About this vendor
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a natural sanctuary located in Sarasota, Florida, with a serene waterfront setting. With natural elegance and charm, this beautiful oasis provides the perfect backdrop for either a simple garden wedding or a contemporary starlit celebration. Native foliage includes palms, banyans, and live oaks, making it wonderful to behold all year round.
Facilities and Capacity
The only botanical garden in the world devoted to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, ferns, and other tropical plants, Selby Gardens is comprised of a 15-acre campus in Downtown Sarasota, Florida and a 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Sarasota campus has 7 wedding and event sites (indoors and outdoors) and a guest capacity of 250.
The Historic Spanish Point campus is one of the largest preserves featuring native Florida plants and is located just under ten miles south of Downtown Sarasota on Little Sarasota Bay. The Historic Spanish Point campus has 3 wedding and event sites.
Services Offered
At this unique venue, there are a range of services offered to ensure the big day runs smoothly. Selby Gardens works exclusively with culinary partner, Michael's on East. The Event Center at Selby Gardens is Sarasota’s premier waterfront indoor event facility. This versatile and accommodating space has a contemporary feel with organic, neutral tones to enhance the Gardens’ natural beauty.
Consider holding your special day at the breathtaking Marie Selby Botanical Gardens!
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Liability Insurance
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Backyard
- Ballroom
- Beach
- Waterfront
- Estate
- Garden
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Cakes & Desserts
- Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Food & Catering
- Planning
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Reviews
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4.3
out of 5.023 reviews
Emphatically, I cannot stress this enough, I DO NOT recommend utilizing Selby Gardens as your wedding venue. I am in large event planning for work and I have never worked with such...
an unprofessional and unhelpful staff.
My husband and I are Sarasota locals and wanted to get married on the water. A month before our wedding, Selby installed a large heinous art exhibit immediately in front of the water. The exhibit blocked the water-front view and they did not do us any courtesy to alert us to it. They actually went out of their way to not accommodate us in any way, shape, or form. I have so many emails they never responded to. It took us weeks to get initial documents signed to secure the venue due to the team’s unresponsiveness. For weeks we attempted to make payments without hearing back from them.
Thank god for the team at Michael’s on East. They were the only reason our wedding was a success. They picked up the pieces and shielded my husband and me from the problems Selby caused. They were class act professionals from day 1 and even still today following up with us post-wedding. They executed a master class in going above and beyond for clients. I could not recommend working with Michael’s on East more highly regardless of where you get married.
As a family, we have been members at Selby Gardens for many years now. This year will be our last.
We loved working with Selby! The entire team was incredible. We were a little nervous at first since the venue requires you to work with certain vendors, but have no fear: every si...
ngle one of them was fantastic.
One thing I don’t think gets highlighted enough is the view. The sunset here is unreal. Our wedding was in mid-November, and the light hitting the water was absolutely gorgeous. All of our guests couldn’t stop talking about it.
Highly recommend!
This was very beautiful but I would pay special attention to the details. If you rent the north side, make sure the outdoor brick patio has tables. They put out two tables only and...
a lot of my guests said it looks bad and unfinished. I was personally very shocked when I saw the empty patio and had a hard time getting over it. Also they have an ongoing problem with the dance lighting, rhey can't dim the lights for that.
Booked a wedding 15 months out and found out 5 weeks before the wedding that the Selby house was under construction. This area is the backdrop to our reception. Not a word from the...
m months before and it was too late to reschedule the venue. Basically we will have to deal with it. Terrible way to run business and treat people! Do not recommend!!
Our wedding at Selby Gardens was absolutely magical. Our dream-like ceremony was under the oak tree on the north lawn, our gorgeous cocktail hour was held at sunset on the bay lawn...
, and our impeccable reception took place in Michael's on the Bay. The grounds were beautiful, picturesque, and well-maintained. The service was prompt, professional, and smooth. The food was phenomenal and memorable. Thank you for everything -- from the initial coordination to the final execution. I highly recommend having your wedding at Selby Gardens!
We had our wedding at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in December 2016 and it was a dream. Our ceremony was at the pavilion, cocktail hour in the rainforest area, and reception u...
nder the banyan tree. Roger, Dan and Leigh were all fantastic to work with - really responsive and flexible in helping us with all of our questions and requests. They really helped us make our dream wedding become a reality. The Gardens are a very special and unique place. They feel so ethereal for a wedding. All of our out of town guests were in awe and are still talking about how beautiful and special it was. I feel so lucky we were able to have our wedding there.
The only watch out would be mosquitos if it recently rained - make sure you have bug spray and citronella candles!
The Marie Selby Gardens is the perfect place to get married! We chose the pavilion area as we had many people attending. Trolleys dropped our guests off and they were able to explo...
re the gardens which are absolutely beautiful before the ceremony began. We got so many compliments on how gorgeous the gardens were. Barely any decorations were needed as they are so well maintained. The staff at the Selby was incredibly kind and helpful in directing the wedding party on where to go and making sure we stuck to the schedule. We would highly recommend the Selby Gardens to any Sarasota bride and groom!
