We wanted to choose a venue that was in Florida, as most of our friends and family reside here. Although I immediately knew it was the perfect venue to host our wedding, we wanted to keep their options open and toured a handful of venues. However, none of them seemed as perfect as The Don CeSar.

It was important to us to choose a venue that had lodging on-site and a location with activities for guests to enjoy during the wedding weekend. We wanted to have an outdoor ceremony near the beach, but not directly on the beach, so we opted for an outdoor cocktail hour under the string-lit beach pavilion, followed by an indoor ceremony in one of the gorgeous ballrooms overlooking the ocean. The Don CeSar has always been my dream wedding venue! The service was fantastic, and their staff during the wedding itself were very hospitable and attentive. We could not have asked for a better experience.

We wanted a venue that truly felt like a vacation for our guests. Since a majority of our guests were coming from up north, we wanted to make sure they had good restaurants, a beautiful pool, and beach options to enjoy.

The Don CeSar has everything a wedding guest could want in a weekend getaway. The restaurants and bars are outstanding. The pool and beach are pristine. Our guests had the best time and could not compliment the staff and level of service enough.

We wanted somewhere that would be memorable, special, naturally beautiful, with a longstanding reputation so we could go back and visit for years to come.

The Don CeSar checked all of those boxes! I grew up in St. Pete, and Pierce grew up in Florida. I used to go to The Don as a kid and have many memories there. It is such a special place! Also, it is somewhere we can visit with our future kids one day.

The Don CeSar was exactly what we wanted in a venue. We knew it had a reputation for being extremely easy to work with for a wedding. The entire staff was wonderful and seamlessly executed our wedding with exceptional effort, especially Kasey; she was so amazing!

I grew up coming to Florida to visit my grandparents, and they would always go to the Don CeSar for Easter brunch. Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to get married in ‘the Pink Palace.’ We had our initial visit to double-check our instincts and fell even more in love with the venue.

The Don really has it all: a gorgeous ballroom, fantastic outdoor spaces for cocktail hour, an amazing place for your guests to stay, and a designated wedding concierge service that makes catering, coordinating, and celebrating a delight! The service was wonderful, and they really go out of their way to make every bride feel special on their wedding day. We live right down the road from the Don Cesar. It was important to us that our wedding take place in our hometown so that we could continue to experience the memories of our special day every time we walked into church on Sunday or took a drive down Gulf Boulevard and passed the Don as the sun was setting.

Choosing The Don Cesar as my wedding venue had a sentimental value to it. My family and I have vacationed there since I was a little kid, so I have many fond memories of the resort. It made it that much more special to have my wedding there.

I wanted a venue that was at the beach but had a ceremony space that wasn’t directly on the beach. The Don CeSar really had everything I wanted for my guests. They stayed at the property and didn’t have to be transported anywhere throughout the weekend, which made everything much more convenient.

The Don Cesar wedding experience altogether was great! I received many sweet compliments from guests on how much they enjoyed the wedding weekend. We cannot wait to visit for our one-year anniversary and create family memories of our own!

We wanted something upscale and elegant with breathtaking views. It was so nice to ‘wow’ my guests in the courtyard and on the terrace without having to toes in the sand. After all, I am a lover of designer shoes and couldn’t imagine leaving them behind. Since the majority of our wedding guests were from out-of-town, coming from a winter weather environment, it was important for us to have everyone experience the beauty of St. Pete Beach! We loved that our guests would be able to stay at the resort and feel as though they were on a tropical vacation. I may be partial to The Don CeSar since I am lucky enough to work for the resort, and I knew that the team would be able to exceed every expectation. It was extremely special to have all of my coworkers be able to be a part of my big day!

Who else can say that they have worked, married, played, and stayed at Florida’s ‘Pink Palace? The cherry on top is my new last name! Kassel, pronounced “Castle.”

