Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

e for a wedding. We had our ceremony outside of the Tropical Forest (luckily, Pittsburgh weather behaved that day), the cocktail hour in the forest, and the reception in the Special Events Hall. With Phipps, you have to use their catering service, but their food is amazing. We went with the lowest tier option ($99 per plate), and everyone seemed to enjoy their meals, including us! David Swank on the catering side is really on top of things. Closer to the date, we began working with our wedding coordinator, Caroline, more, and she was also enjoyable to work with. I guess things can happen sometimes, but everything went according to plan! The only potential criticism I have of the way Phipps plans weddings is the different contacts for the ceremony day-of, catering, and the bar. It could get confusing as to who to direct questions to when a topic seemed like it could overlap. But overall, we had a great experience working with Phipps and its staff.

itted sheet and even named on the playlist. They then rushed me down the aisle despite me asking if the correct song was playing which is wasn’t. Overall beautiful venue but the staff could be more polite and listen.

through everything during our rehearsal and went above and beyond the day of! It was very hot and they thought to put out water for all of our guests to enjoy. They took care of contacting all of our other vendors for when to come set up. Phipps really knows what they are doing and will take care of every possible wish that you have. I absolutely loved the experience and would highly recommend everyone to check out this gorgeous space.

eel at ease and reassured me that everything will flow just perfectly. We had our ceremony and reception in the outdoor garden and luckily the weather was perfect for us but Sahara made sure to have a back up rain plan as well. The outdoor garden is so beautiful that you hardly have to worry about paying for flowers. I brought in a few decorations that I wanted shown and they set everything up so beautifully, I did not have to make any revisions. The food was absolutely delicious, I wish I could go and order it any time! I dreamed about having the perfect outdoor wedding for a long time now, so my expectations were extremely high. Ultimately, I had a perfect wedding day, I never had to worry once, and I would relive the day over again if I could. Thank you Phipp's catering and staff for helping my dreams come true!

Our guests were in awe at the beauty of the Broderie Room and the food was also delicious. We got a harpist and it made the Broderie Room even more elegant (Stephanie Miller of Music for Life of Pittsburgh. We also highly recommend her, as she is extremely talented and really great to work with!) Caroline was our wedding planner at Phipps and she made everything go flawlessly. We are so thankful for her help during the planning and the actual wedding. We will have perfect memories of our special day because of this venue and their staff.

the wedding day was so wonderful as well and kept us organized and calm. My guests were so impressed with everything as well. Thanks for making our day perfect!

basic package. They look like they belong at a middle school recital. You will be paying close to $5000 just to rent the space and then $5 per chair for an acceptable chair to have at a wedding. And that is just one example of how the Phipps staff is not forthcoming about cost and experience when you initially book. Staff: Katelyn was difficult to work with and definitely increased our stress leading up to the wedding. Small changes were meet with a lot of resistance and she was unavailable during the event when I (the bride) asked to speak to her about the lightening and temperature of the room (it was so hot that I was afraid elderly guests might faint). If you have your heart set on getting married here I would definitely hire a wedding planner and day of coordinator to otherwise important details will be missed . Multiple guests were taken to the wrong wedding on our wedding day. Food: This was one of the more upsetting portions of the wedding. You have no choice but to use the Phipps catering service which is definitely subpar for the price. I would never book there again based on this alone. It is not a good feeling to be eating a borderline inedible vegetarian dish during your wedding and worrying that your guests are having a similar experience. Event space: Phipps is beautiful..for pictures. It’s not designed to host weddings. The bridal suite is limited and the guest facilities are lacking. There is nowhere for the grooms party to relax. I loved my wedding day because of my incredible family and friends. No matter where you book they will be there to celebrate with you. I wish I hadn’t made the mistake of booking with Phipps.

dding at Phipps every weekend! My husband and I had both our ceremony (Outdoor Garden) and reception (Tropical Rainforest and Special Events Hall) there and mostly worked with David Swank and Allanah Ebenstein who were both PHENOMENAL!! We truly feel like they are family after going through the whole experience. The beauty of the venue speaks for itself, but everything else was top notch, as well! Allanah made sure that the day flowed perfectly and was at my beckon call whenever I needed her. She and David were always so quick to respond to texts, phone calls, e-mails, you name it, whenever we had a question or concern. They both went above and beyond to make sure everything was flawless thorough out the whole planning process. Seriously, no details were missed...from the way I wanted to plates angled, to the way I wanted the linen colors staggered on the cocktail tables, to the way I wanted to votives places. The cookie table turned out more beautiful than I ever expected and the food...omg the food! The hors d'oeuvres were just as delicious as the dinner selections! People are still talking about how great the food was! Our wedding at Phipps completely exceeded all of our expectations in everyday. Our guests tell us all the time that ours was the best wedding they’ve ever attended and that is all thanks to the venue we chose and their fabulous staff!

