San Diego Natural History Museum

ruly a magical evening, a "night at the museum" wedding!

st something special about having cocktails amongst dinosaurs, wildflowers, and a megalodon, before having dinner and dancing in front of a full Allosaurus skeleton! And our guests agreed, with so many of them calling it out as one of the most unique wedding venues they’d been to, and how much fun they had! We had our ceremony on the rooftop, cocktail hour among the exhibits on the 2nd floor, and the reception in the first floor atrium, which gave a nice flow and unique feel to every phase of the evening, each of which stood out in their own way! And they also gave the wedding party access to their boardroom to use as a chilling/staging area before things kicked off (and to stash our things while they were in progress). All the facilities were outstanding and they provided us with all the tables and chairs we needed, plus uplights, and they coordinated seamlessly with all of our vendors. And as a key highlight, they also have their own liquor license, and as such they were able to provide open bar packages at a super reasonable cost! Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced us to postpone our wedding twice, The NAT was great about working with us to find new dates and roll everything over. The only thing that keeps them from a full 5 stars in our book is that communication was consistently slow and difficult. Emails routinely took over a week (and in some cases multiple weeks) to get a response even with multiple follow-ups, and this created additional stress during the final weeks and months of preparation as we were finalizing details and decorations and the like. But at the end of the day, the event itself went smoothly as can be, and we had the night of our lives in such a beautiful venue!

self is beautiful and lends itself to a spectacular wedding! There is a wonderful ceremony space on the roof, a conference room to wait before, and the atrium as a reception space was lovely. Our only negatives came during the planning process. Day-of, the events team was phenomenal and helped everything really run smoothly, but during the months of planning we, unfortunately, had a pretty difficult time. I was originally so blown away by the quick response time of Jenny and her team when we were looking to tour the museum as a potential venue, but as we got deeper into the planning process, there were times when we couldn’t get ahold of anyone (after many emails and phone calls) to discuss pertinent details. I definitely had a decent amount of stress surrounding the lack of communication, especially with time sensitive details like when I needed to know if I should reach out to my vendors 30 days before or were they going to (and I wasn’t getting a response). We also had a few details fall through the cracks and some miscommunications about things we wanted planned that didn’t end up happening at the wedding which was a little disappointing. All in all, if you use the NAT as your venue, it truly is gorgeous and unique, just make sure to have your own wedding planner or be prepared to really go over everything with a fine toothed comb because communication wasn’t the best, and things slipped though the cracks. I still recommend the NAT as a wedding venue, just be prepared to put in some elbow grease and attention to detail to communicate and get things done.

er venue to celebrate our special day. The views, the people, and the dinos all make for a fun and creative experience!

wanted to take photos) and then being surrounded by all the exhibits made for such a fun reception! All of the staff were super friendly and knowledgeable. 10/10 would recommend!

for COVID, they had our backs to make sure we received what we needed to keep things safe. 100% would recommend!

uary 2020. That's right, we booked it before the pandemic and had to plan during multiple lockdowns, mask mandates, re-openings, then the Delta variant. I cannot say enough nice things about our event coordinators. We went through 3 different ones but they never missed a beat. Lucy, Jennifer, and Nathalia were so professional and accommodating. Even though we had to cut down our guest list and basically shorten our event, they rolled with it. They remained flexible, were always available to answer our questions, and let us walk through the venue so many times to help us feel ready for our big day. They also did great coordinating services with our other vendors. Nathalia literally dropped everything to help us through the craziness of the day before and the day of our event. Lastly, about the venue itself. We had cocktail hour on the 2nd Level which allowed all our guests to drink and walk around the exhibits. Everyone was thoroughly entertained, and it definitely helped take the attention off of us for a while, which is exactly how we liked it. There were multiple photo ops for everyone, our favorite being the pendulum. Then we had our wedding dinner on the rooftop with about 100 guests. This was magical. Nothing beats this view of Balboa Park. We had minimal decorations because the backdrop of the city was enough. We have not received our professional photos yet, but even just the photos we have seen from our guests look beautiful with the sun setting in the background. We also had bar service through The Nat and it was great. They had a big selection, it was affordable, and the bartenders were amazingly patient and hustled to take care of our thirsty guests. If you're looking for a unique place to have a wedding, with an amazing view, then I urge you to consider The Nat. Weddings are expensive enough, but knowing you're contributing towards the museum's efforts of species conservation and education in the community, definitely helps ease the load on your wallet.

