Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Reviews

Emma and her team at Stillwater Place was an absolute dream. She was always quick to respond, caring and the best event coordinator I could have asked for. She made all my visions come to life at the zoo. If you are considering a wedding at Stillwater Place, it is without a doubt worth a tour! We had out wedding in December so the winter lights were up and made the venue even more breathtaking. We received so many compliments about the venue and would do it all over again.

I’m still on cloud 9 from our big day at the zoo. We had our ceremony outside under the pavilion, cocktail hour at the carousel and reception in Stillwater place. A few days later and I am still receiving messages from guests that it was one of the best weddings they have ever attended… we feel the same way! We primarily worked with Emma and Mary through the planning process and let me tell you, it was a well oiled machine! The communication was perfect, they both went above and beyond for us. I will never be able to thank them enough for helping my vision come to life. Emma and the rest of the staff exceeded all our expectations the day of the wedding. They didn’t let the thunderstorms or rain interfere to the slightest and made sure everything we wanted still happened. Jersey was our primary server at the reception, she made sure me, my husband and our families were never empty handed and had everything we needed. I couldn’t recommended the Cleveland Zoo and Stillwater place more for your wedding venue. We miss it already and can’t wait to go back and visit!

From the beginning of the planning process to the date of, everybody was extremely professional, accommodating, kind, and more than helpful! Everybody that helped us make this day possible literally gave us the absolute wedding of our dreams, and we could not have asked for a more perfect day!!

There are not enough words to express how amazingly friendly, accommodating, thorough, patient, creative and kind the Stillwater venue team were and are. They cared deeply and worked effortlessly to make my daughter's wedding absolutely perfect. The zoo was awarded to host the Asian Fesitval of Lights and Cindy offered our photographer a personal escort to take the bride and groom to photograph the amazingly beautiful lights. I highly recommend Stillwater not only for the beauty of the venue but how courteous and accommodating Cindy and her team are! Beyond happy!

Everything was beyond amazing for our wedding. Our guests were blown away by the venue and how seamlessly everything came together! Aramark was simple to work with, and our day of coordinator from the zoo, Emma, took care of absolutely everything. We couldn't have had a better day and event staff for our wedding. Thank you so much for helping us create the beginning of our adventure!

Our wedding is next year but the team at the Zoo has already gone above and beyond to make everything perfect for our special day.

My husband and I were so happy to be able to have our wedding reception at Stillwater Place. It such a beautiful venue. The venue coordinators are super helpful and are very supportive. They worked with our other vendors to really pull off a great night. I was also very happy with my animals that I go to encounter with and some more personal pictures of some animals that were a bit more active at later times for professional photos. The lanterns were also beautiful and guests that didn't like dancing could go after the dinner to explore it was great! All over 10/10 would highly recommend if you love animals, nature, or just a beautiful venue in general.

We picked the zoo for our wedding because the venue is absolutely stunning, but the service is even better. We were not able to have our wedding as planned due to COVID, but the events staff (Sam and Alascia) at the zoo was incredibly kind and understanding as everything unfolded. Although we ended up having to do a smaller wedding and couldn’t use the venue at the zoo, I would HIGHLY recommend this venue. You will be taken care of no matter what happens!!

Our wedding venue was like no other! Total perfection and so unique! Alascia Jones was our consultant. She was always there for us to answer all our our questions. Nicole King our sales manager and Matt Piquet the general manager were professional and always available throughout the planning process! The venue itself is gorgeous ! We utilized the beautiful merry-go-round during our hors'de'vor hour. Everyone loved riding! It was perfect for pictures. It was like a step back in time! Bartenders, and waiters and waitresses were great! Food (we did a sit down for 260 people) was fabulous! The compliments came in via text and phone for days! We also brought in corn hole, giant Jenga and giant yahtzee for the back veranda. The fireplace outside next to the pond burned all evening! There was something for everyone! Dancers on the inside, gamers on the outside! We did an evening pizza bar as well. We also used Seballos bakery recommended by the zoo. The cake was beautiful as well as delicious! The hall is clean. Alascia stayed with us all night. Nicole stayed until the dinner was served. The attention given to us was perfect! I can't express in words truly how wonderful this night was. Thank you to everyone who made our wedding so perfect!

We're so glad we picked Stillwater Place as our reception venue. Our guests absolutely loved the carousel and animals at cocktail hour and enjoyed being able to spend time outside on the patio during the reception. Alascia really made our wedding experience with Cleveland Metroparks Zoo phenomenal. She was easy to get in touch with and provided quick and detailed responses to our seemingly neverending questions. Alascia went above and beyond in helping my maid of honor set up a surprise for us as part of her wedding speech which really meant a lot to us. It was such a relief knowing Alascia and her team were taking such good care of our guests and event! Our day would not have gone so smoothly without them! We are so happy we chose to have our reception at Stillwater Place. We all had an amazingly fun time!

Alascia was amazing; our wedding went without a hitch. The food was fantastic, the venue perfect. I couldn’t be happier with how our wedding turned out. The servers were pleasant and friendly.

We were in the Primates, Cats, and Aquatics building for our reception. It was such a fun venue with all of the animals and they even brought some during cocktail hour you could interact with. Leah was fantastic in helping to coordinate everything and making sure all of the details were exactly what we wanted. She was incredibly friendly and helpful throughout the process. Nicole and the rest of the catering team were great as well. Also, very friendly and made sure the menu was exactly what we wanted. The food was great! Everything went smoothly and they were a great group of people to work with.