This venue provided the perfect setting for my daughter’s wedding and reception. It’s hard to know where to begin in describing the beauty and grace of Marie Selby Gardens as a pl...
ace to hold a wedding. We chose the Wedding Oak for our ceremony and outdoor reception; the result was magical. The grounds and the plantings were gorgeous; the Christy Payne Mansion provided an elegant and historic backdrop for the evening with its graceful entryway and patio for our guests, the lovely dressing rooms for the bridal party, and the impeccable facilities for our caterer. From the beginning, Dan Johnson and Barbara were extremely professional, polite and helpful in assisting us with our planning. Our vision for the ceremony and reception set up was laid out by the Selby staff exactly as we had imagined and right on time. The day of our event, Dan was present, and Vincent was on hand at all times to offer polite assistance when needed and some wonderful history of the gardens as well! The overall result was an enchanted evening - a beautiful wedding! Thank you to everyone at Marie Selby Gardens!
What a beautiful Location which helped save on decorations because it just didn't need any. Dan and Barbra were both so nice and helpful.
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens was the perfect place for our wedding! The grounds are beautiful and the staff is so helpful! Dan was great to work with and was quick to answer a...
ll of my many questions throughout the planning process. On the day of our wedding, he was so helpful and transported our guests from the parking lot to the ceremony site. The day went flawlessly and I wish I could do it again!
While we were extremely pleased with our ceremony and the event coordinator was fantastic in the end, he was hard to get a hold of. The overall cost was expensive. We were disappoi...
nted that the specific location we wanted for our ceremony was unavailable due to construction, having booked the event only four months prior.
We held our wedding at Selby Gardens on the 30th of March and it was absolutely beautiful! Originally, the ceremony was supposed to be in front of the fig tree in the banyan garden...
s, but due to construction the location was unattractive and disappointing. Dan Johnson, the coordinator, offered us the Pavilion for no extra charge and it was WONDERFUL! Like something out of a Disney fairytale movie! Everything ran so smoothly! We could not have asked for a more perfect wedding!
We had our reception there. It's very beautiful. The only downside is that you have to pick a caterer only from their selected list. Other than that. A very beautiful place to have...
a reception. We had it in the great room.(beautiful view of the bay)
Had some trouble getting our wedding time moved to 4:30 to be able to have a wedding in the sun set times for this month but overall the location spoke for itself! Beautiful! We co...
uldnt have asked for a more perfect setting that day! Had an excellent man drive us around in the golf cart and he really helped to keep us on track that day!
I had a great experience I would highly recommend. The service was excellent.
We were SO happy with having our ceremony and reception at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful and perfect in every way. It had balance of nature, yet sophistication a...
nd that "Florida casual" feel! Our ceremony was under the Banyan Trees and reception was at the Mansion so it was indoor and outdoor. We received compliments the entire night on how much our guests loved the location.
Such a beautiful venue! There a number of great places you can choose to have your ceremony. We used the Banyan area and the Great Room. We were lucky and had good weather and an a...
mazing sunset over the water. The Great Room is a little bit old but looks good if you work with a decorator. The staff is a bit overworked and sometimes slow to respond. But it's worth it to keep after them. I can't imagine having my wedding anywhere else.
I am so excited to get married at Selby but I had a hard time contacting the wedding coordinator. I understand that they have a lot of weddings but I am paying a lot of money to ge...
t married there so better service would be appreciated. They also changed their mind all of a sudden and told me that I had to provide a shuttle service for my guests and that I could no longer get married in the afternoon during their hours of operation even though I was told before that I could. The issue was resolved and I am happy now but I just found that to be a bit odd. I will recommend the gardens but I will be hesitant to mention the quality of the event planner.
Beautiful location which made for wonderful pictures! However, contacting the individual who runs the wedding operation can be extremely difficult. Use other vendors who are fami...
liar with him and the location so they can deal with any scheduling issues.
ONE of the prettiest garden settings. We had the reception behind the mansion which was really gourgous for the sunsets. The ceremony was just as beatiful!
Wonderful Florida feel of wedding with the pavilion and mansion.
This venue is absolutely breathtaking. We held our ceremony at the Pavilion and our reception at the Mansion. Also, because no one else booked an event at the Great Room for our da...
te, we were able to use that facility for our rain plan (which we thankfully didn't need!). Dan, Selby's event coordinator, was very laid back and calming where other vendors overwhelmed me with details. All of our guests gushed over the setting, and and sunset over the Sarasota bay was incredible. Selby was a dream venue for a reasonable price -- I highly recommend!
I loved the fact that the venue was located in the gardens and guest had free admission of the gardens. I loved that the venue had an view of the water and the venue was the perfe...
ct place for pictures. I had pictures in front of the water in the garden by the banyan trees and the large green field.;The activities center is very dated. The carpet is this horrible green with red flowers and the chairs which are provided by the venue are an unattractive green. Rent chairs or chair covers. Our cateters forgot to get these for us. Tell them you dont want green site chairs!
Contact
1534 Mound Street, Sarasota, FL
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens