About this vendor
The San Francisco Zoo is a romantic alternative to the traditional wedding venue and provides a magical backdrop for your special day. Ceremonies look out over exotic animals, cocktail hours are held in unique exhibits and elegant suites are ideal for a memorable reception.
Planning a wedding is no easy task and our events team can be involved as much or as little as you like. Our flexible chefs look forward to talking menus, our catering manager to fine tuning logistics and our Zoo keepers look forward to giving your valued guests an unforgettable experience with an Animal Encounter.
We aim to be as helpful as possible by providing a 'one stop shop' for all your wedding needs. We support our local community by using local vendors not just for food produce, but for wedding cakes, photography, DJ needs, lighting and much more.
“ When we initially began our search for wedding venues, the thought of having it at the zoo never crossed our minds. Judy and I took one stroll through the zoo and said to each other "this is it!" Having our wedding at the zoo was a perfect fit for us. We love animals. We love San Francisco. We wanted something that would be memorable, and close to our hearts. We were also excited by the various venue options for ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception -- it allowed us to add a lot of variety. Many of our guests have told us that this was the most memorable wedding they have ever been to." - Judy & Ken
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
- Ballroom
- Barn
- Historic Venue
- Museum
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Bar Rental
- Cakes & Desserts
- Cupcakes
- Other Desserts
- Food & Catering
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.4
out of 5.08 reviews
I don't even have words to describe how much we loved our zoo wedding. The venue itself is absolutely stunning, requires very little decorating (we literally did not decorate the c...
eremony or cocktail hour), and is incredibly unique and memorable. I'll admit we got some confusion initially from some people when we announced we were getting married at the zoo, but it was absolutely the best decision we could have made. All of our guests had an amazing time and talked about it for days. We even heard from the parents of the children at our wedding that for more than a week after, the kids kept asking to go back to the zoo wedding! What more could you want? Well, in addition to the gorgeous setting, all of the food/beverages/rentals are in house, making it incredibly simple for us. And the food was great! We got to do a tasting, have signature drinks, and all of the normal stuff you would do at a traditional wedding venue. And the food was great, multiple guests went out of their way to tell us, and the price was very reasonable compared to other venues I've seen. We also had an opportunity for the wedding party and immediate family to feed the giraffes! So, so unique and memorable. We also had use of the antique carousel during our cocktail hour, which was a huge hit with both adults and kids! But the very best part was working with the event coordinator, Carol Mann, and her staff. They were all absolutely phenomenal. Very communicative, very flexible, answered our millions of questions with a smile and fantastic information. Because the zoo does not do many weddings, we were actually able to set up our reception area the night before our wedding! We did everything like setting up favors, place cards, etc. so the only thing that had to be done day of were the centerpieces. That would absolutely never have happened at a traditional wedding venue and it was such a relief to not have to figure out how those tasks would get done the day of. I know this review was completely rambling but every time I thought I had covered all of the amazing things, I thought of even more! We are probably one of the only couples in history to have zero regrets about their wedding day. We absolutely cannot recommend the zoo highly enough!
My husband and I met each other working Indiana Jones and the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, so the decision was easy when it came to our wedding venue - the San Francisco Zoo. Howev...
er, we were not prepared for the incredible experience we had planning out our wedding day.
Carol Mann is an amazing coordinator and overall person! We visited the zoo several times to decide on our ceremony and reception site, and Rehearsal Dinner location. Each time she was extremely patient with us, explained all possible options and was even open to our suggestions in case of rain and other contingency plans.
We never felt pressured to spend more money or embarrassed by our unique taste and requests to make our day truly us. Carol made us feel like we were her own children because she always ensured that we were having the best time. She was flexible with our set-up and take-down timing, proactive about getting final wedding details, and overwhelming communicative about what we were allowed to do in regards to zoo policies. We were astonished at how many hours of work Carol put into our wedding during the entire weekend, and through all that she still always had a smile on her face and high energy. From the food that she organized with Chef Kevin to ensure that no one left hungry to helping our elderly family get around the zoo, everyone had an amazing time.
We feel so blessed to have had Carol as our main coordinator at the San Francisco Zoo because she really did give us our perfect wedding.
The Zoo was the perfect venue for us. It catered to our love of animals and gave us a great theme to work with. I've never been to a better wedding in my life. The zoo coordinator ...
was a dream to work with; she made it easy.
This location was perfect and we loved working with the events coordinator there.
In the end, the venue had terrible communication and my fiance and I couldn't count on them to deliver for our wedding day. We understand that things happen, especially during the ...
busy wedding season, so we tried to be patient through the process... but we did not appreciate the few months of radio silence that we received. We've wasted a lot of time on the San Francisco Zoo, and are now behind schedule with finding a venue for our January 2017 wedding.
At first we were so excited to learn that we could have our wedding at the Zoo! Our wedding is January 2017, and at the time it was around October 2015. I knew I was early, but I figured it's better to be early than late and reached out to the coordinator. About a month passed before I heard back, and learned that we could tour the venue in March of 2016. We patiently waited until March and drove up from Southern California to meet with the wedding coordinator. When I arrived at the venue, I saw an email that the coordinator was sick and unable to meet with us- but she left us free tickets to check out the space. There wasn't anyone else who could show us around. I understand that things happen, but be warned that there is only one person in the office who you would be working with.
After our visit, I had a thorough chat with the coordinator and felt good about asking for a quote. I was promised a quote within a few days. The few day period passed, and before I knew it a month had passed with no communication from the coordinator. I left voicemails and sent emails, but I didn't receive a response until another week went by and she finally picked up the phone. She let me know that she was leaving and had been training her replacement, so I had hope that her replacement would be much quicker about getting back to us. About two weeks later, we finally got a quote from the new coordinator...but it was incorrect. Half of the things we had asked for weren't on the proposal, and I asked for a revision. The same thing happened with the new coordinator. A week went by without a word- so I followed up by phone and by email. Nothing. Three more weeks went by until I finally got the new coordinator on the line. She promised to call me the next morning. I waited all day for a call and didn't receive one. I followed up a few days later and gave the coordinator a deadline of getting the proposal to us in two days, otherwise we couldn't have our wedding there. She promised we would have it the following afternoon... but it never came. I followed up by telling her that we did not appreciate the experience, and hope that another couple doesn't have to go through what we've been through.
It's a beautiful venue, and we would have loved to have our big day there, but there is no way we could have handled working with a team that doesn't communicate. If you are considering the Zoo, I hope you have a better experience than we did.
My husband and I got married this past May in the San Francisco Zoo, and we were thrilled we chose it as our venue. The zoo was beautiful, cooperative, and well-organized througho...
ut the process.
From the start, the zoo was helpful, working with us to schedule our big day appropriately. Originally we had looked at an April wedding, but despite having openings that month, they advised us to wait until May for better weather. As planning continued, the zoo made things easy on us. For example, they took care of the catering, tables, linens, and open bar. This made them almost a one-stop-shop and made our lives that much easier. They offered us a wide menu of food options, and worked with us to set up a buffet for our guests (per our request) after inviting us to taste some of their entrees. About a month prior to the wedding, the zoo coordinator worked with us to get our photographers, florist, and day-of planners into the zoo so they could look over the reception hall, venue, and even much of the zoo for photography planning purposes. The zoo coordinated with us as we made our own tickets for our guests (the zoo allows free access to wedding party members), but with our vouchers guests were also allowed to enter into the zoo early for a reduced price if they wanted to see some animals. Overall, despite it being a wedding, the zoo made the process as smooth and easy as you can imagine.
Since the wedding was to occur after the zoo closed, our coordinator worked with us to take pictures prior to the ceremony. Thus, we and the wedding party were able to take photos in front of our favorite animals including lemurs, pelicans, and bears. The zoo also cooperated with us to get photographs on the carousel and their little train. They ultimately let us take as many pictures as possible before the ceremony, giving us only the problem of sorting through them all!
The wedding venue itself was the area situated in the African Savannah exhibit. Guests must transit through one of two tunnels to get there, allowing for the bride to stay concealed until the start of the ceremony, but also surrounding our guests with a variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and Marabou storks among others. For animal lovers like us, this gave the wedding a great exotic/wild feeling to it, and also made for some excellent photo opportunities. For planning purposes, the savannah seating area fits around one-hundred guests. While this was our desired wedding size, it could limit you if you are looking to have more guests.
Following the wedding, we treated our guests to a giraffe feeding and five animal encounters. The giraffe feeding brings the wedding party, and subsequently guests, into the giraffe house to pet and then feed them bananas and leaves. None of us had ever pet or fed a giraffe before, so it made for a fun and memorable experience.
Meanwhile, since only about twenty-five guests can fit in the giraffe house at once, the rest of our guests enjoyed cocktail hour with drinks, hors d oeuvres, and the five encounters. For the encounters, the zoo has animal trainers bring out five animals (the zoo gave us a list of about twelve animals that were typically available, but realize that sometimes trainers are not on hand or animals could be sick so there may be last minute changes) for our guests to pet, examine, and learn about. We chose the golden eagle, a hedgehog, an alligator, an opossum, and an owl.
I used the zoo for our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. This is great 'one stop' shopping where you can have multiple different sites at one venue!
We planned our wedding ...
from across the country. The zoo was so helpful in emailing/taking phone calls as needed even early on in the planning. The venue is gorgeous (lots of foliage), and you have options to rent different sites at the venue (beatiful great hall, neat carousel, lots of outdoor areas for ceremonies if the weather is good, smaller indoor areas as well). Moreover, you can have animal encounters during the cocktail hour which our guests loved. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 was the vegetarian option (30% of our guests) was not well prepared, but in the scheme of things everything else was seamless!
The Zoo is truly a hidden gem for a wedding venue. They have a beautiful event hall that evokes an upscale log cabin, with exposed beams, fireplace, and stone floor. You can also h...
ave your ceremony in front of the animal exhibits, and if you are lucky with animals in the background! The event staff is truly amazing; they will accommodate most requests and go above and beyond to help make your day special. If you are an offbeat bride, the zoo is a perfect location!
Contact
1 Zoo Rd, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Zoo