Renting a house on the beach for a wedding reception isn't as easy as you think it will be!

When my fiance Paul and I got engaged we already knew we wanted to get married on the beach, toes in the sand style. We came up with the brilliant idea of renting a big house close to the beach to hold the wedding reception. We thought it would provide the perfect backdrop for the casual vibe we wanted in addition to being a major cost saving technique. We could rent a house for a week at the same price most venues charge for a six hour reception. So the hunt was on to find the perfect beach rental house!

The seemingly easy task of finding a house with a large enough outdoor area to hold approx 80-100 guests turned into a long, drawn out process. . . Everytime we thought we found 'the one' we were let down. Who would have known that every single vacation house for rent in the Santa Cruz/Aptos/Capitola area would have a contract that stipulate "NO PARTIES OF ANY KIND"?!

Just when we were about to give up the search we found the perfect old Spanish style house on a cliff with the perfect large patio overlooking the Monterey Bay, at the perfect price. We even did a little fence hoping to check out the backyard, which confirmed it - it was PERFECT. We contacted the owner letting them know we were very interested and they even sent us a contract. The contract didn't stipulate 'no parties or extra guests'. It all seemed to good to be true!

Isn't it gorgeous?! And it was HUGE! The price was good too. . . how does that old saying go? If it seems too good to be true, it probably is?! We didn't want to risk asking the owner if we could hold a party there in fear of getting turned away so we thought we would chance it. I mean, how much trouble could we get into anyways? What's the worse that could happen, they not give us our security deposit back?! No big deal, right?

Our 'brilliant' idea wasn't so brilliant after all. We sent in the signed contract with the huge deposit only to find out the owners had instated a new contract, rules and regulations. "NO PARTIES ALLOWED and if you do we will show up and kick you out, maybe even sue you while we're at it!" Ok, that's not technically what it said in those exact words, but pretty much what they meant.

Back to the drawing board. . . I'm on the hunt for a venue to hold the wedding reception and I have several appointments set up for Friday. Wish me luck!!!