HILTON ALEXANDRIA OLD TOWN

o cover- from salsa, to polkas, OSU fight song, to regular dance music and he did a fabulous job. Our dance floor was never empty. He read the crowd perfectly! We had everyone left at the end of the night still ready to keep going thanks to Freddie! And he gives the bride and groom heads up as to what is happening next. We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better night

al with him) send him the same information over and over. And even then, he disregarded our instructions about food allergies and menu items. The General Manager dismissed my plea for help getting answers/responses, telling me that the coordinator "always gets 9's and 10's in reviews," and that should be good enough for me. While he did comp us a room for the weekend and uplighting, what I really wanted was an event coordinator that would do his job! All that being said, we ended up having a fabulous event with fabulous food, but it was in spite of him, and not because of him. Considering what we spent, I expected him to act professionally. Once we started having problems with him, I learned that every other family who had held an event here had found him equally difficult. AVOID THE HILTON AT ALL COSTS!

ravel. The facility is beautiful and Craig is super easy to work with. From booking room blocks to food tasting, any questions were answered quickly. On the weekend of our wedding everyone was super helpful and nice. From front desk staff to banquet staff everyone helped to make the day move smoothly. The food was also amazing from cocktail hour appetizers to main dinner, we have had so many complements from guests regarding quality and flavor of food. We also had guests with food allergies and it was not problem to modify the menu for their needs. If you're looking for a beautiful reception site in the heart of Old Town, I highly recommend Hilton Alexandria Old Town.

ched 99 degrees on our wedding day, the catering director Kristi and her staff moved the ceremony indoors without losing a beat. When our rabbi got horribly lost en route to the venue Shirley at the front desk managed to figure out where she was and get her to the hotel, going so far as to flag her down outside, with about fifteen minutes to spare. The space for the ceremony and reception were great and we relieved lots of compliments on the food. We also had a block of rooms at the hotel for our guests which is extremely convenient since it's across the street from the metro. The soundproofing is amazing (very important) and the rooms are very nice. The presidential suite has a great balcony with a view of the Masonic memorial that makes for pretty pictures. We even hosted a rehearsal dinner for our wedding party and family the night before our wedding. We had a make your own pasta buffet that was very tasty. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this venue and they helped make my wedding day amazing!

r - grand ballroom for wedding and reception and two smaller rooms for the kids room and a prayer room. The venue is close to DC so out of town guests were able to make a vacation of it. The event coordinator was professional, very responsive, accommodating, and worked well with my vendors to ensure that everything flowed smoothly during our day. The catering staff was also professional. The food was great. My one complaint is that the bridal suite where we were getting ready did not have good lighting for hair and makeup, there wasn't much natural light and no overhead lights. My make up artist somehow was able to set up the table lamps to work for her though so it was fine.

was able to walk us through the process with ease and comfort. The hotel did the table decorations for us and they looked great. The service on the day of, towards us and our guests, was fantastic. The only snafu was a lost reservation for a member of our bridal party so that provided a bit of anxiety two days before the wedding. All of our guests keep commenting on the great tasting food. The location can't be beat. Right in the heart of old town, we got some amazing pictures (it helped the weather was perfect). Also, there were plenty of places for an after-party for those who wanted to continue the festivities! All in all, we are super pleased to have had our wedding there and would recommend it to anyone!

eemed the perfect fit. Though, that's where the convenience ended. During the time leading up to our wedding, our contact changed THREE different times. Turn-over is definitely something I'm willing to deal with, but not when the premise of our agreement changes each time someone new comes into the role. We had many out of town guests coming to stay and planned to use a lot of rooms, but were not sure exactly how many. The original coordinator encouraged us to open a complimentary block of 25 rooms for the weekend so that we wouldn't be responsible for paying ourselves for the unoccupied rooms, especially if we didn't have an exact number. When we filled the block, as we did pretty quickly, she promised to simply add more rooms as we needed. From the beginning, our guests had problems making reservations within the block as it constantly showed up full on the computer. My guests would contact me and I would have to call and re-call the Hilton and our contact to remedy this situation. But when we did fill the block and it came time to add more rooms, the new coordinator just wouldn't do it. Since our contract was completely vague, we had nothing but our word to go on that this was our original arrangement. Also, the price went up significantly for the additional block that we would now be responsible for financially if un-filled. With all the difficulty we were having, I decided to contact the general manager, feeling like we were bringing a lot of business to the hotel, but not being treated well or respected as clients. I was abruptly and rudely dismissed by Ms. Nowland, the GM, who was too busy to talk to me at the time of my call and despite promising a call-back, never was given the courteousy of one. The only reason I didn't pull our whole block at this point was so I did not inconvenience our friends and family that had >50 reservations at this early point. These were only a few of the many issues we had during the time we blocked space with this hotel. The only reason I give this place 2 stars instead of 1 is that the final coordinator we worked with, Franklin, was at least apologetic for all our problems and sought to improve communication as a means to better satisfy us. Also, our guests seemed to enjoy the location of the hotel and their stays all went smoothly. Overall, though, if I had to block space again, I'd use another large hotel right up the street and would definitely not deal with this again. It was absolutely unnecessary stress and work at a time when there were so many other things to concentrate on in the throws of our wedding planning.

with two entrees), the service was awesome, and the venue was beautiful. The bridal suite/wedding suite was gorgeous as well with a full kitchen, bedroom and living room and plenty of room to get ready for your big day. It rained on my wedding day so the ceremony had to be moved inside. The staff was really great about this and worked with my vendors to make sure that everything was perfect. These are the top 5 reasons why I would recommend this venue: 1. You can have your ceremony & reception in the same place and have the option of having an outdoor ceremony or cocktail hour or a really small reception. The outside ceremony space included the arbor as well. 2. The menu price included a 4 hour openbar. 3. The venue is really pretty and is right in Old Town Alexandria so you can walk to take wedding pictures. 4. The venue is right across the street from the King Street Metro which is very convenient for out of town guests that want to make a mini-vacation out of your wedding and visit the touristy parts of DC. 5. The bridal suite is gorgeous! I took a bunch of pictures in there and it was also very comfortable for the bridal party to change and eat. We left for our honeymoon the next day so it was nice to have the space to put our big suitcases. The fridge also came in handy for storing the top layer of our wedding cake. My only complaint was that pieces of my wedding puzzle guest book were misplaced and lost by the hotel staff. I contacted the hotel and they graciously offered to replace my puzzle. The puzzle was unfortunately irriplaceable because each piece was hand-cut but the hotel was able to credit my Hilton Honors account with extra points to compensate for the loss. Overall, I would recommend this hotel to any bride in a heartbeat.

so accomodating! It was great!

ocktails. Food was superb and the location was a hit! We had 200 guests. A bit tight on the dance floor but everyone had a ball.

h absolutely anything...whether it be a crazy, nit-picky question, or something bigger. I would recommend this venue to ANYONE!

ever been too!

. Extremely hospitable, informative, and worked with us the entire time to ease any of our questions or concerns. Highly recommend having your reception at this hotel for its quality experience, the staff, the top chef food, and the location!