sary arrangements. The event coordinator, Jenny, was always available to answer questions and made us feel valued as a client. We look forward to having our special day soon.

an adjacent lot and a private entrance with an elevator to take you to the top! The space was big enough to hold my event for 50-60 people. But could easily accommodate twice that comfortably! They have a great selection of beverages for bar offerings and they use outside catering services for food. In my opinion, this is great because you have ultimate flexibility for food options. If you’re undecided like I was, don’t worry, they have several caterers they can recommend to help steer you in the right direction. What I think put it over the top for me is that the location is steps away from the famous Eva Evenson Fountain, beautiful botanical garden, & peaceful Japanese friendship garden, it’s location offers endless opportunities for those picture perfect photo ops to create the memories to last a lifetime! These are only naming a few! You will be on the Historic Balboa Park grounds where there are several museums, theaters, gardens & the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Trust me, the lushly landscaped grounds offer the best photo ops! I looked at the traditional hotel ballrooms & event halls but ultimately decided on the rooftop at the NAT. It was the best decision I made. If you’re looking for a unique space with a prime location, look no further. You won’t regret it. I have to give a shout-out to Jennifer (Jenny). She was an absolute professional from the moment I met her. It can be stressful planning an event but working with the right people can make all the difference. She knows what she’s doing and will help you make your event a success. I can’t say enough good things about her. Thank You!!!

fect choice. After searching for months and checking out venues from wineries to country clubs, we thought, why don't we just try one of our favorite museums? We did a tour with Jennifer Sahagun who was one of the most professional and sweetest people I have worked with. During our tour, she told us that Cucina Urbana (where we had our first date) was potentially joining their preferred vendor list and that just about sealed the deal. The museum was such a stunning, exciting backdrop for our guests to enjoy our wedding festivities. Jennifer and her team, worked hard to answer all of our questions, provide any support they could, and ensure that we had the best possible experience. She even worked with us to make sure we could fit all of our guests on the roof! I routinely drove by the museum to drop off various boxes of things that they would store for us until the day of our wedding. Ryan, the bartender for their events, was INCREDIBLE and happily let us bring in our own beer/wine from the winery I worked at and the brewery that the best man owned. He even helped us create signature drinks, including details like fresh grapefruit juice for one and a tajin rim for the other. Our guests raved about the signature drinks! The only difficult parts of our negotiations were when Jennifer was promoted and had to pass us off to a different coordinator about 2 weeks before the wedding. Lucy was great, but we hadn't established a relationship with her at that point, so it felt a bit like we were starting over, even though she had all the information she needed to help us. The other difficult day was our rehearsal (the day before the wedding). They were intent on setting up the roof for their community night and could hardly let us get our wedding rehearsal in. I understand that it is a public space, but we had paid thousands of dollars to have our wedding there and felt we deserved a two hour time slot on the Friday before to rehearse. It ended up working out, but that made things a bit crunchy the day before our wedding. I think we had just about an hour to rehearse before they started moving bars, ice chests, and heaters onto the roof. Aside from these things, we really loved our time working with the NAT and would recommend them to anyone!

s information on vendors, ideas on the layout, keeping ME and my family calm throughout the whole process, and so much more! Thank you to Jennifer and the entire Museum staff for making our wedding as amazing as it was! Also, our guests still can't believe there was a dinosaur at the reception.

xtremely accommodating and the location and venue are incredible. Most of our guests were from out of town and they absolutely loved it. It's great that it's not directly in the flight path, but you can still see planes go by, and so awesome to get to see the entire park. Such a beautiful venue for a perfect wedding! Highly recommend.