Fairmont Pittsburgh

to check out, everything was perfect. We messed up the time for the rehearsal and dinner and arrived almost an  hour late. We were still greeted professionalism and kindness. The food at the dinner was delicious and served promptly without anyone having to wait for anything and we had 40 people attend!  The bar area was lively and the bartenders could not have been nicer and more attentive.  The Fairmont is a beautiful hotel and the rooms are very nice.  I would like to specifically point out that, Hannah, the wedding and events manager went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect for all of us. She was always available for us when needed and able to accommodate our needs. She was pleasant and so kind. It was a pleasure working with her. 

ts—the food was good, the service top notch and the guest rooms unmatched with the most fabulous views of Pittsburgh.  The planning, however, was far more stressful than it needed to be. (We hosted my other daughter’s wedding a year ago at the nearby Kimpton Hotel Monaco—it was virtually effortless!) To be fair, the on-site event coordinator was new early on into our process. However, there were so many issues! We discussed an after party and 3 months AFTER being told we could have it in the bar she announced that someone else had already booked the space. (When she told me there was no one else I could possibly talk to, I went over her head and it ended up being fine for us to share the area with the other group.) She frequently put up road blocks or didn’t know answers to fairly simple questions (when I asked our drop dead date for our final number, she told me 30 days; turns out it was 3 days!) It felt like the relationship became adversarial and so we hired a day-of coordinator as we had lost all confidence that things would run smoothly without one.  We received a bill 9 days before the wedding (we’d had our final walkthrough 4 weeks earlier!) that was substantially higher than our original estimate—turns out the original estimate was missing a $5000+ service fee (even though our quote stated that it included “all taxes and service fees.”) Painful, to say the least.  My expectations at such a high end hotel would be that details would be handled without issue unless something really big needed to be addressed. It felt like at every turn there was some sort of hurdle or problem that we had to figure out on our own. A few other things to consider: the chairs that the hotel supplies are very commercial looking (gray conference chairs) and not at all attractive for a wedding. Be prepared to rent your own for several thousand dollars if that’s important to you. The bar package also didn’t include seltzers as a drink option—we added them on but had to pay by consumption at $10 a can (for something that retails for less than $2.) We asked that beer and wine be passed at the cocktail hour but then found out that anything passed would also be charged per drink even though we’d paid for an open bar package. (This made no sense to me; we opted not to do that so the bars were a bit crowded during that first hour.) Also in our contract (but I missed it!) was a 3% fee on all of our credit card payments; while we ended up having it waived, it was a rather shocking number to see and we were never presented with any other way to make our payments. Work this out ahead of time.  Again, the wedding ceremony and reception were wonderful but the stress leading up to that day left such a bad taste; I had high expectations given my wonderful experience with the 1st downtown Pittsburgh wedding we’d hosted. I would just advise, it’s a beautiful venue but be prepared to stay on top of every single detail and take nothing for granted. 

enders. However, the planning process was difficult given lack of transparency, organization, and communication from the Wedding & Events Planning staff. Venue Pros: - Great food & drinks - Beautiful bridal suite & guest rooms - Centrally located & convenient for guests We booked a June 2026 wedding with the Fairmont in Sept of 2025. The previous sales manager left the venue in Oct, and we received a new contact in Dec. While some clunkiness was expected over the transition period, there were several specific issues that we incurred in the months leading into our wedding: After Party Double Booked In Dec of 2025 our new contact offered us the hotel bar to host an after-party. We confirmed this in writing, and specifically asked if a contract was required to hold the space. She confirmed it was not required and that the after-party was added to our events package and we were “all set.” When we did the tasting in Jan of 2026 we confirmed verbally again. Then in March, I received an out of the blue email noting that the after-party space was already booked by another group and that since we didn’t have a signed contract we couldn’t have the space. After exhausting conversations with our main contact, we did escalate and were able to get this resolved. Service Charge Added to Balance One Week Before Wedding Our original estimate in Sept clearly stated our total INCLUDING all service fees. While our base fee total was spot on to the original estimate, when we got the final balance the week before the wedding there was an additional $5,100 service charge that Accounting forgot to include in the initial estimate, even though it explicitly stated its inclusion. There was no explanation for the mix-up from the venue. Unclear Wedding Planner Requirement Our contract had a hashed out clause that the Fairmont required an outside wedding planner to be hired. The former event manager told me this is no longer required by the venue. The contract also had a clause that the in-house Catering Sales Manager would assist with personal items. Once we received our new contact, she told me that she could not touch any of our personal items and that the assist clause means she could oversee but never touch or directly handle personal items due to legal liability. I ultimately hired a day-of coordinator which was an extra expense I wasn’t planning on given the contract language. Some Other Nice to Knows: - While the Fairmont does provide chairs, the previous event planner told me she had never once in 6 years seen them used for a wedding. If pretty chairs are important to you, this is an additional rental cost (~$3,200 for 170 guests for us) - Hard Seltzers are NOT included in any of the bar packages. Adding them costs $10/drink based on consumption. - I requested to have drinks passed or trayed at the start of cocktail hour to alleviate bar lines, but if you do this drinks are charged by consumption, even though you are already paying for them as part of the bar package - There is no option to digitally sign contracts so you will need access to a printer and a scanner to submit all time-sensitive docs. The Fairmont has the potential to be an amazing wedding venue, but will need to smooth out the planning process before they’re able to reach that potential.