Reid Park Zoo

I am so glad I chose to have my wedding at the Zoo. When I told everyone about it, everybody wanted to come, because it was such a unique venue. When I called to get information, they immediately sent me to Karen Wylie. Needless to say, she was amazing! She helped with me everything. If I had a question, I would just email her and she would get back to me pretty much immediately. I never waited to hear back from her. Since I lived 2 hours away from the zoo, it was nice to have her there, because she would help me with any questions I had anytime. Karen gave me ideas of what past couples did to see if maybe it helped me plan. She was AWESOME! So the food, it was so good! Chef Don is a masterpiece when it comes to making some good food. I had a caesar salad, grilled chicken breast with this sauce, they called "Ala Don." We also had chicken fajitas, and for desert we did fruit. Everybody loved the food, the chicken was very juicy and so delicious. Chef Don even made my cake! That was the talk of the whole wedding. Even still, I have people asking me if I have any left, because they want some more! Overall, I couldn't have asked for more. This zoo is amazing and has amazing people working for it. For the price you get complete access to the zoo, which my guest loved! Some of my friends said it was a great experience being able to walk around the zoo at night seeing especially the lions. The lions were so fiesty the night of my wedding. They definitely left me with some great memories! The Reid Park Zoo left me with great memories, and the time of my life for my wedding. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. So Thank you Karen, Chef Don, and Reid Park Zoo for making my wedding the best night of my life!!!!

Best idea ever! I could not believe how helpful the staff was from planning to carrying out my special day! The entire wedding was beautiful, from the set-up for the ceremony and reception, to having the run of the place to take pictures wherever our hearts desired. Besides, who WOULDN'T want amazing, romantic pictures with giraffes in the background? A lot of venues have restrictions and extra costs; the zoo pretty much let us roll with whatever we wanted, and at this price, it was more than I could have ever dreamed of. HUGE thanks to the wonderful staff and to everyone who helped make my dream day come true!

Our Reid Park Zoo wedding was a dream come true! Every zoo employee went out of their way to make our wedding exactly what we asked for. My husband and I are so happy we chose the zoo for our wedding venue and we couldn’t imagine a more special location to have gotten married! Our wedding was even featured on Style Me Pretty, one of the most popular wedding sites! See it here: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2012/02/22/reid-park-zoo-wedding-by-brushfire-photography/ Of all the venues we visited, this was the only one where we felt we had the freedom to do exactly what we wanted to do. It was also the most affordable. They even provided us with a coordinator so we were relieved to have the extra assistance and felt no need to hire a wedding planner. Our wedding was beautiful. The central location was easy to find for out-of-towners and the guests liked the freedom to walk around the zoo before hand to enjoy the animals. The entire zoo was basically ours for the night! We had our ceremony under the large tree near the entrance. They provided garden chairs for our guests and allowed us to hang origami cranes in the tree. The ceremony was out of a fairytale as the weather was perfect (married Oct. 8th) and the scenery gorgeous. Even as we said our I Do’s, birds sang and peacocks roamed around guests. And there were no issues with noise as the bigger animals were pleasantly quiet. I was particularly ecstatic when a single white peacock walked up to me. I took it as a sign of good luck. It couldn’t have been planned better. (Though I have a feeling the staff sprinkled some food on the ground to coax the peacocks out. Again, they pulled out all the stops for us). After the ceremony we had a giraffe feeding where photos were taken of each guest feeding a giraffe. Later we sent the photos to them along with thank you cards as a fun keepsake. We had our reception on the CLC deck overlooking the zoo, which complimented our eco-chic style décor perfectly. The zoo set up the tables, bar, rented décor, and outdoor lighting. Our guests loved the “animal encounter” where the zoo staff brought out more animals than expected! The dinner was great and all of the food was just as delicious as it was at our tasting. No surprises. Though they have a buffet option, we chose a plated South of the Border dinner with Mexican-style hors d’oeuvres and a beer/wine bar. The churros were an absolute hit and everyone adored the children’s meals complete with toys and animal masks. We also had animal crackers for the guests to take as favors. And if you want to help out the animals, we found the zoo’s “adopt an animal” program was a great alternative to run-of-the-mill wedding gifts. Overall we were astonished at out how smoothly the wedding ran with all the details we had scheduled at various locations within the zoo. The staff did an incredible job accommodating our guest’s needs and making sure the group was always where they needed to be. We love this zoo and are so proud to have gotten married there. It sounds cliché’ but it was truly the happiest day of my life and my husband and I agree it’s because we chose Reid Park as our venue.

Everything about getting married at the Reid Park Zoo was amazing and fun. Karen, the event coordinator, was so helpful, and always ready with a suggestion or idea. She made my planning easy and fun. Chef Don was incredible - the food was outstanding, and he was willing to work with us to make our menu unique. The wedding and reception both went smoothly, in large part because of the wonderful staff at the zoo. One of our favorite parts (and our guests still talk about it) was the giraffe feeding. We used it as our meet & greet after the ceremony, and it was so much fun. In short, I wouldn't have changed anything. The zoo was the perfect place to get married, and I would recommend it over and over again.