About this vendor
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is located in the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio. We are home to one of the most iconic locations in the city. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is voted the best zoo of 2022 in America by readers of USA Today. Our stunning historic architecture and lush gardens makes us a top destination in Cincinnati.
Facilities and Capacity
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden offers several different venue locations to accommodate groups of any size up to 170 guests. One of our most popular options is to have your ceremony in front of our giraffes, host your cocktail hour with our charismatic hippos, and end the evening on our Africa Desk and Patio for a night you and your guests will never forget. Although, our zoo can accommodate almost any of our animal habitats as a backdrop for your ceremony.
Animal Experiences
Get the opportunity to enhance your wedding with a specialty animal appearance. Have you always wanted to feed a giraffe? Has it been a dream of yours to pet a penguin? Maybe even meet a cheetah up close? By having your wedding here at the Zoo, we can bring these once-in-a-lifetime experiences to you!
Services Offered
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden can offer to host your engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, reception, or elopement. Minimums are required. Our venue rental cost includes basic set-up of tables, chairs, white or black linen, and basic centerpieces. All other amenities are additional costs.
Cuisine
You will have the opportunity for a tasting and consult with the Executive Chef from our on-site caterer. They will work one on one with you to bring your dream day to life. Dinner options include buffet or plated service, and their bartenders can also create a signature drink for your special day.
We do not allow any outside food or beverages to be brought in (besides wedding cake and edible favors). Our on-site catering company also holds the liquor license.
Other Services
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden offers additional add-on options for couples looking to personalize their special event. Rent out the train and take a loop around the zoo or spin on our brand-new carousel that overlooks our beautiful Swan Lake.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Dressing Room
On-Site Accommodations
Settings
- Ballroom
- Garden
- Park
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Cakes & Desserts
- Cupcakes
- Other Desserts
- Food & Catering
- Planning
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
4.9
out of 5.013 reviews
The zoo is such a great backdrop for a wedding. Everyone has such a blast and enjoyed being able to interact with some of the animals. The food was amazing and the staff was excell...
ent. We had to push back our wedding from 2020 to 2021 due to covid and I felt that the Zoo helped us make that an easy transition. 10/10 would recommend
Our wedding was a wonderful experience. My husband and I really enjoyed working with the Zoo Crew throughout the whole experience. They were responsive to emails, creative in their...
ideas, and above and beyond helpful on the day of. The day of the weather changed pretty quickly, but the zoo was able to accommodate a quick change of plans and really helped to alleviate any and all stresses. My entire family traveled from out of town and were able to use shuttles provided by local hotels and to get to and from the venue. Everything was well marked and well organized for our guests. We appreciate the time and effort our coordinating team put together. It was wonderful all around. Thank you guys!!
The Zoo was perfect!! As a Zoo employee, I had certain expectation as to how the day would go. The catering and special events team exceeded those expectations!!! Everything went b...
eautifully. They helped us every step of the way. My guests would not stop raving about the venue, animals, and employees working. Everyone did a great job.
Great experience! The weather didn't cooperate very well but we had the best day ever. The zoo special events staff are amazing. I got so many compliments from guests on the food, ...
staff and how organized everything was. Loved it!
Having my wedding at the Zoo had to be one of the most stress-free experiences of my life. The staff was so helpful organizing the event, setting up my decorations, and helping my ...
fiance and I get our dream wedding. The bar service was prompt, the food amazing, and the ceremony and receptions spots were beautiful. I HIGHLY recommend the zoo. Their coordinators (Becca and Jennifer) were FANTASTIC.
When we booked the zoo as our ceremony and reception venue, we did not know exactly what to expect but knew that we loved animals and wanted a beautiful outdoor setting. Since we ...
did not have a complete "vision" for the wedding, we really appreciated that the event coordinator walked us through our location options and was able to answer all our questions. They were accommodating with requests and able to give us additional guidance throughout the wedding process. We appreciated that they were flexible with our requests and went above and beyond. For example they allowed us to get some wonderful pictures with some of the elephants that we were not expecting. Also I was pleasantly surprised when the box of kids toys we provided and the "s'mores" supplies that we brought were displayed in a way that we had not discussed but looked a lot better than I was envisioning. They were able to set up the reception area as we discussed for the areas that we had specific requests for but I felt like they were able to improve upon our vision in the areas where we maybe did not have as much vision. I also really appreciated that we were able to drop off our reception and ceremony decorations when we did the rehearsal and pick up the items the day after the wedding - so we didn't need to worry about remembering extra items on the day of the wedding nor did we have to stick around (or ask friends/family to stick around) after the reception to grab things. I also really appreciated that the zoo required that we used their catering (one less decision to make) - and the food was excellent (we received many compliments from our guests). We absolutely loved our wedding and a huge part of that was the wonderful setting where it occurred.
