Clark Gardens Reviews

I loved Clark Gardens. This was my pick from the very beginning because we wanted our wedding to feel ethereal and secret garden inspired, lush, romantic, and full of life. We were also going for a touch of Tuscany since that is where we were headed for our honeymoon, and Clark Gardens’ baroque details and Mediterranean inspired landscaping fit the vision perfectly. There are even trees in the White Garden that are the same species found in Italy, and it felt like a little piece of Europe tucked away in Texas.

The planning staff was incredible from start to finish, responsive, kind, and truly invested in making our day special. Every question was met with patience and professionalism, and they went above and beyond to make sure everything ran smoothly. The venue itself is beyond magical: peacocks roaming the pathways, butterflies fluttering through the gardens, and sparkling fountains around every corner. It is pure enchantment.

The wedding party stayed at The Retreat at Clark Gardens, the guest house on the property, which provided an absolutely calm and serene place to gather during the wedding weekend. It was the perfect escape, quiet, cozy, and surrounded by nature. I felt relaxed and rejuvenated the entire time, and it made the weekend feel even more special and connected.

Clark Gardens is truly a hidden gem in the DFW area. The property feels private and peaceful, like you have stepped into another world, and every inch of it is breathtakingly beautiful. Our guests could not stop talking about how stunning it was, and it is no surprise they have now been featured on the cover of British Vogue.

If you are dreaming of a fairytale garden wedding, this is the place. I will sing their praises forever. Clark Gardens made our day everything we imagined and more. Book them and make your dream day a reality!

I got married on October 11, 2024 and I cannot say enough good things about Clark Gardens! This venue is STUNNING and our day was truly perfect. The staff was professional and so easy to work with; they really made our day run seamlessly. Our family, friends, and vendors still compliment how beautiful and smooth the whole day was. I am so grateful we had our special day here and would HIGHLY recommend to anyone planning their wedding!!

We got married on 10/25/24 and loved our experience with Clark Gardens. From the moment we toured the venue in July, we knew we were going to get married there. It is just stunning. From the fountain, to the tent, to the chapel, and the pond with the lily pads. It is BREATHTAKING. Not only did we love the venue, but everyone who worked with us at Clark Gardens was so kind and responsive. We still get compliments to this day of having the best and nicest wedding our guests had ever been to and that it was the prettiest wedding venue people had seen.

This is no brainer, book your wedding here!!! ❤️

Such a great venue! Loved everything about our experience and how easy it was to work with them!

From the moment we walked into Clark Gardens we knew it was the perfect location for the most beautiful wedding. The gardens, the lawns, the scenery is all immaculate and the east tent is the perfect party tent! The price was reasonable, Molly was an awesome contact and host. 10/10 recommend.

My sister was recently married at Clark Gardens. The venue is absolutely beautiful! I was the day of coordinator for the wedding and was very impressed with the staff. Molly was amazing to work with during the planning process. She and the rest of the staff were also so helpful on the wedding day, ensuring that everything ran smoothly. I highly recommend this venue to anyone looking for a beautiful place to get married!

Clark Gardens was the perfect venue for our wedding. It's a beautiful, intimate, natural space and our guests were in awe of the property. There are so many things we love about Clark Gardens, but I'll list just a few. The staff was so helpful, kind, and communicative. They answered all of our questions and made time for us to tour the event spaces as often as we needed to ensure we would be ready for the big day. Another thing we loved were the many spaces to choose from - we had our first look at the fountain, our cocktail hour at the Chanel Gardens, our ceremony on the lawn, our reception in the tent, and we took pictures in so many other gorgeous spots. It was amazing for our guests to be able to drive up and then be able to stay on the property for the entire evening while still having plenty of space to explore and marvel at the natural beauty! We also loved that we could keep our decor and florals to a minimum because the venue is so stunning. We let the nature speak for itself, and our pictures and design turned out so elegant purely because of the backdrop! Last, we love the mission and family feeling of Clark Gardens. It was so important to us to have a place we could return to as a newlywed couple and, in the future, as a family. We love that we'll always be able to visit and remember our very special day. We highly recommend Clark Gardens as your wedding venue. Its elegance, charm, and comforting feel will be the perfect setting for any special event!

