Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Reviews

We got married in the Sunken Garden with our reception in the Covered Porch and absolutely loved our venue! It felt unique but accessible. It's obviously a beautiful venue and any location there is going to be gorgeous. Staff worked with us to make all aspects of our day run smoothly. The in house catering (Lancer) made decisions easy. The food, bar, wait staff, decor, and clean up are all taken care of for you.

The Sunken Garden is a perfect wedding ceremony venue. It's already equipped with flowers so you don't have to spend money on flowers for the ceremony. Saves money! Reasonable price.

I got married in the sunken garden on 9/24/16, and it was absolutely beautiful and perfect! The pictures we took were all breathtaking! I would recommend to anyone to get married here!

We had our ceremony at the Conservatory in the Sunken Garden, and it was absolutely beautiful. The staff was SO helpful leading up to the event, even the last minute questions were answered extremely quickly and graciously. As an example, we wanted to do communion as part of our ceremony, so they set up a table (that blended into the background pretty well, actually) and a tiny receptacle for the cups before we got there. We also had a few seats near the front for elder family members, as well as for our string trio at the back of the garden. Everything was perfect. It is such a gorgeous space with all of the flowers and plants, and it smells heavenly. They are pretty strict with their policies (timing and photography), but we were let into the space early (both for the rehearsal and the wedding) and ended up having more than enough time for photos, and were never bothered. What a stunning backdrop for photos!

We could not have had a better experience - it felt tropical, looked beautiful, smelled wonderful, and overall, it was definitely the perfect venue for our winter wedding!!

We had our wedding reception in The Porch at Como Conservatory and couldn't have been happier! The staff was great to work with -- the catering manager even responded to our emails while she was on vacation shopping with her mom! We got so many compliments on the food we chose there and we especially appreciated that we could rent just about everything we needed from them so that we didn't have to worry about transporting chairs, chair covers, etc. The venue was beautiful, even on our rainy day, and we got amazing pictures all over the grounds!

I fell in love with the Sunken Garden the minute I toured it. It is so beautiful - a perfect backdrop for our wedding. We got married on October 12 and everything was perfect. The coordinator was so helpful, yet behind the scenes. I think we did everything by phone! When I walked into the ceremony, everything was in place and wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better venue, thank you to Como Zoo Staff for making my day memorable!

Como was an absolutely breathtaking ceremony venue for our small wedding. I couldn’t have imagined our wedding anywhere else! We worked with Polly most of the time for our event, but had some questions answered by Emily as they came up. They were both very helpful and responsive, and truly wanted us to have the day we imagined. The staff that were at the conservatory on the day of our wedding were fantastic! Plus the Sunken Garden looked amazing for our event, kudos to the botanists who work there! We had our reception elsewhere, (WA Frost, it was incredible!!) so I can't comment on that in this posting.

My brother had his wedding there on a saturday in october and I thought it was so beautiful. We had the wedding in Jan at 7:00 PM. It was gorgeous and worth every penny. The only bad thing is the small 1.5 hour window for the ceremony and pictures.

This place was awesome! The chicken was a little dry, but the apps, salad, decor, organization, and staff were the best!

Look no further if you want a low-stress ceremony with no additional flowers needed! Our wedding took place at the Sunken Garden in early February, which was in the midst of the winter garden show. The staff at Como park keep everything so fresh year-round that there truly is no bad time to have a wedding there. We also liked that the fees go towards keeping this place beautifully kept for all to enjoy. Despite strict time restrictions, staff on site were helpful rather than pushy. They were great at ushering in guests from the frigid cold and allowing me to arrive a few minutes early in order to hide from the groom. One of the docents even helped us create a last minute corsage from my bouquet due to accidentally leaving one at home. The acoustics are great in the Sunken Garden, and our wireless speakers were perfect. I would recommend skipping their AV equipment rental and request that the fountain be turned off during the ceremony. Bring a tablecloth for the round table if you plan to use it. Respect the start/stop time so other weddings don't have to stress. You will have plenty of time for great photos as long as your ceremony is a reasonable length. Plenty of parking, contract was thorough and easy to follow, warm and comfortable in below zero temps. I can't think of a better place to have a meaningful, intimate ceremony. Enjoy!

The Sunken Garden is an amazing ceremony location, the flowers give such a great ambiance and romantic environment. Contacting the facilities over email was very easy, and they responded to our questions accurately and on time. The 1.5 hour timeslot is not super flexible, but the room was ready when they said it would be on time. We rented a microphone but didn't end up needing it since you can project well in the room. The sound system provided was easy to hook up music to play over the speakers, and sounded great. Overall it was exactly what was advertised, and it was a lovely venue.

