Historically, the majority of wedding ceremonies all over the world were primarily held indoors in traditional venues like a church or a mosque. Over the years, that narrative has changed as more and more intending couples worldwide, including in South Africa, keep breaking the norms and opting for more non-traditional venues like beaches.
The choice of having a wedding ceremony on a beach perfectly resonates with the idea of being closer to mother nature because, let’s face it, you can’t be any closer to nature than on the beach. South Africa as a country provides some of the perfect locations for beach weddings as almost every major city in the country has one. This article focuses on 12 of the best in cities like Cape Town, KZN, and Durban.
Best Beach Wedding Venues In Cape Town
Cape Town is one of the cities that attracts the most tourists annually in South Africa. It also has some of the best beach wedding venues in the country, so it makes sense that we start compiling our list in Cape Town.
1. Sea Trader
- Address: Cape St. Martin Private Nature Reserve, St. Helenbaal, Cape Town
- Water Body: Sea
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Restaurant and Wooden deck extension
- Capacity: Minimum of 50 guests and maximum of 180 guests
- Highlights: Glass Sliding doors and authentic gazebo,
- Bonus: Privacy and Romantic Ambience
The Sea Trader is a perfect spot for couples seeking a beach wedding experience. Still, before we tell you what you get in return for hosting your wedding at this picturesque venue, it might interest you to learn that this venue has a rich and ancient history.
Named after a cargo ship that now rests at the bottom of the sea, the Sea Trader was built by Corrie Van Zyl after he and his family settled in Stompneusbaai in 1968. They had initially converted part of the land into a natural reserve before creating the wedding venue now called Sea Trader, next to the main house.
Today, Sea Trader, located at Cape St. Martin Private Nature Reserve, St. Helenbaal, Cape Town, provides one of the premier locations to host a wedding in Cape Town. If you’re looking for a wedding venue that gives you the feeling of privacy and a heavy dose of romantic ambiance, Sea Trader is a venue you should most definitely choose.
The facilities domiciled in this choice venue include a 5-star restaurant that caters to all sorts of palates. To top it off, the restaurant has sliding glass doors that lead to a wooden deck extension under an authentic gazebo that could easily handle a wedding ceremony. There is also the bonus of having the ideal wedding ceremony on the beach overlooking the sea.
This venue’s quality in terms of services is most definitely for the financially faint-hearted. Hosting your wedding at this venue would most likely command a huge price, but it all depends on the type of ceremony you wish to have; hence price ranges are available upon request.
The Sea Trader can comfortably accommodate anywhere from 50 to 180 guests, and the exclusivity it provides remains one of its bonuses.
2. Strandkombuis
- Address: Sixteen Mile Beach, Yzerfontein, Cape Town
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Cottage and Seafood Restaurant
- Capacity: Minimum of 20 guests and maximum of 200 guests
- Highlights: Bedouin-style chapel perched on a sand dune, nature reserve, open-air restaurant that seats 140, dance floor, and a stage for live music
- Bonus: Plenty of seafood
One of the reviewers of this venue claims it would be a sin to visit South Africa and Cape Town and not visit Strandkombuis, and we tend to agree. If you desire to have a dream beach wedding that will remain the stuff of legends for some time to come, then Strandkombuis is the ideal beach wedding venue for you.
This venue offers a variety of options, capacity-wise, based on the type of wedding you want, be it a micro wedding for 20 guests, a boutique deluxe wedding for between 20-40 guests, or even a pop-up wedding for around 60 guests. A traditional wedding can accommodate between 140 – 200 guests. If the type of capacity-based wedding you desire is not among the aforementioned ones, you can also describe what you want, and they are sure to make it happen.
Having your wedding at this venue will cost you some pretty pennies, but the price range is also available on request based on what you want. Strandkombuis is located at Sixteen Mile Beach, Yzerfontein, Cape Town, and overlooks an ocean. Its facilities include a 27-room cottage with en suite bathrooms and a seafood restaurant that can comfortably seat 140 guests.
The wedding venue, one of Strandkoumbuis’ highlights, is an exquisitely designed Bedouin-style chapel perched on a sand dune. Another incredible highlight of this venue is its dance floor and a stage for live music. Having your wedding at Strandkombuis entitles you to the salivating bonus of seafood, lots of seafood, and if you’d like a second helping, that can be arranged as well.
A wedding guest confirmed this and remarked that before a wedding she attended at this scenic venue, she had never attended a wedding where so much food was served. So you can be sure that none of your guests would be subjected to the ignominy of leaving your wedding underfed.
