“My husband and I have been visiting the Botanic Gardens for years and it was the only venue we wanted for our wedding day. The wedding day was everything we had hoped for and many of our guests commented afterward how beautiful it was.
We also knew ahead of time that we wanted an intimate wedding and the Woodland Mosaic and Solarium as our location. The weather was fairly warm on our date but our guests didn't feel it because the venue has lots of shade with the solarium and trees. It also felt like a more secluded space, which is something that we wanted. Our wedding date was a very popular Saturday in June, and I believe 5 other weddings were taking place at the same time! Because our location felt so private, we hardly noticed. The only exception being the "golden hour" for photography, where we were taking photos in the Japanese garden and carefully maneuvering around other couples also taking photos. If you want to be the only bride in sight, keep this in mind. We didn't care though.
Because we had such a small wedding (40 people), we chose not to have a wedding planner or day-of coordinator. I would recommend one for this venue if you have a larger group or if you don't have a lot of helping hands. We had a lot of help from our families on the day of the event - helping set up things like the gifts/card table and brining in liquor in coolers. We also carried out a lot of items ourselves at the end of the night. This isn't a complaint from our end, as we expected to do some of the coordination ourselves. Just keep in mind that if you don't want to have to do anything on your wedding day, be sure to hire someone for that role.
Emily was great at coordinating from the Botanic Gardens side. She gave us helpful information when needed, responded quickly, and we also met her about a month in advance to walk through the site, going over details on things like chairs and tables. In addition, you get an hour walkthrough during the day before your event. On the day of, I booked a touch-up room (included in the price).
They have a limited catering list and we were happy to use Serendipity Catering for our food, bartenders, service staff, desserts and floral, which made coordinating everything a lot easier! I highly recommend working with Brie and Raven. Another perk of booking this venue is that you can bring in your own alcohol, which can save money. Negatively, it was a bit of work for our families to haul all of this in and out while in formalwear.
Depending on which space you book, you are also only able to have acoustic music. We wanted (and hired) a string quartet, so this worked for us. However, if you want to dance the night away with a DJ, you would need to book elsewhere for the reception or book their indoor ballroom.
The best surprise for us was a free couples membership for a year to the Botanic Gardens. We are so excited to have the opportunity to spend more time here, enjoying their many event offerings throughout the year. We can't wait to return year after year!”