heir advice on how to arrange the ceremony. I had my ceremony in the Broderie Room, which was incredibly beautiful and intimate. We had about 40 people attend and there was more than enough room and the time allotted was more than enough. The grounds are absolutely stunning (inside and out) and the pictures truly show that. I only wished it were a bit cooler in the room; however, I didn't expect the sunny 90 degree day in the middle of September!

for the size of our party. We booked them about 1.5 years out with no issue but things became a little more stressful as we got closer to the big day. First, our main contact was swapped out 3-4 times since we signed the contract, so I imagine some details were lost in transition. Second, we were told of the rehearsal date options a little over a month out (which was expected as per contract), but they only offered us either the Thursday before or upto 1pm on Friday. As we had a Saturday wedding and most of our family and wedding party were flying in, finding this out so late was extremely frustrating, especially as when I signed the contract we were not told of any other conflicting events. It turns out there was a wedding after ours in the same space the same day, but they were given first choice in rehearsal times. Thankfully at this point we were working with the Event Sales Manager, who was great to work with and definitely helped us feel things would go ok. There still was some communication holes however, like confirmation on if we will do indoor/outdoor the day of, but we didn't feel this was a big deal as the event itself was perfect. The staff on the day of was fantastic to work with, helped up through every step and honestly made us forget about any issues we had in the past few months.

ration, catering, bar, and general question. The food was phenomenal. Everyone says the bride doesn't eat at her wedding, but my husband and I made sure to not miss our meals - it was that good! I got married weeks ago and my guests are still raving about how beautiful the wedding was and how smoothly it ran. If I had to do it again, I would definitely pick the same venue!

ly illusory. Katelyn, the manager, always made sure that everything was going as planned and that all of our directions were followed. The venue was decorated beautifully. Despite the fact that the room is often used for other meetings related to the garden center, it looked like a wedding venue, as it overlooked a terrace which is right next to Mellon Park. David, from catering, was also very responsible from the beginning and was in charge of the schedule minute by minute. The food (a buffet) was also good. All our guests, most of whom came from out of state and did not know what to expect from the city, were enchanted by the location and left with a good impression of Pittsburgh. We couldn't have asked for a better crew. If you are having a relatively small wedding (up to a 100 guests), this is an ideal location, as it is very intimate without being informal. Thank you!!

e the wedding they worked to make everything work as best as possible. All my guests said that it was one of the coolest venues they’d ever been to and said it was some of the best wedding food they’ve ever had. I would definitely recommend Phipps to anyone looking for an awesome venue in Pittsburgh.

rs) and remembering our wedding each time. It's also extremely affordable if you have a small wedding. We booked the Broderie room for around $600 for our 35-person ceremony. Service was excellent, our coordinator was great, and all of our pictures are stunning. You won't need any decorations, that's for sure. I will say their event staff were occasionally disorganized and a little hard to get a hold of. However, the impact this had on our actual day was negligible and wouldn't dissuade me from recommending Phipps in any way-- just make sure YOU are organized and repeat your needs in multiple formats (over the phone, in person, and via e-mail) to make sure the message gets through.

and quickly take care of any snags that the day inevitably brings!

ting with the cocktail hour went great. There was a large amount of space for corn hole and our guests to mingle on the patio outside as well as the garden inside. The food (during cocktail hour and dinner) was delicious! They offered many different options for us to choose from during the planning process. There was one negative about the venue. The air conditioning system turns off every time a door is open and with one of the bars being outside, guests were frequently opening the doors throughout the whole night. This caused the temperature in the event hall to get too hot on our summer wedding day when we expected it to be cool and comfortable from the air conditioning. Other than that, we had a blast and would do it over again there!

uests. And everyone loved it! David the catering manager did a great job executing our vision. The food was delicious and served right on schedule. Phipps provided a reasonable and inclusive package for cake, linens, food and alcohol, and, for the remaining vendors, the Phipps team helped oversee delivery, set up, etc. on the day of so we could enjoy the conservatory with our guests. And the end result of the decorated space was perfect! I’d highly recommend Phipps to a couple looking for a non-ballroom, uniquely Pittsburgh venue. Thanks for everything Phipps team!

roderie Room which was decorated with magnificent fall flowers-a perfect setting. The coordinator was so sweet and helpful - she made sure everything went off without a problem and the ceremony was lovely. Also, everyone involved at Phipps made this wedding experience very easy and were very helpful with our questions and requests. All in all, my daughter and new son-in-law’s wedding was everything they could have dreamed about and were so pleased that Phipps was where they said “I do.”

