Handlery Hotel San Diego Reviews

We worked with Annmarie and she was wonderful. The venue was very flexible with set up, ceremony and reception requests. We had a great time and so did our guests. The food was great and was probably the best priced I found around San Diego County for a full venue. We really just had a wonderful time and loved having our ceremony and reception there. I also had two friends previously get married at the Handlery and they highly recommended it as well!

This place is lovely, I loved the environment, great customer service, the food was delicious, my wedding at Handlery Hotel was amazing.

Anna Marie was wonderful. Great venue.

The hotel was willing to work with us and our special requests. They were friendly and adaptable. We served,our meal family-style, which they had not done before and it was terrific. The food was delicious and prepared as we had requested it. Annmarie, the wedding coordinator at the Handlery, was friendly and receptive to our requests. The bartender at the event was amazing. He prepared the drinks with a personal touch. The hotel staff was professional and helpful as well. We would highly recommend this venue.

Ann Marie at the Handlery made our wedding day run smoothly and seamless which made it enjoyable and stress free for us. She was very flexible and made sure things fit our budget and organized things to be just how we wanted it. Our wedding day was absolutely beautiful and we couldn't be happier for the venue choice at the Handlery Hotel.

Handlery  was an amazing choice  for our wedding. We did not go wrong in selecting  them. Ann Marie Thornberry was the most helpful banquet coordinator and most organized. From the first day we met her to our special day. She took care of each detail and always
 re-assured us that everything  was going to  be okay. Her attention  to detail met our needs. We had a Hollywood /red carpet movie premiere themed wedding and Handlery  was the perfect  place for it. The venue  is so spacious and accomodating for everything  we needed.  The ceremony area was very nice, flowed into the cockatail/appetizer area of the foyer, then to the Crystal ballroom. It was so convenient for everyone as well to transition from Ceremony to reception. Front desk clerks, bellboys, banquet  staff, food, rooms.  We also used the Reef Lounge for our  rehearsal dinner. They closed it down for us to have a private  party. The food and staff was delicious  and accomodating.  Sandra F. Was the manager for that department  and she was very helpful and friendly  to all that we needed. All of our wedding guest gave compliments on our wedding, food, &  the Handlery staff.  Handlery  is like an extended  family. They knew us by name after staying there for 5days. Could  have not asked for a better place to make our dream wedding as close to perfection as it turned out.

My daughter was married and had the reception at the Handlery on June 11, 2016. Ann Marie was very helpful with all the details. We offered Salmon, Filet, and chicken and everyone commented the food was great. The bar was outstanding. The prices were great!!!!

I recently got married at the Handlery and our wedding could not have been better. We used the outdoor ceremony space to get married and it was beautiful. We chose an evening ceremony and had the aisle lit with candles. We rented the garden ballroom for the evening and it was amazing. It has a perfect view into the garden and accommodated all our guests (135). We picked the buffet and had the chicken and steak, the food was really good and everyone enjoyed their meals. The wait staff was very attentive and keep everything in order. We also had about 25-30 people stay at the hotel and everyone had a lovely time. Overall it was a great experience and we really enjoyed having our wedding there.

I just recently got married and could not have asked for a better venue! It was convenient for our traveling guests being able to stay there and have the ceremony and reception all in one place. Ann Marie Schmidt helped make our wedding day as perfect as we had hoped! I would definitely recommend this venue!

We had our wedding on 5/23/2015, and we absolutely loved it. Our ceremony and reception were held in the garden terrace, and we worked with Ann the Handlery's Coordinator, and she is just amazing. She guided us from beginning to end and always kept us up to date on any changes. She has a very down to earth personality, that was so easy to work with and talk too. She made sure each step of the wedding ran smoothly, working with our vendors, and our guests. I also have to mention that the staff and Daniel, who coordinated the staff were amazing. Daniel, made sure we were happy with how everything was set up and that we were being attended to through out the night. Our guest were amazed and had so much fun at our wedding. We couldn't have asked for a better location and staff to work with.

We had our wedding here and the staff was amazing. It went off smoothly and everything looked and tasted great.

Great service from everyone involved.

We were more than pleased with this vendor. They were great to work with, always cooperative, offering suggestions to make our event better. The professionalism of their employees was very good.

Ann Marie Schmidt was a consummate professional.

Very accommodating and helped our wedding run smoothly!

The staff was amazing and accommodating. Any issues that came up they handled right away we could have not asked for a better venue for our wedding!

Perfect garden to add personal touches for wedding ceremony.
There's large space for cocktail hour and reception.

Coordinator Ann Marie is so helpful. She has plenty of ideas to help couples have a smooth wedding. She is slways available to answer questions.
Ann Marie is fun to work with she makes sure that it is the wedding that the couples dream of. From beginning to the end she was there!

