Sage the DateFind your venue →

San Francisco venue guide

Updated

San Francisco wedding venues: historic rooms, hotels, and city celebrations

San Francisco offers landmark rooms, full-service hotels, and event spaces close to the skyline and waterfront. The main tradeoff is cost versus effort: prices start higher, but the venue is more likely to include things like rentals and planning.

We've gathered details on 17 San Francisco venues. Pick a starting point and Sage will rank them for your day, with cost estimates wherever the venue publishes its prices.

Weather backupSkyline viewsFull-service hotel

What should you budget?

Venues with catering for 100 guests

Use − and + to reprice every figure below.

$29k

Typical estimate

The median cost for San Francisco venues that include their own catering.

$15k–$36k

Typical range

Most venues here fall somewhere in this range.

These are our estimates, not quotes from the venues. Your date, guest count, bar, rentals, staff, service charges, and taxes will all change the final total.

Source: SagetheDate.com

Every filled dot is one San Francisco venue that can host 100 guests, shaded by its own estimate on the same scale as the Californiaguide's map; grey ones don't publish a venue-with-catering price. Outlined dots are venues in neighbouring regions.

Narrow it down

See which San Francisco venues fit your guest count and budget, and why

Guests

100
See matching San Francisco venues

By budget and guest count

San Francisco wedding venues by budget and guest count

How many San Francisco venues come in under common budgets for the venue and food, at the guest counts couples plan for most. Each row counts the venues that can host that many guests and publish a full price for the venue and the food, so the list gets shorter as it grows.

San Francisco wedding venues under each budget, by guest count
GuestsTypical venue and foodUnder $15,000Under $25,000Under $35,000Under $50,000
50 guests$22k3 of 95 of 99 of 99 of 9
100 guests$29k1 of 93 of 97 of 99 of 9
150 guests$35k0 of 82 of 84 of 88 of 8
200 guests$40k0 of 70 of 72 of 75 of 7

Our estimates for the venue and food, including service charges and tax where the venue lists them, on a Saturday in peak season. Not quotes. A typical figure is shown only where at least five venues publish a price. On their cheapest published date, usually a weekday or a winter month, 3 more venues come in under $25,000 for 100 guests.

San Francisco venues by price for 100 guests

Under $15,000
La Mar
$15,000–$25,000
Stable Cafe, The Marker
$25,000–$35,000
Log Cabin, Mister Jiu's, San Francisco Officers' Club, The Secret Garden SF
$35,000–$50,000
Golden Gate Club, Presidio Chapel
See which fit your guest count and budget

How venues price weddings

Two venues can quote the same number and mean very different things

Pick one to see what its price contains, what it leaves for you to buy, and what it typically comes to.

You pay for the space and their kitchen

Venues with catering

Venues publish their price in two ways: as a site fee plus a per-guest menu price, or as a bundled package (venue + food).

At100guests

$29k

typical for venues with catering

$15k–$36k

where 80% of these 7 venues land

What makes up the billTypical80% of venues
Service charge & tax6 of 7$6.5k$4k–$7.9k
Each line is typical for the venues that charge it separately, so they don’t add up to the figure above. At 2 venues drinks are priced together with the food, so they sit inside the Catering line rather than a separate bar charge. At 3 venues the bar depends on which package tier you choose, so it isn’t in these figures.

And then you still buy

  • Bar, where it isn’t included
  • Rentals and décor beyond the basics
  • Every other vendor

Good if you

don’t want to worry about sourcing a caterer or any outside catering fees.

What you’d still need to find out

Whether drinks are inside the menu price or billed separately, and what the service charge and tax add at the end.

What changes the math here

Higher prices, but often less to organize. A city venue can look expensive next to one that only charges for the space, but it may include a lot more. Compare the full cost of the wedding, not just the first number, and count up the vendors, rentals, and staff you'd still need to hire.

Services the venue usually provides
65%

Of music, rentals, décor, planning, and photography, at venues that tell us.

See what each venue includes
Quote for the space only
18%

Food, drinks, staff, and rentals may not be in that first price.

See venues that charge for the space

What kind of place

Start with the kind of city wedding you want

Historic room or landmark

A good fit if you want the building itself to set the mood. Ask where the ceremony, dinner, and dancing happen in the building, and whether you'll need to buy insurance or hire a planner.

Full-service hotel

Good if you want the food, staff, and guest rooms handled in one place. Compare the wedding package and any hotel room block separately so you can see what each one costs.

