San Francisco weddings, from City Hall to the waterfront
A ceremony under the rotunda at City Hall and a reception somewhere else in the city is the San Francisco pattern as often as not, and it is the part that needs the most planning. The ceremony needs its own sound: a microphone for the officiant that does not echo off the marble, and the prelude and processional playing from a system that can be carried up the stairs and out again inside the hour City Hall gives you. Then the reception room, which might be a Nob Hill ballroom, a converted bank on Battery Street or a hall out on Treasure Island, and none of those behave the same way once they are full.
I have been DJing and MCing Persian weddings in San Francisco for years. The Fairmont, the Julia Morgan Ballroom, the Regency Ballroom, the Bently Reserve, the Palace Hotel and the California Academy of Sciences are all rooms I have worked before, which matters more than it sounds: I know where the power is, how long the load-in takes at each, which ballrooms swallow bass and which ones ring, and what the venue coordinator will and will not allow on the dance floor.
A Persian wedding here usually mixes two rooms of guests: family who want the sofreh aghd and the knife dance done properly, in Farsi, and friends and colleagues who want a night out in the city. Every announcement is made in both languages, and the music moves between Persian and English by reading the floor rather than by a fixed schedule. If your celebration blends two cultures, that is most of the weddings I play, not a special request.
Send your date and your venue and you will get a straight answer on availability, then one quote that covers the ceremony, the reception, and the sound and lighting for both. Travel inside the city is already in it.
San Francisco venues I have played
San Francisco City Hall
Ceremonies under the rotunda or on the fourth floor, with a portable system that is in and out inside the booking window.
Fairmont San Francisco
Nob Hill ballrooms with high ceilings that need the sound aimed, not just turned up.
Julia Morgan Ballroom
A century-old ballroom in the Financial District, all wood panelling and plaster, that sounds as good as it looks when it is set up right.
Also the Regency Ballroom, the Bently Reserve, the Palace Hotel, the Airport Marriott Waterfront, Treasure Island and the California Academy of Sciences. The full list is on the locations page.
We chose DJ Mian for our wedding and he was FANTASTIC.
Our guests were asking for his name all night.
He is a great communicator and helped us plan our music months in advance.
He coordinated a percussionist, Hershel.
The two of them had an electric vibe that had everyone dancing all night.
Merci x1000
Mahsa K & Arash
More on the reviews page, reproduced from Yelp and Google.
Wedding highlight
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