My wedding turned out amazingly beautiful. Stephanie and Kailey were so great to work with! My only complaint is that the public were still able to enter and walk around my half of the gardens that I spent quite a bit of money on. It was just kinda weird taking pictures and looking up to random people walking around all of my things.

The setting is beautiful. The staff is helpful and accommodating. Through our planner, KC Cloud Events, we were able to make changes to the layout of the event in order to accommodate rain! We were very happy with our celebration.

We had such a great experience having our wedding at clark gardens, Stephanie was so friendly and helpful! The gardens are so beautiful it feel like a dream when you're there!

Clark Gardens was more than I could've imagined for my venue. The worst thing about this place is that there are too many beautiful spots to choose from for your ceremony! I got married in front of the White Garden and had my reception at the East Tent, and it was straight out of a fairy tale. Stephanie was a delight to work with and I can't recommend this hidden gem enough.

My wedding, like so many others in 2020, was postponed due to COVID. My now-husband and I decided that regardless of our postponement we still wanted to have our own private ceremony and get married. So we started scrambling to find a venue and figure out our back-up plan. We found Clark Gardens and instantly fell in love, the venue is beyond beautiful and everyone was so nice and willing to work with us to create the perfect day for us. When our wedding ceremony was just a week away our hearts broke to see rain in the forecast for our day. Stephanie and her team were so flexible and willing to work with us through our millions of questions and scrambling to find a back-up plan for if it rained (we were planning on the White Garden). On the day of, the Clark Gardens team was so accommodating and set up both areas for us, our spot in White Gardens and our back-up plan in the East Tent. We were fortunate enough that there was not a single raindrop on the day and our ceremony at White Garden was BEYOND beautiful. It was the most beautiful venue and we would choose it over again every time!!!

We had the pleasure of having our elopement here at Clark Gardens because our big wedding plans were put on hold. Stephanie and Millie (not sure if that's spelled right, sorry!) were fantastic! Stephanie helped organize the when, where and how then Millie was there the day of the ceremony to help us with everything. The gardens are breath taking so the pictures we got gorgeous and will be cherished forever. We are now thinking of having our big wedding reception here next year!

Clark Gardens help make my vision come to life. Our wedding was everything I could've dreamed of! Stephanie was great and answered any questions I had! The grounds were stunning and the staff were truly fantastic. I would highly recommend this Venue to anyone!

Clark Garden is absolutely wonderful! Ansley and the team truly care about your special day! I would highly recommend them to anyone!!

The most amazing experience I’ve had. I was so blessed to have been able to partner with Clark Gardens. So helpful so flexible so caring and kind. All the staff were so helpful to just stop everything and help and guide us through the experience. So grateful and blessed by God for these wonderful people.

Clark Gardens is a beautiful venue! The story of it's origin just adds to its beauty. We toured in February for a July wedding, and although not a lot was blooming it was still such an enchanting place. From the first step in you are greeted by a reflecting pool surrounded by flowers and trees and greenery. Travel through and you will see arbors and a chapel and fountains and ponds and lots and lots of flowers. It is a breathtaking place for an outdoor wedding. July is HOT in Texas, but the venue is well planted and shade was everywhere we would need it.

Ansley and her support team were wonderful and did not stop taking care of us from February to a week after the wedding. A thunderstorm came through just before cocktail hour (of course, right?!) and they sprung into action to soothe the bride, and the bride's mom! All that came out of that storm was some darling pictures with clear umbrellas provided by Clark Gardens.

I would completely recommend this venue, it gave us some beautiful memories that will last a lifetime!

Our experience at Clark Gardens was wonderful! The scenery was beautiful, definitely a place I would recommend!

