I just had my wedding here in October and it was gorgeous. We had a beautiful beach view! Greta was really easy to work with and everything went as planned. The staff was amazing and the food was great. I highly recommend this venue! read more

Island Club - Ceremony site and reception was inside at the trident room - Wedding Planning Near Me

My friend just had her wedding reception at the Naval base in Coronado over the weekend inside the Island Club. Right after the ceremony ended, we went inside and were treated to a giant veggie and cheese platter and some crackers. There were also tray-passed appetizers consisting of scallop wrapped bacon, bruschetta, and phyllo wrapped cheese. So far everything was pretty good and I was content until it was time for dinner. The dinner was buffet style, so we were able to come back for seconds if we wanted to. There were two attendants carving roast beef for the guests, some salmon, garden salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, and bread rolls. I really liked the roast beef and au jus sauce they had on hand. I also enjoyed the baked bread rolls as well- they were so soft and fresh! Everything else I tried was just okay to me. As for the bar, they were only able to make simple cocktails, so don't expect too much from the bartenders. He just ordered a lemon drop and a Greyhound himself, which he liked. Overall, the wedding was beautiful and the venue was spacious. I also liked that that they had main courses in a different room, so there was more space for guests/entertainment in the main area. read more

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reGRETAble experience !!! (Greta is the absolute worst) If you're planning any sort of wedding you care about, I'd really avoid using the NASNI base venue Island Club. Not sure if they have different coordinators for other venues that they offer, but our experience was absolutely terrible. From the start, Greta was difficult to work with and seemed to enjoy saying "no" to any questions or simple requests (that other venues would offer) we hoped to have at our event. Post the "height" of COVID, they still would not offer any sort of pre-event menu tasting. I had no idea if the catering was excellent or galley food. Any emails sent to Greta would either not be responded to, or she would reply with only half the questions answered. Phone call meetings were cancelled by Greta, and when I called to reschedule our phone call, Greta answered with attitude when I was surprised she was in the office at our scheduled time. Greta took 9+ days to respond to an email and ignored voicemail, and when she finally replied, she cited that phone lines had been down...... on a military base..... for 10 days ? Right..... We had put a $2700 deposit down but due to our terrible experience with Greta, we decided to book our wedding elsewhere. That's how bad I didn't want her negativity around on my wedding day. We canceled the event there specifically because of our experience with her and only got half our deposit back, after having to threaten to go through command to handle our issues. I don't like being that person, but trust me when I say it was that bad. Really sad because the Breaker's beach venue would have been so great. read more

We had our wedding at the Island Club in Oct 2012 - we had the ceremony on the Breakers Beach Deck and the reception in the Trident room. My father is retired Navy and sponsored our use of the club. Without the Island Club, we would have had to choose between the venue we wanted (beach ceremony) and the party we really wanted to throw. Beach weddings are a cost premium in San Diego. With the Island Club, we got a top notch party and beautiful picturesque beach wedding. Did we have Navy base access problems? Yes, but not on the day of and not at the fault of the Island Club. Would I have liked to have been contacted by Island Club and told who to contact before I received an out of office email reply 10 days before my wedding telling me my coordinator was on maternity leave? Yes. Would I have preferred not to have to work with Greta the last 10 days before my event? Yes (Karen was wonderful). Would I have liked it if they didn't have those ugly pink curtains? Yes. Did any of that matter in the end? No. BOTTOM LINE: The venue is outdated, sure, but the natural beauty of the location, the day of service, and price made up for any troubles we had. We were a little worried about the food after having gone to a catering fair for the Navy bases, but our food was all rave worthy. The service staff was on top of it and were very kind to us and our families. We had a wonderful event and are happy to share our experience and encourage others to take advantage of our advice, but not hesitate to book there. read more

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My best friend reserved the Island Club on North Island for his wedding on Labor Day weekend. Charles' review is on point but here is my take on things. Prime rib was overcooked and I needed to pour extra au jus on it. The Salmon was done perfectly! Wish I opted for it, but my wife gave me a few bites. The appitizers were really good. I got to taste the coconut shrimp which was really good. Bartender was on point with the STRONG Island ice teas. She told me that was her specialty to get us toasted quick and she was not kidding. Great view of the beach and Pacific. Very rememberable occassion at a military base! read more

