A working paddlewheeler that boards in Bay Shore and does the reception afloat.
It is a 65-foot paddlewheeler, and the reception goes wherever the boat goes. Guests board at the Bay Shore Marina at the end of Clinton Avenue, and the Great South Bay handles the rest. This is also the thinnest published record of any venue on this site, which is worth knowing before you build a Saturday in July around it.
One marketplace listing is the entire public price record for this boat, and it names a site fee without saying what it covers or how many guests it carries. The operator's own site blocked us, so nothing here has been checked against South Bay Cruises. Before anything else, get the passenger capacity with tables set and the charter fee by day of week, then ask what food and bar sit inside that fee.
We tried laurenkristy.net, which returned HTTP 403, then read the WeddingWire listing for South Bay Cruises, an I Love NY listing and a 2024 Fire Island News feature. Checked September 2026. First party means the venue’s own site or rate card; marketplace means The Knot, WeddingWire, Zola, Wedding Spot or similar. Nothing here is averaged or estimated.
The operator's site laurenkristy.net returned 403 to every request on 2026-09-03, and the most recent evidence of the boat operating is a September 2024 news feature, so confirm the 2026 season by phone.
South Bay Cruises has operated the Lauren Kristy since 1995, according to Fire Island News. The boat is 65 feet, built in the style of a turn-of-the-century Mississippi riverboat, and it works out of the Bay Shore Marina. There are two levels: an enclosed lower deck with tables and chairs, and an upper deck with plastic windows that roll up when the weather cooperates.
The deck description, and the fact that it is twelve steps between them, comes from Destination Accessible. Same source: you board by ramp off a wooden dock, there is a threshold to step over going inside, and the restroom is small and not accessible. If anyone in your party uses a wheelchair, that is the first call you make, not the fifth.
We could not find a passenger capacity from the operator or from any tourism listing. Charter pricing is not published either. New York Family has reported public luncheon cruises at “$36.95 per person; $24.95 children under 12” running about three hours, but that is a ticketed sightseeing cruise, not a wedding charter, and it is not a current-dated figure. Do not build a budget on it.
Our own record carries no website for this venue. laurenkristy.net is live; we simply could not read it. Everything above wants confirming with the operator directly, and if you need a bay wedding with published numbers, the rest of the fleet and the shoreline halls are on our waterfront page.
Private Sound beach in Bayville, ceremony on the sand and cocktail hour up the steps.
Prime's event room on Huntington Harbor, boats going by all night.
Port Jefferson hotel on the harbor, wedding and room block under one roof.
Massapequa mansion with the bay at the back door.
Patchogue room on the Great South Bay from the same Lombardi family.
Ballroom with the Great South Bay running past the windows.
A boat is about as far from a ballroom as Long Island gets. If you are weighing it against something with a roof and a parking lot, start here.
County golf-course mansion in Great River looking over the water.
County-owned harborfront mansion with a boathouse, catered by its exclusive operator.
Greenport's 1850s manor house, harvest-country grand.
Shelter Island inn a short ferry from Sag Harbor, calm water and lawn.
Mount Sinai's course-side ballroom looking down the fairways, formerly the Hamlet Willow Creek.
Planes and rockets over the cocktail hour in Garden City.