Wedding DJ at Sea Trail Golf Resort & Convention Center in Sunset Beach, NC

The Space

Sea Trail’s story starts in 1977, when four Brunswick County businessmen bought 625 acres from International Paper Company with a vision for a golf destination. The first course, designed by Dan Maples, opened in October 1985 and was named one of the country’s Best New Resort Courses, and two more courses, from Rees Jones and Willard Byrd, followed by the end of 1990, giving the resort the 54 holes across 2,000 acres it still carries today.

The convention center opened in 2000 and went through a full renovation completed in January 2024, reopening with more than 40,000 square feet of event space. That renovation sits alongside the resort’s older character: three named golf courses, the Jones Byrd Clubhouse with its own dining and bar areas, and a Piazza with a garden and gazebo, giving couples both a freshly updated ballroom and a more established, golf-club side of the property to choose between.

Capacity & Layout

The Grand Ballroom, formed by combining Ballrooms I, II, and III, holds up to 1,000 guests for a reception or 400 for a seated banquet, numbers that put Sea Trail firmly in large-wedding territory. For couples who do not need that scale, the individual ballrooms break down to smaller capacities on their own, and the outdoor Piazza, Garden, and Gazebo space, at roughly 4,800 square feet, holds up to 150.

With multiple ballroom configurations, an outdoor piazza and gazebo, two boardrooms, and the separate Jones Byrd Clubhouse with its own indoor and outdoor dining areas, the property offers a couple real choice in how to lay out ceremony, reception, and any additional gatherings across the weekend. That flexibility means the venue can host a wedding of a dozen guests or well over a thousand without the space feeling wrong for the size of the group.

Amenities

The 55 Bistro Bar functions as a full bar, lounge, and dining venue on its own, useful for a rehearsal dinner or a welcome party separate from the main event, and the Jones Byrd Clubhouse adds further dining options with both interior and exterior seating. Sawmill townhomes and a broader villa rental program, with one- to four-bedroom units, give the resort real on-site lodging for a wedding party staying multiple nights.

Golf itself is a built-in amenity here, three championship courses designed by Dan Maples, Rees Jones, and Willard Byrd, spread across 2,000 acres, giving guests who arrive early or stay late something to do beyond the wedding itself. Full catering services operate through the resort directly, and with more than 40,000 square feet of freshly renovated event space, the convention center side of the property is built specifically for events rather than adapted from another use.

Location & Getting There

We’ve worked a wedding at Sea Trail, and the resort sits just minutes, about three miles, from Sunset Beach itself, close enough that a couple can pair a coastal setting with the resort’s own grounds without a long drive between the two. The 2,000-acre property means guests are moving through a genuinely large resort campus, from the convention center to the golf courses to the clubhouse, rather than a single compact venue.

Inside the newly renovated Grand Ballroom, the room is built specifically for large events, so a DJ working a reception there is filling a purpose-designed space rather than adapting a converted room. Move outside to the Piazza, Garden, and Gazebo for a ceremony, and the setup shifts to open air, where sound needs to carry across the garden rather than settle into the contained, acoustically finished ballroom just inside.