We had our wedding reception at Island Club in December 2018 and could not have been happier! Greta and Erin were great to work with and helped make all of the details exactly what we wanted! The only slightly stressful part was getting all the vendors base access. My recommendation would be to have your vendors start filling out the forms as soon as you book each vendor so you have it ready to go and don't have to scramble to get all of them filled out correctly and turned in. The venue is beautiful and we had the cocktail hour over sunset which was great! Overall we could not be happier with how everything turned out! read more

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We held our wedding reception here on October 20th, and while everything went smoothly enough, I have some mixed feelings. The good: -It's conveniently located on NASNI and has a bazillion parking spots. It's right between the flightline and Breaker's Beach, so the views are breathtaking. Enjoying cocktails and appetizers at sunset on a gorgeous oceanfront patio, while Harriers land dramatically in the background? Our guests were deeeeeeelighted. -Since my new husband is active duty Navy, use of the venue is free. Perks of military service, right? The flipside: you must use their in-house catering department for cocktail hour/dinner. -However, their catering department is pretty awesome and reasonably inexpensive (as far as obscenely overpriced wedding catering is concerned). We had tray-passed hors d'oeuvres during the cocktail hour, and everyone raved about the appetizers and the service. The guava empanadas were my favorite thing, but everything was delicious. We also offered seated plated dinner (buffets are optional, but they drive me crazy). The bacon-wrapped filet and brie-stuffed chicken were both delicious, and the smashed potatoes and green beans almondine were yummy, too. The service was quick, efficient, and very polite. -Aside from catering, you can use any vendors you like. You just have to submit their info to the base in advance for security screenings. The bad: -The security screening thing was a hassle. Some of our vendors had apparently never worked on base, and getting their credentials was like pulling teeth. I'd recommend you hire vendors with base access, or vendors that are familiar with base protocol. -The venue is old and hasn't been updated since Reagan was in office. The carpets are worn, the heavy frilly draperies are really ugly, and the chairs are tacky. The ugly: -Everyone is assigned to a catering manager, and since it's the Navy, you don't get to pick another one. Our catering manager, Greta, was the laziest, bitchiest, most incompetent woman I have ever met in my whole entire life. Getting her to do ANYTHING was like trying to squeeze a rhinoceros into a shoebox. "No" seemed to be her favorite word. I absolutely could not stand her: I felt nauseated every time I had to deal with her, and I make my living dealing with difficult people. I spoke with several other people who had dealt with her in the past, and they all HATED her. Since it's unlikely she'll be fired, you'd be wise to beg for another contact from the very first day. So, bottom line: the facility itself is probably worth about 4 stars. However, working with Greta pushed the entire experience down to a 2 at best: I have DEFINITELY experienced better. Thank god I'm never getting married again. ;) read more

We actually booked the North Island Club Catering venue before we ever saw it. The catering manager sent us some photos of the Atlantis room just after it was remodeled and we fell in love. When we were able to finally see the venue in person we were amazed. The photos did not do the beauty of the venue justice. The view was spectacular. The venue was a one stop shop; it included the tables, chairs, linens, napkins, dinner-, glass- and silverware for the event. While the venue was not as customizable as we were initially informed the event turned out beautiful and the service was great. We would definitely recommend this venue to anyone. read more

