The Hamilton Ballroom

The Hamilton Ballroom is no longer available for rentals (unless you’re a Hamilton homeowner).

Where to begin??? I had been looking for an SF wedding venue for about 6 months and had a few simple (at least I thought) requirements it had to meet. Affordable, allows me to hire my own vendors (specifically caterers) and could seat about 130 guests. The trouble I went through to find a place like this in San Francisco was unbelievable! If you want a decent venue AND want to bring your own caterer… GOOD LUCK! In all the searches I did through Yahoo, Google, The Knot, Here Comes the Guide, Bay Area Bride etc. I never came across this little gem. Until one fateful day it randomly appeared in the search results along with the same 10 venues I had been turned down by prior. I called, Danielle answered, my weekend was available and all my requirements were met. We set up a meeting to visit the venue that day and that was it. Done and done! The building is considered art deco and you can definitely feel the history in this location. Once a hotel, it is has been converted to condos and the residents allow their lobby, courtyard and ballroom to be rented out to the public for events.
The required vendors are the bar service (if you decide to have a bar) and Classic Party Rentals which you would rent your tables, chairs, dish, glass and silverware etc. through. They work with this venue and Danielle regularly, so it’s actually better for the client to have a company who knows what they’re doing. There is a piano available if you would like to hire a pianist, which we did and it was beautiful during our cocktail hour!
I would consider myself a D.I.Y. bride since I made our centerpieces, most of the reception and ceremony décor and felt that a lot of the wedding was «piecemeal,» either bought from craigslist, borrowed from friends, crafted or even purchased from the DollarTree. After dropping off all the boxes of homemade décor, I started to feel insecure about it all but on the Big Day, you would’ve never guessed it was a homemade wedding! Danielle made everything come together beautifully, better than I ever imagined or envisioned! And she never, ever made me feel ashamed for being «thrifty» and frugal.
Danielle is a great resource and not only is she the coordinator for Hamilton Ballroom events, she also offers her services for wedding and day of coordinating. We opted to have her as our day of, but don’t get the wrong idea, this was definitely not just a «day of» job. She is on it! And she works with you through the whole process and tells you what you may be leaving out. She’s also very honest and realistic and will help you decide what you can afford to cut corners on and where it’s best to splurge in order to have a smooth, comfortable event. She knows many vendors and has great recommendations (we used her pianist and serving staff referrals and were extremely satisfied!) She replies to all emails, calls and texts and knows that brides start to panic within a few weeks of the big day, but is extremely patient and puts your mind at ease. I’m almost sad that I don’t have an excuse to work with her now that the wedding is over!
We received so many compliments on the venue, how comfortable and intimate, glamorous and beautiful and also on how smooth the wedding ran and I give all the credit to Danielle for pulling it everything together.
If you’re looking for an event venue with a very unique and classic appeal, in the heart of San Francisco, The Hamilton Ballroom is that rosebud blooming from the sidewalk you’d be lucky to stumble upon!
Thank you Danielle and thank you to The Hamilton residents for making our wedding so special!