Tucson Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens were a beautiful spot for my ceremony and reception. If you do decide to get married here, I would recommend to have the officiant use a microphone, or ask the gardens to turn off the water fountain, or both. The ceremony site (if you rent Porter Hall / Reception Garden) still gets a good bit of noise from traffic. That plus the fountain made it hard for our guests to hear much of anything. Otherwise it was gorgeous, the flowers smelled beautiful and the lights at night are very festive and pretty.

When we signed our contract you could choose any caterer. We chose Feast. Now they might make you use Acacia, I'm not sure. You can only have beer, wine and champagne, which actually cuts your bar bill so no worries there. You can't have a cash bar, but why would you want to do that? Anyway, I was slightly worried about the decor (or lack thereof); you can't have candles, you can't hang anything. But with my gorgeous flowers and LED candles, it looked stunning when the sun set. They were easy to work with and worked with my DOC, photog, bartender and photog well. The lights in the trees are so lovely and the space is cozy. It all turned out beautifully. This is not the space for a bride who wants it all done for her; you have to coordinate things. But if you want flexibility with music, set-up, etc. you're good.

We had our wedding on the patio and used the art gallery for our buffet and guest book tables. The venue's event coordinator, Cassandra, was great to work with. I signed a contract and put down the deposit with a previous coordinator, and Cassandra initially did not have any records of our contract, but that problem was quickly resolved (keep all communications with your vendors just in case). The venue provides all of the tables and chairs you will need. We lucked out because the prior coordinator had promised white wood wedding chairs, which I believe are now available for an extra cost. Good Parts: It's a gorgeous venue, and the rental fee, while a bit pricey goes to a good cause. The coordinator is really nice and easy to work with, and she is a great resource for budget-friendly vendors. You can bring in your own alcohol (beer, wine and champagne only) and cakes to save money. The patio gazebo and trees are prelit with lots of twinkle lights so you won't need a lot of extra lighting except on the tables. Plentiful free parking, and Cassandra allowed us to leave cars overnight. Slight inconveniences: They only allow beer, wine and champagne. We also made a sangria, which was allowed. You will need to have someone to set up/pack up your centerpieces and any decor items you have planned. Although you can separately rent a getting ready area, this is not included in the rental fee. You can also rent the butterfly garden for photos, but again, it's an extra cost. You can't bring your decor or other supplies to the venue ahead of time. The venue is in a residential neighborhood, so music has to stop at 10 p.m., and everyone has to leave by 10:30. We packed our minivan with our supplies (make sure you have a flatbed hand truck for loading/unloading), and left it overnight to be picked up in the morning.

They were great. Accidentally double-booked the date we chose, and lowered their rate by over 50% because of their error. Despite staff changes and large funding cuts during the year leading up to our wedding, the people who care about the Botanical Gardens (staff and volunteers) kept the facility up to its normal glorious standards.