3. Grootbos Private Nature Reserve
- Address: 13 km from Stanford on the R43, Cape Town
- Water Body: Atlantic Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Forest Lodge Restaurant, Exclusive 16 rooms, luxury suites
- Capacity: Minimum of 2 guests and maximum of 80 guests
- Highlights: Milkwood forest, Piano rock, Stanford’s cove, Garden Lodge pool, Forest Lodge wine cellar, Forest Lodge Boma,
- Bonus: Romantic set up mainly for an evening wedding, supply of white sand, Fynbos, and the ambiance of the blue waters of the Atlantic ocean
Situated in the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom, Grootbos Private Natural Reserve is a dream venue for a beachside wedding. This natural paradise will surely appeal to a couple who is especially entranced by all that mother nature has to offer. As the name implies, Grootbos Private Natural Reserve will make sense for a couple that wants their wedding to be very private.
This venue can accommodate a wedding that has just the bride and groom in attendance. It can not go beyond a wedding of 80 guests, which also entails a relatively private affair. Grootbos overlooks Walker Bay and its famous whale-watching activities. The natural and romantic setting this venue provides is made possible by its superb facilities, including Forest Lodge Restaurant, with its assortment of meals prepared under the astute supervision of a master chef.
This venue also gives its guests free access to any of its 16 bedrooms and en suite bathrooms. Guests can choose any of Milkwood forest, Piano rock, Stanford’s cove, Garden Lodge pool, Forest Lodge wine cellar, or Forest Lodge Boma locations for their exclusive event and enjoy the bonus of a romantic setting at any time of the day but more especially for an evening wedding, a massive supply of white sand beneath their bare feet, Fynbos and the ambiance of the blue waters of the Atlantic ocean.
4. Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa
- Address: Victoria Rd. Camps Bay, Cape Town 8005, South Africa
- Water Body: Atlantic Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Five-star hotel & spa
- Capacity: The Fynbos Garden (ceremony venue) has a minimum of 2 guests and a maximum of 90 seated or 100 standing guests. The Atlantic Marquee Terrace (reception venue) with a minimum of 25 guests and a maximum of 80 guests, including a dance floor or 100 guests with no dance floor, cocktail style.
- Highlights: Well-being of guests, extraordinary experiences, sustainability, a vineyard, wedding gallery that covers the most precious memories of previous guests
- Bonus: A complimentary stay on the wedding night, complimentary 3-course dinner in Azure restaurant on the first anniversary, a personalized Bouchard Finlayson white wine, fancy monogrammed bath towels, and many more.
Regarded by most as the premier beach wedding venue in Cape Town and South Africa as a whole, to a large extent, the Twelve Apostles Hotels & Spa, which is situated at Victoria Rd. Camps Bay, Cape Town 8005, South Africa, offers you your dream wedding with uniquely different venues designed to give you the best beach wedding experience.
This venue is lined by the Table Mountain National Park and provides an aesthetic view of the Atlantic Ocean. If you’re too busy to plan your special day, this venue also offers the option of engaging their seasoned and talented wedding planners to help you move things on and still achieve your desired beach wedding outcome.
The variety of venues providing such a huge draw to the Twelve Apostles includes the Fynbos Garden, the best venue for the wedding ceremony itself with its amazing view of all the glory that the Atlantic Ocean has to offer. You can have anywhere from a minimum of 2 guests to a maximum of 90 seated guests, or if you decide that your guests should stand, it can accommodate 100 of those standing guests. This spot has a gazebo and can provide a picturesque location for after-wedding photographs.
To provide the best wedding reception experience, Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa also has the Atlantic Marquee terrace with a minimum of 25 guests and a maximum of 80 guests, including a dance floor or 100 guests with no dance floor or cocktail style. Guests who want to party into the night can also access the Lion’s Head Room which provides music and late-night dancing.
Such a marquee spot with highlights such as a wedding gallery that captures the most memorable moments of previous guests or clients will cost a fortune. Still, the price ranges are only available when inquired about. This wedding venue has something that most others do not have, and that is a five-star hotel and spa.
The Twelve Apostles has attractive bonus packages that consistently puts it at the top of the list of choice beach wedding venues. Having your wedding at this dreamlike venue offers you the bonus of using the hotel’s Honeymoon Suite, where you get a complimentary stay on your wedding night with fancy monogrammed towels and a specialized bottle of Bouchard Finlayson white wine.
Also, should the wedding survive the one-year mark, and you choose to return to the Twelve Apostles, you automatically trigger the privilege of having a complimentary 3-course dinner in the hotel’s Azure Restaurant to mark the joyous occasion of your first anniversary. What more could you ask for?
