The United States National Arboretum

to Natalie in December 2019, toured the venue in January 2020, and were ready to commit on the spot. Planning a May 2021 wedding amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic has felt stressful, but having Natalie in our corner has helped us keep moving forward. She has been responsive from the moment we met, answering all of our questions (big and small) with kindness and timeliness, and has provided us with so many vendor connections along the way. The conversations I’ve had with vendors thus far indicate that Natalie is held in high regard by her industry colleagues -- “I love working with Natalie” is something I’ve heard multiple times now! And it’s true. It’s been a pleasure to work with her and I highly, highly, highly recommend reaching out to her!

ncelled, and refund the full amount if THEY cancelled, but the third option was to augment our venue rental to something more suited to these times: cancel the cocktail hour and reception rental and rent only the ceremony time and space. Natalie was flexible in this regard and I think that should be recognized. Many friends have lost thousands because of rigid contracts to venue sites, and this venue vendor was not one of those types. The tent company however is another story! We basically had to argue with them for 1/6 of our money back. (A Grand Event Tents). AND, Something Vintage has locked us into rescheduling and paying the rest of our order for some future event...except we are moving ... so, yeah no thanks. I am not the person asking for all our money back, We donated our flowers to staff at GW Hospital, we asked for nothing back from our small vendors (hair, makeup, coordinator, photog, dj...) and they in-turn, released us from paying the rest of the balance. So, instead of paying for and hosting a ceremony, cocktail reception and wedding reception, we only hosted a "ceremony" and instead of marrying during this time that we rented, we held a Forest Bathing ceremony in honor of the Summer Solstice. Natalie was flexible with us and will be refunding our money for the cocktail and event reception time that we were obviously not able to host. We, therefore, wound up paying for the ceremony time only. PROs: The obvious: the vistas and flora and fauna are breathtaking and spiritually and healthfully rejuvenating. Natalie is friendly and easy to communicate with. Free parking on site. Many options for event locations within the space itself. Bathrooms onsite. CONs: you are forced to use one tent company. We were almost about to spend $30K...YES! $30K for just the tent. Basically half of our budget. A dance floor, sub floor (because after thinking it over, I didn't want to force folx into digging heels into the ground or changing their footwear to flats bc I've been that person that was perturbed when my outfit has to be adjusted for flats), lighting, the vendor road, coverings over the poles and rigging, & install. We could not shop around. And we were not told about how expensive the tent features including the road YOU ARE FORCED TO PURCHASE. SO, sure, you could order a tent for from this co. for about 12-15K but it is the BAREST OF BONES. That and the no fire ... so no candles and you have to provide ground lighting for guests to navigate to the main building for the bathrooms which is fine but something you should consider as a part of your DIY time. Finally, please I encourage everyone to provide non-toxic bug repellent for your guests because the chemicals may be microscopic, but they are systemic and potent...they kill. And this beautiful haven houses many living beings small and large. So please please be loving toward them and ourselves by supplying Badger bug spray or some other great brand. Thanks for listening. https://www.badgerbalm.com/c-46-natural-bug-repellents.aspx

ers as well as open fields. The vendors we had to choose from were wonderful. We chose to have our reception in the tent included in the June wedding package and it was perfect. DC doesn’t have a whole lot of options for outdoor venues so if you get the chance to book here, do it! You will not be disappointed.

where we took all of our pre-ceremony photos including our first look. Natalie and her team were extremely helpful and responsive and listened to all of our requests. The day ran extremely smoothly.

t have asked for anything more!

, but somehow laid-back wedding at the National Arboretum. We had confused out-of-town family, drunk guests, drunk family, confused out-of-town guests, the whole show. Because of Natalie and her team at NcNeese Thomas it went perfectly. She not only handled the location and day-of logistics, but put us in touch with our world class - search "Spilled Milk Catering" - caterer, who just nailed it. On the day of we didn't have to lift a finger, somehow it all just worked out, right down to helping the old folks with Uber and making sure we walked off with some much-needed leftovers. The "somehow" was Natalie and the McNeese Thomas Group.

y tries to meet all your expectations and beyond. The Arboretum is a beautiful and majestic setting. It is truly a magical place!