Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory Reviews

The first time I ever visited the conservatory I knew that I wanted it to be our future wedding venue! The space is beautiful, luscious, and unique. It can be a bit tricky if you have a larger number of guests to figure out event logistics, but with

My husband and I were married this past January at the Rawlings Conservatory. We booked the space about a year in advance and felt so fortunate to have found it. We had heard so many horror stories about couples dealing with difficult venues, but the staff at the Rawlings was wonderful to work with. We always looked forward to talking with Christina, the event coordinator, who was extremely helpful and positive all throughout the process. Every time we had a question, she worked to get us answers or let us know who could help. On the day of, she was on site, along with several members of the Rawlings staff, to make sure everything went as planned. We couldn't have hoped for a better and more beautiful venue and we would recommend it in a heartbeat!

Such a gorgeous setting! We rented the entire building but skipped the outdoor garden rental, and we were so lucky to have a full garden/tropical/desert experience while being protected from the rain on our wedding day.
(Keep in mind the staff here are only there to keep an eye on the building; they are not wedding coordinators.)

First of all, if you have not been to the Conservatory yet just go! It's absolutely beautiful! If you're having a smaller wedding (under 120) I would argue that it's impossible to find a better, more intimate, more beautiful venue. Don't want to spend a fortune on flowers alone? No worries. The venue comes with all the flowers and greenery you could possibly need!

Our guests couldn't stop raving about how great the Conservatory was... all night long and even now a week later. If you have the money I fully urge you to just rent out the entire place. And I know everyone's idea of price is different, but I really do not think you can find another venue close to equivalent for the price!

We just had our wedding here this past weekend and everything was PERFECT. Everything looking amazing and the staff was so friendly and helpful. Highly recommend this venue if you are looking in Baltimore.

The Rawlings Conservatory was the most amazing venue I have ever seen!

We had our ceremony in the palm tree house. It was incredibly beautiful. People had their mouths gaping with the beauty of it.
Our reception was in the south pavilion. We had appetizers set up and waiters bringing food around on trays.

The staff were incredibly flexible and worked with me with the budget. They were also incredibly kind! My husband and I accidentally got left at the venue when our ride didn't show up and they even offered to drive us the five miles to Catonsville so we could have our wedding night! They also listened to me sob during this miscommunication and tried to calm me down. (our ride ended up coming). I appreciated how kind they were and how they genuinely cared about us having the best day/night of our lives.

The staff was so kind, helpful, informative and flexible.

The venue was gorgeous.

Cons: There isn't a place to get ready for the bridal party

I would recommend this gorgeous place to anyone!

In trying to put together a wedding on a budget, my then-fiance and I looked high and low for affordable and beautiful wedding venues. We looked at traditional venues, but all of them were completely out of our budget. Then, we came across the Rawlings Conservatory randomly through a photographer's blog and fell in love. When we visited the next day, we knew immediately that this was where we wanted to get married.

The Rawlings Conservatory is an absolutely beautiful venue with so much potential for all kinds of different weddings. Because it is such a non-traditional wedding, we had to get really creative about how to use the space (e.g., there isn't really a big "hall" where everyone can sit and eat or sit and watch a ceremony), but we were able to make it work and have the best day of our lives. All of our guests were surprised by the venue (many didn't even know the building existed!) and loved the different themed greenhouses and rooms.

The staff at the Conservatory were all friendly and kind and accommodating from the start. We had no problems with them, and they were very flexible to meet our needs. The venue allowed us to use any licensed caterer, which is something that we were looking for because we had a specific caterer in mind. On the day of, the venue staff were incredibly helpful and were a big part of making everything run smoothly.

If you are on a budget, willing to be creative, and you have a small to medium number of guests (we had around 120 guests and it was pretty cozy in the pavilions), the Rawlings Conservatory should definitely be a venue that you check out. We saved a TON of money in rental as well as with decorations because the venue is already "decorated" with beautiful flowers everywhere. We loved our wedding at the conservatory and would definitely recommend it!

Cylburn Arboretum is not just the most beautiful venue for a Baltimore wedding, but is also a great value. Laurie Boswell, the event manager, is a dream to work with -- down to earth and friendly, but also highly knowledgeable and skilled in all aspects of wedding planning. Responsive, flexible and an all-around great gal. I don't have a single bad thing to say about Cylburn -- and considering that it poured rain on the day of the ceremony, forcing us to move the ceremony indoors, that's pretty significant!

This place is so magical. It's full of lush, diverse plant life, and the building itself is special. If you haven't been there at night you really should see it with all the lights on. The staff beams with pride and maintains the place beautifully. Many local guests were amazed at this place they had seen but not known.

We had our ceremony out in the garden with chairs provided by and set up by the Conservatory. We did a cocktail hour on the patio then went inside for the reception. There are pathways through the desert, tropical, mediterranean, palm, and orchid rooms, then two more open rooms, the North and South Pavilions. Since we had about 125 people, a few more people than could comfortably sit in either the North or South Pavilion, we had a cocktail-style reception with scattered food stations and some transient seating in one of the pavilions. It allowed everyone to explore and mingle throughout the night. Then we danced in the pavilion we had not used for seating. The Conservatory staff even took the initiative to reserve parking for our guests when they realized we were competing with an event at the zoo. They will accept any insured caterer (allowing you to really shop around), and provide your own alcohol. Laurie Boswell (office at Cylburn) was great to work with and we felt happy to know our money was going to the city. We recommend this place highly, especially if you are trying to do something a little nontraditional.

Beautiful location (indoors and out) and very helpful, friendly staff. They were very accommodating for our walk-through with the caterer and our rehearsal the night before. They have chairs and round/rectangular tables which saved us the expense of renting. Unlike many venues, you can bring in your preferred caterer.