Our daughter Elizabeth, was married 11-11-17 at Clark Gardens. We are more than elated for the professional guidance and help we received. Their staff and facilities were unforgettable, especially Ansley, the Director of Private Events and Stormi, her assistant, who made sure every concern was addressed. The weather changed and turned cold the morning of the wedding. We made an emergency request for some protective walls on the reception tent. They were installed by Ansley and staff just prior to the wedding. We saw only smiles and heard "we are here for you." Clark Gardens has a chapel, a beautiful home to rent for families, outdoor facilities including large tents and a gazebo with a waterfall. They also provide a preferred vendor list, including food, DJ, flowers and especially first class was the wedding coordinator, Lisa. All the vendors we used from this list were fantastic and professional. We have great memories from our Clark Garden's experience. They really took the stress out of the wedding preparations and we would highly recommend this beautiful hidden treasure!

Clark Gardens is a absolutely beautiful place to have a wedding. Ansley and the team at Clark Gardens are amazing! They are so kind, eager to help, and knowledgeable. They made the wedding planning process and day of so smooth and enjoyable. We cannot thank them enough for such a beautiful, special day!

I wouldn't have gotten married anywhere else! Not only are the gardens gorgeous, but the staff was extremely helpful in planning my amazing wedding day! Ansley and Jaci were both very sweet throughout the entire process! I don't think I would have made it through the day in one piece without Ansley and her crew! Thank y'all for such a great day and experience!

Clark Gardens was the Perfect venue for my wedding day! I pretty much planned the whole thing without fiance's help (which was fine, I am a planner and hes not!) but I did want his input so I asked him to describe what he imagined our wedding day being and he said "Magical and Romantic". Clark Gardens was the Perfect setting for this. I actually did bring him out to help me decide on the venue and we both fell in love with Clark Gardens. There was also the added humor of my maiden name being Clark... One last Hurrah for my maiden name haha

The whole day went super smoothly. I didn't hire a wedding planner, but Clark Gardens provides a day of coordinator to make sure the day runs smoothly. They tell the vendors where to set up and help make sure the ceremony is perfect (even coming out to the rehearsal to help you practice). There were times (before the wedding day) I wished I had hired a planner because all of the planning got super overwhelming and stressful... but when it came down to the day of, the coordinators really helped put me at ease!

Everything was pretty much set up when we arrived an hour and a half before the ceremony. They carted my guests to the ceremony location by golf cart and all of my guests really liked that :)

And the venue itself is just so gorgeous. I could go on and on about that, but if you go out there yourself you will see! I wish I could post photos! :) My photos are so gorgeous and of course the venue is a big part of that!

Also, if worried about weather... they have an onsite adorable chapel in case of rain and a huge permanent tent that's cemented in (not the type that would Ever blow away) for the reception. I cannot tell you how much peace that gave me in the weeks leading up to the wedding... I hardly even checked the weather because I knew we'd be covered either way! I cannot say enough about how amazing Clark Gardens is.

Loved this venue. Couldn't of asked for a better place and people to work with. Chelsea was amazing!
I was worried about getting the large deposit back with all kids I had at my wedding, but there was no need to worry!!

This venue is beautiful and the staff was amazing to work with! I highly recommend you choosing this beautiful place to get married!

Great venue! Everything was beautiful.

We are new Texans from California and our only daughter wanted a beautiful October garden wedding on a lake for her setting. We selected the Lake Pavilion at Clark Gardens where I had previously visited for the National Iris Convention held last April 2013. Settings at Clark Gardens reminded me of Giverny, France. My daughter upon her visit agreed and we both feel it is actually much more lovely than the Monet home in Giverny where Monet's water lily pictures were painted. There are several arched bridges over lily ponds with waterfalls at Clark Gardens. Swans, Canada Geese can be seen gliding through the water. Peacocks visited during our wedding and reception, making for a lovely wedding setting.

All wedding guests were impressed with the Clark Gardens staff who helped them get to/from our venue as well as assistance for the wedding party's rehearsal and wedding preparations and reception

Our wedding and reception went smoothly because of the wonderful facilities and Clark Gardens staff.

Thank you, Chelsea, Elizabeth and staff!

