Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens

The venue was beautiful. Planning....some bumps in the road; but, all would have been water under the bridge if execution would have been on par. Members of the waitstaff were not dressed appropriately (washed out, too small leggings in place of black trousers). Guests waited extended periods of time to be served dinner (over 45 minutes in some cases); including a table identified as VIP, where two guests had come directly to the wedding off a flight from Europe. We were told by several guests that the kitchen had run out of their selected entrees. No extra chair covers were ordered - so, two last minute additions translated into leaving the chairs in the Grand Hall uncovered (i.e. ugly). The memorial table (included in the floor plan since day one - as a petite, sidetable sized item)was initially overlooked. When this was pointed out, they added in a large square table, which pushed the bride's family's table another ten feet away from the bridal party's table. We, too, were locked out as we were clearing all of our effects out of the facility. One item of sentiment was not recovered.

We had both our ceremony and reception in the wedding gardens and Hulman Riverhouse. Jackie is amazing to work with though the whole planning process. We did a lot of things the zoo had never done before and they were able to accommodate. Highly recommended!

I had my event in the Dolphin Gallery and it was very nice all set up. The wedding that was supposed to be in the Efroymson Garden was canceled so they allowed me to take pictures there which were beautiful! All of my guests LOVED the live dolphins swimming around, especially the kids. I would definitely recommend this venue to brides who are looking for something a bit different than the norm.

The team at the zoo was wonderful. Everything on our wedding day flowed smoothly. We did a small animal and elephant greet, which all of our guests loved. Sandy and Beth were great throughout the night, and the service staff took excellent care of us and our guests. Additionally, our reception was in the dolphin pavilion, and our guests all loved watching the dolphins (until about 9 pm, when the lights in the dome were turned off). This experience definately cost us, and with a group of 75 we barely met the catering minimum. We had to add a lot of food and services that were barely touched by our guests. With that said, the minimums at the zoo were lower than some other places we looked. My only other complaint, which is minor, is that we rarely talked to the same person twice. With Centerplate Catering, we dealt with 3 different people in the year we spent planning. While the transitions were relatively smooth, it was stressful to transition to a new catering manager just 3 days before the wedding! Overall, our experience at the zoo was amazing and very unique! I know it was a wedding our guests will never forget (for good reasons)!

I would not recommend getting married at the Indianapolis Zoo. First, the wedding planner did not know what she was doing - even though we paid about $20K to be there, we were apparently considered a security threat, as each door we exited from the ceremony to the reception locked behind us - there were some doors to which even the wedding planner did not have a key, so we got to stand in the heat in our heels and bridesmaid dresses as she had to call someone from within; as the sister of the bride, I was yelled at by the minister because he couldn't find the unity candles, which had been given to the wedding planner earlier. As a finale, we were locked in at the end of the night and had to leave via the children's turnstile at the zoo exit, passing each present individually through the turnstile [the wedding planner had left long ago]. I wonder how the DJ got his equipment out of the zoo that night. Altogether, NOT a fun experience! Oh, and please note that the Zoo will not allow any bridesmaids to leave anything in the changing room - everything has to be removed by the wedding party BEFORE the ceremony starts and either put in the car or under the head table at the reception hall, which is approximately a half mile walk from the changing room that they assign to you.

This is in response to the first review on this page. I was the bride in that wedding, and my day was everything I ever had hoped for and more. I would highly recommend the Zoo to anyone that is getting married. For a full year before my wedding, I was receiving daily help from all the wedding staff at the Zoo. If I had a question, my email or phone call was answered almost immediately. I felt like I was the only person that was going to be married at the Zoo. On a final note, the officiant we hired was completely separate from the Zoo's staff, so the incident with him was in no way the Zoo's fault. Please disregard all of the negative comments that were shared about my wedding. Good luck to all the brides out there!

The White River Gardens was the ideal place for our ceremony & reception. We got married in the Butterfly Attrium & had the reception in the Hulman Riverhouse. It was gorgeous!! The food was excellent & everyone had a blast at our wedding. Stephanie was awesome to work with & was very paitent with us with all our questions & constant emails. If you are looking for a unique, gorgeous venue, I would highly recommend the zoo.

The gardens were such a gorgeous place to be married. The staff at the zoo was incredibly helpful. I'm not sure how I would have handled everything without them. THey had someone at the rehearsal to help organize as well as someone there the day of. I appreciate the different options for the reception. We had ours at the Dolphin Gallery and it was a blast. However, the Riverhouse would have been gorgeous as well looking over the city skyline.

The venue was spectacular but very pricey. They require you to use their caterer, but the food was delicious.

Our wedding was beautiful in the Gardens. We booked them with extreme ease. The day of everything was fine, and went smoothly. The extremely difficult part for us was the rehearsal. We were not told until 10 days before the wedding when we were able to have the rehearsal, and it ended up having to be at 2:00 in the afternoon! It was extremely frustrating.

The outdoor wedding garden is so beautiful. We had our ceremony in the formal garden, cocktail hour out in the knot gardens and our reception overlooking the downtown skyline. The staff was professional, flexible, and attentive to all of my pre-wedding concerns. I would highly recommend this venue - your pictures will be amazing!