Saltdean Lido

First, the good. We had only good experiences with the staff we interacted with, all staff were friendly and courteous throughout. The venue looks superb and we were very lucky with the weather. The day itself did not face a major hitch. Indeed, we managed to enjoy the day unencumbered by the stress of the event, and all the staff we met on the day from the venue were incredibly helpful and professional and we are extremely grateful to them!

Now for the not so good...

The venue's contact for us changed three times, because of Lido personnel changes. Record keeping between their team was not comprehensive, meaning we had to go over everything three times, which with an operation as complex as a wedding is incredibly time consuming. Conversations with a previous contact would be consistently lost to the void, which was made worse since we negotiated agreements with them. Fortunately, we had the foresight to ensure when we signed it that these things were written into the contract, and the venue honoured the agreement.

The venue requires events to use their in-house catering, something we were happy to do. Having been invited to taste the menu we were pleased by the food provided...
However the venue's in-house catering provider changed one month before the wedding due to a takeover from the folks at Reading Room Brighton. By this point, we had already received our guests food choices.
The food provided on the wedding day looked far different to the food we were provided at the tasting. Even allowing for lowering expectations for having to serve a large quantity of people, we (and our guests) were disappointed with the quality and quantity of some of the dishes. It was obvious to us that the new catering team either had no pictures or recipes for the food designed by the previous catering team - or had consciously chosen to make it different; either way, not good.

The pasta dish was 3 pieces of tortellini when in our tasting it was 7. The cod curry (which wowed us at the tasting) tasted quite bland and seemed absent of spice. The "banoffee pie" was similar to a Mr Kipling with banana paste smudged on top.

(By contrast, the chorizo starter, beef main and basque cheesecake dessert were very well received.)

We were disappointed by a few other things.

The best man - a coeliac - was incorrectly provided with a non-gluten free dish. Fortunately he sensed something wasn't right, but given how many total dietary reqs we had, it didn't fill us with confidence.

We noticed many overcharges (from either poor recordkeeping or selective forgetfulness, we will never know) on our bill. The venue did add an "optional 10% service charge" to the bill, which was not mentioned to us when agreeing to the contract. This was added on a bill to us *before* the wedding (i.e. before we received the service). To their credit, it was removed upon request.

Other overcharges were due to not factoring in the agreements we made when signing the contract - but similarly, after pointing these out, this was ironed out.

Advice for others, we noticed it did get a bit toasty with all the people in the space. We were lucky with a sunny 20C June day, but folks should note that the venue does not have full air conditioning and while they can mitigate the worst of the heat by opening balcony doors and active ventilation, those holding an event here on a hotter day than ours with 80+ guests might want to consider somewhere else.

To be clear, we enjoyed our wedding day. The venue is beautiful, the location is ideal, and the photos are great!

But for these reasons together, we would probably not encourage this venue to others for a wedding. It really is a spectactular venue, but the price did seem too high for the service we received. Nonetheless, we wish the best to all the folks at the Lido and may well drop by in future for a bite to eat or a swim!

We had such a lovely day from start to finish! The venue is stunning, we were really looked after by everyone who works there and it made such a difference being able to take the little ones to the beach to blow off some steam and come back to the wedding party. We are from the Midlands (landlocked) so seeing the white cliffs along the sea was a real treat. I would and do recommend to my friends and family as a wedding destination!

We would like to express our thanks and gratitude to you all at Saltdean Lido and the venue its self. We truly had magical day and your team were exceptional. Your not just a venue, you're the entire package.

Thank you so much for a lovely evening at the Lido... delicious food and good company x

An absolutely brilliant day from start to finish. Staff from day one were amazing, so helpful, nothing was a problem. Duty managers were great too and the day could not have been more perfect! All our guests loved it, loved the venue, loved the food. Thank you for making our day all we dreamed of and more.

We got married in June 2024 and it was honestly the most incredible day! We were blown away with the venue, the light, the architecture, the food was absolutely incredible. The staff are fantastic, all very passionate and made sure we had the best day that we will treasure forever.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Our daughters wedding at Saltdean Lido was a special and magical day and exceeded all our expectations in every way. When we visited last year and had a look around we all knew it was the perfect place. The staff were absolutely wonderful, nothing was too much trouble.

Our beautiful dream wedding came true at Saltdean Lido. We didn't want a stuffy, formal wedding and the team understood that. Our day felt magical from start to finish, all of the staff were amazing. We also were quite a last minute wedding so it could have been stressful, Catherine made it so easy for us. Everything was perfect and I wish I could do it all over again. Perfect venue, staff, food and memories. Thank you.

Just a quick message to thank you for organizing our celebration at the weekend. We had a great time as did our guests, the weather couldn't have been better.

Amazing place. Dinner was lovely. Staff are very very kind and helpful. Views are amazing!

Just a quick message to say thank you for hosting a wonderful day. We had so many compliments on the venue and many said it was the best wedding food they had ever had. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the day.

Such a unique venue! A real hidden gem! I had an incredible time, the staff were so helpful, the food was delicious the ballroom is like no where else I've been to. Thank you for a fantastic weekend!

This is just to thank you all so much. We all had a wonderful time and felt so welcomed. Very kind and professional service throughout the night.

Our heartfelt and sincerest thanks to you and the team for making our Wedding Day the BEST DAT EVER! Everyone involved has been so lovely and your organization has been exemplary throughout. We felt relaxed on the day and could actually enjoy ourselves knowing you guys had everything under control. The catering was incredible. Everything flowed so naturally and honestly, we couldn't have asked for more. What a fantastic, friendly and lovely team you have at the Lido.

We had the best time, couldn't have imagined a better day! Thank you so much to you and the team - everything went so smoothly. Everyone loved the venue and said how friendly and helpful the staff were. Food was great too.