“Trying to find a special venue for my big three-oh party in the height of wedding season was no easy task, but from day one Fran was an absolute star. She managed to get me a date the day after my actual birthday, and helped me arranged everything from start to finish, right down to arranging some gorgeous sparkly balloons for the tables that matched my glitter theme.

The venue itself is absolutely stunning and well taken care of. Being able to come in and set up so early in the day avoided a lot of potential stress, and meant we could take our time to make sure it was right. Fran checked in on us during set up to ensure everything was how we wanted it, which was great.

The bar staff on the night were fantastic, with special mention to Chris who was unstoppable in his friendliness and helpfulness. Between Chris and Fran the whole night could not have gone better or been an easier process, and I'm so grateful to them for their patience and kindness throughout, particularly Fran as I'm sure my constant lateness for our meetings and flip flopping about timings for the night were frustrating!

Whatever these two are paid it definitely isn't enough! Going above and beyond doesn't cover it, particularly with Fran. They are irreplaceable gems at the Ocean Suite, and I can't thank them enough for all their help in making my special birthday such a success.”


Hannah Hammond – Friday 1st September 2017

“Hi Fran

Saturday was amazing.

Thanks to you and the team for an amazing wedding.

The whole event was extremely well organised from start to finish and the staff were extremely helpful throughout.

The venue was lovely and guests were commenting all day about how amazing the venue is.

Thanks again

The new Mr and Mrs McIntosh”

Mr and Mrs McIntosh - Saturday 26th August 2017 

“Thank you for a great day out at the BBQ at The Ocean Suite for Airbourne, it was a fantastic opportunity to see the flying displays as close as possible, without being swamped by crowds.  The BBQ itself was fantastic great choice of meats and salads,  and plenty of it, much better
that we expected. “

“Thank you for the lovely BBQ. It was brought for a special treat for my friends. We all enjoyed the view and the food.”

“ Perfect venue, great viewing of the  Air displays, lovely food, defnitley booking up for next year !”

Airbourne Weekend – Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August


 

"Thanks for your help and efficiency with organising our event.  Everyone had the most amazing time in the Private Victoria Suite on Saturday.  

The BBQ was lovely and plenty to eat.  The cheese and biscuits and coffee/tea went down well in the afternoon.  All went smoothly. I  will book again for next year!"


Denise Banfield – Saturday 19th August




“The location was absolutely fantastic and the views of Airbourne were incomparable.  Food was delicious and we very much enjoyed our afternoon.”

Barwell Solicitors – Friday 18th August

“We had our wedding at the ocean suite on 6th August 2017, and we couldn't be happier. The venue is unique and beautiful, with gorgeous views across the seafront and coast line. The staff at the Ocean Suite were fantastic in ensuring our day went smoothly, and were very accommodating throughout the day. The food was excellent and served hot, and each dish was presented beautifully. We would also like to thank Fran for her help throughout the process too. I would definitely recommend The Ocean Suite as a venue for your wedding, you will not be disappointed!”

Zoe and Gregg – Sunday 6th August 2017

‘We held our wedding ceremony & reception / party at the Ocean Suite & could not have asked for a better venue – the approach walking down the pier, characterful room with sea views, & thankfully great weather out on the terrace made it ideal for both. Fran & her team were extremely helpful, friendly, & well organised both in the lead up to & on the day which meant that everything went as close to perfectly as we could have hoped for.

We were able to access the room the day before which was a huge help in getting our decorations up. Following the ceremony Fran’s team then had no problem re-setting the room for the meal while also ushering our band in to set up & serving welcome drinks out on the terrace, no small feat! The food was all great & served quickly & efficiently table-by-table to our 150+ guests while drinks were kept well topped up.

The venue was also great in the evening for the party, the bar was well-manned with no queues & the dance floor was still packed at 2am when sadly we had to call it a night! We’d have no reservations at all in highly recommending the Ocean Suite.’

Jon and Jean – Saturday 8th July 2017

"Well, where to start? We had an absolutely fantastic time on our wedding day. Firstly, we would like to thank you for all your help from our initial introduction and viewing, through to the day after the wedding. You have been completely professional and friendly throughout. If we had questions, we emailed or called and you always answered them. Nothing was too much trouble. Your calm and efficient manner really helped us with planning and eased our concerns.

The night before when we set up the room, you were on hand to help and run through last minute niggles.

Onto the wedding day itself - I had prepared you that there may be a handful of guests not arriving. I text you in the morning to confirm who was not coming, and you replied saying all received.

We had requested to be let into the room on our own before all our other guests, so we could have ten minutes on our own. You facilitated this, and kept our guests on the terrace with arrival drinks until we were ready. Then we allowed the rest of our guests to enter into the decorated Ocean Suite. When we entered the room, it looked fantastic, and you had removed the places that we had spoken about in the morning.  It's fair to say all of our guests were wowed by the room itself, and really is such a beautiful setting. Then of course, the usual rush to the bar area - You had enough staff on hand to ensure no one was waiting long to be served. The drinks were a reasonable price, and your bar was sufficiently stocked.

