Wedding DJ at The Citadel Beach Club in Isle Of Palms, SC

The Space

This ballroom carries the name Colonel Robert R. McCormick Beach Club of The Citadel, and the story behind that name runs through World War I. McCormick served in the First Infantry Division Artillery alongside General Charles P. Summerall, who later became the 10th President of The Citadel. In 1941, McCormick deeded his own estate in Aiken, South Carolina to Summerall for life. When that property was sold in 1957, the proceeds funded the purchase of this beachfront land and the construction of the first beach house here.

The ballroom itself was dedicated on November 30, 1958, then destroyed by Hurricane Hugo on September 22, 1989, which the venue’s own history describes as leaving only pieces of the structure. It was rebuilt and officially rededicated on March 31, 1995. What stands today is a 2,700-square-foot ballroom with hardwood floors, cathedral ceilings, and ocean views, on a five-acre stretch of Isle of Palms beachfront that has now hosted events for decades under two different buildings.

Capacity & Layout

The ballroom holds 150 guests for a seated banquet or dinner, up to 175 in a theatre setup, and up to 200 for a cocktail reception. Two hundred white chairs and 20 round tables are included with the room, which is worth noting for a couple budgeting a wedding: seating and tables do not need to be rented separately, only arranged to the layout the day calls for.

The Blue & Grey Pavilion adds a second, more casual outdoor space to the property, with 12 picnic tables, two pool tables, sports equipment, and volleyball and basketball courts, plus its own outdoor restrooms and shower facilities. That combination, a formal oceanfront ballroom and a casual recreational pavilion, gives a couple a place to send guests for a rehearsal dinner or a day-after gathering without leaving the property.

Amenities

An elevator connects the first and second floors, including access to the bridal suite, and the venue describes all of its facilities as wheelchair accessible, with hearing-impaired fire alarm lights and staff trained to accommodate guests with disabilities. For a family with an older relative or a guest using a wheelchair, that is not a minor detail, it is often the difference between attending comfortably and not attending at all.

The bridal suite sits on the second floor with its own bathroom, reachable by the same elevator that serves the rest of the building. Wrap-around porches and a patio extend the ballroom outward, giving cocktail hour or a quiet break from the dance floor a covered, oceanfront spot that is still part of the same building rather than a separate structure.

Location & Getting There

The property sits on five acres of beachfront on Isle of Palms, with the beach itself and a lawn overlooking the Atlantic both used for ceremonies. We have worked a wedding at this venue, and the setting does what oceanfront property usually does: it gives photographers a clean horizon line and gives guests a reason to linger outside before the reception starts.

Once the day moves indoors, the ballroom’s hardwood floors and cathedral ceilings create a different sound environment than the open beach does, more reflective, with height overhead that lets sound carry rather than get absorbed. A DJ setup here works with that: careful level-setting in the ballroom to avoid overloading a room with hard floors and a tall ceiling, and a different, more open approach for anything staged outdoors on the sand or lawn.