Hilton Santa Clara

and as soon as we stepped in, we kind of felt that was the place for us. The hotel was just the right size for our party and hotel lobby was open with lots of sunlight which we love. Though the ballroom (Sierra) was a little tight for our party of 170 but we managed to fit everybody in, not to mention we liked everything the Hilton had to offer. The pre-functional area was nice and it was right next to the lobby. It was nice that it seemed as if we got the entire area for our wedding (weekend traffic is usually pretty light). We also wanted to commend on the food. It definitely exceeded our expectation. We met the executive Chef and Sou Chef at our tasting and they were very meticulous and made sure everything would be done to our liking. They offered many recommendation yet they were open to our particular requests. Vast majority of our guests had nothing but praise about the food (a rarity at a bigger wedding). The hors d’oeuvre was great, too! Choices were numerous and we even had a hard time just to pick them out. As a side note, a separate vendor couldn’t get their chocolate fountain running and the Sou Chef came out to help voluntarily. Kudos to Todd! We had a lot of out of town guests so hotel service was important for us. Front desk staff was friendly and courteous. Our guests received excellent service. One of our guests lost his wallet in the Executive Lounge and their staff went above and beyond and found the room number and returned the wallet even before he realized it. Awesome service! Last but not least, our wedding coordinator was awesome. We were a bit stressed the last couple of weeks like any other couple and she made our reception planning easy. She was patient (we just couldn’t’ seem to make up our minds on different things), helpful and accommodating; and her response time definitely qualified by Silicon Valley standard. It was great working with Kaitlan!

e, but it fit our 125 guests comfortably. The walls are neutral color, so you can transform the room anyway you want. Cocktail hour took place in the lobby and they sectioned off our area so that no wedding crashers could try to get in. Near the Sierra Ballroom is a small conference room called the Yosemite Room. I used this room for myself, the bridesmaids and mothers to get our hair and make-up (H&MU) done. I had three H&MU artists to work on 12 girls, so I needed a large room for everyone to fit comfortably. The Yosemite Room was perfect for this! There was even enough room for breakfast food, items we needed for the reception, and storing equipment for vendors. It’s right next to the reception hall, so fast and easy access to retrieve items. Wedding Specialist You will get a wedding day specialist on the day of your wedding so no need for a day of wedding coordinator. Kaitlan was our wedding specialist and she was great! For most of our engagement, we were working with another specialist, but she left for another opportunity, but Kaitlan picked up from where she left off really easily. Kaitlan coordinated with the vendors on the day of and she also helped us setup the centerpieces for the cocktail hour, our guestbook table with photos, favors and name cards for each place setting. She even helped us line up the wedding party for our grand entrance into the reception hall. Food I may be biased but the hors d'oevres and entrees served at our wedding were the best wedding day food we’ve ever tasted. Guests came up to us and told us how great the food was. And the presentation of the entrees was above average. A complimentary food tasting is part of the package when you book your wedding at Hilton Santa Clara. The chef and staff are very accommodating and you can customize the meals to your liking. We asked our chef to transform the Caesar salad into something more creative and he made a bird nest like bowl out of parmesan cheese with the salad in it! My husband doesn’t have full function of his right hand, so the chefs were happy to pre-cut his prime rib for the wedding day. My mom doesn’t like brussel sprouts so they served her plate without them. They also offered me a duet plate, so I went with the prime rib and veggie lasagna.

family wedding here, my sister in Sep 8 2013 had also picked this hotel for her wedding reception. I do wedding & event planning as a part time job and I have planned quite a few of weddings already mostly from family. This hotel always comes to mind each time someone asks me of potential venue for their wedding reception. For one, the place/ballroom and overall ambiance of the hotel is very inviting, the wedding packages are well thought of and reasonable, the catering manager/coordinators are very flexible and accomodating ( i cannot thank them enough on how well they took care of all our needs esp. when we have to move up the wedding 5-month in advance, the food and overall service were excellent (I think if the strength of this hotel is food & customer service) As an event planner, i'm very meticulous ( i can depit red flags ) but with Hilton santa clara despite of the numerous changes that happened ( changed in contact /event coordinators & head chef ) our visions are well executed these are very important have I think we can all agree that wedding can be really expensive so you have to do a lot of work checking and comparing packages and prices. I think the only drawback of this hotel is their max capacity ( if you have mid size wedding ~100 to 150 then this is the hotel you must consider) you will not regret it.