided it was ok to stand behind me doing a bikini shoot while my photographers were doing pictures. My photographers ask them to please exit the private beach area until pictures were over. They continued with their photoshoot and ignored them, so I turned around and asked them to removed themselves from behind me.

This was unacceptable for them to play their games and not do their jobs because they were mad I was late because of all the nonsense I endured that morning because they dropped the ball. When I reached out to the general manager of food and beverage I was ignored for almost a month exactly. When he finally replied he talked to me so disrespectful and never called and discussed the situation. He claims he was there that night, but none of my wedding party, parents, or guests recall him after seeing a picture of him. There was not that many staff at our event since it was a smaller celebration and everyone that attended flew in from various other states other than my husband and myself. I suggest saving yourself the hassle and going to one of the other resorts on Clearwater Beach. If I could do it again, I would have without a doubt chose a different venue.