Francis Marion Hotel

The Francis Marion (Colonial Ballroom) was a wonderful choice for our wedding reception! Gillian Crum, the wedding manager for the hotel, was great to work with, and very prompt in replying to any question I had! Both Gillian and the entire hotel wedding staff worked so hard to... Read More make our reception a night to remember! The dinner service was seamless, and the food entrees were delicious. The set-up was exactly how I had asked, and the value of the venue (hard to find in Charleston!) was terrific.

My husband and I had our wedding here on 4.9.16. I rated them a 2 because before we even booked the FM, I asked the wedding coordinator (Gillian Crum) if she only handled things at the venue or would she be available to help all the way through to the wedding day (I was in the... Read More process of interviewing planners), she said verbatim "if you have me, you will not need another planner!" That sounded GREAT... What I didn't know was that she was basically only there for quick emails and the month of our wedding. I planned my entire wedding ALONE. In addition to poor planning, the FM lost items that we rented, causing vendors to call and harass us and our family during our honeymoon, threatening to charge us for items the staff at the FM lost. When I felt as though my issues weren't being addressed, I had to call the event coordinators manager and she had no idea about my grievance... Also, even after laying out a floor plan and discussing SEVERAL times how we wanted things set up, the reception did not look how we discussed at all. My husband and I rented a BEAUTIFUL vintage settee for our sweetheart table (which deserves special attention in my opinion) and the settee was shoved in the back of the reception hall and we were forced to either have the staff move furniture in the middle of the reception, or sit on uncomfortable folding chairs. We sat on uncomfortabl chairs. The wedding coordinator also did not attend our rehersal which led to sheer chaos. I thought she ran downstairs until the front desk told me she left for the day. The ceremony doors weren't closed after the wedding party exited the ceremony, so my guest followed and TRAMPLED my beautiful Lazaro gown which I am still in the process of getting fixed. Our guests said the wedding turned out beautifully. The food was on point but this day was basically ruined for me, with no apologies and I can never have another. This is a pretty expensive, historical venue and maybe my expectations were too high, but I asked specific questions so that I wouldn't be disappointed or expect too much and I was still deeply disappointed. If I had to do it over, I definitely would pick a different venue.

My husband and I had our wedding ceremony and reception at the Francis Marion on May 29th, 2016. The service that our guests, my husband and I received was absolutely outstanding. I would recommend having your wedding there. The only reason I am giving them 3 stars and not 5... Read More is because when choosing my vendors I called Francis Marion for their advice on a DJ. I called and asked specifically if they had worked with Burt of FingerSnappin Entertainment in the past. They said yes they had worked with this DJ and they would highly recommend him. Unfortunately, this DJ was absolutely terrible and I am currently trying to get fully refunded. My advice would be to make sure when a bride calls you for your professional and highly respected opinion about vendors, that they are actually a good business. Please do not ever recommend his DJ services to any bride in the future.

We had our wedding reception at The Francis Marion's Gold Ballroom in April 2016, and it was a wonderful experience. I would highly recommend them. The venue itself is of course beautiful, the location is great, and the food was also very good, but the real treasure here is the... Read More wedding coordinator, Gillian Crum. I can't tell you how helpful she was, not just during the planning, but the week of the wedding as well. She truly helped us achieve exactly what we wanted, and went above and beyond. We had a destination wedding, and I don't believe we would have been able to pull it off without her help and expertise. The rest of the staff was wonderful, as well.

The Francis Marion and especially Gillian Crum was absolutely wonderful to work with! We actually chose to hold both our wedding ceremony and reception here, and I am so glad we did. We planned our wedding from out of town and within a 5 month engagement, and I do not believe I... Read More could have done it without Gillian. She basically comes with the venue as a mini wedding planner, and really did serve as a week of and day of coordinator. I can not say enough nice things about her or our experience with this hotel! If I had it to do over, I would use Francis Marion again in a heartbeat!

Fantastic Hotel

My guests had an amazing time staying at the Francis Marion Hotel! There were no complaints from any of the guests! Gillian Crum was such a pleasure to work with :) I would highly recommend this hotel!

LOVED MY WEDDIN AT THE FM

Everything at the Francis Marion Hotel was great. Throughout the entire planning process Gillian Crum was professional and so helpful and extremely accommodating. The location is great, all my guests stayed in the hotel and had access to everything in the middle of downtown and... Read More made it easy after the reception to get to an after party spot! The room was beautiful and the service was great and my guests raved about the food, I had shrimp and grits and pasta stations. Its a one stop shop and you can't beat the value!

