OC Sailing & Events Center

This started out as a great venue for my wedding reception and overall it was great. However, I had difficulties getting in touch with the office staff members in regards to questions/​concerns about my event reservation. Once I did get a hold of one of the members things were running smoothly. It was the perfect venue for my wedding ceremony though and I loved being there. It was easy to set up and tear down and none of my vendors had a problem. One other problem that I ran into, is the day of my wedding, apparently one of the staff members were coming up to my guests being rude and saying that we needed to speed up the event because we were running out out of time, when I clearly had somebody in charge of the clock. Also this staff member who was supposed to act as a security guard spent the whole night smoking outside the venue and eating my catered food that he didn’t have permission to eat. I was the one in charge of my wedding but yet he never confronted me but the guests. One of the downfalls I had at this venue. Other than that, it was perfect. P. S make sure you get the janitor service to insure that everything is cleaned appropriately and be out by your time out.

I attended a wedding reception of a good friend of mine from HS here and we had a great time. The reception hall is right at Dana Point Harbor (Killer Dana RIP) and you park anywhere there’s space in the lot or along Dana Point Harbor Drive. The hall is a good size with what looked to be a full functioning kitchen for people to cook or re-​heat pre-​cooked food for any party. It’s a small size hall that could fit about 10 – 12 tables at the most but there is a nice patio area that has the beach on one side and the harbor on the other. There was also tables outside in the patio for guests.
My friends had their main dishes catered. It was buffet style. 1 table for entrees and the other for dessert and fruits. They hired a bartender for the outside area. It was a perfect casual meal to celebrate their nuptials. I recommend having your reception here. My friends certainly seemed to have no regrets as the newlyweds, along with their guests, danced & drank the night away… There is a stage where you can have a DJ/​band post-​up if you wanted. The place is nothing fancy but I thought it was great. My friends had their formal wedding in Maine & this was the Cali reception so being in South County, proximity to the beach was in order. I liked it. And I was happy for them. It was a good place to celebrate the newlyweds.
Nice place, great area… felt safe & secure. Cant beat the beach and the harbor as bookends to the night. Good ol’ Dana…

My husband and I had our wedding reception here in June, and it was absolutely perfect. First, of course, is the location: Dana Point harbor is just gorgeous, and the Center is right in the heart of it. We had about a hundred people at the reception, and the Center was the perfect size for everyone. We didn’t get a dance floor but just used the outdoor patio as the dance floor, which was so perfect because everyone got to dance and not feel crowded at all. A friend of ours provided lighting, which definitely went a long way toward making this place look absolutely beautiful. We used Akioni’s Catering, and they were great with helping us to plan and prepare because you will need to plan: this venue provides tables and chairs and a kitchen, but you have to bring in all your vendors, but I think it’s worth it for sure. And the people who work here were so helpful to us: they had lists of vendors who had worked at the Center before, and they cleaned the place up before our event! We also had a ton of help from family and friends to set up the reception; it would have been difficult without them because we didn’t have a coordinator or anything like that. If you just plan ahead, then this place is so perfect for a wedding reception. I would not change a single thing about ours!

My husband and I just had our wedding here in Feb and we have nothing but good things to say. Yes it can be a little bit of a pain dealing with the permits, but honestly its not that bad and for what you are paying its a great deal. You are saving a lot of money because, the venue includes tables and chairs, a kitchen, and free parking. Most vendors and locations do not have a kitchen on site, and if they do you have to pay extra for it. The staff was very nice and professional, and helped us with whatever questions we had. The location was great and everyone had a great time. The only reason its 4 stars and not 5 is because I do feel that they should look into updating the inside of the venue just to make it a little more current. However, it is nothing some good lighting and decorations cant fix. I wouldn’t have changed anything about getting married here! :)

I loved this venue. It was the best deal for the cost and it is just a clean slate. You must submit your vendors and pay a extra fees, but I saved over $ 2k by having my wedding and reception here versus other venues we looked at (like the Historic Cottage or Olé Hansen). So the extra $ 70 didn’t seem like a big inconvenience to me for a fee. Any state park you have your wedding at will have various rules to follow, including having to shut down by 10 PM. Also, they allow you to bring in your own alcohol as long as you have a certified bartender (we paid $ 250 for a bartender and it was no problem at all)
My advice to having a great wedding here is to hire a wedding coordinator who has worked at the venue before. I had Priscilla from At Your Service Caters and she made working with this venue a breeze.
This is a beautiful venue but please remember it is a community center first and they just rent it out on the weekends for weddings. If you are looking for a full service venue with a lot of service, you should not book this place. But if you want a great, inexpensive venue by the water, you should check this place out.

This place is a dive. I don’t know why anyone would want to get married here unless they are really cheap and don’t think the marriage is going to last. Really, this place is cheap and looks it. I wouldn’t use it for any event except maybe a club meeting for old people.

We are having our wedding here. There are several hoops you have to jump through (permit, insurance, etc), but the location is spectacular– you have a large inside banquet area and a large courtyard, with one side on the ocean and the other on the harbor.
AND you know they won’t rip you off if you mention you’re having a wedding. The price is the same for all events and is posted on their website– unlike other restaurants/​hotels who will jack up the price once they hear «wedding.»
Update: Some other brides have expressed frustration with the insurance requirement. When you make the reservation, ask about the event insurance you can buy from the city. For $ 68 you’ve got all the insurance you need and your vendors don’t have to submit anything…

I have never had such poor customer service in my life, and for it to involve my wedding, I am completely discusted! When booking this facility almost a year before the event, we had specifically asked them if we provided the alcohol and asked friends to bartend, would it be ok? The lady in charge of booking the room, Janice, (word for word) said. Yes, as long as they have completed their bartending school and we will need a copy of their ABC cert when you bring the deposit in a week before the wedding. We had gathered the certs and a week before the wedding, had taken the $ 500 refundable cleaning deposit down (keep in mind a WEEK BEFORE THE WEDDING) to find out that the ABC LICENSE that is needed… had certain codes on them. My husband calls ABC himself to find out what these are and how to obtain them, to find out that what is actually needed was catering licenses and no individual can obtain them, only businesses. This turned into a nightmare a week before the wedding but wound up finding Hennesseys in Dana Point at the last minute to bartend our wedding (who were amazing might I add) .
Next experience with Janice who has zero customer service skills. Had originally told us about the clean up for the event and told us we could hire their crew to clean up. We said absolutely, we would rather pay the extra money to know it got done right.
The last I hear of this.
I call today to follow up on our $ 500 cleaning deposit and she proceeds to tell me no one showed up to clean that night and we arent getting it back. They didnt even bother to call us to inform us and she is now pawning me off on another lady to try to get this taken care of.
Turns out WE had to call and hire them ourselves… But were never even informed that. So now because of Janice’s lack of communication, I have to eat $ 500 and we werent able to have an open bar at the wedding.
Last but not least, any time my mother or my wedding coordinator would call with any questions, she had complete attitude to both of them.
This lady needs to be FIRED especially if she is dealing with the biggest day of peoples lives!