e wanted.

flowed seamlessly the day of and eliminated the need for a day-of planner. Dave (catering manager) took care of our guests many allergies and the food was terrific. Great venue, great food, great times. Love Phipps!

ady. I completely panicked the morning of my ceremony because I realized I had forgotten to cut our wedding music to an appropriate length, but the staff at Phipps took care of playing the music beautifully, and even working in a soft fade-out once the processional had finished. Finally, you can save tons off the florist costs, as you will literally have more wedding flowers than you ever could have imagined included right in the venue! I strongly recommend Phipps to any couple looking for a scenic, environmentally-friendly, and wonderfully accommodating wedding venue.

with. We received many compliments on the venue and the outstanding food. I would highly recommend this venue to any future brides!

even tho they make it sound like it is not. If you want nice linens you will be paying extra for the ones included in the package are just plain white. The bar tab is expensive per person as well. Another important warning--the response and communication are horrible! If you have questions expect a response back in about a week if your lucky and that's with me sending multiple emails and phone calls to them. I am assuming this is not a good place to work at. We went thru three people on the venue rental side. The last person we dealt with got hired a month before our wedding. Not fun! On the catering side, we went thru three people as well with the third person coming in the month before our wedding. As for the price for the food, it is expensive for what you get. The hanger steak was very good. My husband loved it. The chicken for the guests tasted good but was suppose to be encrusted with mushrooms and have a sauce underneath with mushrooms and onions on top. Well, what we got was just breaded chicken for $100 per person. Not happy about that. My mother had nothing on her chicken only three clovers put on top of it. I had like 4 mushrooms on top of mine and my matron of honor had nothing on hers. So no sauce, no mushroom encrusted breading and no mushroom/onions on top of the entree. I voiced this in an email a few weeks later and was pretty much told sorry and not even given a partial refund! We ordered our cake from Prantl's bakery and tasted excellent. The catering department at Phipps was supposed to sprinkle the toasted sugar almonds on the cake pieces for the guests which they did not do. I got a whole sheet cake back that they didn't even cut and give out! My family all made cookies. We had about 140 dozen made. I told them to put them all out. I was told they had enough plates/etc to place them on. Well, I would say they didn't have enough plates/etc to place them on and I received back a lot of boxes of cookies back. Some that were never even placed out. We were supposed to have appetizers set aside for the wedding party which was placed in the bridal sweet that we never went back to. So did not get to enjoy the appetizers. I assumed that they would have placed them on the wedding party table. I was informed afterward I said something that they place them in the bridal sweet. Miscommunication! Do not give Phipps your credit card or debit card numbers to have on file. I have had two debits made on my card with no one from Phipps sending me an email or call to inform me that they would be placing a charge and for what. So just warning future brides if you choose to have the reception at Phipps it is a hassle and they don't do what they are supposed to do. Best of luck.

planned the wedding from out of town and the staff was very helpful and accommodating. Everything flowed smoothly the night of the wedding. It truly felt magical.

re we had everything the way we wanted it to be on our special day. They were able to transform a pretty bare room into something out of the library (we had a literary themed wedding). The food was delicious and served in a timely manner by a professional wait staff. Numerous staff checked in on us throughout the night to make sure we didn't need anything. We couldn't have asked for a better venue to have our reception!

a fulltime wedding planner but Nina help a lot with the decorations, and clean up on the day-of. Some standout things include: If you're having a summer wedding, the tent is included, so you have an automatic rain plan. We decided last minute that we wanted to serve drinks and ice cream during the service, and Carrie at Phipps made it happen. The only negative is that Phipps handles some of the sub-contractors such as linens and staging, so you can't really reach out to the original party in case there's an issue. At our wedding, the decorator had an issue with the staging folks over a big mishap, but since Phipps signed the contract with the staging company, it was hard to get the two parties in touch. However, Phipps was generous in partially reimbursing us for the issue. Overall I would recommend Phipps for their beautiful venue, but also their awesome staff who goes all out to give you the wedding of your dreams!

en. Our wedding photos look beautiful with the garden in the background!

ient answering all of our questions and addressing all of our concerns. Regarding the meals, Carrie handled our seating concerns and accommodated all of our menu changes which we appreciated. On the day of the wedding, The whole event team was very attentive throughout the planning process. They truly went above and beyond to ensure that we were well taken care of and that our special day was perfect. We highly recommend them!

