Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica

the banquet staff was difficult to work with and ridiculously inflexable. although my wedding was lovely, they made a huge faux pas that is absolutely unforgiveable. we specifically ordered that there be no shell fish or pork served at our event as many of my in-laws friends are kosher. we had two tastings, the second one directly with the executive chef. our request was adressed many times.

first, during our cocktail hour there was shrimp on the sushi display. then the biggie. we served a twice baked potato that we had tried at the final tasting. but this time they decided to add bacon bits to it. we were horrified, embarassed and all in the middle of our special day. luckily we pulled the rabbi's plate before he sat down. but there was just no excuse for this mega mistake. i realize things don't always go exactly as planned but this was beyond my wildest nightmare.

We had a fantastic wedding here in September 2006. Prices are very reasonable for the area, and the service was awesome. We had a tasting with our event person, Kayli, and because of an oversight, we were allowed to upgrade our menu for free. The executive chef was there with us, and with his input, we created a special menu just for our event - we still get compliments on the Sea Bass. (Most people don't remember the food at weddings!)

As a ceremony and reception site for ~200 guests, it's not bad. The ceremony room, since it's the same room as the reception, is just a little too big for the number of guests to have a super intimate ceremony, but it was fine for us. The service during each phase of the event was outstanding.

As a photo site, it's not outstanding, but it's pretty good. The street behind the hotel, lobby, pool area, and valet reception area are visually interesting, but the room itself is just a hotel ballroom.

A few negatives - 1) Our event coordinator evidently was not allowed to negotiate most of our deal, which lead to a lot of "Well, I'll have to talk it over with my manager"-type exchanges, which kinda felt like a car sale. (On the plus side, we got most of what we wanted.) 2) The power went out during our introduction / first dance, so we stood in front of all of our guests for a few minutes while they resolved the situation, which was awkward.

Overall, we had a fantastic time at our wedding, and the Delfina was a big part of that. Recommended.