Kate Robey was critical to the success of our wedding. I had very little knowledge about wedding planning and she went above and beyond her role by offering me seasoned advice and informed recommendations. Not only was she a great help in terms of expertise but she was always nice, fun, and nonjudgemental. We were in the covered porch. The space was beautiful and it was nice to have so many different areas to move around throughout the night. They worked with us on a vegetarian menu and I thought it was delish! The only thing that went wrong is we forgot to make a plan for the leftover cake and it was thrown away, so you could say that was our fault. Either way, I highly recommend!

We had our ceremony in the Sunken Garden, and it was absolutely wonderful. We had a small gathering, 20 people, and it was the perfect size. The flowers were amazing, and the staff was helpful and kind. Our pictures turned out fabulous with all the beauty around!

I chose the enchanted garden for my ceremony, but decided to go elsewhere for the reception because I wanted to pick my own caterer. The staff was very helpful and responsive.

My wedding venue was amazing, even more beautiful then I imagined. We had our ceremony in the sunken garden and rented the entire conservatory for our reception. My guests had all the gardens inside and the Japanese garden outside to wander through. They placed candles and tables in the perfect places. I didn't have to decorate a thing! They have some photography rules but at the start of your rental time, your permit covers that. They also require that you use their vendors for food and cake but they are really great! It was a perfect place for a wedding!

Even though this venue was somewhat expensive, we couldn't have been happier. The atmosphere was absolutely beautiful. Our evening wedding came with its own light show (lightening and thunder as well as rain) but along with the indoor spot lights, pond, fountain, etc. it was the most beautiful ceremony ever.

My husband and I are extremely pleased with this venue. It is amazingly beautiful and well kept. Our guests just gushed over the beautiful space and the flowers. I gave less stars for flexibility so people know up front that there are only limited times to use the space and there is no way around that. We tailored our wedding times to what was available and this worked out for us. Also, Como's staff was very professional and even let us in the space a little early as it was raining outside. I appreciate their willingness to allow us in a little early.

Denise Turner, the sales consultant for Como Zoo (Lancer Catering) is nothing short of amazing. She made the day perfect and was great in working with us to make it all happen. Any request (whether it was a long shot or not) was looked into and no matter the number of emails, Denise got back to us quickly. My only complaint here is that the food was nowhere near as good as it was at our tasting; however, with 250 guests, it's hard to make every dish perfect. We had a blast and so did our guests. THANKS!

We used the park shelter down the hill from the conservatory for our reception and loved being outside, playing croquet, and all with a lovely backdrop and really an elegant shelter.

I had my wedding in the Sunken Garden on March 31. Como was great to work with - very responsive to emails. There are strict policies but they are very up front and transparent about them - nothing comes as a surprise at all. They went above and beyond expectations in a dozen ways - they even made right a small problem before I ever got a chance to ask. The sound system didn't work and they emailed me the day after the wedding with a refund on the system - no one even had to tell them! It was fine because the acoustics were fine without it but I was impressed that they were so proactive. The garden was so beautiful - and smelled amazing! It was a gorgeous day!

We had our ceremony and reception at Como on 5/15/15. The conservatory is gorgeous for a ceremony! No decorations needed. The reception area was also gorgeous with the floor to ceiling windows and everything looked new in there! Very clean and nice. Only downside was they have so many strict guidelines with photography even if you are having the wedding there. But they were more lax the day of and let us stay in the garden to take pictures between when they closed and our rental technically began, which was nice! We also had a penguin as our animal ambassador which was unique and fun for the guests.

I am so excited to get married at the Como Zoo! I have wanted to get married there for years and can't wait for the day to come. The name Enchanted Garden says it all.. It truly is enchanting. I'm looking forward to getting married outside and then moving right across the street to the reception. The Como Zoo offers many different options depending on the size of your wedding. I definitely recommend the Como Zoo for both a wedding ceremony and reception.

Como itself was easy to work with, my their in-house catering company not so much. They were also strict on the rental times, which I wish were longer so you wouldn't have to rush the pictures. I wouldn't change the venues though. We had the ceremony in the Sunken Garden, followed by the reception in the Covered Porch. Everything was beautiful!

Amazing pictures and memories for years to come here! This was a fantastic day-just wish you had a little longer for the pictures and ceremony.

