My now husband and I live in Arizona, but wanted a southern California beach wedding to celebrate our nuptials. After looking at a few beach venues stretching from LA to Santa Barbara, we chose the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach and we're so glad we did! First off, all of our guests were coming from a minimum of two hours driving time, all the way to being from out-of-state. It was so nice and relaxing to have everyone flawlessly shift from ceremony to cocktail hour to reception, and then to get to go to their room after the night was over. We worked with Vanesa in catering and she helped orchestrate pretty much everything, including how we wanted our ceremony to look (we got married on the presidential lawn), to where and what we wanted at cocktail hour, to what salad and entree would be served at the reception. It was so nice having the catering provided by the hotel, as that was less details to figure out for an out-of-state couple. The service provided by both Vanesa and the staff w... Read moreas top-notch and kept our day worry-free. The value for this property is AWESOME! We got married during the winter wedding package timeframe and were able to have a great wedding far under the national wedding average of $33k. Lastly, you can't go wrong with an Embassy Suites hotel - fantastic service, amazing breakfast buffet, and fun cocktail hour. This Embassy Suites in particular is gorgeous and offers amazing views. If you want a SoCal beach wedding, this is a fabulous option!

This place was perfect. Tiffany and her staff did an amazing job. Tiffany was quick to respond to any of my calls, texts and emails. She made me feel calm in the chaos that comes with a wedding. She also made me feel great that there would be a plan b if the weather was not ideal. (It rained the entire week before my wedding and I was having nightmares of walking down the isle in mud). She has even kept in contact after the wedding. I couldn’t think of any other place I would rather get married at. This had everything, the beach, sun, an indoor reception room and the most gorgeous grand staircase for the most wonderful pictures and memories. I can’t wait to go back and stay around my anniversary to relive the feelings.

If we were to do it all over again we would not change a thing. We had a wonderful experience working with Vanesa and her staff. Our guests (mostly traveling from out of town) loved the view from the Presidential Lawn. The photos are stunning thanks to the vibrant sky and ocean colors in the background. The catering provided by the venue was wonderful as well. Our guests all cleaned their plates and LOVED the appetizers during our cocktail hour. It's a little pricey, but well worth it!

I had my wedding at the hotel. We had our ceremony on the beach and reception in the upstairs Embassy ballroom. My now husband and I were not planning on having a wedding, but were going to elope. Last minute, we decided to have a wedding after all. We looked, looked, and looked for open venues and nothing seemed available for last minute. Mandalay Beach Hotel and Resort was one of the venues that had an opening the weekend we desired. It is such a beautiful venue with Spanish and beach inspired designs. We loved working with Vanesa who was the Catering Manager. She was super friendly, helpful, professional and great to work with. She helped plan a great wedding for us only one month away. Our favorite part of the wedding was having our ceremony on the beach at sunset. The beach was clean and had palms trees all around. The food was wonderful and all of our guest told us how much they loved the food. We loved having our wedding at this venue. Thank you, Vanesa for help making our wedd... Read moreing a day to remember!

We had a fantastic experience from the moment we started until our wedding was over. Every person we dealt with was professional and accommodating. We had all of our guests stay there with us, and all of them will be going back, including us-highly recommend them!

amazing venue with affordable packages and great to work with

My husband and I loved Embassy Suites! The price, the Presidential Suite, the Presidential Lawn ceremony, the Manager's Reception (for our guests), the complimentary breakfast (to gather and eat with our guests) ... it was beautiful! There were some downsides regarding the quality of service: although we requested to comp our guests parking, some guests were charged parking; some wedding cake slices were cut too small even though we had more than enough cake; and, the kitchen ran out of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, so they served polenta at our reception which did not sit well with guests.

After booking my wedding date the hotel went through renovations and were planning to have everything completed by my wedding date. For the most part they did. During the renovations the original people I was working with left and new people were hired. It took a little while for them to arrange in their new positions and I interacted with a few different people. Everyone kept fantastic notes and read them as well. I was never asked the same question twice and everyone I interacted with was able to answer my questions and help me. While staying at the resort everyone went above and beyond for my husband and I, but we did notice they did the same for the other guests as well...as expected for the prices we all paid!