4 of 17 venues here

Find venues like these

Flexible event space

Best if you want a less traditional room and more say over your vendors. Ask what the rental includes, whether you have to use certain vendors, and how much time you get to set up.

5 of 17 venues here

Find venues like these

What changes the shortlist here

Three decisions to make early

Compare the complete cost

Line up the venue, food, drinks, staff, rentals, service charges, and taxes for each venue. A package price and a space-only price can't be compared until you add in what the second one leaves out.

Compare full estimates for your guest count

Decide how much to hire yourself

Some couples want the venue to provide as much as possible; others want to choose every vendor themselves. Each vendor you hire on your own means another contract, another delivery, and one more thing to coordinate.

See what each venue includes

Know where everything happens

Ask where the ceremony, cocktails, dinner, and dancing each happen, and where they move if the weather turns. A backup space only works if it fits all your guests and the rest of the day can still go ahead.

See venues across the region
How San Francisco compares with California
  • Let you bring your own caterer24% vs 30%

    of venues that say either way (17 here)

  • Have rooms for guests on site29% vs 31%

    at least, of all venues (17 here)

  • Give you the whole property18% vs 28%

    at least, of all venues (17 here)

  • State a rain plan41% vs 55%

    at least, of all venues (17 here)

  • Require something extra29% vs 47%

    a planner, insurance, security or similar, of all venues (17 here)

What affects the cost of your wedding

Your date can change the price a lot

Wedding venue pricing is seasonal. 11 of the 17 San Francisco venues we track charge differently depending on the day, and 6 charge differently depending on the month. Every figure below compares a venue with itself, so it says what moving your date does — whatever kind of venue you pick, and whatever the size of your wedding.

Day of the week

Months you’d consider

Peak months are selected to start. Tap any month to compare.

Saturday, peak season

The most expensive date most venues sell, and the date almost every published price assumes. Choose a different day or month to see what typically comes off.

How much less than its own most expensive month a typical San Francisco venue charges, comparing Saturdays all year (6 venues price a season)
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

What part of the bill your date actually changes

Not every line on a quote moves. These are the ones that do, measured at the venues that move them.

The venue rental

What they charge for the space itself.

Weekday42% lessat 8
Fri or Sun23% lessat 8
Off-peak month38% lessat 5

What gets added at the end

Taxes and fees mark up a San Francisco quote typically by 24%

Every pricing model carries them. At the 14 San Francisco venues that publish their fees, the middle result is 24%, with most landing between 10% and 41%.

Food & drinkVenue rentalService chargeAdministrative feeNamed surchargesSales taxon the bill and on the fees
Solid lines are what a fee is always charged on; dashed lines are charged that way at some venues only. Sales tax comes last, on the bill and usually on the other fees too.
Various fees to considerTypical

  • Service charge4 venues

    24%

    The venue’s charge for its staff. Not a tip.

  • Administrative fee6 venues

    22%

    Charged instead of, or alongside, a service charge — and usually taxed as well.

  • Sales tax7 venues

    8.6%

    Set by the state, and charged on the service charge too at most venues.

  • Named surcharges6 venues

    10%

    Operations, production, sustainability or a city fee.

Dots are sized by how many venues charge that rate. The gold line is the median rate, and every fee has its own scale: read the spread within a row, not across them.

Places worth a closer look

Six San Francisco venues to start with

These examples show different ways to host a city wedding. Open a venue to see its pricing, capacity, spaces, vendor policies, and other planning details.

Find venues that match your vision and budget

Describe your guest count, your budget, and anything you can’t compromise on. See a ranked list of venues, with why each one fits, trade-offs, and what to double-check.

Try:

Sage the Date reads each venue's own published details, including pricing, catering and alcohol rules, music curfews, rain plans, whether you get the whole property, and how many guests each space holds. Every estimate uses your guest count. When a venue doesn't say, we tell you instead of guessing.

Before you book

Three questions worth asking

  • What does this price include, and which costs for food, drinks, staff, rentals, service charges, and tax come on top?
  • To book, do we have to hire a planner or security, buy insurance, use certain vendors, or pay a deposit?
  • Where does every part of the day happen, and exactly what changes if the weather turns?
See all 17 San Francisco venues we track
How this guide is built

Sage reads each venue's own published pricing and policies, puts different kinds of quotes on the same footing, and estimates the cost for 100 guests. If a venue doesn't say something, we treat it as a question to ask, not a no. Venues can't pay to appear or to rank higher here.