My daughter just had her wedding and reception at Stillwater Place at the Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo. It was an awesome experience. The Event Planning Staff and Caterer exceeded our expectations. Every detail was taken care of - giving myself and my wife time to enjoy

Excellent! Alascia Jones was our coordinator . She was awesome. Very good communication. AA++ 5 star. An asset to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo organization. Aramark was the catering company EXCELLENT food. All guests had high reviews! As parents of the bride we rate this 5 star and A+

I heard from many of our guests that this was the most unique fun reception ever! The planner Cindy was super friendly and helped make sure everything ran smoothly. The Aramark catering team provided great service and the food was delicious.

We got married on September 8, 2018. The zoo and all the staff we interacted with were amazing! Alascia was our coordinator, and I could not have asked for a better person to work with! She was detail oriented, she thought of things that we forgot, and I could tell that she took the time to read all the long emails I sent her over our engagement. The zoo staff was very concerned with making our event what we wanted.

We ended up having our ceremony on Wade Deck. It looked beautiful. The reception was at Stillwater Place, which is a stunning building. Stillwater Place is building, but it has an outdoor patio with a fireplace. This was a bit hit among our guests; we received a lot of compliments on how beautiful the venue was. It allowed our guests to either stay in and dance or go outside and chat, where it was quieter. We also opted for a carousel rental during our cocktail hour, and a zoo volunteer came with an owl and an armadillo!

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the staff we worked with (especially our coordinator Alascia) helped us get the unique, creative, and fun wedding we wanted. I recommend them to anyone.

We got married at the Stillwater Place and it was the most perfect venue I could have ever asked for. We worked with Cindy all throughout planning and she was wonderful. She was always prompt and professional and answered every little question I had and let me come tour the place MANY times because I wanted to make decisions in person. The wedding was perfect. The staff were so friendly and everything went so smoothly! We used Aramark Catering and worked with Danielle. She was AMAZING! The food was perfect and delicious. I would highly recommend the zoo to any couple getting married!

Working with the zoo, specifically Aulbrie, was so fun and easy and exciting! From the first inquiry to the day of, they were very easy to work with. They provided so much help during the planning process and even reached out to contact our vendors to make sure the day went as smooth as possible! Aulbrie and few others went above and beyond to help in any way they could and were even around the night of the event. The catering staff was awesome too! I couldn't be happier with the Zoo and I will recommend it to anyone looking for a venue! All our guests loved the ceremony, cocktail hour, the reception, and the food!

Our daughter has always loved the Zoo and we recently held her rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception at three different locations there. Cindy Roebuck, the Zoo's coordinator, and Kristin St. John of Aramark Catering and their entire staff exceeded our expectations of great customer service! They were professional, friendly and very easy to work with! They were able to handle a few last minute changes without any difficulty. Our guests just loved the venues: Wolf Lodge for the rehearsal dinner, Wade Hall for the ceremony and Stillwater Place for the wedding reception! We received many compliments regarding the food for both events - our guests were impressed! I would highly recommend the Zoo as a venue not just for a wedding, but for any important event. They made our daughter's wedding just about as perfect as possible!

Everybody that we worked with went above and beyond from the moment we decided to even think about holding our event at Stillwater Place. It has been a long planning process but everything came together exactly as anticipated and a month later we are still getting compliments on the venue!!

We just had our wedding and reception at the Primate, Cat, and Aquatics Building at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on July 7th. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the coordinators, and catering department at this location! When we were looking for the venue, and we met with Aulbrie, we absolutely fell in love with the ceremony location, and the reception location. They have so many options at the zoo too depending on budget. Aulbrie and Leah were the best coordinators I could have asked for! They were so helpful, and eased my stress with trying to plan out the wedding and keep everything on track. Aramark is the catering, and the food was AMAZING!! Kristin was great to work with, and was always quick to respond to any of my questions I had throughout the planning process. Depending on the amount of people and location you choose within the zoo, I can see it might get a little expensive, but it is worth every penny! The food choices were fantastic, and very reasonably priced in comparison to other locations available. And you won't get a more unique wedding than here!

We could not have asked for a better venue to hold our daughter's wedding reception. Cindy was fantastic to work with and was very responsive in getting all of our questions answered. I highly recommend this venue for a gorgeous backdrop to such a special occassion.

Very unique venue. Loved it!

Exceeded my expectations! The team at the zoo did an absolutely amazing job!

My husband and I instantly fell in love with Stillwater Place at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Our consultant was Aulbrie and she was an absolute dream. She met with us multiple times and answered every single one of our questions. We were able to contact her on evenings and weekends and she was always very prompt. With Aulbrie on our side, we didn't have a need to hire a wedding planner. She did that and so much more!

We started looking at Stillwater Place in October for a summer wedding. By October, every Saturday for the entire summer was already booked! We ended up choosing a Friday and couldn't have been happier. We had our ceremony at noon on Wade Deck. Our guests were allowed to enjoy the zoo while we went to go take pictures downtown. We had a cocktail hour outside and rented the Circle of Wildlife Carousel for our guests. They loved it! (The zoo even surprised us and brought an owl to our reception!)

The reception was inside at Stillwater Place and it was beyond magical. The venue was perfect for us. We wanted an outdoors feel, but were trying to avoid anything too rustic. We fell in love with the natural elements of the building from the ceiling to floor stone fireplaces, the large wooden deck on the lake, and the beautiful wooden beams in the ceiling. The only complaint I have is that we were so busy attending to our guests that we didn't have enough time that night to really soak in how beautiful it looked.

The exclusive caterer to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is Aramark. When my husband and I learned that, we were very hesitant because Aramark catered our college and work cafeterias. But boy, were we surprised! The food was the hit of the reception. We had two separate tastings with Aramark (a group and a private) to finalize our menu selections. We ended up having to make changes after submitting the final menu and they were so flexible. Our favorites were the rolled pork loin and the prime rib.