Dave and Vickie Lunden

We had an absolutely magical wedding day at Clark Gardens. With Texas facing one of the worst droughts on record, I couldn't believe how lush and stunning the gardens were for our wedding day. To make it extra perfect, the staff even replanted and ordered thousands of extra flowers for our specific area of the gardens at no additional cost. They also updated and replaced the chandeliers in our reception tent the day before the wedding, also at no additional cost.

The wedding party stayed at the Retreat at Clark Gardens (the guest house on the property), which provided an absolutely calm and serene place to gather during the wedding weekend. I felt relaxed and rejuvenated the whole time.

When I needed an internet connection to post to my wedding blog the night before the wedding, the event coordinator picked me up and drove me to her office so I could use her computer. Talk about amazing customer service!

The staff at Clark Gardens went way above and beyond all of our expectations. It is a little far out from the metroplex, but absolutely worth the drive, 100%. I would recommend to anyone looking for a beautiful garden wedding.

Melissa, the coordinator, was amazing to work with! She was very helpful and made the night run so smoothly. The venue was beautiful and the all the guests commented how it was the best place to hold a wedding!

I had my wedding here in October. I rented two portions of the Gardens- one for the wedding ceremony and one for the reception. The Gardens looked absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. I received more comments on the venue than anything else.

The best things about the Gardens: You can bring in our own caterer, florist, decorator, wedding planner etc. at no extra cost; they provide the tables, garden chairs, and white linens for the tables; the event time begins at the ceremony start time (not when guests start arriving); guests are free to wander the entire Gardens.

The only negative is that the Gardens are about 1.5 hours from the Dallas/Ft. Worth city centers.

My contact at the Gardens was always responsive to my e-mails and many questions. She also took the time to speak with vendors and even showed them around so they could properly plan. She was always professional, friendly and very graciously accommodated last minute changes/additions for the wedding ceremony.

I highly recommend the Gardens for those interested in an outdoor wedding!

This venue is truly a diamond in the rough. It is absolutely gorgeous & the ladies are eager to help in any way possible. The only reason they are not getting a full 5 stars is because we scheduled our shuttle service through them (after our hotel canceled on us last minute) & the shuttle was a no show. They didn't even call to tell us they were not coming. My guests were stranded without transportation after being promised a shuttle. That was very disappointing. However, the night was not ruined.

Also, I do not recommend a November wedding. It was unbearably cold even when extra heaters were brought into the rehearsal area. However, that is obviously not controllable by the venue. The weather was wonderful the day before & the day after.. so I would keep towards the beginning of November if you do choose this venue for your fall wedding.

This place is absolutely gorgeous, even in the winter! I'm so happy I got married at such a lovely and romantic place.

Molly was amazing to work with and took care of us on our special day. Guests said that it was beautiful and they felt like they were in a special club to be a part of it with us.

We can't imagine having our special day anywhere else! These gardens are breathtaking with so many unique and special spots throughout the grounds. I never get tired of visiting them and it feels like you're getting married in a Monet painting or the Garden of Eden. You can feel the love and intentionality that is put into these grounds. We had endless compliments by our guest on the venue choice. Staff were wonderful and over the top accommodating to help us through potential weather challenges. We felt genuinely taken care of and that even though I know they do a ton of weddings that they cared about ours being incredibly special and smooth. I can't recommend Clark Gardens enough. The only downside to this venue is that there is no onsite kitchen or water source, so for catering/plated meals we ended up having to hire almost twice as much serving staff as you usually would need for a catered meal- that does drive up costs quite a bit. You can save a bit on flowers though since you're surrounded by them ;). All in all we were more than thrilled to have chosen Clark Gardens as our wedding venue.

