L'Auberge Del Mar: mobile artificial hedges for oceanfront wedding privacy

L'Auberge Del Mar was spending heavily on rental hedges for every wedding on their oceanfront deck. CalifauxScapes built long-lasting artificial boxwood hedges on locking casters so the hotel's staff could wheel them into place in minutes. No more rental fees, no more delivery logistics, and the hedges look the same at every event.

Overview

L'Auberge Del Mar is a luxury hotel in Del Mar, California, with an oceanfront deck that hosts weddings year-round. The deck has the ocean views couples want, but the open layout doesn't offer much intimacy. For years, the hotel rented hedges to create private enclosures for ceremonies and receptions. That worked, but it was expensive and unpredictable.

CalifauxScapes was brought in to replace the rental cycle with something long-lasting. We built custom artificial boxwood hedges on wheeled bases that the hotel owns outright. They roll into position for events and store compactly when they're not needed.

The challenge

The rental arrangement had two pain points. First, the cost. Renting hedges for every wedding added up fast, and the hotel had nothing to show for it between events. Second, the logistics. Getting bulky hedge units up to an elevated deck required coordination, labor, and lead time for each event. And the quality varied. Some deliveries looked great; others showed up faded or sparse, which isn't what you want at a wedding venue charging premium rates.

The hotel needed hedges they could deploy quickly, store easily, and count on to look consistent every single time. They also needed materials that could handle year-round coastal sun and salt air without deteriorating.

Our solution

We designed artificial boxwood hedges built on sturdy frames with locking caster wheels. Each unit is self-contained: a weighted base for stability, dense boxwood foliage on both visible sides, and casters that lock in place once positioned. One or two staff members can move a panel into place in under a minute.

The modular setup means the hotel can configure the hedges differently depending on the event, whether that's a tight ceremony enclosure, a reception backdrop, or a long barrier along a walkway. We built them from UV-resistant materials rated for direct coastal sunlight so the color and texture hold up season after season without maintenance.

Implementation

We completed the project in three weeks. It started with a site visit to measure the deck, identify storage locations, and map out the most common event configurations. We built the hedge panels off-site in our facility, which gave us control over dimensions and quality before anything shipped.

Delivery was timed around the hotel's event schedule so we didn't interrupt any bookings. Once on-site, we walked the events team through how to move, position, and lock the panels. There wasn't a complex install process since the panels are freestanding. The hotel was using them for their next wedding within days.

Results

The hotel stopped renting hedges. That alone was the biggest win financially, since the one-time purchase paid for itself within a few months of avoided rental fees. But the operational side mattered just as much. The events team can set up privacy walls in minutes now instead of coordinating deliveries days in advance.

The hedges look the same at every event, which is the kind of consistency a luxury venue needs. UV-resistant materials mean the panels still look fresh after months of coastal sun exposure. And because they're modular, the hotel has already used them in configurations we didn't originally plan for, including a photo booth backdrop and a buffet screen.

Project details