I would highly recommend handlery everything was perfect and stressful Ann Marie was amazing she took care of every detail she was very a compensating to our needs and we had the Mexican buffet the food was outstanding.... Thanks for making our day so special Scott & Sonia Berthiaume

The Handlery Hotel was a wonderful venue for my wedding. It was very beautiful and everything was done well. The event planner was wonderful and very helpful. The food and service was amazing!

Hotel was very cooperative throughout the planning process. Serving staff was sufficient and tables were served quickly. Meals were good. Can not say enough about the cooperation we recieved from the Banquet and General Managers. Would utilize this establishment again.

The Handlery Hotel was the first venue that took me seriously when I said I wanted a wedding and reception with 15 guests. We grew in size to 23 guests and we were accommodated every step of the way. Ann Marie Schmidt was fabulous. Since it was a small affair, I was both the bride and the wedding coordinator. I didn't have much time nor desire to read bride magazines and Ann Marie was great in giving terrific tips for many aspects of the wedding and reception. For instance, on her suggestion we had guests sign a picture mat -- and I would have forgotten about a guest book entirely. The staff was wonderful. They were all very professional and quite pleasant. The outside private wedding ceremony venue was perfect (and it would have accommodated a lot more guests if needed). The food was very good as well. Ours was a small affair but as beautifully put on as if we had hundreds of guests. I can't recommend the Handlery Hotel and Ann Marie Schmidt any higher. It was a perfect day and much of that was because of the great venue. Thank you again Handlery and Ann Marie!

P.S. Full 5 star ratings are rare for me but it was definitely earned.

The Handlery was a great venue for a wedding reception. It was the best of both worlds with a outdoor garden and ballroom combined. If you don't like the traditional 4 wall ballroom (BORING), this alternative is very nice. The staff was friendly, courteous and helpful. They strived to make our day the best it could be.

Ann Marie Schmidt was a pleasure to work with. She was more than friendly and helpful. I will definitely
choose and refer The Handlery for any future event.

I was very delighted with the service and quality of food, as well as the overall price for everything. Would highly recommend to anyone considering a small or large event!

I could not get over the exceptional service Ann Marie, Chef, and staff provided. Not only were my husband and I impressed, but our guests raved about the food, beautiful room we were in (Crystal Ballroom), the venue in general, and especially the accommodating staff. Everyone went above and beyond to make this day perfect, and they succeeded ten-fold. I couldn't be happier with every minute we spent planning and celebrating with the Handlery Hotel, San Diego. Thank you!

Ann Marie and the staff at Handlery were very helpful and flexible. The entire time, we felt as if we were the most important clients. On the day of the event, we had some last minute changes which were accommodated with what seamed to be no trouble at all. Chef made the most fantastic meals and was very gratuitous to meet some of the dietary needs of a few of our guests. The venue was beautiful. I would definitely return to the Handlery for other needs.

everything was perfect until the end and we discovered we had left a silver oblong basket and a pair of shoes in the event room and possibly some earrings and a necklace in the changing room upstairs. your employees know where the items should go, to Anne Marie so she can call us, obviously they don't belong to you. The earrings and necklace could have been in a bag and thrown out. What I really would like to get back is my silver oblong basket. Also sound system needs replaced which we didn't know we could have brought our own.

Ann Marie Schmidt the wedding coordinator negotiated a fair price.She also handled the fine details.The food was excellent as was the presentaion

The attention we received from the Handerly was second to none. We received the kind of service you would expect from those fancy over priced venues. They made sure all of my guests had what they needed, and treated my husband and I like royalty. If you're looking for something special check out the Handerly.

We had 190 people!! And the courtyard is AMAZING in June!!! Best location, perfect weather!! Loved every bit of this day! :)

Amazing space (crystal ballroom), attentive servers, great reception area while waiting for us to arrive, Fabulous food!!

The food was delicious and was positively commented on by our guests. The cost per person was half in comparison to the other hotels in the hotel circle area of San Diego and a third of the cost of some of the hotels in the overall San Diego area. The venue is a bit old and is not overly "glamourous", but the outdoor garden was beautiful for our ceremony. Great choice for those who are on a budget.

The food was wonderful, venue was great, it was perfect day with a few hiccups..We loved Annmarie but on that day we felt that we were second, not first as talked about..On my way to the private dressing room which I didn't remember exactly where it was and when I asked a concierge he pointed and said go that way"huh" not I'd be glad to escort you. I still had not seen or heard from Annmarie when screamed for one of my bridesmaids to find her is when she appeared. Mind you I am shaking like a leaf on a tree on a windy morning! We begin our walk towards the garden of course taking the long way the steps were filthy and so was the walk way my dress was filthy at the bottom before I got to the podium! (UGH) The DJ didn't say all rise for the bride on time , little things here and there with him but all in all that day was blessed and I didn't sweat it.. Would I come back absolutely! I know what to do differently.. Word of advice Annmarie you are one person and can not be in 2 places at one time, you needed another person a sidekick to assist. I know the other wedding was larger but my husband and I were counting on YOUR presence.

