Siesta Beach is a great place for a wedding and with destination weddings in Sarasota at an all time high we wanted to put out this Siesta key beach wedding guide.
First off – If you’re planning on a public Sarasota beach wedding understand that amenities may be few and because these are public beaches privacy will be at a minimum.
Siesta key beach is popular for weddings with the locals and those who live in the region also, say north from Tampa and south to Port Charlotte. Siesta key beach weddings are also extremely popular with the destination wedding crowd.
Go here to see more about Siesta beach wedding locations and its public & private beach areas.
Brides come to Sarasota and Siesta Key from all four corners of the globe just to be married here. As I said in another article, it’s partly because of the great weather here and more so the lousy weather where many brides are coming from.
Siesta Key Beach Wedding Permit
You’ll have to get a “beach wedding” permit from Sarasota County Parks department and the only way to do this is by phone, they don’t take permits online.
The phone number for the parks department is 941-861-7275 and their open from 8:30/am to 4:30/pm Eastern time.
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Siesta Key Beach Wedding Permit Cost
The county requires a minimum 1 hour for a beach wedding and the cost for that 1 hour is $54.
If you plan on setting up any chairs for people to sit down the parks department requests that you get a 2 hour permit for $108.
The maximum time that you can rent Siesta key beach for a wedding is 3 hours.
What Else Can I Rent for my Siesta Key Beach Wedding
There is a large covered picnic table area just behind the tennis courts at the south end of the picnic area/parking lot.
Actually many couples rent this area out, it’s a real budget wedding option. The parks department says that this picnic area accommodates up to 100 people. There are bathrooms located about 100 feet away which is really a nice amenity to have.
The cost to rent this picnic area is $150. +tax and the permit is for 4 hours which should be long enough for most.
Where Do I get to Have My Beach Wedding
Yes, the actual wedding ceremony – I almost forgot.
The park department has 3 beach areas where they allow public outdoor weddings. All 3 of these ceremony locations are at the far north end of Siesta Key beach.
If you’re not familiar with Siesta key beach let me walk you through it.
When you first pull into the beach parking lot take the “right” lane, this will take you to the north parking lot area.
Park as far north as you can because this is where the 3 assigned wedding areas are located.
The county does NOT have a map to show you this, so…
The first wedding area has a path to it from the northern most parking area, it’s the only wedding area with a path from the parking lot. This is the one I would choose.
You can have you’re beach wedding ceremony anywhere on the beach, starting at the end of the path – all the way to the waterfront – Your choice. If you have the ceremony close to the water watch out for many rude people who will walk right through it – stay closer to the other side of the beach, closer to where the path ended for more privacy.
The other 2 wedding areas are both north of this one and need to be accessed from street parking or get onto the beach and walk further north.
When Do I Need to Reserve a Wedding Area
The county will issue wedding permits the same day all the way out to 1 year in advance. I really wouldn’t wait that long though. And the picnic area gets a bit of use so plan to reserve it fairly early if that’s what your wedding plan includes.
There are other “Private” wedding areas at the Siesta key location and while they are not “technically” part of Siesta key beach you really can’t tell the difference – same powdery white sand and connected to siesta beach – but that’s an article for another day.
I hope this Siesta Key Beach Wedding Guide helps.
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