Below are the questions couples ask us most often before booking their Myrtle Beach wedding venue. Guest counts, payments, vendor rules, insurance, decor limits, timelines and cancellation policies are all answered in full. If a question is not covered here, email us and we will answer it directly.
The Venue at White Oaks Farm is a private event venue in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. Weddings are hosted in the Main Hall with a covered Veranda used for ceremonies during inclement weather. The venue provides ceremony and reception seating, handles setup and breakdown of its own inventory, and requires couples to book their planner, caterer and DJ from a curated preferred vendor list.
Booking, Payments and Budget
Email us your preferred date and a backup date in case the first one is already taken. We will confirm availability and send a contract. The date is not held until the contract is signed and the retainer is paid.
We also require a credit card or a $500 check on file to cover any potential damage to the facility or grounds. This is a security deposit, not a charge. It is released after the event once the building is cleared on time and no damage has occurred.
A refundable $500 security deposit is required for every event, regardless of guest count. It is held on the credit card or check you place on file and returned after the event, provided there is no damage and the building is cleared on time.
A separate $1,000 staffing and cleaning fee applies to any event with more than 200 guests.
Payment due dates are then scheduled backward from your event date.
Booking more than twelve months out gives you the most flexible payment schedule and the widest choice of dates. Booking inside twelve months compresses the payment schedule, and booking inside six months requires payment in full. Saturday dates in spring and fall are the first to go.
Yes. A retainer is always required to hold a date, and the balance is split into scheduled payments. How the plan is structured depends on which rental you choose and how far out your date is.
A 30% retainer reserves your date when the wedding is booked more than twelve months out. The remaining balance is split evenly across three additional payments.
Our All Inclusive Packages require a 15% retainer. The remaining balance can be split into as many as 15 payments, which is why most couples planning further out choose this route for cash flow.
If the date is booked within twelve months, a signed contract and the retainer are required to reserve the date. The retainer is 30% for a single day rental or 15% for an All Inclusive package. Booking inside of six months requires payment in full at signing.
The final installment is due 30 days before your event. All payments are non refundable.
We accept cash, check, credit card, bank transfer, PayPal and Venmo. A 3.7% credit card and bank processing fee is added to any payment made by card or online payment platform. Paying by bank transfer, check or cash avoids that fee entirely.
On a $20,000 balance, that 3.7% difference is roughly $740. Couples paying in installments often use a check or bank transfer for the large payments and reserve the card for smaller ones.
We recommend couples plan a total budget between $35,000 and $45,000 for a 100 guest wedding at White Oaks Farm. That figure covers the full day, not the venue alone. Venue rental rates are listed on our Pricing and Packages page.
The range moves based on the packages you choose with each vendor and the type of food, flowers and alcohol you select. Guest count is the single largest lever you control. Cutting a guest list from 150 to 100 reduces catering, bar, linens, rentals and staffing at the same time.
Beyond the venue rental, plan for a wedding planner or coordinator, catering, DJ, photographer, videographer, florist, officiant, event insurance, linens if you book a single day rental, bar service, and rentals such as silverware, plates and specialty decor. Building the budget line by line before you sign anything is the fastest way to avoid surprises later.
Guest Count, Seating and What Is Included
Our Myrtle Beach wedding venue can comfortably seat 220 guests inside the Main Hall. We recommend a 200 guest count because it allows for a better floor plan layout, wider walkways, a proper dance floor and easier service during dinner.
We provide assorted size tables and chairs for up to 200 guests. Any guest count over 200 is subject to an additional $1,000 cleaning and venue staffing fee, and must be approved by White Oaks once your planner has presented an appropriate layout.
That approval step exists for a practical reason. A room that seats 220 on paper does not always function at 220 once you add a head table, a bar, a DJ setup, a cake table and a dance floor. Your planner’s layout is what tells us whether the number works in the actual space.
Our Main Hall seats up to 220 guests, and the room holds a maximum of 250 people including vendors and staff. If you are planning a larger scale wedding, reach out and we will talk through the options together. Guest counts near the maximum have enough moving parts that we would rather make those calls with you directly than lay out a fixed rule here.
Any event with more than 200 guests is subject to an additional staffing and cleaning fee of $1,000.