One of my best buddies had the pleasure of renting the Island Club for a wedding during Labor Day weekend. As a reservist in the USAF, he met the requirement to utilize the Island Club on Naval Base Coronado, e.g. an active or retired service member must represent your event and will be present, whether s/he is in the wedding party, family member or friend. In reviewing the Island Club, I've summarized the main bullet points for other potential wedding goers to rent the facility known as building X. **Budget** - It's FREE to use. Yes, FREE to use BUT renters must pay for the catering. Despite this requirement, the venue rental and catering was lower than the average prices in San Diego. **Catering Manager and staff**- Friendly and responsive. During the reception I waited longer than usual for my prime rib as everyone else had their main dish. Somewhat frustrated I inquired on where's my beef (no pun intended) and a few minutes later my steak was delivered. The prime rib was tough but edible. If I had to do it over again I would've selected the salmon as a main course. Also, the red velvet wedding cake was hard and not soft / moist. So the best part of the meal was easily the coconut shrimp skewers and of course FREE DRINKS. **Venue site** - Clean yet stoic. Carpet and walls seemed a bit dark. The facility could have been brighter and vibrant; however, it meet our needs as there was plenty of room for guests, tables, and a nice size dance floor. The balcony oversaw the beach on a clear sunny day along with the Pacific ocean. Magical. **Other Tidbits** - Remember, because it's a military venue, there are rules to follow, such as turning in your guest lists and your vendor info's the week of, do not throw rice / flower petals, only Island Club catering allowed, but overall, a great experience from start to finish. read more

The venue is nice enough, especially for the price, but the operators / organizers / people in charge are HORRIBLE - note the all caps, as I have never had to give this type of review before. Here is my story about my wedding day at The Island Club: Our wedding was scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM. Our Wedding Manager Greta made a point of indicating that we must be prompt and have our act together or things will not run smoothly. What an understatement she made. To start the event off, I (the groom) and my wedding party were held at the main security gate for almost an hour, while the gate personnel tried to determine what list to use to provide access, We made it to the venue at 5:20. Secondly, fifteen of our guests were also detained and did not reach the venue until after 5:30 PM. They were able to gain access after a Major, involved in another wedding, pressed the guards and took them all under his authority. The Major was attending another wedding that was also having the same problems These issues caused the wedding to be delayed by 30 minutes. So, instead of starting at 5:00 PM as we had scheduled, the service started at 5:30.Next, Greta did nothing to adjust the reception and dinner service schedules. So, besides the inconvenience and frustration to myself and my guests, we also found the hosted bar was only open for half an hour (from 6:30 until 7:00 PM). Originally, we had planned to have a hosted reception for an hour, from 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM, but due to the delays, we were not able to start the cocktail hour until 6:30 PM. Finally, as we wait to enter the dinner area for our "Big Entrance" Greta is pushing myself and my party to get a move on because we are late and the food was getting cold. To top it all off, I came back to Greta a week later and asked for compensation for the 30 minutes of hosted bar we missed. She did not apologize once, only saying it was security's fault that they did not have the correct access list. She could not answer my question about why she did not adjust the schedule by 30 minutes. Her only reply was "Security does not have any money to compensate you." To be honest, she is the coordinator / event manager, so my biggest disappointment was with her lack of planning / logistics which could have avoided / alleviated the problems. Bottom line - they hard-line you on documentation, scheduling and promptness, but they do not follow through themselves. read more

