Adamson House

Adamson House
23200 Pacific Coast Hwy,
Malibu, CA 90265
(310) 456-8432
View their website

Average Base Cost: $28,000

Average base cost for an Adamson House wedding is calculated by figuring a 125-person guest list on a Saturday night using average catering costs for food/beverage of $125. Transportation to venue, entertainment, shuttles, parking, photographer and some furniture and decor not included. Average price includes gratuity and state sales tax. Price is rounded up to the nearest thousand.

How it Breaks Down

Availability: The Adamson House is available for weddings April-October on Saturdays and Sundays. No weddings are permitted on Holiday weekends.

Facility Rental Fee: $7,000

What’s Included: Their on-site wedding coordinator will be able to assist you with issues relating to the venue. Portable bathrooms are also provided

Extras: You can opt for a docent-led house tour during your cocktail hour for $500

Food: You are allowed to bring in your own caterer, though they recommend going with preferred caterers such as Patina and Truly Yours because they know the property so well and there is such an extensive setup (bringing in a kitchen, etc.). Generally you’d be looking at a cost of around $100-$175 and up per person for food/beverage/setup/serveware/tables/chairs, etc.

Below is a sample package from Truly Yours. For food, prices range from $48/pp-$75/pp for a 5-hour event (minimum of 100 people).

All proposals include the following:

• Customized menu
• White wood chairs for reception
• 60″ round guest tables (seats 8-10 people)
• Floor length table linens in white, ivory or black. Overlays and napkins in a choice of 15 colors
• Old English flatware and dinnerware (salad, entrée, cake). Choice of classic white, clear glass and Italian Tuscany (a burnt mustard color)
• Glassware for each place setting (wine, champagne, water, coffee cup)
• Buffet set-up (platters, chaffing dishes)
• Wedding cakes with design and tasting through bakery
• Lemonade and cucumber mint water station set up prior to ceremony
• Complete staff (servers, chefs & event manager)
• Bartenders and bar packages are additional. Please see below

Upgrades include:

• Natural wood chairs: $3.50/each
• Chiavari chairs (gold or silver, $6.75/each)
• Chair covers: $5.50/each and up plus setup
• High chairs $15.00/each
• Easel $15.00/each
• 24 % Lead Crystal Stemware : $7.25/pp
• Chargers:$3.50+
• White swirl plates:$0.75/each
• Silver rim plates/$0.85/each
• Any square Plate $1.00/each
• Real silver flatware $2.50/pp
• High polish flatware $1.75 /pp
• Specialty linen (Quoted Per Event)
• White podium:$65.00
• 12’ market umbrellas:$49.95/each
• “Square” tables:$15.00 & up/each
• Wood dance floor $450+
• Outdoor heaters $95.00/each
• Microphone & speaker:$150.00
• Tenting (quoted per event)
• Spot lighting (quoted per event)
• Japanese pole lanterns: $35.00/each
• Coat check (quoted per event)
• Votive candles:$0.65/each
• Silver candelabras $25.00/each
• Ice carving (1block):$350+
• Table overlays: $9.50+

Sample Menu 1 (priced at $59.95 for 5 hours):

• A formal plated dinner with dual medallions
• Entrée with family style sides
• Tray passed hors d’oeuvres such as grilled chicken potstickers, phyllo triangles with feta and spinach, wild mushroom heart puffs, mini crab cakes with two dipping sauces
• First course example includes crumbled gorgonzola, walnuts, and grilled pear on baby mixed greens with chardonnay vinaigrette
• Second Course example includes pork with peppercorn sauce, sea bass with mango salsa , and roasted garlic mashed potatoes and baby vegetables

Beverage: Each bar set up is $125. Prices reflect a 4-hour event and range from $7.95/pp to $27.95/pp.

Full Premium Host Bar Service

• $17.95/pp plastic or $20.95/pp glass
• Package includes California Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Champagne, Seagram’s 7, Jim Beam, Tanqueray, Bacardi Rum, Skyy Vodka, Absolut Vodka, Dewar’s Scotch, J & B, Domestic Beer, Water (Sparkling & Flat), Cola, Diet, Lemon-Lime, Ice, Bartenders, Set-Up & Clean Up, Tables, Linen, Mixers and Garnishes.

Client Supplying All Alcohol

• $7.95/pp plastic or $11.50/pp glass
• All glassware, water (sparkling and flat), Cola, diet, lemon-lime, ice, one bartender for 100 guests, setup and cleanup, tables, linens, mixers, and garnishes are included

More Stats:

Space Type: Outside, though tenting is permitted if rain is expected

Size: Up to 200 guests

Bridal Suite: Yes

Parking: 5 parking spaces will be designated for you and immediate family members. However, there is no guest parking on the property. They will have to park in the lot two blocks away and shuttle service arranged to/from there.

Food Service Type: Your choice

Restrooms: While there are permanent restrooms located a 1-2 minute walk away from where the ceremony/reception will be held, they also provide as part of the rental portable bathrooms (the kind that have air conditioning, not the construction site ones!).

How Will Grandma Get There? Guests would most likely stay in Santa Monica, where there are lots of hotel options, or in Malibu at a hotel such as the  Malibu Beach Inn.

Party On! All times include setup/breakdown and are listed as follows:

Saturdays: From 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. Ceremony can start no earlier than 5. Guests can arrive by 4:30. Bar/music must be stop by 10:30.

Sundays: From 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. (12 hour maximim). Ceremonies can start no earlier than 11 a.m.

The Report

The Adamson House was built by Rhoda Rindge Adamson and her husband Merritt Adamson in 1929. Her parents, Frederick Hastings Rindge and Rhoda May Knight Rindge (founder of Malibu Potteries), were the last owners of the Malibu Spanish Land Grant, a stretch of property that is now known as the city of Malibu. When the youngest Rhoda received over 13 acres of property from her mother (known as the “Queen of Malibu” for her fight to keep it a private estate free of roads), she and her husband Merritt hired well-known architect Stiles Clements to build them their house on Vaquero Hill, inspired by Spanish architecture and using the gorgeous tiles created by her mother’s company. It was at the house that the family kept goats, lambs, milk cows, bees, and prize-winning horses. Rhoda lived in the house until her own death in 1962, and the state purchased the property in 1968 with the intent to make additional beach parking. However, the chancellor of Pepperdine University moved in to Adamson House as a way to maintain it until it could be restored, and the Malibu Historical Society was finally formed to preserve the house, which became a California Historical Landmark in 1985.

Woman Getting Married Says

This is truly a dream wedding venue in terms of view and history. If you’re looking for a beach wedding venue close to Los Angeles, I highly, highly recommend this one. However, beauty can have its price when it comes to wedding venues, and this one is not cheap considering nothing is included in that rental fee and the catering company will have to set up pretty much everything. You know I’m also not a fan of venues that are strictly outside, however Southern California is the only place where it makes sense to risk it, weather-wise.

The portable bathrooms that have to be used are also a real downer as is the lack of convenient parking. With that said, once guests see the view and the surroundings chances are that other stuff will fade away. The fact that you can bring in your own caterer is also a huge bonus in terms of cost-savings, which will most likely offset their need to set most everything up.

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