Once your guest count passes 200, budget for the additional $1,000 staffing and cleaning fee and for rental of any tables, chairs and linens beyond the 200 we provide. Settle these numbers before you finalize the guest list, not after invitations go out.
The rental includes up to 200 white padded seat resin chairs for the ceremony. For the reception it includes assorted tables and up to 200 wooden cross back chairs. White Oaks handles the setup and breakdown of everything we provide.
The rental day includes exclusive private access to the 43 acre estate. That covers the 9,800 square foot Main Hall with room for up to 220 seated guests, the covered Veranda, five outdoor ceremony sites, two getting ready suites with a family room between them, the catering prep kitchen, unlimited ice, an on site dumpster for vendor trash, and in person concierge service on the day of your event. Two hours of bridal portrait time is included with your booking.
A complimentary golf cart valet is included to shuttle guests, though it is not run in the rain for safety. The Main Hall is fully heated and air conditioned, the property is wheelchair accessible throughout, and there is a large parking lot with room for several hundred cars where guests may leave a vehicle overnight.
Rental rates are published in full on our Pricing and Packages page. Single day rental with concierge service is $9,000 on Sunday, $10,000 on Friday and $11,000 on Saturday. Customizable All Inclusive wedding packages start at $30,000, and a full breakdown of inclusions is on our What’s Included page.
Yes. The venue has a full catering prep kitchen with a large Sub Zero refrigerator, five rolling stainless steel prep tables, a commercial sink and a commercial ice maker. Every vendor and guest has access to unlimited ice, and the kitchen is clean and empty when you arrive.
This is a prep only kitchen, so there is no cooking inside the building. Our preferred caterers set up tents just outside the prep kitchen and cook fresh on site directly next to that space, so food comes out hot without being cooked indoors.
Tables and chairs are provided for up to 200 guests. Linens depend on which rental you book. Silverware, plates and decor are typically handled by your caterer or planner.
With a single day rental, you rent linens through White Oaks once your table layout is confirmed between your planner and our staff. This guarantees the linen sizes and the table sizes match. Our staff orders the linens, picks them up, and places them on the tables so your decorator or planner can begin decorating immediately. White Oaks returns the linens the following day.
With one of our All Inclusive custom packages, White Oaks provides all of these items.
All Inclusive wedding packages include floor length polyester linens for your layout. Single Day Rental bookings do not include linens, and linens must be rented through White Oaks.
Linen rentals are $30 per table. We handle them in house so the sizes are correct and the linens are already on the tables when your planner arrives to start decorating.
Mismatched linen sizing is one of the most common day of problems at any venue. Linens ordered without the confirmed table dimensions arrive too short, too long or in the wrong quantity, and the fix has to happen during setup when there is no time for it. Handling linens in house removes that risk and gets your decorating started on schedule.
All floor plans are due 30 days before your event and must be uploaded to your client portal. You build the seating and table arrangement with your planner.
Once the table layout is confirmed, you place your linen order with White Oaks based on that layout and your color choice. The order of operations matters. Guest count sets the table count, the table count sets the layout, and the layout sets the linen order.
You are responsible for hiring insured vendors, purchasing event insurance and placing a security deposit on file.
Linen colors and sizes are determined once your guest count and table layout are finalized.
Vendors, Planners and Insurance
A professional wedding planner or event coordinator must be chosen from our preferred vendor list, or approved by White Oaks. Every other vendor, including caterers and DJs, can come from our list or from outside it, as long as they go through our approval process first.
We strongly prefer that you use our preferred caterers and DJs, because they know the property and the timeline. They are not required, though. If you want to use a caterer, DJ or any other vendor who is not on our list, contact us for our vendor requirements and submit that vendor for approval at least 60 days before your event date. All outside vendors must carry insurance and complete a site visit before your event.
All vendors, whether from our list or your own, must carry insurance and schedule a site visit in advance.
Yes, with the exception of your planner, who must come from our list or be approved by White Oaks. Caterers, DJs and other vendors can come from outside our list once they clear our approval process.
To use an outside vendor, contact us for our vendor requirements and submit that vendor for approval at least 60 days before your event date. Starting earlier is smart, since approval is not guaranteed and you will want time to choose someone else if a vendor does not qualify.
