Camping Wedding Florida State Park

[photonut4]

Hi, My daughter is planning a camping wedding for next Oct, and we have it narrowed down to the Destin area...specifically Henderson Beach SP or St Andrew's SP. We will have our 38' 5th wheel, and she will be using tents in all of the other sites. Is one better than the other? Any info appreciated. Thank you very much. Liz

[cindik]

The beaches at Topsail or Grayton are beautiful! Topsail probably has the prettiest beach I have ever been on, including the Caribbean.

[photonut4]

Thank you for all of the info. I am passing all of it along to my daughter and letting her decide what she wants to do. As of right now, we could easily change to Grayton Beach as there are plenty of sites available for our time frame. Thanks again as this is very helpful.

[wannavolunteerF]

a couple of things to remember about St Andrews...

most of the nicer hotels and restaurants are at the other end of the "strip" from the park.. not as big an issue in Oct as during summer, but still not right there.

Panama City Beach is the center of the "redneck riviera" and a huge spring break/graduation party town and tends to cater to that type crowd. St Andrews is in Town and there is lots of boat traffic in the bay, including some larger boats as the Navy Base and the Coast Guard station are further up the bay.

Also the campground is not on the beach, there are waterfront sites on the bay, but the white sand beach is at the other end of the park and is not within comfortable walking distance to the campground. You will need to drive around and park in the parking lot, with all the day visitors to go to the beach itself.

I am not trying to discourage you, but let you know that although St Andrews campsites are wooded, it really isn't a "rustic wooded park and beach." October is much better than before Labor Day, but still is a very busy park.

[photonut4]

Retired JSO wrote:
Sorry to hear your choice. Grayton Beach SP, has a new full hookup loop for larger RV's and a tent or popup loop both close to the beach. We have used ST Andrews SP several summers but swore not to return to a mostly mismanaged park that can't repair potholes and flooded mud campsites, that have been in that condition for over 6 years.. The park stays mostly booked year round but very little money is spent on maintenance. The management there is gone with the wind.

Grayton Beach SP

Hmmm...well it is not to late to change location. I looked at the website and it says max rv length is 40'. Our 5ver is 38.6' so how difficult is it to get into the sites? It is easy to manuver around the park? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Liz

[Retired_JSO]

Sorry to hear your choice. Grayton Beach SP, has a new full hookup loop for larger RV's and a tent or popup loop both close to the beach. We have used ST Andrews SP several summers but swore not to return to a mostly mismanaged park that can't repair potholes and flooded mud campsites, that have been in that condition for over 6 years.. The park stays mostly booked year round but very little money is spent on maintenance. The management there is gone with the wind.

Grayton Beach SP

[photonut4]

Wow Vermilye gorgeous photo and location for a wedding. And thanks everyone for the wedding wishes. A camping wedding is right up our alley, and we will have a wonderful time no matter what the weather may bring.

[vermilye]

Camping is a great venue for a wedding. My daughter got married in Glacier National Park on the shores of Lake McDonald: Karin's Wedding

[Bowti]

She will be very happy there, it has a great beach and the campground up at the end will be a nice place for the party. Lots to do in the area and the they cater to young kids with even some good eating places for us older folk.

[Dog_Folks]

photonut4 wrote:
Thanks everyone. She ended up choosing St Andrews SP. We were really waffling between Henderson and Andrews, but we were able to reserve a block of campsites at the very end of the park away from everyone. She likes the privacy that these sites have to offer. She also likes the rustic look of it. We were able to book the last pull-through they had available at the other end of the park for our rig. No problem as we will just ride our bikes down to them. This is for next October, so the park is filling up quick.

Good Deal. We wish her a long and happy marriage.

[photonut4]

Thanks everyone. She ended up choosing St Andrews SP. We were really waffling between Henderson and Andrews, but we were able to reserve a block of campsites at the very end of the park away from everyone. She likes the privacy that these sites have to offer. She also likes the rustic look of it. We were able to book the last pull-through they had available at the other end of the park for our rig. No problem as we will just ride our bikes down to them. This is for next October, so the park is filling up quick.

[HappyCamper89]

There was a wedding at Henderson Beach State Park on the beach while we were there a few years ago. It was very pretty. The campground there is nice too.

There are several nice hotels and condos close by. The Henderson Inn is also adjacent to the park. I have never stayed there but it looks very nice.

http://www.hendersonparkinn.com

[photonut4]

Thanks but she/ they really want it on the beach. I will call them about the cabin rentals. Thanks for all the hep everyone. 🙂

[Dog_Folks]

photonut4 wrote:
This is interesting. Her requirements are close to beach, more secluded campsites for campfires. For those that do not want to camp, we figured we would give them a list of hotels in the area. The cabins sounded great until we found out you cannot rent them by the night, only by the week.

Something strange here. I saw the "weeks only wording" also. I went to the reservation system and tried Oct. 1 for one night only. The system showed me multiple cabins for one night.

A call to the park may clear this up: (850) 267-8330

If you would consider going further south, Myakka River State Park outside Sarasota has a nearly perfect set up for your needs. They do weddings there often. No beach though.

[rr2254545]

photonut4 wrote:
This is interesting. Her requirements are close to beach, more secluded campsites for campfires. For those that do not want to camp, we figured we would give them a list of hotels in the area. The cabins sounded great until we found out you cannot rent them by the night, only by the week.

Just talked to them on the phone, they rent by the day and week with a two night stay minimum on the weekends