was a huge bonus!!!! My husband and I are both professional musicians - so we wanted something different. Phipps is unique, aesthetically beautiful, but still completely functional and fairly priced. Their in house catering is fantastic, I received SO many compliments on the food and the wait staff was incredible. I did not have a wedding planner, so I worked one on one with their events team starting with Rachel, who moved out of town, and then was assigned to Nina. They were both amazing, and did not miss even the smallest detail despite how busy they are and how many events they have to manage. Our wedding night was absolute magic in every way, and so much of it was because of this setting. We love Phipps and everything they stand for, and would recommend them to anyone planning an event, big or small.

e best experience working with Carrie the catering manager and Ashley in event sales throughout our year of planning. They would always get back to us immediately and cater to whatever we decided...even a last minute candy table! The venue was absolutely breathtaking and spectacular. We received endless compliments from all our guests on how beautiful everything turned out and how delicious the food was. They took care of whatever we needed. Needless to say we highly recommend Phipps! We will cherish our memories forever.

commend this venue!

beautiful job setting up the bows, programs, and rose ceremony beforehand, and Ashley helped cue everyone for the processional as well. The space was beautiful and intimate, and they were able to provide handicap access for older guests easily. Overall, I couldn't have imagined a better setting for my wedding ceremony!

double booked our space AND held a rehearsal during the time allotted for us (vendor set-up time). This did not allow our florist to have adequate time to display all that we had paid for-she was only given an hour before the wedding to set up the entire reception area! Terribly, my now husband had to seek out the Phipps wedding planner to inform her that our parents did not have a place to sit during the ceremony that was now being held in the tents due to rain. I guess she didn’t think it was that big of a deal because the my parents (bride-to-be) had to find a seat in the third row-in what wedding ceremony is it ok for the bride’s parents to sit anywhere but the first row?? As part of your agreement with Phipps, you are to provide table arrangements with your guest’s choice of food item. Not only do you provide them with a list of these arrangements, you are to somehow, display at their seat, their food choice. I went a step further and color-coordinated the food choices with different colored lanterns/place card holders and font size/color. You would think there would be no chance of a mix up but we had a dozen-thankfully our guests were flexible and still enjoyed their meal. With the rain came a change in temperature and we needed to utilize heaters which we were overcharged for from our initial contract-thankfully Phipps did honor the signed contract and not their revised contract sent to us in an email. The placement of the heaters was another thing though. One heater was placed near our cookies/desserts and melted them! None of us knew there was an additional dessert table until we were leaving for the night because it was stashed away at the far end of the tent way past any tables or bar area. One other thing to note, Phipps does not display all of your cookies at one time and the coordination to keep bringing them out did not happen for us. the kicker is after meeting with the wedding planner about what to display IE: memory table, guest book, bridal pictures etc., I would have thought the display of them would flow and be accessible to our guests. Our guest book had half of the signatures of the guests that were there because it was, again, not adequately displayed near the main tent…out of sight out of mind. The appalling thing the wedding planner/Phipps did was combine our memory table with the bridal pictures, giving the impression they were deceased. Additionally, one of the pictures we wanted to display came late and we asked the wedding coordinator to place it in a frame we provided to her. Unfortunately, she displayed the generic, black and white family picture that is displayed when you buy the frame and not the actual picture we provided! ***Please note, after some negotiating, Phipps did provide a very small refund for the mishaps. I had hoped and dreamed for something different for what we planned and paid for but the venue services fell short and as a result, I would not recommend Phipps for your special day.

leasant and easy to work with. I got a lot of compliments on the food, which we also thought was pretty good. The food selection is a little "overly fancy": they don't have a lot of crowd favorites, and the portions are a little small. The hors d'oeuvres came out on plates with FOUR hors d'oeuvres per plate, so it was hard to serve everyone. My biggest problem with the venue is the unnecessary charges and costs. For example, if you want a nicer chair, you can order a more expensive plate of food OR you can pay $5 a chair for an "upgrade." I was also unhappy with the alcohol selection: for the most reasonably priced tier, you could only have TWO types of beer! And there were only four choices to choose from: Yuengling, Yuengling Light, IC Light, and another beer that I forget the name of. If you wanted Heineken or Guinness, that's another "upgrade" and will cost you. (Even the expensive tiers had limited beer options, which is a problem if you like a certain brand or type of beer). They have a few annoying rules like no rice, no bubbles, and no runners, because they might disturb the garden. I also had communication issues with the wedding planners: it would take usually a day or two to get a response (including the week right before the wedding) (they only answered the phone ONCE in the entire time I was planning a wedding: every other call I had to leave a message.) We signed our contract about a year before the wedding, and I knew we would owe the balance two weeks before, but they just charged the card on file without letting us know they were doing it! No call or email or invoice, just a $6,000 charge out of the blue. They didn't let me know that the "corpse flower" would be blooming the week of my wedding, so watch out for events like that because they won't tell you in advance. The coordinator I had was patient with us, and kind (I wasn't the easiest bride to work with), I just would have liked to be able to reach her more easily.

