Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

had a cocktail hour with the giraffes. Finally the reception was held at the Range of the Jaguar. We got nonstop compliments all night about how beautiful it was; all the palm trees are wrapped in lights and made everything look magical. We did our first look inside the penguin exhibit and got amazing pictures. There are so many beautiful locations in the zoo to get unique photo opportunities. Christine is the zoo coordinator that handled all zoo related planning for us. She worked with us for several months leading up to our wedding and was always available for questions. We did several walk throughs with our vendors and she accompanied us each time to make sure we had what we needed. Everything ran so smoothly and all of the zoo staff was extremely helpful the entire night. The food is catered through the zoo and was incredible! We got compliments all night about how delicious everything was. If you are looking for a unique and beautiful wedding venue the Jacksonville Zoo is the place to go!

family and friends had so much fun celebrating after hours for our private event they even rode the train and our wedding party/close family got to enjoy a photo op at the carousel. Everyone that attended has raved nonstop that a wedding at the Zoo was the best and most fun idea ever. Kim the wedding coordinator did a fantastic job and we greatly appreciated all she did to make my husband and I day memorable.

ew Courtyard. It's nestled right off the St. Johns River and has a more secluded feel due to the wall separating it from the fountain and rest of the zoo. We opted for a mid-day Friday ceremony and lunch buffet reception. The 3 hour micro package was exactly what we were looking for since it included the venue, catering and table/chair set up. The Zoo remained open to the public and our guests were able to hop on the train and be dropped off right next to the ceremony location. Kim was a dream to work with and we nailed down most the details via email and finalized them at our walk through about 5 weeks before the wedding. We had 6 tables for the reception and brought our own centerpieces that complimented the Riverview Courtyard. Adding them to the tablescape was easy and handled by me upon arrival about an hour before the ceremony. We had our first look on the grounds and were able to take more portraits together at the conclusion of the reception before the Zoo closed for the evening. The team was so sweet and attentive throughout the entire day, we had the best experience holding our wedding at the Zoo! The zoo is already a special location for us and now we have even more reasons to love it & visit with our nieces!

vided ideas from past weddings. The venue was absolutely beautiful!! We took photos all over the zoo and our ceremony and reception was held at The Range of the Jaguar. Our venue location was beautiful the day of. The weather was perfect! The food is absolutely incredible. Our guests loved the venue, the food, and getting to see some of the animals. We also had cocktail hour at the Giraffe Exhibit. The Giraffes were not wanting to come up and eat, which we were prepared for, but our guests still loved it! Our bartenders from Anthony’s Catering and our food Caterer are required by the zoo, but both were amazing! We heard many compliments about both. Christine is responsible for keeping the zoo staff and the catering staff to their duties, she does not set up/break down decor or run the day of. I highly recommend a day of coordinator to ensure everything goes smooth and is set up properly. Zoo closes at 5, ceremony is at 6:30, and we began photos at 4 so I would have had no time to set up without my day of coordinator. We also did all of our photos before the ceremony to a lot for more party time. I did not have a single issue on my wedding day! I would recommend the zoo to everyone!

ousel (absolutely worth it - these are some of our favorite photos!). We held our ceremony and reception at The Range of the Jaguar, and everything was gorgeous. We loved that this area has a fountain and string lights around all of the trees. We also opted for the giraffe feeding during cocktail hour, and the guests really enjoyed this. The zoo has its own catering company - Catering in the Wild - and we loved our buffet selections. We chose the rosemary and peach glazed pork loin and rustic mushroom chicken as our entrees and they were delicious. The zoo catering manager/event coordinator arranged for us to have a free tasting about a month before the wedding, so we could be confident with our selections. One small downside is that there is not a dedicated space at the zoo for the wedding party to get ready, but this was not a concern for me. We got ready off site and arrived at the zoo ready for the first look. Another tip is if dancing is important to you, we recommend renting a dance floor like we did. It was an extra expense, but worth it since otherwise we would have been dancing on cobblestone. Finally, if you choose the zoo as your vendor, you have to use the company that they are contracted with for bar services - Anthony's. We would have preferred to handle drinks ourselves separately, but it was not a big enough deterrent to make us want a different venue, and Anthony's did a great job. Overall, depending on what your priorities are (and your budget), the zoo can be the perfect venue like it was for us!

ers that would much rather party than serve and have caught those particular servers eating the food that was suppose to be for the bridal party when they showed up after pictures. Other than those couple of servers, excellent service from the others and the food was super delicious.

