Weddings at the Blackhawk.
Iowa's first Autograph Collection hotel, standing in downtown Davenport since 1915, with a Gold Room that has been the room to get married in for a century.
A 1915 landmark hotel in downtown Davenport
The Venue
Why Hotel Blackhawk photographs the way it does.
The Quad Cities venue guide on this site makes a straightforward recommendation: the Waterfront Convention Center for capacity, the Blackhawk for character. This is the character half. A 1915 hotel, restored rather than gutted, whose Gold Room carries the detail and ceiling height that new construction cannot imitate at any budget.
The layout is flexible in a way that matters. The Gold Room is the headline space, and the Davenport Room suits smaller and medium gatherings on its own or combines with the Gold Room when the guest list runs larger. That means one property handles a hundred person wedding and a three hundred person one without either feeling wrong.
And it is a hotel in a downtown, which solves the two problems that most often go wrong at a city wedding. Guests sleep upstairs, so nobody drives. The day is indoors, so nobody watches a forecast. What you trade is a lawn, and Davenport gives you a river and a nineteenth century downtown instead.
If this one is not quite right
What you actually need to know
- Guest capacity
- Roughly 251 to 300 guests. The Gold Room is the primary wedding space, with the Davenport Room serving smaller and medium gatherings or combining with the Gold Room for larger ones.
- Ceremony sites
- Indoors, in the hotel's event spaces. Because the Davenport Room and Gold Room can be used together, ask whether a ceremony in one and dinner in the other is possible for your guest count. That arrangement removes a room flip entirely.
- Reception spaces
- The Gold Room, which is the reason to book here, plus the Davenport Room separately or combined. Catering comes from in house chefs.
- Getting ready
- Hotel rooms and suites in the building. Ask for a high floor with street facing windows; downtown light bouncing between buildings in the morning is soft and directional.
- If it rains
- Complete, because the day is indoors by design. Rain costs you only the outdoor portrait plan, and downtown Davenport has covered options within a block.
- What it costs
- Quoted on request rather than published. Ask for the food and beverage minimum at your guest count and confirm what the room rental includes versus what is billed as catering, since a hotel package usually bundles tableware and staff that a site-fee venue would charge for.
- What's included
- In house culinary team, event staff and hotel coordination. Confirm the specifics in writing, because hotel packages vary considerably by date and guest count.
- Parking
- Downtown hotel and ramp parking. As with any hotel wedding, the load is lighter than the guest count implies because much of the party is staying in the building.
- Where guests stay
- Guest rooms on site, which is the practical case for a hotel wedding. Build the block early for a peak Saturday and it doubles as your transport plan.
- End of night
- Hotel event end times apply with sleeping guests overhead. Get end time and last call in writing, and ask where an after party is permitted to go.
- Vendor rules
- Catering and bar are in house. Outside catering is generally not available at a property of this type, so food and beverage is a fixed structure rather than a budget lever.
Worth knowing early: Ask precisely which rooms your quote covers and whether the Gold Room is held exclusively for you. A combinable layout is an advantage when it is yours and a complication when another event has the adjoining space. Get the configuration and the exclusivity in writing.
The four places worth your time
The Gold Room, wide
Reception, lit deliberately
A century of detail and real ceiling height. Wide reception frames have air above the crowd here, which is the difference between a photograph of a party and a photograph of a room.
The lobby and historic interiors
Any hour
1915 architecture thirty seconds from the ballroom door. No travel time, no styling required, and it looks like nowhere built since.
Downtown Davenport streets
Late afternoon open shade
Brick and stone facades throw clean shade all afternoon. The reliable answer when a bright June Saturday makes every outdoor venue difficult.
The Mississippi riverfront, a short walk
The hour before sunset
A working river with barges and bridges, and open water west. It is what makes the day look like the Quad Cities rather than any hotel anywhere.
Your day, hour by hour
At Hotel Blackhawk
Full Wedding GalleryPhotographing Hotel Blackhawk
The building is the decoration
A 1915 hotel does not need draping or uplighting to look like an occasion. Spend the budget on flowers and food and let the room be the set.
Ask about combining rooms
A ceremony in the Davenport Room and dinner in the Gold Room means no flip and a real cocktail hour. Whether that works at your guest count is worth asking on the first call.
The river is fifteen minutes and worth it
The Mississippi is what distinguishes a Quad Cities wedding from a hotel wedding anywhere. Write the walk into the timeline rather than hoping for it.
Hotel Blackhawk Questions
What couples ask about this venue.
Is this the same as The Black Hawk Hotel in Cedar Falls?
No, and couples mix them up regularly. This is Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport, a 1915 Autograph Collection property holding roughly 251 to 300. The Black Hawk Hotel in Cedar Falls is a smaller, much less expensive building ninety minutes north, holding 10 to 150 with full wedding pricing from about $400. There is a guide to that one on this site too. Make sure you are touring the one you mean.
How many guests does Hotel Blackhawk hold?
Roughly 251 to 300. The Gold Room is the main wedding space and the Davenport Room handles smaller and medium gatherings on its own, or combines with the Gold Room for a larger guest list.
What does a Hotel Blackhawk wedding cost?
Pricing is quoted on request rather than published. Ask for the food and beverage minimum at your guest count, and confirm what the rental includes, since hotel packages typically bundle tableware and staff that a site-fee venue would bill separately.
Blackhawk or the Waterfront Convention Center?
Character versus capacity. The Blackhawk is a restored 1915 landmark holding around 300 with a ballroom that photographs like an occasion. The Waterfront in Bettendorf handles 50 to 1,500 with 514 hotel rooms by skywalk. If your guest list is over 300, the choice makes itself.
Where do outdoor photographs happen?
Downtown Davenport's brick and stone for afternoon open shade, and the Mississippi riverfront a short walk away for the last light. There is no lawn, so both need scheduling rather than assuming.
Do you photograph in the Quad Cities?
Yes. Studio Y is based in Cedar Rapids, about an hour and a half away, and travel is quoted into the collection rather than added afterward. Collections begin at $5,500.