The site is a beautiful "destination" wedding setting. Vanesa, the coordinator, was AMAZING. We were upgraded to a very expensive suite, and because it had stormed and created a two foot sand dune our guests would have to maneuver over to get to the sand, they upgraded us to the Presidential Lawn. The attendants as the reception were fabulous, and the food was very, very good. We had a small group, but a large wedding of 100 was put on the day before.

Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach is the perfect place to hold your event of any kind. We just held our rehearsal, wedding ceremony, and reception here and couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect! The staff truly cared about our event and made sure that things ran smoothly. The complimentary breakfast and happy hour were the perfect touch for all of the guests at our event! I would highly recommend this hotel for anyone looking to host an event. Lindy was great to work with and was always very responsive and helped with every detail of the planning the hotel needed to be involved in.

Ceremony: The Presidential Lawn right on the beach was absolutely amazing, but the price was high for less than a 30 min event. Cocktail Hour & Reception: We opted to have the cocktail hour on the Pres Lawn (extra cost) at sunset and the view was stunning. Reception was held in the upstairs ballroom. Everything was ready as planned. Lighting vendor decor (recommended by the hotel) was less than expected and the uplighting color was not what we asked for. Tray-passed hors d'oeuvres and buffet style dinner service was perfect and delicious and all of our guests thoroughly enjoyed the event. Wedding Point of Contact: Vanesa (Catering Manager) was absolutely wonderful to work with and very patient with us. She made sure that we had everything we needed and wanted for our special day. Hotel Rooms & Grounds: The Pres Suite for bride & groom is awesome. Amazing ocean views, plenty of partying space, and it was free for booking the ceremony on the Pres Lawn; very nice touch. Guest... Read more rooms seemed a bit dated, but were comfortable with great views. The hotel grounds were kept up well and the pool and beach areas were comparable to a 5-star, tropical resort. Restaurant & bar food & service were exceptionally good. Hotel Room Block & Booking Service: This was a complete nightmare. First, we were asked to keep track of our guests' bookings in case there was a mix up (really?). Next, in order to be included in our room block, guests were only allowed to book one room type if booking online or via phone. Then we had to coordinate with Vanesa or the Oxnard location hotel staff later to change the booking to what the guests actually wanted. Guests who booked through another outside discount service were not added to our room block at all. No effort was made to keep any of the rooms close together; all of them were located all over the property and some were not even ready for the day the guests arrived. No further discounts or refunds were offered for our troubles.

Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach is the perfect place to have your wedding or vacation! My then fiancé and I stumbled across this gem because we wanted a wedding with a beach backdrop as opposed to a beach wedding. In other words, we wanted a wedding at the beach, but with elegant tuxes and dresses as opposed to flip flops and sundresses. At Mandalay Beach, you can have that! Since your wedding will be on the lawn (where ours was) or in the courtyard, you can have a wedding at the beach without being in the sand. It is at a hotel, so your reception is on site and you don’t have to worry about your guests driving home drunk. My only complaint is that, because this place is so pretty, it is a shame that you cannot see outside once you are in the reception area. Yet, that is a small price to pay. Not to mention how nice and easy they make it to have your wedding here. We worked with Vanesa Cirerol. She is amazing! I strongly recommended working with her, although I don’t think you’d h... Read moreave a bad experience with anyone. My fiancé and I were hesitant to book our wedding here because they were undergoing new management, but Vanesa worked with us and was the one constant when everything else seemed to be changing. In the end, everything went perfect and we could not have been happier. We were so happy that we stuck it out and decided to have our wedding at Mandalay Beach. That is why we want others to have the happy experience we did. So, do yourselves a favor and book your wedding (or simply just your stay) at Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach!

I loved the venue and loved my Caterer, Kelsey, she was fantastic!! The day before the wedding it was a bit of a disaster.. my room wasn't ready for normal check in time.. and couldn't get into my room until later in the day, cleaners were still cleaning.. the room list got messed up.. the room situation did not work out as well as I would have liked.. The ocean views were amazing and we loved every moment of it! The wedding turned out beautiful and the room was decorated beautifully!