Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Gardens was an absolutely beautiful venue to hold our wedding ceremony. However, I had a few disappointments. If your budget is limited, be careful, you will incur additional charges for chair setup, microphones, speaker systems, golf cart rental, and tables for guest book, unity candle, etc. We had our rehearsal scheduled for the evening before for one hour. We arrived promptly and were unfortunately delayed because the rehearsal prior to ours was running late. Twenty minutes into our rehearsal we were hurried and un-prepared by our wedding assistant. This was a major disappointment considering we were offered one hour with our wedding assistant to prepare and had spent the amount of money we had to have our ceremony there. Overall, I was happy to have our ceremony there, but was not thrilled with the "extras".

You get what you pay for at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Just hope for good weather (Unless you're planning a winter wedding). There was a scheduling conflict with the site but were able to pencil in our rehearsal; I thought this was professionally handled. The reps were always courteous and my ceremony assistant rocked! She was super helpful throughout the rehearsal and the day of event; always with a smile and friendly voice. FYI, you typically pay the entrance fee for guests for the site rental. It's worth it if you have 100-150 guests if you plan to have the ceremony at the Lehmann (Lay-mann) Rose Garden. Hope this helps brides/grooms-to-be!

The garden is breathtaking and is a beautiful place to have a ceremony. However, company in charge of event rentals (catering st louis) is not flexible at all. I received a lot of discounts from different vendors because my husband and I are both military but we were unable to use because catering st louis is so strict. I also think it was a little overpriced just to rent. Also they told me a month before the event a wedding coordinator would contact me. I ended up having to contact the garden myself. The day before and the day of the wedding, the coordinator was extremely helpful though.

Beautiful place for a wedding. They don't allow alcohol, so no champagne toast. They have a very set way they put the chairs, etc. - NO flexibility. Only the Japanese garden has an indoor option in case of rain. Tought to "hide" before the wedding.

Our first choice and contracted site suddenly went under construction and we had to select a different site that was all the way at the back of the gardens, with numerous elderly family members and one handicapped brother this was going to be a challenge, we would of had to pay extra for the golf cart rental which would only be able to make 2-3 runs in the time alotted. to make a long stressful story short, Melissa made everything better, worked us in to a non-usual site only to come out that construction was put on hold and we got to go back to our original site a few weeks before the wedding! all costs were comped to us. Melissa was an absolute delight to work with.

We are really glad we chose the gardens for our ceremony. They are strict on time, but we didn't have a problem staying within the timeframe. It is a little pricey for a location, but it was beautiful and our guests were really impressed. Definitely worth it in the end.

The Japanese Garden is where our ceremony was held. It wasbeautiful! The area makes for gorgeous wedding pictures. The only downfall is that it is a long walk for guest to get to the site. We were not very happy with the coordinator that was assigned for us for the day. She made comments to my groom and his groomsmen about them going out the night before. minutes before the ceremony was to start she came to me and said not very many people showed up which is the last thing a bride wants to hear before walking down the aisle. And she started our ceremony about 20 mins late. However, the other staff I spoke to through catering st louis during the planning process were always friendly and helpful!

Loved, loved, loved the Japanese Garden, which is where our wedding ceremony was held. It was the ideal venue for our ceremony...organic, unpretentious, and gorgeous. Nothing bad to say about the MOBOT staff, except that one worker would not let our photog take pictures inside the Climatron, which you wouldn't think would be an issue after paying so much to get married there. Still, for me, I think this is one of the most beautiful venue options in St. Louis, and I'd choose it all over again.

I wanted to have a 3 p.m. wedding. There were a lot of reasons behind that, mostly so that we didn't burden our guests with a long wait between ceremony and reception, but still had time to take photos in the gardens. Unfortunately for me, the garden that I chose only offered 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. time slots. Catering St. Louis absolutely would not bend on the start time. Even when we asked for a 2:30 start instead of 3 p.m. After much debate, we opted to book both time slots. Financially, not the best thing, but worth it for peace of mind. And, it gave us extra time to take photos in the garden where we were married after the ceremony. I will say this, where Catering St. Louis lacked in flexibility, they more than made up for on service. We were provided an on-site coordinator for the day of the wedding who was incredibly helpful. We hired the Gardens' golf cart driver to shuttle our guests, and she was wonderful to work with as well. All in all, what started out (for us) as a frustrating inconvenience turned into a wonderful guest experience. And it also delivered to us the peace of mind we were looking for.

The evening was gorgeous and everything was handled very professionally.

excellent food & service. better than could have expected.

I had my ceremony in the Japanese Garden at the Botanical Gardens at it was beyond perfect. The staff were all so helpful and really allowed us to have the most beautiful wedding. The beauty of the garden really shown through, and we didn't have to even decorate! If you are having the Japanese Garden, I would definitely rent the golf cart. We did, and it allowed our older family members to get there without worry.

I worked with Leasa from Catering St. Louis to have my ceremony at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I would definitely recommend using this location for your wedding ceremony or reception. The garden is more flexible for you if you choose the Japanese Garden location (and higher price that goes with it). I chose to have my ceremony on a Friday at 2pm in the Boxwood Garden and the rental fee was very inexpensive as compared to the weekend price. Keep in mind, you have to have a membership with the garden (the cheapest is $60) and that is on top of the rental fee for whichever location within the garden you choose. It is a great deal though, for that price you get admission for yourself and all your guests on the day of the wedding (free parking) and also an hour or so of rehearsal time with admission for as many people as you want to bring.

I would not hesitate to recommend the Missouri Botanical Garden as an ideal venue for a wedding. This location was absolutely beautiful - an jewel in the heart of St. Louis and the most photogenic spot imaginable. We had an outdoor ceremony at the Japanese Garden and our reception was at Monsanto Hall/Ridgway Center. It was absolutely beautiful - the garden is stunning! I would also not hesistate to recommend the caterer works exclusively with Mobot - Catering St. Louis. The service, professionalism, flexibility and responsiveness to my countless emails and questions was superior. I have had countless guests tell me that the food was the best wedding food they have ever had. At our tasting, we actually met with the chef who prepared our possible selections and spoke with us about each meal. It was also a private tasting, not some huge group of people where you are served buffet style. We sat at a table that was set up as ours would be at the reception and each dish was elegantly presented for us to view in addition to try. It was amazing! I honestly could not say enough nice things about the staff. I was even given a wedding coordinator for the rehearsal and actual event at no extra cost. The service the day of the event was impecable. Absolutely an outstanding experience through and through. I cannot say enough nice things about Catering St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

This is where we went to have our photos taken after our wedding. Although the gardens did not provide anything other than a beautiful backdrop, everyone was very friendly and helpful, and sweet to us. I was so happy with how our photos turned out and it was in part because the Botanical Gardens were there. The gift shop had lots of momentos for us to take along to remember our day.

I didn't actually use the Botanical Gardens. But they were very helpful planning what my wedding was supposed to be if I would have done it there. There are some very beautiful place and I would definently recommend it.