We absolutely LOVED every minute of planning our wedding at the Francis Marion Hotel! Gillian is amazing, as was the entire staff. From beginning to end, every question we had was answered and every detail planned to make sure we were getting exactly what we wanted. They were... Read More extremely accommodating and we loved the fact that we didn't have to travel all over Charleston on our wedding day. They're wedding packages and pricing are ideal for a couple on a budget (mindful however that this is Charleston we're talking about). The space was gorgeous and the food absolutely delicious. I really cannot say enough great things about the Francis Marion!

Great Venue

Our reception was held in the Colonial Ballroom of the hotel and it was beautiful. The service was excellent, and the catering was great. Gillian Crum, the event coordinator was great. She saved us a ton of money we would have spent on a wedding coordinator. She was super... Read More attentive to detail and put our mind at ease about the whole planning process. We are still hearing about how great the reception was and how beautiful the hotel was.

Amazing job!!

The Francis Marion is a gorgeous venue and affordable! Caroline Bean, the wedding coordinator is the best! And the good was great too!!

Best Wedding Venue

The Francis Marion Hotel is the BEST hotel to have your wedding reception at. I worked with Caroline Bean in catering services and she was beyond FANTASTIC. Caroline made the entire process so easy. From being prompt to answer emails and make updates to our event, we were able... Read More to put together an amazing reception. The hotel front desk staff was wonderful as well. They made sure that all of the guest who booked rooms in our block were well taken care of as well. The Francis Marion worked extremely well with all the vendors that I hired for my reception (photographer, DJ, bakery, Chaircovers)

Long Path to a Great Wedding

We had our wedding reception at the Francis Marion, and to be honest, my experience with them is not easy to articulate in a review. We had many ups and downs. Although we were working with caring and kind people, we still came across several frustrations, which would eventually... Read More be made right. Overall, I was extremely pleased with how the event turned out – we loved our wedding, we love the vintage hotel, and it’s location in the center of Charleston, SC. There are many benefits to choosing a venue like The Francis Marion: Room set up and clean-up is included in the cost. The price of silverware, plates, glasses, white/black napkins and linens, and cake cutting is all included in the cost. They allow you to bring in your own alcohol (at a fee per person) which helped us get better bang for the buck on the alcohol we were serving. The catering is done by the Francis Marion – another decision to cross off the long wedding list – and the food was awesome. I was somewhat concerned with how the food was going to taste, because we’ve had less than stellar meals at the Swamp Fox, but both our tasting for the wedding and the actual wedding food was amazing. People have been raving about it - particularly the Crab Cake Station, Pasta Station, and passed hor devours! Our frustrations stemmed mostly from us asking for some (what we believed were reasonable) changes to their ordinary set-up. I was surprised how hard it was to get them to agree on some of these requests, especially with how much we were paying to the Francis Marion alone. Almost every change we made came at a price. However, let me reinforce, that in the end, it all turned out beautifully, but I can’t discount the frustrations we felt while getting to the final event. All the people we spoke with were more than caring and kind, but they didn’t necessarily have the power to make the decisions. Caroline was instrumental in helping us achieve our wedding day vision, she definitely had more say/empowerment than others we spoke with at the Francis Marion.

Great Experience and Wonderful Wedding Coordinator

The Francis Marion was a beautiful location for our wedding reception. Caroline Bean, the wedding coordinator for the hotel was a joy to work with and made the whole planning process as easy and smooth as possible. Most of our guests were from out of town and loved staying in... Read More such a central location.

Great Venue

I had my May 2013 wedding reception at the Francis Marion Colonial Ballroom and it was absolutely beautiful. All the staff were extremely helpful and kind. The food was delicious and the chef was incredibly accommodating to gluten free diets, childrens options, etc. Caroline... Read More Bean was awesome and always immediately answered all my questions. The hotel includes a night in a suite for the newlyweds and even had a special surprise waiting for us in our room on the wedding night. I would definitely recommend the Francis Marion hotel!

November Wedding

my husband and I had our reception here for our November wedding. It was awesome! Beautiful, great service and very professional and organized. Cannot complain about a thing! If you have the money it will be well worth it!

Pleased in every way!

Wonderful wedding coordinator and hotel staff!