We had our wedding in October. Our ceremony was in the Sunken Garden, and our reception was in the Ordway Gardens. We had around 35 guests. The number one compliment we heard from our guests was that the space was BEAUTIFUL, and even though we were initially worried that the space would feel too minimal, we have absolutely no regrets about the venue. It was very cozy, and we did karaoke in the hallway outside the Ordway. The Sunken Garden was a borderline magical experience for a ceremony, and we're both so happy we were able to book this spot. The buffet food was FANTASTIC (we had the American Comfort Buffet), though the recommended cake vendor (Buttercream) was just okay. The servers were also wonderful and made everything run smoothly. There were even little animal statues on the food tables

It is my family's tradition to take wedding photographs at the Conservatory. It was wonderful to carry on that tradition. My only complaint is that they limit pictures to two people at a time indoors, so it was challenging to get our entire families in one photograph. We were able to take a few outside, but not many, as the weather did not cooperate.

The sunken garden is a breathtaking place to get married. The Conservatory is a jaw dropping crystal palace to begin with, but once you get into the sunken garden ... it's like a European fairytale garden from a dream. Our guests could hardly believe their eyes and I honestly couldn't have picked a more beautiful ceremony venue in Minnesota. I also couldn't believe that the entire place is kept operational by donations and event rentals. During regular business hours, there's no admissions to these lovely gardens for the public, and only a $2-3 suggested donation to get in. I loved the idea that my wedding ceremony helped pay to keep these gardens so accessible to the public. I do want to mention that this place is not very flexible. This is because it's a public garden that's open 7 days a week during the day to the public first, and a private wedding venue in the evenings second. Once you understand that, it's easy to understand why there are certain limitations - their priority is (and should be) to preserve the gardens first. Consequently, it's a perfect place for a small elegant wedding for a mostly adult guestlist.

We just recently had our ceremony only in the Sunken Gardens. The place was gorgous. They even had my favorite flower on display, I couldn't have planned it better. Granted they didn't know that was my favorite. The venue is very strict with times and not tossing anything in or around the conservatory. I completely understand why. They don't want any damage to the place or grounds (while your party might be careful, the next might not). Also the max amount is 10 chairs in that garden due to space constraints in the aisles. Also completely understandable. I was just thankful they allowed some chairs for my elderly guests. It is difficult to get in touch with them. For other reasons, we hired a planner (mostly a day of planner) so I didn't have to worry too much with being in contact with them. They apparently didn't have any issues working with the conservatory people (rated them higher in responsiveness because of this). Even had the fountains on right up until I was to walk down the aisle. A great touch for guests. Also morning weddings are cooler temp wise. We had hand fans & water for guests just in case. It gets steamy in there so be prepared.

Our wedding reception was held in the Covered Porch, which is an absolutely beautiful venue in the spring/summertime. Como Park is so unique and offers plenty of things to do for guests if you have a break between your ceremony and reception. Our primary contact was Kate with Lancer Catering, who is fabulous! She was very responsive and thorough throughout the process and definitely highlighted issues for me that I may not have otherwise considered. I felt like she was always looking out for my best interests. However, the staff (security, set-up, and catering) on the day of our wedding did not live up to expectations, and we had a number of issues. First, guests were allowed into the Covered Porch prior to the start of the reception, while the vendors were still finishing set-up. I was assured that would not happen, and it was tacky. Second, the room layout was not entirely correct and caused some problems of its own (i.e., a table having to be moved before the dancing could start and those guests feeling as though they had to leave because they had nowhere to sit). Third, there was an extended delay between the completion of dinner and the serving of cake, which caused guests to get anxious and us to have to pay for an additional hour of photography to ensure we had coverage for our first dances. I think they have so many people involved that the communication sometimes fails. But overall, the guests did enjoy the reception and venue!

We had out ceremony in the Sunken Gardens on a friday morning. The area was beautiful! We had no problems booking the site and all questions were answered. I was a little disappointed in the times available for use and the lack of seating for guests, but otherwise had a great experience. I thought it was beautiful.

They were great to work with, our wedding was amazing. The only piece is we were rushed out right after our wedding since our time was up and another wedding was coming in - have to keep on schedule. Other then that they were a pleasure to work with.

