Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center Reviews

My husband and I had our wedding reception here and it was absolutely fantastic! The staff was very helpful and accommodating. Our guests really loved the gardens and several people have said that they will return to Southern Maryland so that they can check out Annmarie Garden in more detail!

I was married at Annmarie Gardens in the Fall 2012. We loved the venue, our caterer enjoyed working there and our guests enjoyed their visit there on our wedding day. The biggest gripe I had was the Main Gallery's lighting....there are two options, ceiling lights off or lights on full glare. There is no dimming option so that you can have a soft, romantic evening lighting ambiance. As our guest came inside for the reception and as we made grand entrance, our caterer had to be in the back rooms of building at the breaker box trying to figure out which light breakers to turn off and keep on. It's unfortunate this wasn't more clearly pointed out by venue beforehand. No open live flame candles are permitted in building, and the Director did mention to me some brides use the flameless votives but wasn't pointed out that if you didn't use them it was either ceiling lights on or off. So, my big advice for brides who may use this venue is that you definitely need some type of lighting plan...either flameless votives, use colored uplights on the white walls (what I wish I'd done in retrospect), or plan out which lights to turn off at breaker box. It's a great, unique venue otherwise!!

Annmarie Sculpture Garden is a hidden gem. It's a beautiful venue in a convenient location and was really perfect for our wedding. Unfortunately, they are relatively new to the wedding game, and as a result a number of snags came up. Despite negotiating a contract without a certain charge, they billed us for it anyway. They gave us and our day of coordinator conflicting messages about the requirements for certain vendors, they didn't know how to properly work all of the lights on the wedding day, and it was very dark on the sidewalk out to the parking area (which could have been dangerous for guests). That being said, the gardens are gorgeous, you can select your own vendors, and the folks that work there are nice and happy to assist. Overall, I wouldn't change where we had our wedding, but there are areas where some improvements could be made.

This venue is absolutely gorgeous, but the whole experience getting there was not flawless. When I signed my contract they didn't do many weddings and didn't have a rental coordinator. They hired one a few months before my wedding that took over. So the transition between 2 points of contact was not very smooth. I had asked them 5 times (in writing via email) to add the rental of 2 "changing" rooms for the bridal parties for us. They never did it, and a few weeks before my wedding they told me they had already rented one of the side houses out to another party on my wedding date. So that was great. We ended up getting ready at the hotel and then heading over so it wasn't a huge deal.

The rental coordinator wanted to charge $250 to run the wedding rehearsal, which I opted not to do. I ran it myself with our officiant and it was fine. The venue is pretty hands off, except during the actual event, which can be a good thing. We had to do all the set up/decorating ourselves with the caterer and had to bring in all the equipment through a rental company (tables, chairs, cocktail tables, bars, etc). Clean up is all you and the caterer as well, they don't help.

At the wedding, the staff was great about making sure the bathrooms were clean and that the venue was looking nice. They also let my dog be a part of the ceremony outside and walk indoors at times (all leashed) so that was great!

The only other thing that really bothered me was the lighting situation. It is at an art museum so they have bright gallery lighting, which I had asked to be turned off so I could have softer uplighting. This did not happen and I had to make a huge fuss at the wedding to get them to turn off lights. Then they only turned off some and I had to freak out a bit to get the rest of them turned off. I don't know why it was such a huge ordeal and it was very annoying.

All that being said, the venue was the most beautiful venue id ever seen for a wedding. It was totally worth it!!