Perfect Spot

Great room. Right downtown. Very friendly. Chocolate covered strawberries. Let us check in early. Very friendly.

Think Twice: Lacking Customer Service

My husband and I had a rather large semi-destination wedding this past year; and ended up having to organize several (3+) hotel room blocks with 10-20 guest rooms in each. We selected various hotel options around Charleston based on price point, location and offered amenities.... Read More The Francis Marion Hotel was the only hotel that did not return my phone calls, turned away guests when rooms were still available in the wedding block & actually made coordinating out-of-town guest accommodations frustrating as well as inefficient. This was one hotel that I should have removed from the list of hotels presented to out-of-town guests; but guests could not beat the price for the prime location on King Street.

amazing venue

the staff was absolutely amazing. My husband was in a car accident the night before the wedding and broke his back. We were told we were not going to be ble to get married. Caroline and her team were able to help mke sure we still had a perfect wedding. They upgraded us to a... Read More larger suite to ensure all of our family could watch the ceremony and helped us find a videographer at last minute to film the ceremony. They played the ceremony in the ballroom to all of our guests. The food was amazing as well. I could have not asked for a better venue.

Parents of the bride

The general consensus of all of our guests was that it was the best meal anyone ever had at a wedding reception. The Francis Marion made our guests feel like number one and we couldn't ask for more than that! We opted for a 1920's theme that was a huge hit with our guests and... Read More the staff dressing the themed part was great. Everything exceeded our expectations. The staff was wonderful and very accommodating.

April Bride

Loved our wedding here in the Gold Ballroom! The staff made everything run smoothly even though we were out-of-towners. Everything was well organized and beautiful.

Reception Location

Amazing food! All my guests gave the location and the food rave reviews.

Amazing

My husband and I stayed at the Francis Marion for our honeymoon, the room was wonderful and the lobby was beautiful ! on the plus side it was right in the middle of downtown charleston so we were within walking distance of everything (plus the trolley stopped right beside the... Read More hotel)... the negative side, if there is an event parking will be terrible.

Amazing venue, excellent staff, long distance plan

Our wedding went absolutely perfectly. The staff at the Francis Marion hotel definitely knows what they are doing up to the very small details! My husband and I planned the wedding without much help from our parents, and while we were able to find guidelines online, we are so... Read More thankful to have chosen the Francis Marion hotel as our coordinator did not leave any detail to chance and brought up quite a few things that we had not thought about to our attention. The ballrooms are gorgeous and are a perfect location for an elegant wedding. The food was amazing and everybody complimented us about it. The house wine was fantastic... no need to go for the expensive stuff! And the hotel was able to provide us with an outside sparkling with only 1 week notice! Everything was just plain PERFECT! The only reason I took 1 star away is that because it was a destination wedding, we planned most of our wedding via email and our coordinator was sometimes forgetful of modifications discussed along the planning. I had to review the final contract in great details to ensure everything we had discussed was included! So... just make sure you review all the details on the final contract (which I am sure all brides would do anyways...)

fantastic evening!

We had an amazing wedding reception, and the folks at the Francis Marion Hotel were wonderful to work with. I would not have changed a single thing about the reception. My husband and I had been to a wedding at the FMH and didn't even consider the venue for our own wedding,... Read More frankly because we thought it would be too expensive. The food, service and elegance of the wedding we'd attented were terrific; there was no way we'd be able to do that... or so we thought. I finally broke down and looked into it and was pleasantly surprised. Caroline Bean, who was our contact for the duration of planning and carrying out the reception, was fabulous to work with. She never put any pressure on us and was with us from picking a ballroom to selecting a menu. She gave us sample contracts and menus and worked with us to get our reception plans underway within budget. The hotel was flexible in getting us in to set up the ballroom early the day of (we were fortunate to not have an event before ours; this might not always be the case!). Another important part of working with this venue was their open communication and availability for questions. Caroline Bean answered all of our inquiries and addressed all of our concerns immediately and expertly. As a bride, being frazzled and stressed out is the last thing I wanted or needed; Caroline never let that happen. Additionally, the food was amazing--a hot and fresh buffet?! Yes! Guests were satisfied and commented about how good the food was. The lines at the bar were never long, the buffet went smoothly and quickly, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the dinner. We were extremely pleased with the Francis Marion Hotel and would confidently recommend the efficiency, professionalism and friendliness of this venue to any couple. Happy planning!