We built our preferred vendor list because those planners, caterers and DJs already know the property, the timeline, the load in process and the 11pm clear out, and they are personally invested in your day going well. That experience is why a planner from the list, or one we approve, is required for every event.
We know couples sometimes have a caterer or DJ they love who is not on our list, so we allow outside vendors through our approval process. The list is our recommendation, not a wall. Submit an outside vendor at least 60 days before your date and we will review them.
Yes. A wedding planner or event coordinator from our provided vendor list is required for every event at White Oaks Farm.
Your planner is responsible for the floor plan, the linen order, any room flips, vendor coordination during the day, and clearing all personal items and decor from the building by 11pm. Those responsibilities sit with the planner rather than with venue staff, which is why the role is required and not optional.
Yes. Every event requires event insurance with $1,000,000 in liability coverage, and White Oaks Farm must be listed as additionally insured on the policy.
Host liquor liability must be included on the policy for every event. Our Pricing and Packages page lists the estimated cost of event insurance at $125, which is one of the smallest line items in the entire wedding budget and the one couples forget most often.
Purchase it before your event and send us the certificate showing White Oaks Farm as additionally insured. Most couples buy it a few months out, once the guest count and bar plan are settled, since the policy needs to reflect what is actually happening that day.
Access, Timeline and Clean Up
Arrival time starts at 8:00am. Breakdown, departure and music off happen no later than 10:00pm, so that all personal property, guests and vendors are off the property by 11:00pm.
You or your planner must allow enough time to get personal belongings out of the facility by 11:00pm. If the building is not cleared of personal items, decor and rentals by 11:00pm, a fee of $1,000 per hour applies until it is.
Most of our clients rent a storage trailer to pack and transport personal items. It turns the pack out into one load instead of a parade of car trips at the end of a long night.
You control when the festivities start and how long they last inside the 8:00am to 11:00pm rental window. Rental drop offs usually happen between 8:00am and 9:00am so your planner has time to prepare and set up.
Here is an example:
| 8:00am | Venue access, wedding party plus hair and makeup arrive |
| 9:00am | Vendors arrive to decorate and prepare the venue throughout the day |
| 5:00pm | Guests begin to arrive |
| 5:30pm | Ceremony begins |
| 6:00pm | Cocktail hour begins |
| 7:00pm | Wedding party entrance, speeches, dinner |
| 8:00pm | Dance floor opens |
| 9:45pm | Last call for alcohol |
| 10:00pm | Grand departure, music off, planner breaks down personal items |
| 11:00pm | All guests and vendors depart, personal items removed, White Oaks handles the cleaning |
Ceremony start time is the decision that shapes everything else. A 5:30pm ceremony leaves roughly four and a half hours of celebration before the 10:00pm music cutoff. Starting at 4:00pm buys more reception time. Starting at 6:30pm cuts it.
No. All drop off and setup is restricted to the rental day period, and everything must be removed by 11:00pm that same night.
Plan your load in for the morning of. Have decor boxed, labeled by area and ready to go by 8:00am so your planner and decorator can work straight through. If your decor plans are heavy, reach out and we will talk through how to make the day work.
Every booking includes one hour for a rehearsal during the week of your event. Schedule that hour with us ahead of time, since the exact day and time depend on other events on the calendar that week.
Rehearsing the week of keeps the walk through fresh for everyone standing up with you. Lock in the time as early as you can rather than assuming a specific day is open.
All amplified outside music must end by 9:30pm. Music inside the venue must conclude at 10:00pm. This gives your team time to break down and gets all guests and vendors off the property by 11:00pm.
Tell your DJ these times at booking. The last hour of the reception should be planned around a 10:00pm hard stop, with last call at 9:45pm and your grand departure timed to the music ending.
The client and planner are responsible for making sure all event trash, decor and personal belongings are removed from the venue by 11:00pm. All vendors are responsible for taking out their own trash throughout the event. There is a dumpster on site for trash removal.
White Oaks staff handles the standard cleaning after the event. What we do not handle is your personal property. Anything you brought in has to leave with you by 11:00pm, or a $1,000 per hour fee applies until the building is cleared.
Ceremony, Weather and Getting Ready
Our Veranda is the rain backup for the ceremony. The call to move indoors must be made 4 hours before the ceremony start time so there is enough time to set up.