Jennifer was so great to work with and made all my wedding dreams come true. It is such a beautiful place to get married and the moment I found out you could do it, it was the only...
thing I was very sure I wanted to be part of our big day! Jennifer the coordinator ensured everything was covered and was so easy to work with. If I ever have another event I will be sure to have it here! Plus it's not every day you can say giraffes and the bearcat from UC was a part of my wedding party!
The Zoo was absolutely amazing, from the planning all the way through to the end of the wedding, they did everything and anything they could to help us along the way. I don't know ...
what we would've done without them! Let's put it this way, if we renewed our vows and a had a big party, we would definitely do a repeat at the Zoo!
Both the ceremony area and the reception area were set up for us. They had already been working on the Christmas lights for the Festival of Lights and it just so happened that they'd finished the ones in our reception area already so they turned them on for the reception, we had so many guests come up and say that the area looked like a fairytale. We also had several guests come up to us and say that it was the most beautiful wedding they'd ever been to.
The food was amazing! The Zoo has their own Chef that does the catering on-site, they use herbs that they grow at the Zoo, and everything else comes in fresh from a local farm or is shipped in fresh that week. We had so many people come up and compliment us on the food, I'm pretty sure a couple people went back for seconds or thirds of some of the stations. The wait staff were super attentive too, I looked over once... just ONCE to see if everyone was moving along through the line at the stations and I immediately had an attendant at my side asking if I needed anything, or if I wanted anything to drink. I have never been served so fast or efficiently in my life! (You can even ask for custom themed stations, we had two more traditional stations, 'The Carvery' and a 'Pasta Design' but then we asked for a Caribbean themed station since we got engaged in the Caribbean, it was so delicious!)
As a side comment! Do your photo's around the Zoo before the ceremony! It gives you a warm-fuzzy feeling when we hear everyone as you're walking by saying 'Congratulations!' or my favorite comment of the day 'Mommy, why is that lady dressed like a princess?' I couldn't stop smiling after that one!
Loved having my ceremony here and guests also enjoyed the unique location and the penguin who joined us!!
Had our wedding at the cincinnati zoo. The setting was beautiful and could not have asked for anything better. The weather looked like it might rain so we moved the reception indoo...
rs just incase but the ceremony was on swan lake bridge and the weather held out for us. So many people told us how much fun the weddi g was and we were veery delighted to hear that.
My fiance and I had been looking for a different place to hold our wedding reception and the Zoo did more than deliver!! We were in a tent behind the lodge area, we had animals fo ...
rour guests to get pictures with and learn more about, and it was beautiful!! The place looked absolutely stunning and did not make you feel like you were in a zoo at all! The staff was all extremely friendly and GREAT to work with - they made us feel like friends :) It was a bi ton the expensive side, but it was all worth it in the end.
I feel in love with the zoo the first time we visited. They have been overly accommodating through the whole process. I would recommend everyone get married at the zoo just for the...
wonderful staff alone. We worked with Jennifer C from start to finish. She was always quick with answers and very help full!!
I work in the wedding industry and have had my fair share of dry bland reception food. Not here!!! The food was to die for, fresh & tasty! The bar packages were very reasonable. Overall PERFECT! Everything went smoothly and we couldn't have been happier on our day!
My husband and I loved our zoo wedding!
We worked with Katie Gilday, who managed everything from the minute details to the overall big picture items....and when the wedding day ca...
me and we had a complete rainout, the "Plan B" she'd mentioned from the first day of planning came into being. And it worked out wonderfully. Despite the torrential downpour, our guests raved about the facility, the food and the beautiful and intimate way in which everything was set up and carried out. And when Katie escorted some of our guests to the exit, they were treated to special facts about the zoo after hours!
It's a very special place and we really recommend having your wedding and/or reception at The Cincinnati Zoo!
Contact
3400 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden