Coastal venue & day planning
A walled garden, a long room facing the water, and a deck that stays warm until midnight.
Coral Cove holds one wedding at a time. You get the whole headland for the day, three spaces to move between, and a planner who runs the hours so nobody in your family has to.
01 — The cove
The gate shuts at two and the cove is yours. Ceremony outside in the salt garden or inside under the beams, dinner in the tide room, dancing on the lantern deck. No other party, no shared car park, no hurrying the photographs.
02 — Three spaces
Most days use all three in sequence. If your numbers sit under sixty, the salt garden and the deck are usually enough on their own.
i.
A single long room with a seven-metre window wall facing the water and beams low enough to hang anything from. It seats the full 120 without the top table losing the view, and it is the wet-weather ceremony room, so we never ask you to decide about the sky until the morning.
ii.
A walled lawn with clipped hedging that takes the wind off the water, which matters more than it sounds in April. Ninety chairs fit in six rows with an aisle wide enough for two people side by side; beyond that we move to a semicircle. The stone arch at the far end is the usual ceremony point.
iii.
Timber decking under strung lanterns, with gas heaters along the rail and a covered bar at the inland end. This is where the evening actually happens: first dance, late food, and the people who want to talk rather than dance drifting to the benches at the edge.
03 — Collections
Each collection includes the planner, the setting up and the clearing down. Catering is quoted separately once you have chosen a menu style, so you are never paying for covers you do not need.
For 30–60 guests who want the ceremony, a long lunch and an early evening.
For 60–120 guests running the full day across all three spaces.
For two days: a welcome evening, the wedding, and breakfast before anyone leaves.
04 — The day, hour by hour
Yours will differ, but the shape rarely does. We write this with you about eight weeks out and send it to every supplier so nobody asks you where things go on the morning.
Florists and caterers use the inland gate. Dressing the tide room takes about three hours with two people.
Cove goes exclusive. Final walk of the salt garden, and the weather call is made here if it is marginal.
Drinks on the lower terrace, seating from 15:50. Anyone who needs a lift up the slope is driven.
Roughly thirty minutes. Our coordinator cues your music and holds the aisle until you are ready.
Group photographs on the lawn first, then twelve minutes along the path for portraits while guests stay put.
Seated by 18:30. Speeches between courses keeps the room warm and the kitchen on time.
Heaters on, lanterns lit, first dance at 21:15. Late food lands at 22:30 near the bar.
Acoustic on the deck until 1am. We clear down the next morning, so you collect things after breakfast, not at midnight.
05 — Questions couples ask
We hold a date for fourteen days with no deposit, once you have walked the cove. Only one hold is placed per date, and we tell you plainly if someone else is already holding it rather than letting you plan around a date you cannot have.
The tide room is set up as the alternative ceremony space on every outdoor booking, at no extra cost. The call is made at 2pm on the day with you, not the night before, because coastal mornings are unreliable and afternoons usually settle.
Drinks move under the deck canopy, which is covered and heated along two thirds of its length.
No. We have two kitchens we work with most weeks and recommend them because they know the service route, but you are welcome to bring your own caterer. They will need to walk the kitchen with us beforehand and hold their own insurance and food hygiene registration.
Yes, with two limits: nothing fixed into the stonework, and no open flame outside the deck fire pit. Candles indoors must be in glass. Suppliers get access from 8am and we send them the run sheet so they are not relying on you for information on the day.
They are. The salt garden is walled and the deck has a closed rail, but the headland path is unfenced and we ask that under-twelves walk it with an adult. There is a quiet room off the tide room with a sofa and a kettle for anyone who needs a break from the noise.
There is parking for forty cars on the inland side, with cars allowed to stay overnight and be collected before 11am the next day. The slope up to the salt garden is surfaced and we run a small vehicle for anyone who would rather not walk it.
We will also send you a single arrivals note to include with your invitations, so you are not explaining it sixty times.
06 — Check your date
One short form. We reply with whether the date is free, what it would cost with your guest number, and two viewing times. If the date has gone, we say so and offer the nearest ones that have not.