Your wedding planner or coordinator is responsible for any room flips.
The 4 hour deadline is firm because a ceremony relocation is a physical move of chairs, florals, sound and decor. For a 5:30pm ceremony, the decision has to be made by 1:30pm. Build a rain plan with your planner in advance so the call takes minutes instead of an hour of debate.
It rained on our wedding day and you could hardly tell.
Kelly Hughes, married May 2026
Yes. The property has five separate outdoor ceremony sites, so you can choose the backdrop that fits your vision:
We provide 200 white folding ceremony chairs for outdoor ceremonies, and the covered Veranda serves as the backup location if the weather turns. Walk all five sites during your planning visit and pick a first choice and a rain plan with your planner in advance.
Yes. There are two private suites on site for the wedding party to get ready.
The suites are available from 8:00am with your rental day, so hair and makeup teams can start on property instead of shuttling in from a hotel.
Each suite comfortably fits about 8 to 10 people who are actively getting ready, with room for more to hang out and take photos. There is space to steam dresses. Between the two suites is a spacious family room you can use however you like that day, so if you need extra room to get dressed or to spread out, it is there.
The suites do not have their own private restrooms, but each restroom connects to a suite through a short hall, and a sliding door closes off the restrooms and both suites together to make the whole area private while everyone gets ready.
Yes. Two hours of portrait time is included with your booking. Bridal portraits are scheduled Monday through Thursday based on availability. We do not offer bridal portrait times on weekends because of weddings, and only White Oaks brides may take bridal portraits at the venue.
Book the session with us as soon as your dress is ready and altered. Spring and fall weekdays fill quickly, and the property looks different across the seasons, so the date you choose changes the look of the images.
Decor, Pets and Bar Rules
No. We do not allow holes to be placed in the walls. Hooks are already installed in designated areas, and you are welcome to use those to hang or tie up additional decorations.
Have your planner or florist walk the space and note the existing hook locations before finalizing any hanging installations. Designing an installation first and discovering the anchor points later is how couples end up rebuilding a plan on the morning of.
No adhesive material is allowed on the walls, floors, gates or wood pillars. All decorations must be freestanding, tied or magnetic.
Candles are allowed as long as the flame is enclosed in glass and does not reach higher than 2 inches below the top of the glass.
Not permitted anywhere on the property: confetti, rice, bird seed, sand, balloons, wish lanterns and glitter.
These items either damage the property, create a fire risk or leave debris that cannot be cleaned from grass and gravel. Send this list to your florist and planner early so nobody orders a send off toss that cannot be used.
Send offs are welcome outdoors. Sparklers, bubbles, cold sparks and fog are all allowed outside, and we walk you through our sparkler and send off safety instructions before anything is lit. If you want a petal toss, the petals must be real rather than artificial.
Yes, with specific conditions. We are dog friendly for the ceremony and for photos afterward.
Assign a specific person as the dog handler and give them a ride home lined up before the ceremony. That one detail is what makes the policy work in practice.
Smoking is allowed outdoors as long as guests use the designated ashtrays. There is no smoking or vaping of any kind indoors or under the Veranda. The simple rule we give guests is that if you look up and see a roof, you cannot smoke there.
Yes. Bring your own is allowed, and host bar options with pricing are listed on our Host Bar Packages page.
If you choose the BYO package, plan for a minimum of 2 servings per person for cocktail hour and the reception, and typically 7 servings per person minimum across the entire event.
Cash bars are not allowed. Your bar must be hosted, meaning either you provide the alcohol or you book a host bar package through us.
Use the 7 servings per person minimum as your baseline and multiply by your final guest count. For 100 guests that is 700 servings minimum across the night. Buying from a retailer with a return policy on unopened cases is the standard way couples avoid overbuying.
Remember that host liquor liability is required on your event insurance policy for every event, and alcohol in the getting ready suites is covered under that same requirement.
Yes. The North Myrtle Beach section of the Grand Strand is only a few miles away and offers hotels, resorts, condos and vacation rentals across every budget range.
Most couples reserve a room block for out of town guests and arrange transportation back at the end of the night, since the property clears at 11:00pm. Guests traveling in for a destination wedding usually make a weekend of it, which is one of the advantages of marrying in the Myrtle Beach area.