Only downside is that this place has no usable space for a bridal suite, so other arrangements had to be made. We rented a block of hotel rooms for the weekend.

This unique and beautiful place becomes magical at night. We had an evening wedding in the gardens, a cocktail hour throughout the conservatory and dinner in a rented tent outside. The bar was in one room inside and the dancefloor was another room inside. Laurie Boswell was helpful planning and realizing an unusual and spectacular event.

We had our wedding at the Rawlings Conservatory in June 2017, and were so pleased with how it turned out! The venue is a beautiful space and was perfect for the informal, casual, comfortable feel that we were aiming for. We had our ceremony inside the South Pavilion room (75 chairs fit perfectly inside), and split our reception seating between the North and South Pavilion rooms (with 4 or 5 tables in each room). The bar was set up in the North Pavilion room, and we did the cake-cutting and ice-cream sundae bar in the South Pavilion room. We didn't have a dance floor, so that simplified things for us. The venue comes with tables and indoor chairs (we rented a few additional garden chairs from them too). We rented A/V equipment from a third party company, as the venue did not have this equipment available for rent.

The only tricky parts about having a wedding here were: (1) the venue staff were not always responsive, so sometimes it took a few follow-ups to get an answer, and (2) we had to do our ceremony rehearsal about two hours before the actual ceremony, because it was booked the night before and was open to the public until mid-afternoon (luckily our ceremony was very simple, so this was fine).

All in all, we are so glad to have chosen the Rawlings Conservatory as our wedding venue. A lot of our guests remarked that they loved being able to walk around and explore the space (especially the children - the koi pond was a big hit!). We also saved a lot on decorations because the Conservatory is already beautifully decorated as is!

This venue was perfect for my wedding and made for a truly magical day. We had a wedding of 110 guests in August catered and the setup throughout the Conservatory was just beautiful. At first, we thought that we would not be able to accomplish a seated reception, but guests were seated throughout for a full dinner. I can honestly say it was one of the nicest weddings I have been to and we received a lot of compliments. Many people were wondering how we found the venue. Thanks to Laurie (the event coordinator) for recommending it. It was a bit tough to get in touch with her at times, but everything ended working out perfectly.

I am so glad we had our wedding here. It was SOOO beautiful and all of the plants made the decorating budget very low! Although it took a day or so for Baltimore City government to return my calls, we we talked they were very responsive. They offered their high quality tables/chairs and even their walk-in refrigerator for me to store my DIY flowers, etc. If I were to redo my wedding, it would be at the Conservatory EVERY TIME!

First, let me say that my wedding turned out beautifully. The conservatory itself is STUNNING. The issues I had were not with the venue itself, but the staff. I attended one of the wedding info sessions with Laurie Boswell. We were informed that we had to email one year in advance to book, while competing with others for the same date. The day came and I emailed, and then waited a week for a response, during which she claimed she emailed me days ago saying that I had the date. When I received the bill, it was incorrect as she charged me for the Saturday, not Friday, price. When I got my new invoice, she charged me $1000 for the use of the gardens for the standing-room ceremony. During the walk-through, she did not mention anything about an additional cost. I addressed this and she was very unprofessional and would not admit that she gave me false info. After this, I stopped getting responses to my emails and phone messages. Finally, a man emailed that Laurie was out due to medical issues. I understand that situation was unavoidable, but it was very unprofessional for no one to respond in her absence. In order to book my other vendors, I needed communication from my venue. I finally got a proper response from Anna. When it came time to send the remaining balance, I asked for the mailing address, which she emailed. 2 weeks later, the letter returned with an “undeliverable” stamp. I sent a photo of the letter to confirm the address. She responded that the address I had was wrong. Let me remind you that she emailed me the address herself. She did not acknowledge her error or apologize. During the rehearsal. I expressed concern that guests would wander around the venue while we were taking photos. Anna offered to stand by the doors and direct guests to stay in the one room. Lo and behold, she did not direct guests and several people wandered around while we were trying to take photos. Be prepared to do EVERYTHING yourself, and double check their work at all times.

I've been waiting a year to write this scathing review of the Rawlings Conservatory.

We had our wedding this past Saturday at the Elm in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore (on the other side of 83 from the Conservatory). Everything worked out perfectly and it was a beautiful day.

Now back to the Conservatory. We booked the Conservatory a year ago. Due to the Spring flower show the only date they could give us in the late spring was April 29th. So we took it and sent them our $1000 deposit. Now, the process getting ahold of the event coordinator (Laurie Boswell) was painstaking. She hardly ever responded to emails and I would call multiple times a day for multiple days in a row trying to get ahold of her. And this was just to try to book the venue! So I eventually got ahold of her for the paperwork, sent her the deposit, got a confirmation that she had received it, and thought we were all set to have our wedding. I get a call in early/mid August 2016 from Mrs. Boswell informing me that our wedding had been double booked with the Charm City Bluegrass festival (which she swore was not her fault as they have multiple calendars at the office she works). How could you not know there is a 5000+ person festival going on at the venue you run events for? And apparently this was not the first year of the festival. Although they did say we could still have our wedding on that day, obviously we decided against it given the security/parking/noise nightmare it would have created. Mrs. Boswell was apologetic and did offer us the conservatory or arboretum for 1/2 price on any other day, but given the unprofessionalism and mistrust that the whole situation had caused, we decided against it. ALSO, we had already booked all of our vender (which I loved!). Luckily we were having a small wedding (~75 people), so we were able to find another venue, however we did not have many options. Bottomline: if you want piece of mind, hire professionals, not the City of Baltimore.