choices are endless from the areas to setup the ceremony and reception and photos to the food and add on options. The event coordinator Christine can walk you through everything. She really is great and can help you customize the wedding of your dreams by letting you know everything the zoo has to offer! My husband and I held our ceremony and reception at the Range of the Jaguar and it was stunningly beautiful and required very little extras. The trees were covered in lights and had string lights between them creating this beautiful web of lights! I heard compliments all evening on my tropical, garden, creative, relaxing, adventurous, brilliant, wedding at the zoo. I had never seen anything like it and had never even known it was an option before my sister mentioned it. They have everything you could ever want! We added the train ride just for the amazing memory. Many said that they thought it was the best wedding they had ever attended before the train even took off. We had our first look with the penguins CJ and Sparky and I got to truly surprise the photographer and my new groom when they got to have up close photos with them! Christine was awesome and more than accommodating! She escorted me around on a golf cart to keep me behind the scenes! The one time we almost crossed paths with the train ( on our way to accommodate the dress change I added last minute) she drove in reverse ahead of the train without missing a beat! All the while my sister and I watched the sister cheetahs chase us along the fence line remarking how fun it all was already! When the evening temperature got a bit colder than planned she had heaters out before we even noticed. She was there every step of the way! Everything was just so unique and memorable. During our ceremony a peacock even walked by! Our wedding party photos on the carousel and family photos in the garden were perfect! I can't wait to print the photos and gift them to everyone they really were so much more than I could have imagined! Chef Steve is a true talent also and deserves a standing ovation! (insert clapping and standing ovation here) He was very nice and made an incredibly tasty meal that we definitely sat and finished somehow but it really was that delicious! While we were off taking photos our guests were getting to walk the exhibit and take all of their own photos. My newly engaged friends all ask me how they could ever top such a venue after this and I tell them just to call Christine because with all of the choices it would still come out a unique and wonderful experience. The Trout River Garden area, Blossom Gardens and Giraffe feeding for your cocktail hour were just some options I would love to have tried to squeeze in somehow! I would love to attend weddings here all the time so I definitely highly recommend it to anyone and everyone! This venue offers everything you could ever dream of and more!!!

ests for cocktail hour. There's something magical about being at the zoo at night. Christine, The Zoo's coordinator, is beyond amazing. She did an incredible job. From the table linens to the food choices and everything in between she made the whole process easy and simple. I cannot sing her praises enough. With Florida weather you can always expect a random rain shower or so. The zoo had a backup plan if we encountered rain. Fortunately for us we couldn't have asked for better weather on our special day. If you're looking for a fun and unique venue this is the place for you. Our guests won't stop talking about how much fun they had.

ng to look post-hurricane. They had the zoo cleaned up and perfect for us! It was amazing what they were able to do in such a short amount of time. Christine took care of all of my needs and made the experience an easy one. It was flawless, and I know she worked really hard to make it that way and to make sure I did not stress about anything. I would definitely recommend the zoo for an interesting, fun wedding reception experience! And the food is awesome too :)

casions from weddings, to special events, big parties, corporate events, and small parties. She is very responsive and answered my emails and questions in a timely manner. Our party was outside at the Range of the Jaguars. During the cocktail hour, our guests viewed the Jaguars exhibit, monkeys, reptiles, and the aviary. It was a great way to start conversations with the guests who had not met before. When I first inquired about the zoo, I had selected another area. Christine recommended the Range of the Jaguar which turned out to be perfect. The Chef is excellent and accommodated us with a special Greek menu. Christine and the Chef worked with us to design just the right menu for our guests. We were surrounded by beautiful plants, and trees wrapped in twinkling white lights. Our guests were so impressed with the venue and many said the party will always be memorable because of the unique location. Everyone said it was much better than a typical hotel banquet room. I highly recommend the zoo for any occasion.

original zoo location that we booked (Range of the Jaguar), the weather backup venue (Shaba Terrace) was very nice and worked out just fine. The setup crew was great at getting things where they needed to be on such short notice. You have to use the zoo's catering company, but that was fine with us because the food was great! You can use whoever you want for cake, photography, and DJ. However, there are two things that could have been better. If you want any alcoholic beverages, you must go through Anthony's Catering. The bartenders at our wedding were rude and the company was difficult to get in touch with. We wish that the zoo would have let us use another company, but we couldn't. I can't hold that against the zoo too hard since it's a third party, but we are not the only zoo wedding that has had problems with this company and we hope the zoo takes note. Another thing was the event staff on the day of the wedding. My DJ found out that our wedding was moved due to weather before I, the bride, did, and my DJ had to track this woman down and hand her his cell phone just for me to be in touch with her. When I asked her if she carried a cell phone for her client to reach her (like every event staff I've ever worked with does, including at my own job), she said, "oh no we don't carry cell phones." So I literally had zero way of getting in touch with any of the zoo's event staff on the day of my wedding since she wasn't going to be in the office. She wasn't adhering to the set schedule I emailed well in advance of the wedding day either. If my friend hadn't taken over and essentially played wedding coordinator the whole night, things would have gone south pretty quickly. My advice: HIRE A DAY-OF COORDINATOR.

he staff quickly worked to dry the ceremony area. Many people didn't even realize from my pictures it had been raining all day! They had a golf cart to help the guests get to the ceremony location and he also drove us around to some locations to take pictures! All of the staff was so friendly and helpful I was so happy we chose the zoo for our ceremony and reception!

be working with the Zoo’s events coordinator. She was hard to get ahold of, didn’t respond completely to e-mails (which led to follow up e-mails) and she was not flexible on our timeline (which led to us cutting out one of the photo ops that I had originally wanted and paid for) I eventually hired my own coordinator and she made the process much easier. The Zoo also requires you to use their catering service (the food was delicious!) and bar service so your options are a bit limited. That being said, everything went off without a hitch the day of. Everyone had a wonderful time at our wedding and commented on how beautiful and neat the location was. I would definitely recommend the Zoo, but hire your own coordinator from the beginning to alleviate some stress.

ved about how unique the setting was. The value is there - you get such a large area, a unique background, even live animals and a train ride! All in all, I loved it.

a sitting room for getting ready. You have to use a public restroom in the park. They set out a table for your belongings but its pretty primitive. Certainly far from a deal breaker.