Food was absolutely at the top of our list. With Matt being from New York and me from Connecticut, we had high standards of what we wanted throughout the night. We tasked the culinary team at The Don to find a way to incorporate Florida cuisine with an ode to our Northern routes. The team took the challenge and ran with it! We ended up with a South Florida station featuring grouper bites and then lobster bisque shooters to represent classic New England and a full Italian pastry display for dessert for a true New York feel. They fully understood what we wanted our guests to experience.

“The Don CeSar is a Tampa Bay icon, as well as being beautiful and timeless both inside and out. We loved the Grand Ballroom. Their Beach House Suites made it easy for families to stay together, but also close by. The service at the Don CeSar was exceptional. Everyone was so helpful, efficient and professional. Lauren Jones (our venue coordinator) was also another huge reason we felt at ease. She was always available via email or phone and was so helpful with different ideas.”

“The second we pulled up to the Don CeSar, my heart melted, and I knew. There is no better venue in St. Pete. The service was amazing; they pay attention to every detail. The views were incredible. Just thinking about it now, brings a smile to my face!”

“We wanted something that would accommodate all of our guests especially the ones traveling from out-of-town. We also wanted it to be a vacation getaway for them, not just to go to a wedding for the night. The Don was the first place we looked at outside of Sarasota and as soon as I saw it I just knew it was the place. It has beach access, is beautiful, close to the airport, is resort style with no need to rent a car and is an amazing New Year’s Eve party for those who stayed the weekend! It was perfect!”

“We wanted something that would accommodate all of our guests especially the ones traveling from out-of-town. We also wanted it to be a vacation getaway for them, not just to go to a wedding for the night. The Don was the first place we looked at outside of Sarasota and as soon as I saw it I just knew it was the place. It has beach access, is beautiful, close to the airport, is resort style with no need to rent a car and is an amazing New Year’s Eve party for those who stayed the weekend! It was perfect!”

“The Don CeSar is such a historic location, and it’s our view from Brett’s parent’s place along the intercoastal. The Don was perfect because the gorgeous courtyard was the happy medium to provide us with that outdoor, beach-y feel without being on the actual beach. I also fell in love with the terrace on the fifth floor which was where we had cocktail hour, as well as the two levels of the Grand Ballroom where we had our reception. The service was exceptional from the moment we checked in through the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, cocktail, reception and through checking out.”

“The Don CeSar had everything I was looking for in a venue. It has the iconic old world glamour I wanted, matched with being on the beach that made it the perfect fit for both of us. We couldn’t have been happier with their service. The entire staff went above and beyond to make our guests stays and our wedding wonderful.”

“We decided on The Don CeSar because I grew up telling my dad that I was going to get married there. I wanted to be a princess with a big dress and pink shoes. Luckily I was able to live out those childhood dreams with my prince! The Don CeSar is a beautiful, classy, and historic building. It’s the closest thing to a castle that we have in St. Petersburg; it was my dream. I thought their service and staff people did an amazing job. They were incredibly helpful and always willing to answer all our questions!”

“The Don is a beautiful and historic building, and I was honored to be able to be married there. The service was great, and the food was spectacular!”

“The Don is known for its high level of service and product. It gave me peace of mind and made wedding planning and the actual wedding weekend more enjoyable to know that everyone would be wonderful thanks to the Don CeSar team. Having worked at the Don CeSar for 10 years with most of that time as a Catering Manager, we were heavily involved in creating our own dinner stations menu. The Don Cesar’s food and service were top notch. All of their staff were genuinely happy and excited for us. We had a great feeling through the whole weekend from all staff. Our guests loved our food, especially the mac and cheese in the parmesan wheel with short ribs and truffle. People are still talking about it months later. We celebrated all weekend long there with the rehearsal dinner on Saturday, followed by the welcome reception then the wedding and reception on Sunday. The weather was perfect and everyone had a blast enjoying the beach and the amenities.”

“I knew the Don CeSar had that classic, romantic and vintage feel that I wanted for our wedding, plus we knew the food there was amazing, so it was honestly an easy choice. After seeing the Grand Ballroom for the first time I knew I had found the perfect place for our wedding reception. From day one everyone made the process so easy for us, from helping us with the menu options, the room block, even providing us with an outstanding on-site wedding coordinator, and even dealing with my 1,000,000 emails a week. The service was EXTRAORDINARY! I cannot express enough how amazing everyone at the hotel was. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a one-stop wedding venue with fantastic staff, gorgeous reception rooms and without a doubt the most delicious food any guest will ever eat at a wedding. Our guests are still raving about how amazing the food at our wedding was and how helpful the staff was, and we owe it all to the Don CeSar and their staff.”

“We searched for a large space to dance and a great location with plenty of activities to fill a weekend. The Don looks like a palace and is such a beautiful hotel. Everyone was very accommodating; they were open to all my unique and sometimes crazy ideas!”

“The Don certainly earned its title, as The Pink Palace. The hotel is absolutely stunning, full of history, and has one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen. After looking at a few venues in the St. Pete area, choosing the Don CeSar was a no-brainer.”

“So many things about The Don made it extra special: the location, the history, the views, everything was absolutely perfect. From start to finish, the service was 5-stars. The staff at The Don really outdid themselves and were always more than professional and punctual!”

“We selected The Don because it was where Paul and I stayed on our first trip together. Paul flew down to meet me, and we absolutely fell in love with the hotel and area. Our relationship got serious after that trip, and since then we have made multiple trips back to the Don! It became our special place, so it made sense to get married there. Beth Clark at The Don provided excellent service throughout the entire planning process. We truly cannot say enough great things about her. She made the whole planning process so enjoyable and assisted happily with the million requests we had. From all the details of the wedding itself to the room block and everything in between, Beth responded to every single request promptly, and always with a ‘Yes!’”

“We really wanted to nail our beach vision and making sure there were views of the beach from the reception area was something we knew we wanted from the start. The Don CeSar was amazing and accommodating throughout the whole process and Heidi, the catering sales manager, was a big reason we chose The Don! She was great!”

“We really wanted to nail our beach vision and making sure there were views of the beach from the reception area was something we knew we wanted from the start. The Don CeSar was amazing and accommodating throughout the whole process and Heidi, the catering sales manager, was a big reason we chose The Don! She was great!”

“Since we lived in Washington D.C., we had to tour 10 venues over the span of a weekend, which was definitely overwhelming. We loved the idea of being near the beach but didn’t want to actually have the wedding on the beach. We also wanted catering to be included because we knew it would be hard for us to make another trip down. We really wanted our guests to be able to enjoy the winter weather in Florida so finding a location that embodied that was important.

We didn’t get to visit The Don CeSar in person before we booked our wedding, however, I had visited many years before as a child. It wasn’t until we saw some of their weddings featured on Marry Me Tampa Bay, that we started actually considering the space. Michael’s aunt had previously planned many corporate events there and she absolutely raved about it. The staff at the Don and the senior catering sales manager, Beth, go above and beyond for their couples. There wasn’t a single email or call that went unanswered, and the team worked efficiently to make sure everything we wanted, we got. Many of the venues we toured told us we wouldn’t be able to include my grandmother’s Brazilian brigadeiros as apart of the dessert table since she’d be making them, but Beth knew how important it was for my family and made it happen.”

“A place that held so many of our great memories and reflected our personalities. We both love the beach, and The Don CeSar was one of our favorite places to spend time relaxing by the water.

The Don CeSar came with a reputation of amazing customer service based on all of the online reviews. We were specifically contacted by Beth Clark, Senior Catering Sales Manager, to help make our dream wedding come to life. The service at The Don was honestly better than we could have imagined. The whole process was smooth and the customer service absolutely spectacular. Beth was such a huge part of piecing our wedding together and she was so helpful in coordinating the whole process. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get married there and would specifically recommend Beth, who was absolutely fantastic from start to finish!”