5. Blue Horizon Estate
- Address: Red Hill Rd. – M66, Simon’s Town, Cape Town 7975, South Africa
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request but affordable
- Facilities: Garden and Beach Ceremonies
- Capacity: Minimum of 50 guests and a maximum of 120 guests with a dance floor or 140 guests without a dance floor.
- Highlights: Wedding coordination amidst a stylish venue with spectacular ocean views
- Bonus: Excellent cuisine and friendly staff
Suppose you desire to move away from the conventional indoor ceremony and still have an extraordinary wedding event. In that case, the Blue Horizon Estate is the right place for you to have your wedding. This idyllic wedding venue is located on the top of Red Hill along Red Hill rd. – M66, Simon’s Town, Cape Town 7975, South Africa, and gives guests a perfect view of the tourism-friendly city of Simon’s Town. For a couple looking for an intimate ceremony, Blue Horizon is the ideal spot for your wedding.
This venue offers a garden ceremony and an exquisite indoor reception designed to appeal to guests. If you also desire a more nature-themed and romantic wedding that involves the beach and the ocean, it can easily be arranged with the beach venue only 10 minutes drive from the main hotel itself.
This venue also provides an indoor reception area that is both intimate, elegant, and spacious. It can hold up to 120 seated guests and a dancefloor. Take away the dancefloor, and the space increases to 140 seated guests with a perfect ocean view. In a cocktail setting, this venue’s capacity increases to 250Â guests or more.
Blue Horizon offers a variety of bonus packages, chief of which is the affordable price range, which is quite pocket friendly when you consider those of other similar venues with similar facilities. The exquisite cuisine prepared by the owner cum chef and the friendly staff of this facility adds to the appeal of this venue as a viable and prime location for a memorable beach wedding experience.
6. Sandpiper Beach Wedding Venue
- Address: 16 Mile Beach, Yzerfontein, Cape Town
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Self-catering accommodation facilities
- Capacity: Maximum 100 guests
- Highlights: Sand dunes
- Bonus: Romantic ambiance
The Sandpiper is sure to offer you value for your money, and lovers of romantic settings will value this exquisite venue. The capacity of the wedding area seats 100 guests and boasts the bonus of creating the perfect romantic ambiance for the couple to exchange their vows. The beautiful sand dunes are the only things separating the wedding venue from the beach.
Best Beach Wedding Venues In KZN
In a country with quite a good number of cities with dreamlike beach wedding venues, KwaZulu-Natal is another city that stands out in that regard. Let’s take a look at some of them.
7. Salt Rock Hotel & Beach Resort
- Address: Basil Hulett Drive, Salt Rock KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Water Body: Indian Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request but affordable
- Facilities: Bedouin-style tent
- Capacity: Maximum of 100 seated guests with a dance floor and 120 seated guests without a dance floor.
- Highlights: Full Menu for reception and hotel rooms for out-of-town guests
- Bonus: Honeymoon suite and complimentary champagne
To fulfill your fantasy or dream of having your wedding in a relaxed and scenic atmosphere with a perfect view of the ocean, and you also happen to find yourself in KwaZulu-Natal, your first port of call should be the Salt Rock Hotel & Beach Resort. This perfect venue for a beach wedding is located at Basil Hulett Drive, Salt Rock, and the street where it is located is named after the hotel’s founder.
This venue is only half an hour’s drive from Durban, and the Bedouin-style tent event center can comfortably accommodate 100 seated guests with a dance floor with an additional 20 seats for a setting that does not include a dance floor. It also has a perfect and scenic view of the Indian Ocean. The price of hosting your wedding at this venue depends entirely on what you want and is therefore available on request.
The Salt Rock Hotel has many highlights, including a full menu for the reception and adequate accommodation in their elegant hotel rooms for your out-of-town guests. A bonus of hosting your wedding event at this venue is that it grants the couple complimentary access to their honeymoon suite and a complimentary bottle of champagne.
8. Thonga Beach Lodge
- Address: Manzengwenya, 3895, South Africa
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Accommodation Facilities
- Capacity: Up to 32 seated guests
- Highlights: Dune Forest, Beach Deck, Beach
- Bonus: Friendly and helpful staff
The Thonga Beach Lodge screams intimacy and is ideal for a small wedding. The wedding venue and reception area can only accommodate 32 seated guests. Highlights include a Dune forest, beach deck, and an exquisite beach. A bonus is a friendly and helpful staff.