The HH was an excellent wedding venue. Very affordable compared to other places and easy to work with. The event coordinator is very helpful and responsive. The garden is beautiful and the food was great! They also gave our guests a great deal on the rooms. Would definitely recommend.

This venue is beautiful as is and doesn't need much to dress it up, however you could if you wanted to. I loved the indoor/outdoor element. They were straight-forward with pricing and helped with keeping thing in budget. Even though on the day of my wedding there was an event that changed a few details of the original plan, nothing was crazy different and Ann Marie helped keep everything calm

The venue was very nice, the staff was great, and overall the wedding was a success.

Always a pleasure working with Anne. She's a great asset for handlery. Very attentive to details and helped my clients throughout the wedding process

Handlery was an amazing location to be married at! We had our ceremony there and everyone commented on how beautiful the location was, how nice and peaceful and private it was! The garden made all of our pictures (even candids) look even more beautiful! Julia, the wedding coordinator there was amazing to work with - on top of things, very fun and personable and helped us out so much. She went above and beyond the call of duty to really make sure we were comfortable and the wedding went smoothly and perfectly! It was the most perfect site for our wedding.

Had a wonderful time at wedding only thing that was missing on that day was more lighting in the yard and the waite staff forgot to give my quest tea that came with the party dinner package. some of the waite staff was not kind but other then that evety thing went smooth,

I appreciated the service of all the staff here and the facilities accommodated just what we needed. I will definitely be using the Handlery again.

Make sure you contact AnnMarie! She was absolutely wonderful in all aspects of making sure you were stressful the day of and everything flowed according to plan.

the hotel and the food were wonderful we were from out of town and conducted all business via phone the staff was very helpful and they were wonderful to work for Would highly recommend this hotel for your wedding and reception

The Handerly was a beautiful venue for my daughter's wedding. Ann Marie and her staff were great. Our guest did have some issues with the rooms. But overall it was a successful experience.

Ann did an amazing job with our wedding! She was always easy to get ahold of, and very flexible with our planning. We would definitely recommend her services to friends or family.

I had a wonderful wedding and reception at the Handlery, everything was great!

Ann Marie at the Handlery was so helpful and I was completely confident in her ability in helping us organize our wedding!

This was a great venue for our wedding reception! They were prompt and helpful through the whole planning process. The night of was amazing and the food was great!

Very nice venue and staff. This was our 4 the year using this venue

The outdoor setting for Wedding Ceremony was beautiful - the location was ideal for our wedding as we had a lot of out of town guests - having the ceremony and reception, and the option for them to stay all at the same place was perfect. Highly recommended venue!

Our wedding was beautiful. They have an outdoor ceremony site and several reception ballrooms indoors to accommodate most party sizes. We had there largest ballroom. Both sites could use some updating. The carpet looks fairly old and there are posts that could be updated. Once we got our decorations and lighting up it looked wonderful! The good here is really good also.

Okay so we originally booked with Julia. Somewhere along the line Julia left and Jennifer K. came along. We would not have booked the venue if it hadn't been for Julia. Jennifer was the worse with follow-up and doing what she said she would do. My husband had to hunt her down, so up unannounce, talk to her boss, etc. to get things accomplished. She did not return emails or calls and she was the manager! Geeze.

On the other hand. The value for the money was wonderful! My husband is from the Carribean and we wanted half Carribean dishes for dinner. Since no outside vendors were allowed, the head Chief worked with us to create our dishes and it came out fantastic! The food was really good and we got good reviews all night.

The outdoor courtyard was wonderful too. We had a Sept. wedding and it was breathtaking. The Terrace room sat up to 80 ppl for the reception and that was laid out nice.

We had a good time, just wish Jennifer was more responsive.

The Handlery is a beautiful place for a wedding! However, I was disappointed with the multiple emails I sometimes needed to send to get a simple answer. Also, I was disappointed with the coordinator the day OF the wedding, the most important day in all of this...our coordinator was hardly around, she did not initiate contact with us until we gave her a call to ask a few last minute questions, and after the ceremony and cocktail she seemed to disappear. However, the front desk staff was AMAZING! Whatever we needed they were able to get for us and within a matter of minutes. The food was delicious and the servers were great. Overall, we had a good experience but did expect a little more in some areas.