My husband and I chose this venue because of the enchanting channel garden and picturesque quality of the whole venue. The director, Stephanie, could not have been more easy to work with. She guided us along the entire planning process, answering any and every question we had. The venue is easy for setup, you can pull right up to the front to unload/load up. They had all of the tables already set up for us, so we could decorate and set up our portion much faster. It was truly a pleasure to have our wedding at Clark Gardens, it turned into the most magical night we could have hoped for! Thanks to everyone who helped us that night!! :)

We had an amazing wedding at Clark Gardens! We used the Channel Gardens and the East Tent for our November wedding and it was wonderful! The Clark Gardens team was FABULOUS in helping us have the best day!

Clark Gardens is a beautiful venue. We had a pretty large wedding with over 300 guests and they accommodated us so well. All our guests kept saying how are wedding looked like such a fairy tail because of the beautiful venue.

My husband and I live in Fort Worth, with some family and friends in Dallas, so I'll admit there was a little hesitation about choosing a venue so far away. But it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. We got married in early October and it was more beautiful than I could have imagined.

I fell in love with the venue on our first visit. We had reserved the entire East Garden, which gave us access to all of these little gardens and ponds and wooded areas. It felt very "Alice in Wonderland" to me—kind of a magical place to explore. One of my favorite things is the way guests are seated under the trees along the Channel Garden pond, which is where we had our ceremony. The fountains came on as we were pronounced husband and wife and made our way over to the East Tent for the reception. There is simply no other venue as beautiful and unique!

Overall, this venue is REALLY flexible. There are several built-in rain plans, which is really nice when you're planning an outdoor wedding. I loved that we had so many different gardens to choose from for various events and photos, and I wish I'd had even more time to just explore on my wedding day. I also loved that we were able to BYOB, as my husband and I are homebrewers and wanted to bring our own beer for the wedding. Even more, we able to bring our dog to be the ring bearer, and he just hung out in a little fenced area during the reception.

Logistically, this place can be a challenge because it's far away. But the staff (Lauren, Chelsea, Jaci) were very helpful from day one, and we just booked buses to take all of our guests there and back. I can't wait to go back for a visit on our anniversary. Definitely recommend this place!

Clark Gardens is beautiful and we loved having the ceremony and reception there!

Clark Gardens checked all of our boxes when looking for a venue. The grounds are gorgeous, the staff is helpful and friendly, and did whatever they could to make sure the day of ran smoothly!

The wedding chapel was so sweet and perfect for a smaller crowd. The gardens are gorgeous for pictures.

Clark Gardens and their staff were wonderful! We received so many compliments from people saying that ours was the most beautiful wedding they had ever been to. My only complaint might be the price, but it is nice that they don't charge hidden fees or taxes/gratuities.

Beautiful gardens! We loved the brownstone chapel where we had our ceremony. The grounds are very well maintained. We did have some guests that did not attend because of the distance of the location but overall, we enjoyed the day!

The grounds themselves at Clark Gardens are beautifully taken care of and make you feel worlds away from the DFW metroplex. What my partner and I truly fell in love with was the story behind the venue. Max & Billie Clark (founders) have a beautiful love story and the love and work they put into their land can be felt and seen.

There are a ton of locations on site to have your ceremony. The wedding websites (Wedding Wire, The Knot, etc.) don't do a great job of capturing the flow of the gardens. If you're at all interested- I highly recommend making a trip out to tour the gardens yourself. We had our wedding in the chapel due to rain conditions- but we had Chanel Gardens and the East tent for our happy hour and reception. The flow of this area is amazing and truly creates a magical vibe for your guests.

I wouldn't have had my wedding anywhere else. It was a beautiful night and there isn't much out there like Clark Gardens. In a time where brides are inundated with warehouses, fake rustic barns, or hotel banquet halls- Clark Gardens holds its own and provides a unique setting for your celebration.

From here on out I'm going to make a list of pros and cons to try and help you decide if this is the place for you. I'll try to think of things I didn't ask about or realize until after we had booked, so that you can ask questions at your tour or before booking.