9. The Boathouse
- Address: 33 Compensation Beach Rd, Ballito 4420 KZN, South Africa
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Restaurant, Spa, and Accommodation Facilities
- Capacity: The Lido Deck with a maximum of 300 guests and the elegant Upper Deck with a maximum of 120 guests
- Highlights: Personalized services and attention to detail
- Bonus: Free Wi-fi, wheel-chair-friendly facilities
This venue is ideal for someone who wants to invite many guests. Situated at 33 Compensation Beach rd., Ballito 4420 KZN, South Africa, The Boathouse is one of the choicest beach wedding venues in KwaZulu-Natal. It boasts two beachfront wedding facilities with varying degrees of guest capacity. The Lido Deck can seat a maximum of 300 guests, while the super elegant Upper Deck can accommodate 120 guests.
Other world-class facilities for this perfect ocean view venue include the restaurant, a relaxing spa center, and standard accommodation facilities for out-of-town guests. The Boathouse is renowned for its personalized services and attention to detail. A bonus is that part of that personalized service includes wheel-chair-friendly facilities for guests or relatives of the couple who may require them. It also has a free internet connection, and these world-class services do not require you to break the bank.
10. Canelands Beach Club And Spa
- Address: 2 Shrimp Ln, Salt Rock, Dolphin Coast, KZN, 4391, South Africa
- Water Body: Indian Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Restaurant, Spa
- Capacity: Maximum of 60 seated guests with a dance floor and 100 seated guests without a dance floor.
- Highlights: 15 minutes away from King Shaka International airport
- Bonus: Free wi-fi, wheel-chair-friendly facilities, friendly staff
For a rather conservative couple interested in primarily keeping their wedding ceremony private and intimate, Canelands Beach Club & Spa offers the perfect wedding celebration and reception venue. With a beachfront restaurant that directly overlooks the Indian ocean, this venue also adds a spa service to its list of services.
The staff there is quite friendly, and the meal served mirrors the class that this exquisite spot embodies. The wedding venue can easily seat a maximum of 60 guests and can alternatively seat up to 100 guests without a dance floor. A bonus is the free wi-fi internet connection. Price ranges are available on request.
Best Beach Wedding Venues In Durban
11. Palm Dune Beach Lodge
- Address: Blythedale Beach Kwazulu-Natal Kwa Dukuza, Blythedale, Beach, 4449, South Africa
- Water Body: Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: Swimming Pool, Restaurant & Bar, Spa, and Accommodation facilities
- Capacity: Up to 200 guests
- Highlights: Variety of menus and tailor-made menus
- Bonus: Free Wi-fi, in-house coordinator, and in-house catering
One of the most scenic and choice venues for a beach wedding in KZN is the Palm Dune Beach Lodge, and there are many reasons for that. However, Palm Dune Lodge should be your go-to venue if you place a premium on comfort and relaxation before your big day.
With its address at Blythedale Beach Kwazulu-Natal KwaDukuza, Blythedale, Beach, 4449, South Africa, and just 40 minutes away from Durban by car, the Palm Dune Beach Lodge is situated on a wide expanse of white sandy beach beautifully overlooking the ocean.
Some of the high-value facilities at this venue include a world-class swimming pool, a bar, and a restaurant that caters to the palettes of the wedding guests, more than adequate accommodation facilities, and for your comfort and relaxation, a well-equipped spa. All these services come at reasonable price ranges that are available on request.
A bonus of having your wedding at this venue is the presence of in-house coordinators who are willing to, should you desire it, alleviate the pressure of planning a perfect wedding ceremony. In-house catering services are also available, and to top it off, there are free wi-fi services to make your wedding more memorable.
12. The Laughing Forest
- Address: 20 Cowry Dr, Elysium 4185, KZN, South Africa
- Water Body: Indian Ocean
- Price Range: Available on request
- Facilities: 6 Currently self-catering log cabins and 4 B&Bs, unspoiled beach
- Capacity: Maximum 200 guests
- Highlights: Surrounded by Umdoni Golf course and other tourist attractions
- Bonus: Family-friendly and Romantic
The Laughing Forest is a family-oriented venue, and it is ideal for a couple who wishes to begin early to make family memories. Situated at 20 Cowry Dr, Elysium, 4185, KZN, South Africa, the facilities of this venue include a beautifully set wedding venue that can be celebrated on the beach or on the aesthetically pleasing grass terrace, both of which overlook the Indian Ocean.
The Laughing Forest boasts a classy reception area that can comfortably seat 200 guests and cater to their culinary needs. This exquisite venue is surrounded by Umdoni Golf course and other tourist attractions. The intimate and romantic atmosphere is a bonus.