We had our reception in the garden and it was gorgeous!We had a dance floor and it was fun. We provided our own dj, but they provided some of the sound equipment and it sounded good. I was not too impressed by their food they offered though, and it was cold. The sales assoc for the hotel said she never misses a wedding- so she would be there to help us with whatever we needed...she missed ours. However, the hotel manager was helpful, more people showed than rsvpd and they quickly set up more tables. But over all it was beautiful and went smoothly and for the price it was definately worth it.

I wish I could give them a higher rating, the garden where the ceremony took place was beautiful, the food was delicious, but they were absolutely impossible to get ahold of, it would be at least a week, ususally longer, before they'd respond to an email or voice message. The week of my wedding, I had to call 5 times and email 4 before they responded, I understand that they were busy, but that much added stress was not appreciated right before the wedding, I really did need to make sure they had my final head count.

The Handlery Hotel has beautiful amenities and I would recommend the hotel for their courtyard, banquet room and pool but the room quality is lacking. For our wedding we had a lot of out of town guest and they were not impressed with the hotel at all. When we can to the hotel to check in one of my guest was upset with his room and wanted to leave the hotel. I was a bit embarrassed by that but they didn't upgrade me to the wedding suite as we arranged to do before we got there. Room services didn't communicate to the front desk that there was a master account and began swiping and charging the room they stuck me in. There was a lot of miscommunicate on the part of the hotel. The ray of sunshine is the event planner Ann Marie who was awesome. The hotel is lucky to have her and she knows her job and I enjoyed her.

Brides be ware. At first I felt that I was getting a pretty good deal, and in the beginning dealings were going well. That started to change a bit once I gave my deposit. I felt that the response time on my emails were slow, and that I was not given very clear direction on what would be included as far as day of reception services were concerned. I booked a hotel block for me and all of my guests, as well as paid to have my reception here. From the day of check in it was unsatisfactory for myself (The bride) and my guests. In regard to the hotel block, my guests were scattered throughout the hotel, and no one was near me (the bride). For booking my reception at the hotel I was told that we (Bride and Groom) would receive a free upgraded room. Our room was really no different from our guests room besides a view of the pool. Really? That is considered an upgrade? I was expecting a suite, or a larger room considering that brides usually get ready with their bridal party in their rooms. In addition, there was a mishap with my pet deposit and I was told by the girl at the front desk that she went and checked with Estela and was told that the agreement I stated we had was not correct. Ok, so now you are calling the consumer a liar, great! At this point I was not very happy, and I expressed this with the girl I was checking in with, who ended up being a little bit more accommodating in the end with helping with the pet deposit. Then, there was the day of the wedding. So, I was told that the room was booked in the morning, and was not ready until after 1 pm to start our set up which was not the best considering that we ALL had to get ready and travel to the ceremony site! In addition, nobody met us in the reception room to explain the layout, and nothing was marked either. My niece ended up getting Ann Marie and she did come and assist for a few minutes in between meetings. The staff also through out a lot of my things in the reception room without consulting with me.

BE AWARE: We were promised by Ann Marie Thornberry that we would have plenty of time for photos before and after the ceremony. We were concerned because she said there would be a wedding before and after ours. The problem with this place is that it is a hotel right off the freeway so the only good places for photos is the terrace garden, where the ceremony was. Well, we couldn't take photos before the ceremony because of the previous wedding, which was upsetting but I figured afterwards we could. Well, after a few photos we were KICKED OUT because the next wedding had to set up. My photographer had to scramble to find another place to take photos. I didn't get all the photos I wanted because they triple booked. WHEN I WAS PROMISED BY ANN MARIE THORNBERRY. She lied to us. She also told us that 3k for alcohol would be PLENTY. She stressed all the weddings she had done where 3k was more than enough. We ended spending THOUSANDS MORE than that. We explicitly asked because we had a budget and SHE LIED. She is essentially just trying to make a quota by selling the venue. Had we known this about the photos and the alcohol WE WOULD HAVE GONE ELSEWHERE. Seriously, go somewhere else. Ann Marie also never kept in contact with us at all, would respond to our emails days sometimes a week later and always seemed like she had better stuff to do. Because of her misinformation my wedding photos are not to the extent I would have liked. My photographer, who has been doing weddings since 1989 said he had never been kicked out of a venue 15 minutes after the ceremony. I am in tears writing this review and it is because of Ann Marie Thornberry. Had we known this we would have gone elsewhere. Also, you think that you are getting a venue for a good price considering it is San Diego, but with the extra alcohol, the inability to take pictures and the fact that Ann Marie forgot to mention that the hotel bar and restaurant would be closed for renovaton, we would have gone elsewhere!

Now i understand why I only see the other girls name on this fabulous reviews for the handlery hotel. I wish i have met you too! I guess its not our lucky day coz the person we met was marissa dixon! She is not welcoming at all. It felt like shes just doing this job just for the sake of it. Gotta have personality. You have to make your visitors or guests comfortable at your hotel.