Wedding on a San Diego beach

City of San Diego Location Permits Center Office

Their phone is 619 235-1169 from 8-4 Monday through Friday. Closed all major holidays.

Website: www.sandiego.gov and click on their Parks and Recreation Department, then click on Park use Availability. This website will give you park general information, rules and regulations, and site availability. The cities of Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, and Oceanside do their own permitting process and we can help you with their requirements.

Also, try these places. They both have $300 packages for eloping on the beach with an officiant and take care of the permits:

https://www.seasideweddingsandiego.com/eloping-to-san-diego

http://anytimeweddingchapel.com/elope-san-diego/

I was hopping to get a more specific answer: we are based overseas and called 3 times the reception number (and 3 times the specific number) within an interval of 90min waiting for quite some time. Thank you for your attempt to help. All the best.

C&N, thank you for your link, yet the $300 package does not cover anything (but simply the officiant). I doubt they cover the permits either which is around $70. Otherwise AnytimeweddingChapel would not be making any money, right?

MrsWrs, we are aware of everything (so thank you for your help) apart for the info in the original message. I am trying to learn if that receptionist was right when she said we would not have to pay anything on the terms explained in that message.

MrsWrs, I am grateful for trying to help. According to what yo say then I have to conclude the receptionist was wrong. The receptionist also confirmed that a soloist (who is going to be our witness too) with no amplification is OK and no permit is needed.

MrsWrs, you are entirely wrong with your first sentence of the last statement. I am simply quoting the receptionist. We checked websites and called several times purely because we are very specific about everything.

I came to this website hoping somebody had this experience and could advise us specifically, as explained in the original message.

Permits are required if your group is over 24 people, or if there is ANY setup of wedding equipment, chairs, arches or canopies, decorations, music, or rose petals.

There are different offices for different beaches. We are getting married on Coronado, and they are different than other parts of SD. Their information is below.

City of Coronado Park and Recreation Department (619) 522-7342, Or you can email : Amanda Ratajesak at **********@********.**.** She is great and easy to work with.

We are using a planning service, if you still need the minister/officiant. It is "Dream Beach Wedding" in SD area.

eta: words keep getting cut off.

Thank you very much for your help and forwarding Amanda's email. She was extremely efficient and replied several hours later saying 'As long as you aren’t having any equipment, chairs, arches, etc and you are under 25 people total, you are not required to get a permit from the City'.

I hope this information will help other people who are as specific as us and want a small wedding (as described in the original message) on Coronado beach.

All the best everyone.

@Ella, you are more than welcome. I am so happy she was able to help you! If I could give her a million stars in a rating, I would. Congratulations!

ETA: I forgot to tell you that if you are getting married on Coronado, near the Hotel del Coronado, make sure you are not directly in front of the main part of the hotel, as that is their private property and not the City's.

However (facing the hotel from the beach) everything just to the right (South) of the hotel is City (called South Beach), and starting on the left side of the hotel, kind of in front of their condos on the left (North) is Central Beach, and all the way down to the Navy base, belongs to the City as well (called North Beach). I attached a couple of pics to kind of show you, because I would hate for you to get run off by the hotel during your beautiful wedding.

On the North (left side) of the hotel there is some type of condos/apartments that are part of the hotel. Right in front of that is some stairs that lead down to the beach, with a big berm in front of you. To the North of that berm is Central Beach, so you can get married there but still have pics of the Hotel del in the background if you want.

Good Luck

Thank you indeed, and yes, I agree Amanda was extremely efficient and professional; she deserves 'one million stars in a rating' - that is why we love the US and come coming back twice per year for our around the world trips - most of the people are simply amazing.

I have also researched what you mentioned in the following paragraphs and I am aware of all that: personally we would have liked somewhere very rustic, just sand, sea and maybe shrubs, ha ha (as I discovered in some places in Cuba for example - very romantic though) but had to come here for safety and also because San Diego is my partners' favourite city, although our favourite beach is Clearwater in Florida.

I already prepared some small but thoughtful presents here in London to give to strangers there, ha ha ha.

Don't forget, if you acquire a permit it doesn't necessarily mean you have a reserved space. Just FYI!