San Diego Botanic Garden

impressed with Lita Dantes. She was very quick to reply to emails, always friendly, and always answered my abundant questions! She was also flexible with ideas and plans, even though there were certain rules/guidelines we had to stay within. We also appreciated that we were allowed to visit the gardens several times before the rehearsal to visualize where everything would go, meet with our photographer, and do a walk through. During the actual wedding day, the SDBG staff was excellent at setting up chairs/tables for our use. It was a huge help that we were able to use their tables & chairs!

tural light, but also blocking out the sun with its trees. They were a bit picky about which vendors we chose for our events since it is a garden that they are trying to preserve well. I also recommend getting standing heaters for your reception if your wedding is in the winter. It was really cold!! All in all, they had strict rules but they were reasonable with some of my requests and did what they could to give me what I asked for.

(not in the Las Vegas heat) and in a venue that truly felt like us. We didn't want anything too fancy or too pretentious, and it was also very important for us to chose a venue that let us bring in our own vendors. Lita and her team at the gardens were a delight to work with and we were able to create the perfect rustic/secret garden feel that I had been envisioning. The venue was incredibly clean, the ambiance and energy was perfect and our guests can not stop talking about how beautiful everything turned out! We couldn't have been happier! Thank you SD Botanic Gardens for being the perfect location to marry my best friend! -Courtney Hartmann

eremony was in the Walled Garden, and it felt very intimate (not crammed at all). Everyone was comfortable and the garden with the sun setting in the background was perfect. Our cocktail hour was in the herb garden which was really cool. The bar with vines growing on it was very pretty and we did a second bar with a beer tasting. Everyone went out to the overlook area for sunset before walking down to the reception (was Nov 5 so the sun was setting right before dinner). The reception was in the gazebo lawn which was set up perfectly. We had long tables, a dance floor near the tree, a band, and desserts set up in the gazebo. We did bistro lighting which i highly recommend. It gave the garden a dim light that made the setting very romantic and magical. Everyone complimented us on our venue and everyone there was very easy to work with. I absolutely loved our wedding here.

cktail hour. It was beautiful and our guests loved that they could wander the gardens. Also, there are so many different backdrops so our pictures turned out perfect. Highly recommend this venue!

all located in the most beautiful place in San Diego was easy, and fun. Thank you SDBG!

elf without a lot of fuss. Would recommend the garden to any bride.

weekend for our summer wedding.

to fill the new person in on what was discussed with the last person and having the final person we dealt with having only started 2 weeks prior to our wedding was unsettling. Everything ended up working out and I'm sure this isn't a typical situation there; just bad timing for us.

rustic chic wedding.

nt and the price was very reasonable. ONLY downside is that you have to bring everything in except for ceremony chairs (and they have a few belly bars, I think), but they have recommended vendors, etc, who work with them regularly. A pleasure! Everyone said it was a gorgeous wedding.

h our choice. Their wedding coordinator is amazing too, she made the process so easy. My husband and I had a small intimate ceremony at the Waterfall deck.

wanted. You may choose from the preferred list for the rentals and catering. My ceremony (85 people) was in the walled garden and the reception was in the gazebo lawn. Overall, on June 29th, at 5 pm.... This was gorgeous! Be sure to warn your guests to wear comfortable flats (hills and grass) and encourage them to enjoy the gardens during your cocktail hour.

so enjoyed being able to walk around the garden after the ceremony to take pictures - we did not have to go to any separate site to take pictures, the variety of options at the garden is excellent. One thing that was a little annoying was that whoever was next to use the Walled Garden area started arriving before we cleared out of the site (still within our allotted time). Overall, we loved it!

o brought his own sound system, but our officiant didn't need sound amplification. The setting is so beautiful and colorful that the only decoration we needed was to dress up the arch with some ivory and fuschia tulle. All the guests were able to walk around the gardens and enjoy themselves while we took pictures before the reception, which we held at a nearby restaurant. The best part is that we got free memberships for one year, so we can go back and visit anytime! I highly recommend this venue...great value for the price.

is easy for vendors to pull up to unload and load all their belongings. Overall it is great for your money!

thing I wasn't thrilled about with this venue is the changing room. It didn't have any place to hang dresses (so my dad built a super tall free-standing closet rod out of PVC pipes). It also didn't have air conditioning. All of the ladies did their hair and makeup at the hotel where my husband and I spent our wedding night, then got to the gardens just in time to change into our dresses before the ceremony. Ceremony location: Walled Garden Reception location: Gazebo Lawn You can use the waterfall overlook to have some appetizers during the cocktail hour as well. Make sure you are working with a vendor who knows how to deal with the slope on the lawn. Even though our caterer/rentals provider had done a lot of weddings at the gardens, the dance floor surface slid about six inches during the reception, and a few people tripped on it.

otos later!

s highly professional and very responsive. The location is picture perfect and easily accessible for guests.