ointed. I was working specifically the whole time with one event coordinator. When we show up to the rehearsal, it is someone completely different, and we were never told that our primary contact would not be with us. The rehearsal was basically done by the bridal party....there was no guidance or suggestions. We just took over, and did everything ourselves as the coordinator stood by. The day of the wedding, we were greeted by the coordinator and able to take our pictures. She did make sure that guests were not allowed in until we were ready. When the ceremony was starting, the music that was provided to be played, could barely be heard. In fact, as I was walking down the aisle, it was silent. The speakers and sound should have been tested before hand so that everyone could hear the music. Now, I would not ever change the fact that I wanted to be married in the garden at Phipps, but what I would ask for is someone a little more experienced to help with the rehearsal and the day of the wedding. The coordinator was really nice and patient with us, it just seemed liked she lacked experience, which put a damper on our ceremony.

ges, and I knew that we were writing a huge check but it included everything -- the chairs, the linens, the cake, taxes, etc. All of the decorations that I brought were set up perfectly, the staff was so attentive and friendly, and everyone had a great time. I don't regret a single penny.

that is the chance you take when having an outdoor Fall wedding; however, the flexibility of Phipps wedding consultants was non-existent. It just so happened that we paid for the use of the outdoor garden and a 45 minute time slot in the Broderie Room for photos. The reception was being held at another venue. As the week approached, it was evident that the wedding day of her dreams would not be able to be outside in the garden. We then decided to move it to the Broderie Room. They were very very quick to say, sure, no problem, but it's another $300 on top of the first $300 paid for a photoshoot, plus the $1300 paid for the outdoor garden. REALLY? They couldn't have just let her have the other 45 minutes with no additional charge. Phipps is a very very money hungry making facility. You are given not a minute more than what you pay for, and you pay for absolutely everything. They walk your guests in and walk your guests out so as they don't venture off to another area that was not paid for. I have never ever experienced such cheap, tacky tactics, and will certainly not recommend their facility to anyone. The outdoor bridal room was to be available to her at 1:00. We were outside in the cold wind waiting for the door to the bridal room to be unlocked. After waiting for 15-20 minutes for the consultant to come unlock the door, it is now 1:20 and the ceremony is to begin at 2:00. Not a big deal you might think, but keep in mind, we already paid $1,900 for the ceremony alone and you would think they could have atleast had the door opened for her to get ready.

% chance of rain that morning, it started pouring less than 2 hours before our ceremony was supposed to start and I was devastated. Normally you can rent an extra tent if it rains for the outdoor garden but we did not have enough time. Phipps quickly set up a makeshift ceremony site indoors so that all our guests could remain dry. The pictures from inside turned out beautifully. You do have to go with Phipps catering, which is expensive when you first look at it but is worth it in the end. The catering costs includes the servers (who were all very professional), the table settings and linens as well as the cake. I really liked not having to shop around for linens or a cake as there are already too many things to decide on when planning a wedding. The events staff, specifically Constance, at Phipps were top notch. They were very prompt at responding to emails, I never had to wait more than two days for a response from the event staff or the caters. They were very accommodating, allowing me to set up an extra table for photos, finding a space for the photobooth, allowing me to arrange the tables exactly how I wanted and making a specialty drink that my husband and I picked out. My only (tiny) complaint would be that after picking out all the amazing food, I didn't get a chance to eat anything (because you really are too busy on your wedding day to think about food) and one of the servers told me they could not box my dinner up for me so they just threw it away. Besides that tiny little issue, everything at Phipps was amazing. I am so grateful that they let us do our wedding inside at the last minute due to the weather. If I had to plan my wedding over again, I would still have it at Phipps.

o inside. The Phipps staff adjusted very quickly to this unexpected weather. A few additional comments: 1) Since Phipps is an extremely popular venue, you will need to look at venues a whole year (or more) BEFORE your preferred wedding date. We knew we wanted a late summer/early Fall wedding. When we went to Phipps in May '14, they only had 6 possible dates left, and we ended up going with Septebmer. Also, there will probably be MULTIPLE weddings on the same day and time. This is nothing to worry about since there are many other rooms spaced very far away. However, when we took photos after our ceremony, we were not told where those other weddings were and accidentally almost disrupted another one while we went to other rooms in Phipps for photos. 2) As with many other venues involved with weddings, turnover can be high among employees. For example, we were told about 6 months in that we had a new wedding coordinator and food coordinator. Both the original employees and the new ones we worked with were very professional and kept us aware of these changes ASAP. 3) Phipps is clearly very pricy (especially for food and drink, if you do your reception here), but it is worth it! Some of the best food we've ever had. We recommend short rib and salmon for 2 of the 3 entree options :)

requested and with the weather cooperating we could not have had a more perfect setting for our wedding. The catering can be pricey, but everyone raved about the food and we felt we had a lot to choose from. The sushi bar add-on was an especially huge hit with our guests and they accommodated us to have a plate in the bridal suite since we missed the cocktail hour for photos. I can't say enough about Phipps they were fantastic on every level and the scenery for the wedding and reception couldn't be beat!