My wedding was held on NASNI in 2014 so my review is pretty late. My wedding and reception was held on Breakers beach and overall it was lovely. Greta was our wedding coordinator and I don't feel she did a terrible job for us. I know the reviews about working with her seem to be pretty harsh but I feel you get more with honey than you do with vinegar and everything is noted in the contract. I planned my entire wedding from Arizona and from day one Greta and I had a pretty good understanding of one another. I am a very detail oriented person so any contractual concerns I had I called or emailed her, and believe me there were many phone calls. It was better this way so she understood what I wanted and I understood what the details of my contract actually were, there were no surprises. I would ask to work around some of the requirements/agreements and sometimes she could bend and others she could not. She doesn't make the rules, she is supposed to follow them. I had zero issues with my base access list, I read the instructions per my contract and I followed them to a T. I submitted the paperwork and I also called to ensure they received it. I also called the day before my wedding to ensure everything was still in order. I feel being diligent helped my wedding be such a success and no one was left at the gate. The food was nothing special but it was not bad either. My guests had a great time and enjoyed the food no one had a negative comment. The bar and barkeep was wonderful, I have nothing bad to say about them. The staff were all lovely and very helpful. I do have a few gripes about their requirements and their contractual obligations. The staff will not help you set up your wedding in any way. I feel if they offered some form of assistance (short of hiring a full blown wedding planner) and of course charging for it, the reviews would not be so poor. Additionally the company gives patrons 2 hours before the wedding and 2 hours after the reception to set up and clean up, respectfully. I feel if the company gave the option of more time their reviews would not be so poor. It is difficult to wrap your mind around setting up your wedding day in only 2 hours. Lastly in the contract the company can charge an "uncorking fee" for any champagne/wine you wish to bring along. Since their wine/champagne list is rather terrible I suggest they offer an upgraded list for those of us who enjoy a nice Pinot. The contract states as follows: Sponsor/Host requesting to bring in specialty champagne or wines will be charged a handling fee of $15.00per bottle (750ML) and $20.00 per bottle (1.5L) plus service charge. The handling fee will be charged for all bottles delivered to the facility. I personally find the uncorking fee to be overly outrageous therefore I negotiated with Greta the use of my own champagne instead of hers and she wave the corking fees per bottle. They lose no funds for not having to supply the champagne and I have a better option without paying the corking fee and Greta agreed. Overall if they were still offering weddings and receptions at Breakers beach deck I would probably hold a 10 year celebration there. read more

Functional for Weddings, I guess, but MWR is a pain to work with. It's tough to get them on email, it's tough to get them on the phone, and it's oddly difficult to get up-front pricing on everything. For instance, their magazine had pricing and it seemed rather clear. We went in to talk with Greta, the lead manager, we set things up, found a price/package that worked, and thought it was good. Every few weeks, we'd get a call from Greta asking us whether we wanted to add a feature. Features like chairs, or a floor. But seriously, the dance floor and chairs are extra. I'm surprised we weren't asked if we wanted to upgrade to a 'Parking Lot Access' package, or a 'MWR Unlocks the Doors to the Venue' option, or a 'Flush Toilet and Potable Water' request. read more

We had our reception at the Island Club in the Sky Room on Feb. 2, 2013 (preceded by the ceremony on Breaker's Beach). Pros 1. The prices CANNOT be beat. With huge ceiling to floor windows capturing a breathtaking view of Coronado Beach, I assure you won't find any other venue on Coronado Beach whose prices even come close to what they can offer. 2. I've read previous reviews about staff at the establishment. Greta left a lot to be desired. Karen was great. Even working around her leaving and then returning from maternity leave, she didn't miss a beat. Organized and a pleasure to work with. Cons 1. The food is the reason I can only give this vendor 3 stars. I couldn't stomach more than one forkful of the citrus chicken. The mahi mahi was delicious. The mashed potatoes were not red skinned and actually tasted as if they were instant from a box. The vegetable medley was tasty. The guava punch at the reception was a bit watered down. It wasn't the worst reception food I've eaten, but it certainly wasn't the best. :-( 2. We had a "dry" reception, however, we toasted with sparkling cider. A guest or two mentioned after the reception that they never received a glass of cider. Which makes sense because as we were leaving, we saw a few unopened bottles! (Bottles which we had paid for but of course couldn't be taken off the premises.) read more

