U of M Matthaei Botanical Gardens

We had an absolutely wonderful time at the Gardens. I can't imagine doing wedding coordination is easy, given that most people are doing all of this for the first time, but the team at the Gardens really put their effort into making sure it went as smoothly as possible. And, obviously, the venue was absolutely beautiful. Definitely snag a June date if you can! The only thing I will mention as needing improvement, and this is something another commenter has mentioned, but the form to fill out information on the rehearsal and day-of is very gendered, which didn't really work well with a nonbinary and trans man couple who were doing everything we could to avoid gendering everything. That could definitely use some updating. The staff and space were lovely, though, and gave us memories that'll last a lifetime for us.

I love coming here anyway, but Matthaei was also the perfect place for our wedding ceremony! It was like a warm summer day on a cold Michigan October day. Thank you to Michele and team for your help making sure all went smoothly.

We got married in the Conservatory on June 11th. The space was beautiful, but we were deeply disappointed in our experience with the Matthaei Botanical Gardens (MBG). We don’t feel like we got what we paid for. I would strongly caution any future brides from booking them as a venue, and if you do then understand that you will not receive the full services you pay for. The Facility Rentals Coordinator, Michelle, was tremendously frustrating to work with. She was rude, difficult to get ahold of, and did not provide any of the support the week-of that was promised (a phone call, rehearsal coordination, replies to emails, etc.). Additionally, per our contract we reserved the conservatory from 4:30 to 7 pm for our private event. However, the signs on the door said that our private event only went until 6:15. There were dozens of people swarming the conservatory during our photos after the ceremony and our photographer had to repeatedly ask them to move. Fellow LGBTQIA folks: we opened the link to the questionnaire and were deeply disheartened and frustrated. Despite having several recent communications with Michelle, and my partner speaking to her on the phone when we booked, Michelle still sent us a childish, confusing questionnaire that identified us as Bride and Groom. We were so frustrated that we responded, ‘There is no groom!’. Michelle never replied nor acknowledged this oversight. The last email we received from Michelle was the Tuesday before our wedding. We confirmed that our officiant would be guiding the rehearsal and asked some questions about what time people could arrive to set up chairs. Michelle never replied. She never responded to our questions, responded only once to our day-of coordinator who also emailed her, and she never reached out to schedule the week-of phone call that was in our contract. On Friday we were standing in the conservatory, rehearsing for our ceremony, and Michelle literally walked right through our rehearsal. It looked like she was showing another prospective couple the space. She didn’t stop to greet us, introduce herself, or ask if we needed anything. Instead, she completely ignored us and walked another couple literally right in between my fiancée and me. We arrived on the day of our ceremony and were waiting in the get-ready room when someone knocked at the door at around 5:15. It was Michelle, who offered us a brief congratulations, then said that she was showing a prospective bride the facilities, and could she show her the get-ready room?! My fiancée and I were standing there, in our dresses, panicking, 10 minutes from our ceremony and she wanted to interrupt us to show the room to a future client?! I was truly stunned. After the ceremony we did family and bridal portraits in the conservatory. However, due to the wrong time being posted on the doors, there were people in the Conservatory much earlier than the 7 pm time stated in our contract. In short; Michelle was the most frustrating part of our wedding planning process. This experience was not worth $1,500 since we did not receive the coordinating support nor the privacy we paid for. If you have other alternatives, I will strongly encourage you to go elsewhere.

We got married in the Gateway Garden in Sept '19. The events coordinator was very helpful during the planning and we had interns helping us during the rehearsal and the day-of. We fell in love with MBG during our first visit and were so happy to get married there - our guests loved the gardens and walking around after the ceremony.

Our ceremony location in the perennial gardens was absolutely beautiful. A perfect location for an outdoor wedding. Linda and the staff helped us work out all the fine details to have everything flow smoothly. Communication was outstanding. After the ceremony there were numerous spots for pictures with family and the bridal party.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens is a beautiful place to get married. We had planned to use an outdoor space but the weather turned chilly. The staff was great in helping us change things around at the last minute. Everything was perfect. I couldn't ask for a better day.

We had our wedding ceremony at the Gateway Garden, and it was beautiful! The staff was amazing, and everything went perfect!

We had both our ceremony and reception here in early Oct. 2017. The Perennial Garden was absolutely gorgeous, and we were able to take pictures around the grounds after our ceremony. The auditorium was the perfect size for our reception (75 guests).

We had an October ceremony in the Perennial Garden. It is a very beautiful place with tons of great photo opportunities. In our opinion it's one of the best locations for an outdoor ceremony in Ann Arbor. We built our own arch/chuppah from birch wood that looked great--unfortunately the Gardens didn't want to keep it for future weddings. The ceremony felt intimate, and the guests enjoyed walking around. They do have a backup in case it rains (auditorium or Conservatory) which fortunately we didn't need. When it did start raining after our ceremony, we were able to take photos inside the Conservatory (giant greenhouse). We enjoyed working with Linda from the beginning. She was very responsive and helpful. She does favor a rather traditional ceremony style and is not shy about expressing her opinions regarding the ceremony. Just remember that she is just giving suggestions and you can ultimately do what you like. Overall this is a fantastic, beautiful venue.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception here. We had originally planned to have our wedding in January, however due to certain circumstances with a family member, moved our wedding up six months. Linda, the wedding coordinator, was so accomodating of those circumstances and worked with us to find a new date. Our wedding ceremony was outside, in the Gateway Gardens, and I was so impressed with how the backup wedding coordinator (I'm sorry, I forgot her name!) shooed uninvited "guests" out of our ceremony, kept things running on time, ran notes from me to my DJ. Our wedding had many guests that told us they loved the location. Thank you for a beautiful ceremony and reception site!

