Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is an exotic wedding venue located in Jacksonville, Florida. With unique one of a kind venues like an African savanna, a South American Plaza and a Tuscan Riverside Garden, it is easy to create the event of a lifetime! The zoo also offers fabulous food and service designed to please
.And please know that proceeds from your Zoo Wedding will directly benefit our zoo animals as well as animals in the wild through our many conservation programs.
Facilities and Capacity Our facilities can accommodate weddings from 25 guests to 500 guests and corporate event for up to 4000.
Services Offered This one-of-a-kind wedding venue offers the following services to make sure that your wedding day is as memorable and stress-free as possible.
Jacksonville Zoo and GardensJacksonville Zoo and GardensWedding bouquetEvening receptionCouple shotRound table setupTable setup with centerpieceWedding aisleGiraffeHusband and wifeOfficially marriedTogetherJust marriedHappy brideJacksonville Zoo and GardensJacksonville Zoo and GardensWedding bouquet
If having a unique wedding with one-of-a-kind photo opportunities sounds like your dream wedding, the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens may be perfect for you. The lush setting made for amazing photos. We did our first look and bride/groom photos in the Asian Gardens, wedding party photos in the bamboo gardens, and opted for the extra photo ops with the penguins and at the carousel (absolutely worth it - these are some of our favorite photos!). We held our ceremony and reception at The Range of the Jaguar, and everything was gorgeous. We loved that this area has a fountain and string lights around all of the trees. We also opted for the giraffe feeding during cocktail hour, and the guests really enjoyed this. The zoo has its own catering company - Catering in the Wild - and we really enjoyed our buffet selections. We chose the rosemary and peach glazed pork loin and rustic mushroom chicken as our entrees and they were delicious. The zoo catering manager/event coordinator arranged for us to have a free tasting about a month before the wedding, so we could be confident with our selections. One small downside is that there is not a dedicated space at the zoo for the wedding party to get ready, but this was not a concern for me. We got ready off site and arrived at the zoo ready for the first look. Another tip is if dancing is important to you, we recommend renting a dance floor like we did. It was an extra expense, but worth it since otherwise we would have been dancing on cobblestone. Finally, if you choose the zoo as your vendor, you have to use the company that they are contracted with for bar services - Anthony's. We would have preferred to handle drinks ourselves separately, but it was not a big enough deterrent to make us want a different venue, and Anthony's did a great job, but they were pretty expensive, more than we ever expected to pay for drinks. Overall, depending on what your priorities are (and your budget), the zoo can be the perfect venue like it was for us!
Sent on 06/11/2019
Jessica R.
· Married on 02/20/2021
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
So much FUN!
I cannot recommend the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens enough! Such a unique and beautiful venue. We had our ceremony at the Trout River Gardens just after sunset in front of the beautiful fountain. Then we moved to the Savannah Blooms Gardens and had a cocktail hour with the giraffes. Finally the reception was held at the Range of the Jaguar. We got nonstop compliments all night about how beautiful it was; all the palm trees are wrapped in lights and made everything look magical. We did our first look inside the penguin exhibit and got amazing pictures. There are so many beautiful locations in the zoo to get unique photo opportunities. Christine is the zoo coordinator that handled all zoo related planning for us. She worked with us for several months leading up to our wedding and was always available for questions. We did several walk throughs with our vendors and she accompanied us each time to make sure we had what we needed. Everything ran so smoothly and all of the zoo staff was extremely helpful the entire night. The food is catered through the zoo and was incredible! We got compliments all night about how delicious everything was. If you are looking for a unique and beautiful wedding venue the Jacksonville Zoo is the place to go!
Sent on 03/12/2021
Katie U.
· Married on 11/08/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Most magical memories to be had
Even through a COVID reschedule Christine LoRusso the Zoo coordinator was amazing. She answered all of my questions patiently, even when I had already asked them. She followed up with me when I lost track of details I was to provide, and she took charge of the setup for catering, as well as helped us accommodate a special menu for our vegan guests. Huge shout out to Chef for his drool worthy creations! Everything ran smoothly (on her end at least, ours was a bit insane) from the penguins first look, to carousel photos and all our celebrations, even in the rain.
Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is a perfect location for your wedding. They do a beautiful job! Lisa Presnell Productions values their partnership and highly recommends their services.
If you are looking for an exciting place to have your wedding or events. The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is the place to go for excitement and adventure. I highly recommend them for all of my clients.