Pros:
-Friendly, helpful staff
-Provide tables and chairs (for guests as well as gifts/caterers/cake/DJ)
-Provide security for event
-Ice can be bought on site as you go
-Many ceremony & reception sites to choose from
-Can't hear city or highway traffic from the gardens
-The Retreat is available to rent for family or friends (holds up to 10 guests)
-The people who take care of the gardens live on the property in a locale different than the venues (I just think it's rad that they take care of their employees so well)
-You can choose your own vendors

Cons:
- 45 minutes from Fort Worth proper, can have affect on morning of wedding errands (dropping off alcohol, party favors, grand exit items).
-To keep the gardens beautifully maintained, there are strict rules for vendors and each vendor must sign a contract 30 days before the wedding stating they agree to the rules and regulations (this is added work for the bride if there's no wedding planner, and some places do not require this)
-Strict rules about grand exit items (no sparklers, bird seed, confetti, etc.)
-If choosing to rent The Retreat, our family was required to rent Friday/Saturday night although they wanted to rent Saturday/Sunday night, there is also a 2 night minimum stay and it's about $1,000 for the 2 nights
-No kitchen on the grounds for caterer, so they must bring their own stuff to keep food warm/cold etc.
-Linens must be rented
-Not many Uber/Lyft options for guests when leaving although there were a few. Just keep in mind that this is definitely more of a rural setting. We had people schedule Ubers ahead of time and that seemed to help.

Okay, hope this review was helpful! Clark Gardens has a lot to offer and I would happily get married here again. Wishing you and yours the best, and happy venue hunting!

Clark Gardens is absolutely beautiful and the staff is amazing and super helpful!

I absolutely LOVED Clark Gardens. Every garden was so put together and beautiful. The manager/ event coordinator was very friendly and worked hard to make everything perfect. After setting up the chairs for the ceremony she will personally sit in every chair to make sure all of the guests can see. She goes out of her way to make sure that you day is special.

Clark Gardens was the wedding venue that I knew I wanted from the moment I saw it 3 years before my wedding. When it was finally my turn, I searched and searched for it again, but couldn't remember the name and couldn't find it. I finally found it and was beside myself with joy. The Clark Gardens staff was so amazingly wonderful for the whole 15 month planning process. They answered every question I thought up and were very flexible with what I wanted for my wedding. My only complaints were that it was mandatory the wedding be over by 11 PM (seemed a little early for me) and that it was a little on the expensive side, but not unreasonable in my opinion. It provided the perfect backdrop for such an amazing day and every one of my guests was awed at the beautiful grounds.

I loved the Clark Gardens!! It was beautiful...in full bloom for our April 24th ceremony. The cost was great and they let you bring in your own food which makes it that much better of a deal. The only hitch we had was getting guests to and from the site in the back of the garden to the front parking and bathrooms...it had rained a lot the weekend before and we agreed not to park in the back which was sensible with the mud being sticky still and not wanting to make a mess, but the shuttle's didn't work quite as efficiently as we had hoped. This isn't huge or anything, it didn't ruin the night, but it was a bit of an inconvenience at the end of the night when a lot of people were trying to go to the bathroom and/or leave at the same time. Overall, my experience was awesome. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful location and while it is a bit of a drive, there are several nice hotels within a very short distance. If you are looking for an outdoor venue, definitely check this place out!

Clark Gardens is a beautiful location and loved having my wedding there. However, there are a lot of obstacles you have to go through in order to have a successful day. You are not allowed to use the kitchen on site even to store food. The alcohol policy is crazy and standard TABC certified bartenders won't suffice. Chelsea was very responsive and was amazing to work with...even provided vendor suggestions for us. Be ready to do a lot by yourself.

Nigel was a dream only reason we chose clark gardens. Quickly found out once he left (to pursue other career opportunities) it would not be the same experience. From not being able to get a call, email, or text back to simply not knowing the information. Day of my wedding was the worst experience of my life. From changing things they had already said could happen to the security guard trying to fight multiple of my wedding guest it was awful. Missing tables, charging for ice we never took, telling me I had to change my exit seconds before it was supposed to happen (after it was already approved). The list goes on and on. They were not helpful one bit! I WOULD NOT HAVE MY WEDDING HERE. AWFUL AWFUL EXPERIENCE