We got married here outside the greenhouse in the gardens on October 15, 2016 and it was just lovely! Couldn't have asked for a more beauitful venue. We had a small intimate wedding (36 guests) and it was perfect! Thank you!

I held my wedding at the Botanical Gardens which was a gorgeous. We were so pleased with how everything turned out. The Gardens provided parasols and water for our guests at no additional cost which was a very nice touch. The only complaint that I had is that you have a small time window for your ceremony, which does not allow you to comfortably fit in the ceremony and pictures. We were very rushed to fit in time for our pictures after the ceremony. Otherwise, this was a beautiful site for an outdoor garden wedding.

I had a lovely wedding ceremony at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, not only because of the beautiful venue with lots of plantation but also the informative and professional service provided by staff there. My wedding is in winter but I wanted a lot of greens, their indoor Conservatory was perfect with plenty of tropical trees and plants. The coordinator not only provided all the information and help we need for our ceremony but also recommendations for photographer, music, flower, officiant and many more. It saved us a lot of time researching for these services. In the end, our officiant, photographer, cake and flower are all from the selected lists provided by Linda. At the ceremony, the staff at spot did everything she could to help. I can't ask for more and I'm so happy to have had my ceremony here.

I got married here and it was perfect for a smaller wedding. We had about 80 people and it was just right. Honestly, the ceremony felt like it was taking place in a mini Garden of Eden. Was so lovely. The accomodations are nothing fancy, but if quaint, romantic, and beautiful are what you want, then I would definately reccommend. The cost for the ceremony is $900. No receptions are held here.

The setting is beautiful inside and out. We had our ceremony and reception here Sept 8-12. Overall its not very pricey, but you do have to take care of basically everything yourself. The cleanup at the end of the night is your responsibility, the set up is yours, and the chair set up for the ceremony is yours too. They do not have an onsite caterer, so you hire one yourself. It didnt go so bad for us, simply because we had a lot of help from family and friends. It just would have been nice to relax instead of feeling like we were working on our wedding day. The staff was very nice. Very laid back.

I had my wedding here, and everything happened without a hitch. Linda Neely was so helpful in our planning of the ceremony. Also if you don't have a minister, ask Linda about Tommy Burdette. He did ours and we received many comments on how personable he was, and very respectful. The weather was very warm that day, and they provided water to all the guests and complimentary umbrellas. It was beautiful, and I highly recommend this place!

I completely agree that the gardens are beautiful, BUT that does not mean this is the place for you to get married. First, most of the gardens only seat 25-75 people (for whom you will be setting up the chairs yourself). Next, there are tons of restrictions about what you can and can't have in the gardens AND super-tight restrictions on time (2 hours total for setup, seating, ceremony, pictures, and tear down). Last, and worst of all, they are disorganized and almost completely unaccommodating. Overall, you will spend too much money and go through too much trouble just to get good pictures in the garden when there are many other cool places for pics!

We had our wedding ceremony here and it was absolutely beautiful! I was a little nervous because when I first talked to them about having my ceremony there, they made it seem as though I would have to figure things out myself and they were just there for the grounds, but as it turned out they were super helpful! We had a girl (Kelly Ann) who walked us through the rehearsal the night before and then was instrumental in making the day-of procession go smoothly - she also cued and collaborated with our musicians. You do have to bring friends to help set up and take down chairs for the ceremony, and the we (the bridal party) got caught in construction and I thought we would never make it there in time to tell our friends how to set up the chairs, but Kelly Ann instructed everything and I was extremely relieved when I got there to find out my tardiness was no issue :)

The Matthaei Botanical Gardens are a beautiful place to get married or have any kind of pictures taken! We got lucky on our wedding day and had great weather up until we left the garden. There are a few different areas to have your ceremony and plenty of spots for gorgeous pictures. The timeline for the ceremony is a little short but it was definitely doable. We even left about 10 minutes early. The ladies there were helpful with keeping everyone on the timeline and even letting everyone know when they needed to start walking down the aisle. It was so helpful to have the assistant there throughout the ceremony. I would recommend this place to anyone looking to get married or do engagement photos!

The Gateway Garden of New World Plants was our ceremony venue, and at the end of September, it was all in bloom and so beautiful! It made for wonderful settings and pictures. We had our reception in the Auditorium inside, and everything was set up, fit perfectly and looked great! My only complaint (and it is a tiny one) is that we had three different people handling our event, and at times, it seemed like they all had different information about what we wanted. The wedding went off with very few, very small hitches, and was well worth what we paid.