Bently Reserve

Good staff, historic land mark inside and out also re-​innovated in early 2015 with added unisex restrooms

We were married at the Bently Reserve on 8÷22÷15.
A simple google search and scroll through of some Unilocal photos will bring up stunning images of this gorgeous SF venue! As far as planning a wedding and considering budget at the Bently, you should be aware that the venue fee does not include anything other than the venue itself (when we looked at other venues, some venues included things like facility managers, tables, chairs, etc. in the rental price). We had the space the entire day if we needed it, especially for deliveries (8 AM to 1 AM the next day).
Luckily, the Bently doesn’t need much to look amazing. It’s elegant, timeless, and will accommodate a wedding of almost any size. We haven’t seen our wedding photos yet, but we’re sure they’ll be gorgeous based on the setting alone!
On the communication side, the event staff is professional and responsive, and we always had our questions promptly answered. As with any venue, you’ll be responsible for things like insurance (and making sure your vendors are insured). The Bently has an easy to use preferred vendor guide, and we got some of our vendors from there. Our other vendors were able to provide insurance info easily. As other reviews mentioned, it’s pretty pricy to to have your wedding or reception here, BUT hopefully it’s a once-​in-​a-​lifetime event, right? :) We can’t recommend the Bently enough, it will always be a special place for us.

I had the most beautiful wedding here… I would give them 5 stars but I think their staff needs better training on lighting, during the wedding they were unable to adjust their house upper lighting and if affected our ceiling pattern design etc. It was difficult to set up opportunities to do walk throughs and practices until we got a wedding planner and even then it was almost as if we didn’t matter. Our photos are gorgeous because the venue is beautiful and we planned a bad ass wedding. I just wish Bently had been less difficult to deal with every step of the way.

This is an absolutely gorgeous and elegant venue. I’ve helped out my wedding-​coordinator BFF with two weddings at this location within the last year and they’ve made some small but great improvements. The recent remodel added a much needed co-​ed restroom on the Battery lobby side of the venue. Yes, I said co-​ed. The stalls are spacious and each one of them has a solid door and a large mirror behind it People were definitely startled when they would bump into the opposite sex while washing their hands but they eventually got used to it. I really feel that it was a smart and efficient move. They also added a much needed coat check closet which we used as our office/​base for the night.
A couple pieces of advice to future bride and grooms:
1) The bride of the most recent wedding we worked hired a security guard to cover the bridal suite which was the smartest thing anyone can do. The venue is accessible via the skyway from the Le Meridien hotel next door, making it easy for wedding crashers to access your party and your bridal suite. The security guard that was hired stood guard on the balcony in front of the bridal suite which also gave him an overview of the Battery lobby and front doors. He was able to assist us with detecting and deterring one wedding crasher and one unauthorized photographer from that viewpoint.
2) The main hall can get very dark even with plenty of up lighting. It is advisable that you include candles or lamps in your table décor.
The front desk guards are very professional and on top of their game. During one of their scheduled roamings at the beginning of the event, they were able to quickly retrieve a set of keys left behind at the front of the venue and immediately notified us.

The date was August 15^th, 2015, a very special day and occasion for the Chan & Lee family. My sister was to be married here at the Bently Reserve, a very beautiful and majestic space for a wedding.
I’ll have to be honest, although the outside is beautiful with tall standing columns, I wasn’t too impressed with the interior of the banking hall at first glance during the rehearsal walk as it seemed plain and simple. Mind you, nothing was set up for the rehearsal. However, walking in the following day once the lighting was set, curtains up, and flowers laid out, I was taken away with how gorgeous the space had become (see pictures).
Once the ceremony had finished, everyone was to clear the hall with the exception of family and close friends for pictures. While the hall was clear, the staff blocked the doors with a divider and began to transform the space into a beautiful reception hall. Within what seemed like an hour/​hour and a half, the space again became breath taking space with just the right lighting and décor (see pictures).
Although I wasn’t the one who got married, I can’t help but to simply recommend this space to any brides or grooms to be who are looking to have a wedding at a swanky venue. Though you’ll be looking to pay a pretty penny for the venue, it’s worth it. I rate this venue a solid 5, it hosted quite the epic wedding for 2015.