ed the venue for our ceremony we were working with someone named Dominic- loved him. With him I had confidence the day would flow smoothly. Dominic left the venue about 6 months before our wedding and I then was working with a woman named Ashley. Ashley needs more experience. So maybe with time she will get better but my husband and myself basically had to tell her what to based on what Dominic had discussed with us previously. She was indecisive, a bit unclear and a little floosy. She had one staff member helping her with the ceremony. Which simply wasn't enough. If I knew there would only be 2 of them I would have given some jobs out to family members but she made it seem like "whatever you need done, we will do." We needed the water dispenser refilled (we were married on a very hot day in July)and the assistant working thought it would be better to pass out programs. Thankfully the Best Man knocked some sense into her and passed out programs for her so she could get more water for our guests. Our unity ceremony was in the form of a flower arrangement that was to be at the altar. They brought it to the bridal suite... The placed our pew bows in the wrong places, and Ashley just had a hard time making quick decisions. All very little items but just a bit annoying. I love Phipps and would never tell someone to not get married there but, they could definitely improve on their event service.

e right decision. Phipps was very easy to work with and they were very friendly. The venue itself was beautiful. We chose the outdoor garden for our venue and we were fortunate to have a nice fall-like day for our wedding. If you are considering Phipps and are concerned about the weather, don't worry. Phipps has a really good Plan B for an outdoor wedding by using large white tents that I think would work well if it did rain. The only concern would be that you might not be able to take any photos inside of Phipps if you choose this option. That being said, the scenery outside is nice enough for wedding photos. It offers some good shots. Overall, we were very pleased with Phipps and we would most certainly have our wedding there again if we had to. We both recommend Phipps and hope this review makes your decision easier.

wanted it. We had about 100 people which is perfect for this intimate venue, then had a cocktail & heavy hor's d oeuvres reception by the patio and inside the garden center. We got married this past Saturday, September 20, 2014. I want to commend Rachel Kernic who was NOT our original events coordinator, but she took over our wedding when they informed us that the person who we talked to before was no longer with Phipps. She is definitely better at communication and timing. She made sure that all our questions were answered. Jennie, who was the actual wedding rehearsal and wedding day specialist was also wonderful and professional. We opted to have our food catered also by Phipps and Mark Balach (Catering Manager) was also great to work with. He listened to what we wanted and made sure it worked for our budget. He was flexible with our requests, and gave great advice on maximizing this space for our wedding. Since there were no classes the day before our wedding, we were able to get our flowers and decors in a place where it is safe, and the catering staff helped my family and friends set up the venue. Thank you so much for the wonderful experience.

know where to come for our wedding. They also were willing to work around our busy schedule since we do live in another state other then PA. I highly recommend this place.

autiful place for dates and couldn't imagine a more meaningful venue for two young people on a budget. We were initially dismayed at multiple changes in our contact person without notice. Once we came close to the wedding, however, Dominic and Colleen made everything work out. Our rehearsal was quick and Dominic listened closely to all of our non-traditional plans without question (and remembered everything for the next day). He also helped to keep my very rambunctious wedding party from wrecking the joint... The day of was filled with a bit of chaos, but Phipps made things work out beautifully. Ridiculous traffic and unplanned tunnel closures (oh Pittsburgh) made the bride, the groom, the photographers, and a good bit of the small, small wedding party nearly late. We had planned on taking joint pictures before guests arrived and got none of those. Instead of having to suck it up and not have beautiful photos, Phipps kept me calm, kept things running smoothly, and gave us extra time at the end to get our amazing shots. Shelly and Dominic were in constant communication and offered us and our guests anything we needed. Initially we weren't sure that things were working out-- it seemed like we were getting shuttled from person to person who didn't keep track of our plans. In the end, though, there's a reason that they are so highly rated. They made the day of a wonderful experience and we felt very, very special. I would recommend them as a ceremony site to anyone. Number of guests: 40 (we opted for seating which worked out fine because there wasn't a formal processional) Length of ceremony: 20 minutes (Phipps had us in there from around 10:30 til 12:45 thanks to extra time allotted in their extreme generosity) Music: we brought in a beats pill and a bridesmaid secretly controlled things from an ipod touch Officiants: friends of ours (got to use a microphone which worked wonderfully) Best part: Their flexibility with time given that we got screwed by Pittsburgh traffic People to request: Dominic was an amazing coordinator with the best energy. Shelly kept me nice and calm. Cost: $500