We had only our ceremony at the Sunken Garden and it was beautiful! We live in Grand Forks, ND and planned our wedding via phone & email. Things worked well and the staff I worked with answered all my questions. We had our ceremony on a Thursday evening which provided for a reduced cost. A staff member greeted us when we arrived and made sure we had everything we needed. I would definitely recommend for a small, intimate wedding.

The gardens were GORGEOUS!! I am so glad we had our ceremony here.

Our wedding was on the Porch at Como Park zoo and it was so beautiful! More then i expected. I had only one issue with the caterer. They weren't alway the most honest. We had to double check all there math to make sure they didn't charge us to much. All in all it was a perfect and beautiful day!

I had my wedding reception at the Como Park Conservatory's covered porch. It is a beautiful venue. I saved money by bringing in Japanese Lanterns to hang from the existing lights rather than paying $1000 to having a ceiling drape with lights placed on it. I paid to have chair covers and the special decoration package but it was worth it! The food is catered through Lancer which was great. The service was a little slow but they were attentive. My guests had a great time.

We got married at Como’s Japanese Garden and it was stunningly beautiful. The venue looks gorgeous in photos with all the green. There are some things to keep in mind if you are interested in this venue, though. You can’t get access to it until after it closes to the public, which was 6:30 pm for us. You only have access for a short period and need to pay extra for more time. Not having access beforehand created some logistical issues and our pictures were rushed after the ceremony. Our reception also ended up being late because we didn’t leave the park until after 8. If you are having a small, quick wedding, it may work just fine. For us, it was a challenge. Your guests also have to stand which can be exhausting if you are dealing with heat. The staff were very nice and tried hard to accommodate us.

Everything was great. The only snapfoo was when it came down to budgeting food. She worked with me to get it as low as we could. I just did not budget for all the fees the have with the alcohol. Also, I booked 2 years in advance. During that time, I had about 4 different contacts- very annoying. I never knew who to contact. Everything was very beautiful though. :)

That place is so beautiful. Didn't need to add anything

beautiful venue. only problem...they double booked my wedding date!!! i had to change everything on short notice because they couldn't get a hold of me. the wedding person was temping for the regular one on maternity leave and wasn't dialing "1" before our long distance number so she couldn't get a hold of us! they threw in free candelabras for free.

Very Beautiful with all the the flowers. We had a private ceremony there followed by a small reception dinner else where; then our big reception was a few days later else where. Down side - only get to rent place of 1.5 hours for $600 on a Thursday evening(more on weekends). Could rent at another time for more money for longer time if need for pictures, but didn't want to pay more then already. So ceremony was as short as can be to be able to get as many pictures as possible. Felt a little rushed.

We just had our ceremony (not the reception) at the conservatory. It was a great location, didn't have to worry about decorating at all, and it was just an all around great location.

While we loved the conservatory and the way it looked I was less than pleased with the communication from the events booking. Numerous phone calls were not returned after we booked. Before they had our money they were more than accomadating. What bothered me before hand is that I wanted to talk with a coordinator on site and they never returned my calls after I booked. It would have been nice to have questions answered on site.
Also while we were getting married numerous cars of our guests were vandalized. I was devastated when the conservatory response was "it happens all the time" to my guests. They did not even offer to help with cleaning up the broken glass. Had I known that cars are vandalized all the time I would have provided a shuttle.

The venue is beautiful for a wedding, though you have to keep it small. We were in the Sunken Garden, which only allowed for 10 chairs for guests.

The staff wasn't very responsive to emails & it was hard to get anyone on the phone. but, as long as you don't have a lot of questions, everything should be good.

Definitely a great place for photos.

**PLease note - this was just my ceremony site - not my reception site.

We were really excited to get married here, but there were a few issues that arose. For one thing, it was nearly impossible to get hold of any staff over the phone. We did most correspondence via e-mail, but we found that they were flexible. We wanted a cocktail reception, which did not allow enough seating for all of our guests. The peerson who we were working with sent us a seating chart. We didn't like it and sent our own and they changed it. I was impressed.
We ordered several hors d'oeurves and were very disappointed that the beef pasties were stale. I asked around and several people described the taste as rancid. They were awful. We also didn't like that the staff pulled the food while people were still eating. I wouldn't recommend using the buffet set up there.
One other issue came up was the decor in the Sunken Garder where we had the ceremony. We were aware of the holiday poinsetta display, in fact we've visited the holiday display in years past. However, on the morining of the wedding, we went in to take photos and discovered creepy Carousel ponies throughout the room. We were not pleased. Thankfully our photographer was able to work around them.
We had a wonderful time and everyone had a great time, despite the unexpected things that came up.

