Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

We knew we wanted to get married in Tucson for my grandparents and our families out west. When plan A (parents’ backyard followed by restaurant reception) wasn’t working out, we looked around at other more venue-y venues. I grew up going to the Desert Museum on visits to Tucson, so it just popped into my mind. After I showed my fiancé the photos we booked our date right away. We planned the entire wedding from Chicago, and Anthony and Anna made that pretty easy. The Desert Garden was beautiful for our ceremony (57 guests), the animal experience was a huge hit, and the Green Room was great for dinner and our Honky tonk band. Guests raved about the food and the beautiful desert setting, among other things! The space was also really accessible for both my grandparents who use a walker/need some help getting around, and for the kids who had an absolute blast start to finish. Can’t say enough good things about our experience.

There were so many positives to the ASDM. First, it's a beautiful and unique venue. We got married in the desert garden and had the cocktail hour in another section of the garden and the reception on their terraces and in the courtyard of their restaurant. It's spectacular if you want to incorporate the native landscape in to your wedding like we did- it also means less decorating and flowers were needed because it was pretty enough on its own. We also opted to use their AV equipment, which eliminated the need for us to get a DJ and saved us money big time. We also did the live animal demonstrations for our cocktail hour which was a blast. People couldn't stop talking about how cool it was to see all the amazing animals and learn about them and it made for some great photo ops. The docents presenting the animals were incredibly sweet and great to interact with. On that note, Jessica Bright was phenomenal. She was always on top of everything and willing to work with us every step of the way- she even was there at the wedding to make sure it went smoothly. The only downside is that you have to use their caterer for food. The food is delicious but a little pricey, and while at times Courtney was kicking butt to get things done for us, at others she came off as rude or flakey. All in all, wonderful experience and people talk about how it was one of the best weddings they've ever had. And your guests can also get reduced admission at the museum to make it a fun event.

The Desert Museum was the perfect venue for my daughter’s wedding. She wanted a unique desert venue and she got it. Daughter lives in Florida, I live in Puerto Rico so we needed to do all planning via email and phone. Jessica Bright, event coordinator at the museum was very accessible and responsive. She understood all our needs and desires and executed venue set-up with professionalism and grace. When we arrived to Tucson for the first time week of the wedding Jessica made herself available for a venue walk-thru on one day, the Rehearsal on another day and was in attendance watching over things during the entire wedding. The Ceremony, Reception, Food and Dance were great. The signage leading to and around the venue was clear and invaluable to our guest arriving for the wedding. The Desert Museum is such a lovely place and I am very happy for the fabulous memories we now have of the wedding there.