Kara Martin Wellington National Golf Club
At the Wellington National Golf Club, the professional staff enjoys helping clients achieve their vision, and that includes creating unique menus, proposals and assisting with making arrangements on the client’s behalf, such as hiring entertainment and arranging for rentals. They make sure that all last-minute details, including the coordination of timelines, floor plans and staffing, are complete in order to execute the event exactly the way the client has envisioned it.
The main point of contact for those planning a wedding at Wellington National is Kara Martin. Born and raised in Wellington, she has a degree in hospitality management from Florida State University.
“My background is in event sales, where I focused on weddings and large community events, in both Tallahassee and Wellington,” Martin said. “I’ve worked in many different branches of event planning, from small, family-owned catering companies, all the way to full corporate wedding planning.”
Wellington National has many great characteristics for all types of events, including weddings, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and more. It is a large venue that in normal times can accommodate up to 300 guests. The ballroom has beautiful ceiling draping, as well as plank-style flooring, in addition to picturesque natural light, as it opens up onto a beautiful piazza, which is tropically landscaped and perfect for an outdoor ceremony.
“We have adapted to the new normal of large events, which includes limiting the seats at a table to 10 or less. Here, we’ve also adopted a new thing. We ask the bride and groom to group families together at tables, so we have tightknit groups who know each other rather than seating strangers together,” General Manager Ted Strelec said.
The team at Wellington National aims to be flexible with couples who choose to plan an event with them to create a special day, unique to the bride and groom. They are happy to customize menus and cocktails, and encourage them to outline their vision for that perfect day — then the team makes that vision come to fruition.
“Another new change that came from the pandemic is that we no longer offer walk-up, self-serve buffet service,” Strelec said. “In lieu of self-serve buffets, we have created manned action stations where our food and beverage team members serve the guests in a common area to eliminate contamination. This is the new normal for us.”
Wellington National’s clubhouse and surrounding areas are perfect for enjoying special events. “We have vast courtyard areas for open-air requests, and our grand ballroom is large enough to responsibly social-distance the tables while hosting an indoor wedding with space for a dance floor,” Strelec said. “It’s large enough to where we can put a party of 50 in there, set up the ceremony and have room for the DJ and the dance floor — all under one roof. We have a wall that divides the room, so we can close that wall for an intimate feeling during the ceremony, and then, while the guests turn out to do cocktails, we open the wall and convert to an open space.”
Not only is Wellington National a beautiful venue, the team is there to make things as easy and stress-free as possible, priding themselves on being flexible with almost every detail to ensure that each couple gets the day for which they have been waiting their whole lives.
This includes current adaptations such as Zoom or FaceTime broadcasts that allow family members who are not present to see the event live. “It has been a great addition for elderly family members or people in different countries to attend via technology,” Strelec said.
Strelec hopes that people who want to get married will find a way to have their special day regardless of what is going on in the world around them. “That is what we humans do best — adapt!” he said.
The Wellington National Golf Club is located at 400 Binks Forest Drive in Wellington. For more information, call (561) 333-5731 or visit www.wellingtonnationalgolfclub.com.