Yes. Guest Wi-Fi is available throughout the venue. Your vendors can use it for payments, music and livestreaming, and guests who want to share photos during the reception can hop on without burning through cell data.
Deciding If White Oaks Farm Is Right For You
White Oaks Farm fits couples who want a private property near Myrtle Beach with the structure of an experienced vendor team already in place.
We would rather tell you now than after a deposit. White Oaks may not be the right venue if any of the following are dealbreakers for you.
These are the items that surprise couples late in the planning process, when they are hardest to fix.
Setting a ceremony time without working backward from the 10:00pm music cutoff is the most common one. A late ceremony compresses dinner, speeches and dancing into a window that will not hold them.
Inviting more people than the budget supports is the second. Guest count drives catering, bar, linens, rentals and staffing fees at the same time, so an extra 40 guests costs far more than 40 plates.
Waiting until the last month to think about the pack out is the third. Decide early who is loading your items out and how, and rent the storage trailer if you have a lot of decor.
Ask every venue you tour the same questions so you can compare them honestly.
These are the deadlines tied to White Oaks specifically. Your planner will layer the rest of your planning around them.
| At booking | Signed contract, retainer paid, credit card or $500 check on file |
| As early as possible | Book your planner, caterer and DJ from the preferred vendor list |
| At least 60 days out | Deadline to submit any vendor not on our preferred list for approval, per our vendor requirements |
| Ongoing | Scheduled payments per your plan, plus bridal portraits on a weekday |
| 30 days out | Final payment due and floor plan uploaded to your client portal |
| After layout is confirmed | Linen order placed with White Oaks by size and color |
| Before the event | Event insurance purchased with $1,000,000 liability and White Oaks listed as additionally insured |
| 4 hours before ceremony | Final weather call if the ceremony needs to move to the Veranda |
Couples choose White Oaks because the day is already structured before they arrive.
Ceremony and reception happen in one place, with a covered Veranda ready if the weather turns. Two private suites mean the wedding party gets ready on site starting at 8:00am. Seating for up to 200 is included and our staff sets it up and breaks it down. Linens are ordered, sized, placed and returned by us so your planner walks into a room that is ready to decorate.
The preferred vendor list is the part couples appreciate most after the fact. Those planners, caterers and DJs have worked this property repeatedly. They know the load in, the timeline and the 11:00pm clear out, which means fewer decisions land on you during the day.
Every couple plans differently, so we offer both a Single Day Rental and customizable All Inclusive packages, with payment plans that stretch across as many as 15 installments. Two hours of bridal portrait time on the property is included either way.
What couples say:
We toured so many places, and nothing compared.
Alex Wells, married at White Oaks
If you are deciding between this venue and another, pick this venue.
Rachel Dozler
An absolutely gorgeous venue. So glad we chose it for our special day.
Terann Williams, married March 2026
Gorgeous, spacious and perfectly built for everything you need on your wedding day.
Ally Bradfield
Hands down one of my favorite venues to shoot at.
Ciarra Self, wedding photographer
Date Change and Cancellation Policy
Plans change, and we would rather you understand our policy before you sign than discover it later. These terms allow us to hold your date exclusively, which means turning away every other couple who wants it.
The retainer and all payments made are non refundable in the event of a cancellation. If you cancel, those payments cannot be returned, and once the cancellation is confirmed the process is complete.
If you choose to celebrate with us again in the future, we would be honored to host your event. Payments made toward the original date are not transferable to a new booking.
Rescheduling is possible. How much of what you have paid can be applied to a new date depends on how close you are to your original event date.
| 12 to 9 months before your date | 50% of your original retainer can be applied toward the new date |
| 9 to 3 months before your date | 10% of your total paid amount can be applied toward the new date |
| Less than 3 months before your date | Payments cannot be applied toward a new date |
All new date requests are subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed. Funds can be applied toward a future date one time only.
If the venue rental rate has increased or policies have changed since your original booking, the new contract reflects the current rate and current policies, regardless of your previous contract.
Email us your preferred date and a backup date and we will confirm availability and answer anything not covered here. If you are still comparing venues, bring the question list above with you. Any venue worth booking will answer them all without hesitating.
Keep exploring: Pricing and Packages | What’s Included | Host Bar Packages | Photo Gallery | Check Your Date