While I always envisioned a fairy tale like mansion wedding, I thought to myself if I didn’t end up going that route that I would end up here at The Bentley Reserve.
We viewed The Bentley on a drabby Saturday morning last year. It is definitely a FiDi beauty with the breathtaking columns, pilars, chandeliers and high vaulted ceilings. It screams FiDi elegance! What you see is what you get here though! You just get the space for a fairly high price tag. Our wedding is on a holiday Sunday, and so we wouldn’t get Sunday pricing; they were going to charge us a little more (I believe the Friday pricing). You don’t get anything else in the rental fees and how it’s built, you must have uplighting and that’s an additional $ 500 fee. One plus though is that the deposit is refundable. As the tour went on though, I realized that though it’s an architectural beauty and you do get a lot of space besides the Main Banking Hall, there’s the lounges upstairs, the lobby, the extra conference rooms, etc, it just seemed a little stark to me (though others would call that a blank canvas).
We were shown pictures of a small 40 person wedding here and the space just looked too big for them. The Banking Hall can accommodate up to 400 guests. They do offer a great catering vendor list including ethnic cuisines; and if you choose not to go with any of the list you would just need to pay an additional $ 1,000. They only book one event a day and seems like you don’t necessarily have to worry about having x amount of event time. Customer service was so so, I think the person showing us the space could have been friendlier, and follow up prior and after our appointment should have been more timely. If you are having a larger wedding, want to be in the heart of FiDi, and have the money and the time or a wedding planner to help you plan and decorate everything then I think The Bently Reserve would be for you. None of those things (except being in FiDi applied to us).

Fairly beautiful space that i didnt even know existed. I dont spend that much time in this part of town but i was invited to a gala. Lots of food and alcohol vendors. Wineries and Michelin star vendors is never a bad way to go. It’s a highly vaulted space but not as large as i thought it’d be from the outside. Good for a couple hundred people or so

We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful venue for our wedding then the Bently Reserve. Though pricey, we feel it was worth every penny.
Because it comes as a blank slate, you are truly able to make the space your own, and be creative with the setup (while also having an amazing backdrop). The team at the Bently is very responsive and a pleasure to work with. I was lucky to work with Diane on a regular basis, and she was so helpful, and always checking in many months before to make sure all was going well.
Such an amazing venue that we feel so thrilled we were able to have our wedding at.

The Bentley Reserve is a nice downtown option for a wedding venue. The place exudes class inside and the high ceilings give it a great sense of grandeur.

Had my wedding over the summer and it looked amazing.
5 stars for:
Hours — you can have an event from 6am all the way until 1am.
Food options — they have a list of various preferred vendors or you can pay extra to bring any other caterer you want.
Alcohol options — they contract with Best Beverage but you can buy them out, which I strongly suggest! Other beverage caterers are cheaper.
Ambiance — Absolutely gorgeous, has an upstairs patio for cocktail hour which is amazing and a elevator for elderly/​disabled folks.
1 star for:
Insurance requirements — insanely complicated and unusual insurance requirements from all vendors. Most vendors I wanted to work with could not meet Bently’s minimums so I struggled to find designers, rental companies and photographers. They want them ALL to hold workman’s comp but most vendors only hire contracted workers.
Comes with nothing — no tables or chairs. Just the building so it does get expensive.
Floor cleanliness — people who took off their shoes to dance towards end of night had black feet. Make sure you ask them to have the floors cleaned prior to your event.

This is the type of place I’d want my daughter to have her wedding reception in, as I cry how expensive it is. I’m kidding, I’m not going to actually know any of my children.
This is a beyond beautiful event space.
I came here for a PopUp Masquerade event.
Everything you’d expect from a Masquerade party. People dressed up real nice. Cool masks. High class ambiance. And some really creepy dudes. In fact all the old people were super creepy.
We arrived and sat down at our table. We began to chug our wine away. I’m a white wine type of guy, any day of the week. We then decided it would be best to not drink so much without food in our system and began to eat. As we started to eat, everyone raised a glass for a toast to signify that it was time to eat. Wooops.
Walking around, I was really impressed with the entire place. Very elegant and classy. High ceilings. A truly remarkable place.
The old people would approach everyone at our table. The old men came across between sweet and pervy, to me as they approached the girls at the table. Also insulting! Am I chopped liver guys? One old lady insisted I meet her daughter. I asked her to tell me about her daughter. She said she was «very nice». Very nice!!! Lady this is your daughter! You can’t sell your daughter as very nice. That’s how women describe their unattractive friends with no personality. And you’re her MOTHER!
After our wine was kicked it was time to hit the dance floor and cut a rug. Well there was no rug, as I said it was a very nice place. No rugs needed. They had a band playing some live music as well as a DJ busting out some tunes.
I had an amazing time. It was one of the highlights of my trip.

