No! We had a private/intimate Ceremony in the mountains with immediate family last year on October 18th, 2025. This Event is a Formal Reception to celebrate our Marriage with every member of our Family and close friends. We are NOT exchanging vows, exchanging rings, or signing papers. We are married, but we want to celebrate with everyone which is why our reception is also right near our 1 year Anniversary.
Yes! While we did already have our Ceremony, there are people who we want to honor outside of immediate family. These people will have a special entrance and a special table at the event.
We are not paying for accommodations, but if you look at the travel tab we do have a discount arranged with a hotel close to the Zoo.
The dress code is Semi-Formal/ Cocktail attire. For men think dress pants, button up, bowtie/tie, and nice shoes. For women think mid-length to long dresses, nice pantsuits/jumpsuits, and nice shoes. *The bridal party is wearing shades of blue (navy to light dusty blue), so we kindly ask guests to avoid wearing blue.* Please be aware that our cocktail hour involves walking around a section of the zoo, so you might want comfortable shoes for this.
Unless stated in your invite, no. We have to give the venue a specific number for the buffet and unless a name is directly on the invite -or it is stated that the listed guest may bring a plus one- we cannot have more guests attend.
Since our event is after the daily open hours for the Zoo, we are able to park in the main Zoo parking lot and enter through the front entrance after they clear the park (around 5:30pm).
When it is time to head into the dining/dance hall there will be a seating chart near the front that will direct you to a specific table. However, even though tables are assigned, there are not specific assigned seats. You can pick whatever seat at your table that you would like!
We are having a buffet style dinner! Menu to come...
Yes, we will have alcohol. The bar is located outside of the dinner/dance hall on the patio area. We do ask that guests manage their consumption so that they can safely make their way to their accommodations for the evening. With that, the bar will be opening at 6 (30 minutes after guests may begin to arrive) and closing at 9:30 (about 30 minutes before the event ends).
During the event we will not have access to the whole Zoo. We will have a specific looped path that will be roped off for us from the entrance of the zoo to the venue we will have our event in. If you want to see the whole zoo, we suggest arriving early and visiting the zoo during open hours or going the next morning! If that is something you are interested in, let us know and we might be able to get a discount for our guests.