Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture

Reserving the General's Residence for my wedding was painless. The Fort Mason staff were super friendly, supportive, timely, and helpful. On the day of, the venue was set up nicely, just as I planned with the event coordinator during the site walk. The venue was beautiful and my guests loved the backdrop for photos. The inside was beautiful, clean, and spacious. Everything went smoothly. Know that the General's Residence back lawn (for the ceremony) can get windy as it was on my wedding day. I was not surprised since I know the area really well but just be aware. Parking was confusing for guests that have never been to Fort Mason, which was most of them. I wished I was able to put up directional signs or had some provided by Fort Mason. All in all, great experience and venue. Would definitely pick the General's Residence again.

First off, my wedding ended up being perfect, so thank you Shawn for taking care of everything when you stepped in. So, we looked at this venue a few times starting in October 2017, and it wasn't until we were talking deposits when they dropped a bomb. Our venue would be sharing the evening with an ANNUAL BEER FEST. Nope, I didn't want the crowd there for my wedding, especially the ones consuming alcohol. We had to change our time to the morning, which was fine but felt a little rushed. I was 45 mins late :( That switch seemed fine, as long as they weren't making a ton of sound while we were getting married, we were okay with it. The day of, I was a little annoyed. The port-a-potties were placed right along the pier, in the backdrop of my wedding. Our photographer was amazing at getting them out of focal point, but I saw them there, all day. yuck. Also, I had nothing there to stop people from entering the venue. I get that it is a public space usually, but a lady ran straight into the chairs and ceremony area and my husband had to get her out of there. "There's a wedding here, you need to leave!" I also had to be "bridezilla" to a few people wearing the bright green event shirts for the stupid Beer Festival, they were walking straight into our venue! So rude!!! Other than those couple of annoyances, The Fort Mason Firehouse was wonderful to have our wedding. The backdrop was amazing, Alcatraz in the background, on a gorgeous sunny day in April. I wish I could do it all over again, it was magical!

We rented Fort Mason Center Gallery 308 as our wedding venue for both our ceremony & reception. Gallery 308 was the first detail (along with our date) that we locked in for the wedding as we knew we wanted to be on the Marina with the incredible view. The team at Fort Mason Center did a great job working with us on the details of the venue, from securing the space to the walk through to execution. There was a public event going on in Fort Mason on the day of our wedding and our event manager helped us secure parking spaces for our guests. The venue itself was beautiful, spacious and popular with our guests, who loved the ambience and views. Overall, we were thrilled with the venue for our big day and would recommend Gallery 308 as a wedding venue.

What it is: Cozy, Dreamy, Timeless, Peaceful, Romantic, Very in-tune with Nature What it is not: Glamorous, Urbane or Swanky The General's Residence is easily one of the best wedding venues in San Francisco. The stunning views are nigh impossible to beat, and the building exterior and interiors boast an old-world charm that's well-suited for weddings. This venue is ideal for couples who want an outdoor ceremony on a bed of grass, under a tree, by the water, with birds singing in the background. All that insane natural beauty is guaranteed to enhance your joy and bliss a million-fold, and leave you with the most poignant and striking memories. That being said, there were a few substantial annoyances that bothered and hindered us: 1) The rental window is typically 7 hours, including set-up and break-down. This leaves about four and a half hours for the ceremony, reception and a photo-shoot. If your guests/ vendors show up late, that could leave you with less than four hours. We did not realize the significance of this until the day of. 2) The venue does not provide trash disposal. Your caterer will have to carry all your trash away from the venue, since they don't even provide trash dumpsters. 3) The expenses add up to a lot. Before renting this venue, remember to factor in additional charges for the dance floor, the historic preservation fee (10%), cocktail tables, cafe tables, outdoor seating, etc. 4) All their business is conducted strictly on weekdays, usually up until 4pm. No weekend walk-throughs, meetings or phone calls. On a brighter note, the FM guys allow you full freedom in picking your vendors. They have no 'approved list' that you are forced to choose from, and no hefty surcharges for choosing vendors outside of this list. The staff is very friendly and extremely prompt in their responses. They are also very upfront regarding all their extra charges as well as the trash disposal situation. The trouble is that one doesn't realize the full import of these seemingly minor inconveniences until the very end. Overall though, I'd say I highly recommend this venue despite all of its shortcomings. The vivid and beautiful memories we have walked away with far outweigh all the cons.