The Bentley Reserve is thee PERFECT venue for a wedding reception. It was every thing my fiancé and I envisioned for our dream wedding. We met with Diana to do a tour. OH EM GEE. It was even more jaw-​dropping and breathtaking in person. The pillars, high ceilings and marble floors give the venue a classic, sophisticated look.
Sad to say, we didn’t book the Bentley Reserve as we had hoped. Diana quoted us a price and the fee would be for the venue itself. When we calculate adding in catering, linens, tables, etc. it would put us over budget. We could have afforded to have our dream wedding here but we didn’t want to touch our savings. After all, it’s really all about the marriage and not the wedding. We’ll save that extra money to buy a home and start a family one day.
We’ll have our vow renewal here one day. :)

I never knew that Bently Reserve was in FiDi! I had heard about events taking place here, but I thought it was by Fort Mason or something. I came here for a company party and I love the venue space. The party was 1920s/​Gatsby themed, so the space was perfect with the high ceilings and chandeliers. There’s the main room when you walk in and there’s also a back room that can be partitioned with curtains. There’s also a semi-​grand (I saw semi-​because it’s not very high up) staircase that goes up to a balcony overlooking the main room and the other half of that small second floor is a balcony overlooking the entrance.

Beautiful venue for a wedding! I came here for the ceremony and the banquet dinner. Plenty of room available for the guests to disperse during the «happy hour» time frame with snacks and drinks.
In addition, we had a $ 10 flat rate for the parking garage across from the venue.

A very classy space in the heart of the Financial District. Designed in the Beaux-​Arts style by George Kelham and adorned with WPA era murals by Jules Guerin, the Bently Reserve makes a great backdrop to any event. There’s a newly remodeled kitchen space with ovens, burners and tons of counter space.

This past weekend I attended my company holiday party at the Bentley Reserve. I was quite impressed by the venue. It is a beautiful space with a large center room and high ceilings. There are also smaller rooms which are a little more private. For our particular party each room had its own function. The large room was for the main food, dance floor, and photo booths. One room was for desserts and coffee. Another area for a charcuterie table, and table games (blackjack, roulette, and poker). And finally a third which had seafood (smoked salmon bites, hamachi poke, and crab rolls) and Karaōke. To top it all off each room had it’s own bar!
You can’t go wrong with a venue which offers the flexibility of so many different activities along with an open bar in each room! I definitely had an awesome time.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! That’s the one word that comes to mind when I think about the Bently. I love this venue! It’s so classic and historical. The BR is also located in the heart of fidi. Easy parking can be found across the street at the Embarcadero Center. I used to walk past it every day on the way to work. Little did I know what the an amazing venue it was.
I came here for a holiday party and a wedding before. It’s so grand once you step inside the main hall. The large doors, high ceilings, large chandeliers, staircase and pillars are incredibly elegant. With the proper lighting, they really hit it out of the park. I can’t wait to visit the Bently again. Hopefully soon!

Previously a Federal Reserve Bank, went to the Bently Reserve for a friends wedding and it was spectacular.
Easy to spot from the outside with it’s huge Greek columns reminiscent of the Parthenon. Inside, there’s a main floor along with a balcony with views of the Embarcadero rooftops that was great for cocktail hour. It never felt too crowded with about 200 guests.
Not really a food review BUT if you must know, the best dishes of the night.
Salt and pepper lobster and this huuuuuge chunk, the picture angle doesn’t do it justice but the honey glazed sea bass. Wow, reminded me of the Chilean sea bass from «The House» on Grant St.
Easy parking! Only thing missing is an awesome bay view. 4.5 star!

I’d only ever heard about this venue in the context of wedding locales, but I had the pleasure of attending my office party here a few weeks back and I have to say I was super impressed! The space is absolutely gorgeous, with towering ceilings, marble columns and floors, and sweeping staircases. There were lots of little corners and nooks that were perfect for setting up different food and entertainment stations, and the overall ambiance just couldn’t be beat. We had a Prohibition-​themed bash there with a casino night and it was just the perfect setting.
Though I would guess that the prices are pretty steep for use of this gorgeous space, I highly recommend looking into it for anyone who’s planning an over the top, extravagant bash!

Ever attended an event in the old Federal Reserve bldg in San Francisco? Well I have and it was AWESOME!
Fantastic for any event of just about any size, I was really blown away by the beauty of this space. Separated by a number of connecting rooms, our company hosted a big bash for about 700 employees last week. Not only was there plenty of room to drink, dine and dance, it wasn’t crowded or hot like you’ll find at many venues. It was swanky and spacious with tall ceilings, a grand entry and even a coat check. Phew!
If I’m ever invited to attend another event at the Bently Reserve, you bet your bottom dollar I’ll be there!