g with us constantly. I think this is a MAJOR pro about a vendor as I have heard other brides comment that they could not even contact their vendors easily. Additionally, we thought the food was FANTASTIC which was a major priority for us. The service and set up of the rainforest room and special events hall went smoothly and we have guests comment about the staff and venue constantly. We enjoyed the spaces we were able to have. We had a wonderful experience with Phipps! And other vendors, e.g., DJ, have commented that they enjoy working with and at this venue as well. A recommendation I have is to find out exactly what one should do about dropping off cookies for the traditional Pittsburgh Cookie Table. They had a specific window when they wanted the cookies dropped off. One person from the bridal party who dropped off cookies was not instructed to the right area and those cookies were not found until the end of the reception.

e at first but it includes so much and it saves you a ton of stress and worry on the big day. Our guests were all raving and we had a great time. My only complaint would be that while we were planning the event we got passed around a lot. I frequently did not know who I was meant to e-mail or call with a question, but it usually didn't take long to find the right person to help us.

at the terrace of the Tropical Forest and the Cocktail Hour and Reception was in the Tropical Forest and Special Events Hall. Our guests had a great time, and we are so happy we picked this venue as the place to have our wedding. Phipps catering food and bar service was very tasty and our guests loved both the food and the drinks. They worked with us to customize to dietary needs and were very attentive to detail. Courtney, Gina, Courtney, and Mark are the best!

ood was awesome and all of us had a good time. The only down side of Phipps that I experienced during my wedding planning was that they are not very responsive. There are several event coordinators, and you never know who is going to respond you next time. You don't have a go-to person when dealing with Phipps. They usually respond to you after two-three days, depending on how urgent to them your question is. The least responsive person is the catering manager. He is a nice person, but he is too layback that he never responds to emails until you contact the event coordinator that your issue needs immediate attention. I'm a very organized bride, so I couldn't tolerate the slow response (or no response) of any vendor. At least he was there at the reception overlooking everything and did get back to my emails the week of my wedding, and everything looks perfect on our wedding day; good enough for me. If you are a very organized person like me, and are okay following up with the catering manager every two days, they can still make your dream reception come true. They are just not the easiest vendor to work with from my experience.

just in case the weather did not fully cooperate. If I remember correctly, this option was only available on Friday evenings. Having our whole day in one place was awesome! Definitely the way to go! The day of the wedding was perfect. Everything went smoothly. The people at Phipps have so much experience running events that everything ran like clockwork. From what I could tell, there seemed to be good communication between Phipps and other vendors when it got closer to our wedding day, which alleviated some of my nervousness. The catering staff was great with setting everything in the reception hall beautifully and the food was excellent! The only problems I had with Phipps were during the planning phase. From what I could tell there was an abrupt staffing change in the catering department, leaving Mark as the new catering manager. When I was able to get in touch with him, he was great and made me feel a lot more secure that the wedding would go smoothly. However, I sometimes had to wait for weeks to get an e-mail response from him. Perhaps it was the sudden change in the department that was the cause of this. It was also frustrating that there isn’t one contact person from the events department assigned to your event until a few days before the wedding. This means that you are dealing with 3-5 people regarding your event throughout planning. I also had trouble sometimes getting in touch with the events department by e-mail. I would suggest trying to get in touch with people by phone, but their schedules are irregular. Because of the difficulty in getting in touch with people, it made planning a bit more stressful than it needed to be (especially when your as anal and worrisome as I am). Gina was the best at responding in my experience. Colleen was assigned to our event for the day of. She was a bit abrupt in manner. Similar to a previous reviewer’s story, the night of our rehearsal, we were scheduled to start at 5:30 pm. Most of the party was there by 5 pm, except for my parents due to the fact that my father worked until 4:30. She was rushing to begin and acting like we were off schedule, even though we still had 30 minutes until we were scheduled to start. Everybody was there on time. This was irritating because everybody was trying to relax and have a good time the night before the wedding. We had a very small wedding party, had one run through, and were done literally 15 minutes after we started our rehearsal, so to rush us was really unnecessary. Everything went super smoothly the day of (she fixed one of my groom’s tux buttons in a jiffy, helped straighten my train before I walked down the aisle, distributed boutonnieres, etc.) so maybe this is just how she functions efficiently. Her attitude was a little difficult to deal with, though, when we paid a good amount of money to have our event at Phipps. Overall, I would say do it if you can afford it! Our wedding day really was perfect. Just be prepared for some frustrations along the way.

