Yew Dell Botanical Gardens

My daughter recently wed and had the reception was held at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. While it was a beautiful setting and the best day ever, there were certain issues we had with their customer service. Janice and Nicole, were wonderful, so helpful, and always on top of answering any questions we had. On the day of the wedding, we arrive at 8:00 a.m. to drop off and set up a few things. To our surprise, the pavilion was a mess from the prior night's wedding. No one was there, nor had any of our requested tables, chairs, bourbon barrels, etc. been set up. Out of an abundance of caution, we started to begin setting up ourselves, as we needed things to be ready when the florist, caterer, and other vendors arrived for set up, which was to be around 9:30 a.m. or so. When someone did arrive we asked for his assistance in cleaning off he floor of the pavilion, which he replied, "I'm not on the clock yet." While my husband, my father, the groom and his father were continuing to set up the Director of Finance arrives and treated them very poorly, questioning what they were doing. As no one had showed up to do the job we hired them to do, we had to do it ourselves. Apparently the employee who is to set up for weddings was on vacation and they were not going to begin setting up for our 5:00 p.m. reception until 2:00pm. Which was totally unrealistic given that vendors were going to be arriving for set up as early as 9:30 a.m. Did they really think they could get the pavilion, bathrooms, etc. cleaned up from the previous night's wedding and set up for our reception in 2 1/2 hours to be ready for guests to arrive by 5:00 pm? Myself and the groom's parents expressed our concerns to the Executive Director via e-mail, but he was obviously not concerned as he did not reply to our e-mails. In the end, everything worked out and it was a beautiful day, but it was a very stressful morning for the parents and we were unprepared to do the job we paid Yew Dell to do. It seems that once they get your money, they do not follow through.

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens is a dream venue to get married at. The coordinator, Janice, is fantastic to work with - empathetic and responsive to all questions. Every space is more beautiful than the next and she worked with us to change our flow through downsizing for COVID and making last minute changes in the event of rain. I'd get married 10x over here and our guests also raved about the flow through all the spaces. While Janice and the venue are fantastic, I will say the VP of Finance is quite hard to deal with. We had several contradicting conversations about refunds related to downsizing our list and using less event space. The larger pavilion is an added expense on top of what you pay for Yew Dell. In the end it all worked out because Janice the coordinator is great but it is undue stress to have when planning a wedding during an already stressful COVID time.

While YDBG is a stunning venue, I can't begin to express my disappointment in who they are as a business. My husband and I booked Yew Dell as our wedding venue in April 2019 for a wedding date of September 19th, 2020. Frankly, the cost was more than we wanted to spend, but I fell in love with it and knew that's where I wanted to get married-- y'all know how that goes. Also, we felt good about our money going to a local botanical garden, as this is the exact type of business we love supporting in general. However, like everyone else, our wedding plans were thrown off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ben and I opted to have a tiny wedding ceremony in our backyard in June 2020, but held out hope that it would be safe to have a larger wedding reception on our originally planned wedding day of September 19th, 2020. As time went on, it became clear that moving forward with the reception wouldn't be the right choice for us. We chose to cancel our big wedding for the sake of safety for our friends, family, and vendors in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Unfortunately, and disappointingly, Yew Dell Botanical Gardens was not forgiving of our choice to cancel. They offered absolutely NO refund, and no sympathy, even after booking another couple's wedding in place of ours after our cancellation. Though they did offer to allow us to reschedule, we weren't interested in that choice, because who knows when it would be safe enough for our personal comfort level? We'd choose lost money over the possibility of lost friends or family ANY day, and are confident in our choice. However, we are disappointed in Yew Dell's greed and total lack of empathy. I assumed a small, local botanical garden like YD would respond kindly, and compassionately-- but I was absolutely wrong. If you do choose Yew Dell as your venue, I will say that Janice Morgan, YD's wedding coordinator, was helpful and kind. Our disappointment with YD had absolutely nothing to do with her, and everything to do with, predictably, the Director of Finance and Operations.

Yew Dell is absolute perfection. From first glance I was immediately in love with this venue. It was everything I dreamed of and more. On top of that, everyone who works there, especially Janice, were so welcoming and accommodating. They were quick to respond and work with us throughout the entire COVID wedding date change process. We moved from a saturday to a friday wedding due to COVID but honestly it all happened for a reason. The weather (70 and sunny), outdoor venue, the gardens in themselves were beyond magical the entire wedding weekend. You don't need much more decorations than the scenery of the garden by itself. I am so beyond happy with my experience with Yew Dell and if you are considering this venue, I highly highly recommend. It was perfect =]