It was then time for some food. We had opted for BBQ for our wedding breakfast to be served at 3.30pm. As with all these things, we ran over (due to photographs) by around 20mins. You kept the food warm and ready to go and served us table by table very efficiently. I have to say my burger was a little bit dry and may have sat there a while - saying this I had no sauce on it to avoid any spillages on my ivory dress! Everyone I spoke to at the reception seemed very much to enjoy the food, and said there was plenty enough variety and amount. There was nice selection of meat, salad, coleslaw, and roasted veg etc. Suffice to say, 99% of guests were satisfied. I think this is pretty hard to achieve, but you and your team did it! You then served pudding. The brownies got a very warm reception, and the little mini tartlets were nice, but maybe a bit small. Or maybe if there were another dozen on the plate that may have been a bit better. None the less, they were tasty!

We then had tea and coffee served to each table.

The air conditioning broke. This is one of those out of your control things that just happened. It was not ideal, but certainly didn't spoil any part of our day.

Your staff were incredibly friendly, helpful and organised. This includes bar staff, restaurant staff, security and anyone else behind the scenes we may have missed. And it was noticeable how nicely turned out they were - it really makes a difference when staff take pride in their appearance.

They turned the room around with no hassle or fuss. And the evening food was really good - I think we may have ordered too much, but then it's better to have too much than not enough. I am finding it hard to find fault in anypart of our wedding day. It was absolutely tremendous and the setting was perfect! We would highly recommend a function here.""

Jenny and Pete Bassett - Saturday 5th August 2017

"Jonathan and Jean are now relaxing on their honeymoon in Bali and will be in touch with you on their return. However, Val and I just wanted to express our own thanks to you for all your hard work on Saturday. The whole day was very enjoyable and hugely successful, in no small part due to the considerable efforts of you and your team - please pass on our sincere thanks to them. With that number of people it must have been a logistical nightmare, but it ran like clockwork. So, you can now tell prospective customers that you can manage receptions/dinners for 150+ people no problem!"

Rob and Val Pinfield (Parents of Wedding Couple) - Saturday 8th July 2017

"The Ocean Suite was a fantastic location for our wedding reception. The 270 degree sea views are a stunning backdrop and the room itself was a perfect space for dinner and dancing. The staff were professional and the food was excellent. Thank you to Fran and her team for their hard work in ensuring that the evening went without a hitch. We could not have wished for a more perfect evening."

Laure and James Trebble - Saturday 6th May 2017

"Firstly, thank you for hosting our event on the 3rd March. I wanted to wait and gather my thoughts and also to get a grand total before a wrote to you. I can now confirm that we raised £2072.26p From the nights entertainment.

From the moment we started talking about the event I knew that I was in safe hands. The closer we got to the 3rd it was clear that it would run smoothly.

I have to say though that I wasn't expecting it to run as smoothly as it did. You always expect something to stand out as something we could have done better but not on the 3rd. The food was fabulous. The staff were friendly and courteous. Even to the point of going off to get a hot chocolate from god knows where. When Ruben took over towards the end of the evening you might think that there would be a slight glitch on the hand over but it kept on running smoothly. I have to say that Chris at the bar was a very pleasant and friendly chap. A real asset to the company.

But without the help of Fran we wouldn't have been able to make the evening what we wanted. Because of the charities we were trying to raise money for I was getting a bit stressed that things wouldn't be right. But Fran really went above and beyond and made the evening really special. I haven't heard a bad word from anyone about the evening. Everyone felt welcomed and found the venue a happy place to be. I don't think this would have been possible without Fran at The Helm. A real ambassador for the Lions Group.

Thank you for a fabulous evening"

Nick Moon – Friday 3rd March 2017

"This was the first time we'd held one of our cream tea fundraisers in the Ocean Suite on the Pier and I was delighted with the success of the whole event. The cream tea itself was absolutely delicious with a good range of sandwiches, cakes and obviously the traditional scones, cream and jam. We'd had to move from our originally venue on the pier of their Victorian Tea Room, as the number of bookings exceeded their capacity.

So the Ocean Suite had to live up to high expectations! And I can say, hand on heart, that the stunning views, the exemplary service provided by the staff and the delicious cream tea all ensured it was a very successful event for us. I was also pleased it gave an opportunity for a lot of our older members and supporters to support one of our fundraisers more up their street rather than a late, formal evening dinner. Full marks to the Lion Group for ensuring we all had such an enjoyable spring afternoon on our beautiful, iconic Eastbourne Pier."

Former Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd - Sunday 19th March 2017