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Wedding Locations in Ocean City, MD |
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Ocean City
Wedding Spots
Getting married in Ocean City and
you are not sure where you’d like to
get have the wedding location or
reception? Allow me to go into some
of the places in Ocean City that
I’ve done wedding photography and
give you my thoughts about them.
Please keep in mind that these Ocean
City venues are looked at from a
photographer’s point of view and
what I’ve experienced there.
Seacrets - a great place to check out, you can’t go wrong with
Jamaica USA in Ocean City. Often
times couples book their dance club
area which can fit a lot of people.
What I liked most was the staff was
off the hook friendly, and being
there as a wedding photographer,
they let me go everywhere I wanted
to go to get the good shot. This
place offers some great sunset
shots, out by the palm trees and on
their pier, plenty of little hidden
areas that will make for some
interesting photos. They have their
own catering and chatting with one
couple they said it was at a really
good price. Keep in mind in the
summer this place is a mad house but
in the off season its cozy and
relaxing.
Fager’s Island – Pretty close to Seacrets which offers a nice
reception area, hotel close by,
great food and the staff was really
nice. There are so many cool places
in Fagers to get great photos; you
often getting lost and you can take
a couple to like 10 – 15 different
spots and make 50 -75 images unique.
Plenty of palm trees, a gazebo on
the water, the upper deck reception
area is a little tighter but for
smaller weddings this is a really
good place.
Lighthouse Sound – this little gem is hidden away right outside
of Ocean City, a little ways over
the first Hwy 90 bridge in into
Bishopville. It’s located right on a
golf course which is a good thing
because you have beautiful
landscapes to get great photos on
and one thing to consider is adding
some time with the photographer as
you might like to take a golf cart
to some of these very pretty photo
spots. You’ll end up having Ocean
City on the bay as you backdrop
which makes for an awesome photo.
The staff is great, food it good
too, I like the huge fireplace they
have indoors, and the overall area
is able to accommodate a lot of
guests. If you get a chance to get
you and your guests together for a
group photo, you have a couple of
hills to get height on the crowd.
Golden Sands – this hotel and condominium is located around the
north end of Ocean City right on the
beach. You can get married right on
their little patch of sand or you
can get closer to the water and have
your ceremony there. Depending on
the time of day and weather
conditions I might lean towards
closer to the beach, were you’ll
have more sun, the building itself
is cuts out a lot of sun for sunset
ceremonies. They have a really
lovely reception area up on their
top floor; hope you aren’t afraid of
heights. Nice dance floor, easy to
accommodate a lot of guests, and
even though you are up so high take
advantage of the rear of the
building on the 22nd floor for some
quick photos of the sun setting.
The Clarion – another hotel not too far away from the Golden
Sands, and every bit just a good.
What I found unique about this
place, if you foresee bad weather,
this place has several giant rooms
for having the ceremony and
reception. The whole inside offers a
lot of great spots to take some fun
and unique photos and chances are
you will have sun for your wedding,
you have the beach right there. keep
in mind the building will shadow you
and your guests quite a bit, so by
getting closer to the water, you’ll
enjoy some better photo
opportunities. They have an onsite
coordinator here, Lisa I believe who
is super nice and will bend over
backwards to help you.
Ocean Pines Beach Club – Located on the Ocean side of Coastal
Hwy and not be confused with the
Ocean Pines Yacht Club and Ocean
Pines Country Club. If you aren’t
careful you’ll find family and
friends heading to the yacht club or
country club and might miss out.
Here is another place that has their
own patch of sand close to the main
building structure and if you are
planning a sunset wedding you might
find a very distinct shadow going on
here which depending on your timing
you might deal with as they have a
nice huge deck to place chairs on
for your guests to sit on. They have
a nice little second floor section
where all the brides end up getting
ready at. The poor guys end up
hanging out in the basement area,
down under the deck. Part of the
deck wraps around and makes for some
lovely sitting and eating outside.
Plenty of spots for a DJ or Band to
set up and while the guests are
relaxing you can roll out on the
beach for those beautiful sunset
photos.
The Beaches – Ocean City beaches are some great beaches to get
married on. Unlike the Delaware
beaches right up the road they don’t
require permits to be on the beach
or get married on the beach. Getting
married in Delaware isn’t as easy as
in Maryland where you can walk right
out there on the beach with the
wedding minister and say your vows
and walk right back off. All the
beach ceremony’s I’ve photographed,
it happens 100 percent of the time,
were you have very friendly and
accommodating people that step aside
for you to get married and often
times they cheer, clap, and whistle
when you get to “you may now kiss
the bride”. To get the better
photographs I’d recommend scheduling
your ceremony around Sunset whenever
possible and the next best time
would be around sunrise. Those high
noon weddings always end up with
dark shadows under the eyes and lots
of other unpleasant features. And if
you can decorate the beach a little
with an archway, flowers, tiki
torches, or something. A naked beach
is ok, but it really reflects well
and looks like wedding photos when
you have things to enhance the
photo. For brides I’d stay away from
heels in the sand, it’s a no brainer
but every year someone does it and
it’s difficult on the bride to walk
in. Also a runner would be
pointless, as it will get ripped to
shreds.
There are many other wonderful places that I have not mentioned here that I
could turn this article into a full
blown book, but I wanted to name a
few of my favorites. Some other
ideas for wedding locations in and
around Ocean City, Maryland that
I’ve photographed and liked:
Assateague Island State Park
Coconut Malorie - Ocean City,
Bayside
Catch 54 (used to be known as Sharks
Cove)
Ocean Pines Yacht Club – Ocean Pines
Ocean Pines Country Club – Ocean
Pines
Ocean City Inlet on the Beach
Harrisons Harbor Watch – Inlet area
The Hilton – Ocean Side
Fresco’s – Bayside
Macky’s – Bayside
Princess Bayside – Bayside
Princess Royale – Ocean side
Carousel Hotel – Ocean side
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