e seasons and they can't really tell you ahead of time what it'll be, but they were spectacular; big yellow flowers everywhere, some looking like they belonged in Whoville, and they were amazing. Gina was a delight to work with. She and her staff kept in contact with us, and were even able to spare us a few minutes every single time we dropped in on them unannounced (Which was kind of a lot). Emily was with us for the rehearsal and the day of and made sure everything went as smoothly as possible. Also an INCREDIBLE value for the space! We were amazed when they told us the price and booked it on the spot!

gh.

posite room and our guests were able to circulate throughout. We had a violin trio play and approximately 50 guests seated for the ceremony. We were very happy with our day!! We utilized the room for 1. 5 hours, however had to pay the three hour rental fee. THat was the only "downside" to our event. Our reception was at another location.. Pavilion X, downtown Pittsburgh. Leslie Will August 18, 2012.

ugh they do several a week)! My guests loved the appetizers and were impressed by the healthiness of the main meal. The servers were professional and the bartenders made fantastic drinks. Everyone commented on the idelic setting and how beautiful the venue was. My only concern going into the wedding was accessabiity for our older guests. There were benches available through out the garden as well as pathways without stairs. This allowed the grandparents to participate in cocktail hour without being removed from everyone else. The events staff was great on the day of the wedding and with helping me pick up decorations, etc. the next day. My only qualm was that I had very little contact with the events staff between booking the wedding and the day after the wedding. Maybe it was just because I clicked with the Catering Staff, but I did feel neglected and without the guidance from Jeff, I would have been very worried leading up to the wedding. Over all I was very happy with Phipps and would recommend the venue to anyone.

ption in the Special Events Hall. The venue is expensive, but worth the money if you have it. The staff is wonderful (especially Jeff, Sara, and Gina)!! The food was raved about by all my guests, and they were really helpful with all the details. I would HIGHLY recommend them. The only issue we had with them all night was that the mic stopped working mid-ceremony making it hard for guests to hear, so hopefully they could work that out for your wedding.

s are beautiful!

f my questions. We wished that she could have been the coordinator at our event. However, the event staff who we worked with on the day of (Colleen) was pushy and rude to me, my father, my photographer and officiant, among others. It really all started when we went to Phipps for the rehearsal the night before. Colleen, the event coordinator who was assigned to our event was pushy from the get go... our rehearsal was slated to start at 5pm. All of our wedding party/family started to arrive early and gather together. We were still waiting for a few more people to arrive (among those was our officiant), it was 4:50pm and she was pushing us to start. I told her we couldn't start yet because our officiant wasn't there and one of our bridesmaids had just arrived and was tending to her baby in the car before the came up to the garden. Colleen was very unhappy with this and gave me a attitude, told me there were things we could do without them and that we needed to get started. I refused, which made her more unhappy and she walked away to make a phone call until they arrived. We went over and rehearsed the ceremony once and when asked by my father-in-law if we could go over it once more she said "No, I'll be here tomorrow." On the day of the wedding as soon as I arrived she run over to me with a box full of boutonnieres and said "Can i pass these out now? We need to pass these out now!" After I told her that the bridesmaids (who had just arrived with me) needed to pick their bouquets first so that we could match them up with the boutonnieres she gave me an attitude and said "What do you mean then? These really need passed out!" Then when we finally got that all situated she went out to pin the boutonnieres on the groomsmen and fathers. When she started my Dad went over and said, "I heard the girls talking in the limo and they wanted to make sure they had the same flowers as their groomsmen, I just wanted to make sure they told you." Colleen snapped back at my Dad " I know what I'm doing!!" Then during the ceremony the microphone didn't work. Our officiant asked them to fix it, someone walked over to it, looked at it and then walked away. It was never fixed. None of our guests could hear our readers and some of them couldn't even hear our officiant. After the ceremony Colleen was yelling at our photographer and our Maid of Honor that they needed to get everyone organized for pictures. She was terrible. We paid too much money to get to Phipps and receive an attitude from the staff and have a broken microphone. Go somewhere else for your ceremony

handling each wedding and this gets to be confusing and can cause issues. One person handles the facility rental, one person handles the bar, and one person handles the catering. I had to follow up with each individual multiple times because no one was communicating with me or the others. The catering vendor...food was good, but an absolute nightmare to work with. Get married at Phipps and have your reception across the street at the small cafe so you can get a different caterer!

o support this wonderful place. P.S. The cafe is yummy! A great lunch spot before/after your visits!