The Sunken Garden in the Conservatory was a beautiful and ideal spot for a wedding ceremony at any time of the year. It was also very convenient to be able to have the reception directly following the ceremony on-site. The only slight criticism I have is the inflexibility with their rules regarding time and space constraints as this is a public zoo and conservatory open 7 days a week, so you are limited to when you can be there and what you can do there. The beauty more than made up for that though.

Como is a beautiful place to have a wedding and great to work with from a professionalism standpoint, but they are extremely strict on many different areas.

Your professional photographer is only allowed 30 minutes to take photos inside the Gardens. There were miscommunications regarding which gardens were under these restrictions and which were not. We were not allowed into the reception room until 1 hour prior to the ceremony to decorate, which caused a high stress situation for everyone right before the most important moment of the day.

NOTE to everyone who is having a day wedding there in the summer: Talk to them about parking permits or have shuttle transportation set up. I was 45 minutes late to my 'first look' because we couldn't find a parking spot and due to this time constraint my mom couldn't be there and was crying. Then the entire bridal party was 40 minutes late to their photos due to the same parking issues. They had to walk in their dresses and heels a very long way to get there. Plus, the chairs for the ceremony were late and we had to carry heavy boxes a long way (with decorations, etc.).

I feel that if they are going to charge the amount that they do, they should at least include parking for the bridal party, or a shuttle from a parking lot somewhere nearby. This was mass chaos and we were not really warned about it prior.

Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is a beautiful place, however because it is open for business as a zoo and conservatory, there are quite a few restrictions that you have to work with. For example, we were only given from 4-6 pm to set up our decorations on the day of our wedding. Most local vendors are aware of the time restrictions as far as delivering flowers cake etc., but there are a few rental vendors that will charge you additionally because there is only a short time frame to deliver and set up, so it is something to be aware.
The air conditioning broke and this was not communicated to anyone, so my guests were uncomfortable in the heat. They did at least provided some fans. Some admitted they left early before the dance because it was too hot. Despite that, the contracted catering company that works exclusively for this venue was amazing.

The staff was great, and the venue was beautiful for the ceremony, but times are limited (we had less than an hour for our rehearsal, and an hour and a half for pictures, the wedding, and cleanup), it was VERY expensive for the limited amount of time ($700 for a Sunday evening... Saturday was much more expensive, and rehearsal time was extra), and there were no flower petals allowed (it had to appear as it did when we got there when we left). It was gorgeous... but a bit of a pain for what we paid.

Beautiful Gardens, friendly staff, reasonable prices. Very tight schedule. No getting there early and no leaving late, they're very strict. Have to come prepared. There are no rooms to get dressed in.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Conservatory....it is ALWAYS absolutely beautiful which is why I chose to have my winter wedding there! The team they have there creating all the floral art is simply breath taking and make for wonderful photos esp in the sunken garden where I had my ceremony! However, with that said you should know that there is a HUGE lack in communication/service. We opted to pay extra to have a rehearsal so we could figure out how the sound system worked and how a typical wedding works there since it is a unique space and NO ONE who was in charge of helping with this...found this out day of rehearsal AND the day of the wedding. We were simply told, you can do whatever you want & left it at that. Luckily I had a my photographer there, Amber from Pixel Dust Photography, helping as she had done a few weddings there before. I was extremely disappointed in the Conservatory's lack of interest in helping, lack in any sort of communication especially when we found out 3 days before the wedding that they DO NOT allow more than 2 people in a photo at a time. Yes, you read that correctly. All very stressful. So if you choose to have your wedding here I would recommend planning on having your group photos at the pavilion across the street from the conservatory with whom were extremely accommodating! Other things to know about this venue if you are only having a ceremony there not your reception:
*there is no where to get ready or put your dress on, you will need to find another place to do this
*the only helpful person is the sound guy technician who just so happened to be there the day of our wedding
*around back by the Ordway building is a bigger nook where you and your group can stand with out being seen before walking down the aisle....since Como closes early in the winter by 4:00pm we were able to leave all our things there until after the wedding
*be very flexible if you choose to have your wedding here..however, i loved every minute there!

Absolutely the worst experience ever !! No parking, no help from the staff, no one to help with the public, had to ask for everything. Contacted the Manager of the rental staff and he was uninterested in helping us make it a positive experience.
Would never recommend having any gathering here. Was only allowed to be outside could not even do pictures in the conservatory.