We had our wedding ceremony here on September 21st, 2013. I had mixed feelings about this place but would still recommend this venue to any friends or family looking for a venue and here is why: Pros: -The location is BEAUTIFUL. We had the ceremony on the patio right outside the Main Dining Room. The patio was definitely large enough to hold all our guests, wedding party & strings that we had hired. The pictures turned out absolutely gorgeous with the cloudy blue sky, beautiful palm trees in the background and stunning view of the beach. -The price is absolutely THEE most affordable we found (about a third of the price of other venues). -Even though you are required to use their own caterers, the food was delicious and they gave you a number of choices to choose from. -The bartenders and serving crew was absolutely professional and friendly. -The venue is definitely outdated. When I first walked in on my first meeting I had my reservations about the royal blue carpet, horrid giant brown chairs and nails in all the walls.... DO NOT let this scare or deter you! Once set up... the room looks absolutely beautiful. Cons: -Ever heard the term "you get what you pay for?".... Well this was definitely proof of that. The venue did the BARE minimum when helping you set up the venue. They wouldn't let you in to the venue until 2 hours prior to the ceremony and then 2 hours prior to the reception... when trying to decorate for a party of 200 people... 2 hours is hardly enough time. When they ask you to drop off the linen 3 days prior to the date of event... they meant the linen only.. they DO NOT do your chair covers. My poor husband and his groomsmen had to race to get 200 covers on every chair before the guests started arriving. The venue also does NOT help with putting out any centerpieces or any other decorations... they do the linens and table settings ONLY. -Because the reception is on a naval base, its understandable that all guest & vendor lists need to be detailed and turned in ahead of time. My advise and WARNING is to advise all of your guests that they need to be at the base gate at least 30-45 minutes prior to the start of your ceremony. I had about half of our guests not attend the ceremony because they were held up at the gate. They were told there either "you're not on the list" or simply... "there is no list". It was a headache for them to get on. Those that did make it on time made it within minutes of the start of the ceremony. It wasn't until my husband' s Stepfather who is a Commander, United States Navy got on the phone with the gate and pressed them to find our list and get all our guests in ASAP that everyone else had no problem in getting in. -My biggest con.... Greta. When we initially booked the venue we were being taken care of by another woman by the name of Karen who was then transferred to Admiral Kidd Club in the middle of our wedding planning. We were then handed over to Greta... oh how we missed Karen. Greta was the most unfriendly vendor we dealt with during our entire wedding planning. Her favorite word seemed to be 'no' and she obviously didn't care for any of your concerns. As a bride.. my advise is to either have your wedding planner or bridesmaids/maid of honor with you at every meeting with Greta. Having as little interaction with her as possible will definitely make the planning process with her less stressful. read more

Our wedding was in August 2012... We had many issues with the Island Club Catering Company. Michael P. and Sarah H. are spot on with their assessments of Greta. She was one of the worst "customer service" people I have EVER worked with. She's rude and her condescending tone infuriated us to no end! She quoted us a price for our Host bar which should have served beer, wine and Mai Tai's only. After our photo session on the beach, we arrived at our reception to find that the bar retainer money had already been depleted so our Host bar became a No Host bar - which we didn't want. It turned out that the bar tender was serving other drinks even though our contract stated no other drinks to be served. Then the bar tender tripled the price for the Mai Tai's from what Greta quoted us. And they were TERRIBLE!!!! They tasted like lemon aid with a splash of rum, yet we were charged the price of a 3 rum drink. It became a heated discussion with the catering contact during our reception because they wanted a credit card to "re-open" our Host bar. The catering contact said that Greta didn't know what the price of a Mai Tai was and she misquoted us. Even though I told them that wasn't our problem, it quickly became one for us since we spent a lot of time trying to resolve the issue during our reception. Not a happy memory! The other thing that really bothered us was that our guests couldn't take the left over food, nor could it be donated. They said that it would be tossed in the garbage. That waste sicken us knowing of all the hungry vets out there on the local streets of San Diego. We even offered to do the research to find a center that might want to take the food and to get it to them. They said it was a health issue. Our point - if the food was "bad" then our guests, and ourselves, would feel the effects later anyway whether it was from the left overs or from when they ate at our reception... PROS: Wonderful location Rental fees are reasonable Our guests said the food was very good (We barely ate because they took our plates away before we were finished) CONS: Must use Island Club Catering Company (and Greta) Catering didn't honor their contract price (we dealt with that the next day) Bar tender skills lacking Guests could not take left over food (We couldn't even get a "to go" plate for us) Venue decor dated Must dot every "i" and cross every "t" with base entry guest lists (understandable) I don't understand why the Island Club Catering Company is still able to do business on base and be exclusive. They are a civilian company and should be subject to quality review and be fired in my opinion. It would be a perfect location if you are able to use your own catering company as you do with every other vendor for your event. read more