Metroparks Toledo Reviews

Although we love all the parks, the Oak Openings Lodge was perfect for our wedding. We also rented the Caretakers Cottage for getting ready in. It worked out amazing.

They were amazing! The facilities were great! It is so beautiful there. We used the floating dock type thing at oak openings for the ceremony, and the lodge for the reception. Both were excellent. And the rangers were so helpful! We couldn’t have asked for it to be any better.

The botanical gardens is a beautiful location for an outdoor wedding! I am sooo glad that we went there, our pictures look amazing! Only thing to beware is that if you only have your ceremony there and it rains, they do not provide you a backup indoor location.

We booked the gardens for our ceremony in October. It is so beautiful there , and different spots to have your ceremony. It is a little high priced considering you have to supply chairs for your guests., and can only do minimal decorations (nothing put in the ground) . The lady we worked with was very nice,

We used Ward Pavilion for our May wedding. It was expensive but worth it. The park is beautiful, especially at the beginning of spring. We loved that the doors on the sides of the hall opened to the patio so people could move in and out with ease. It helped give people more space (the hall is long and narrow).

The rangers were really friendly and addressed our only concern quickly (the AC wasn't on when we got to the hall but they arrived soon after we called to have them fix it). They were also great with answering questions on the day of the wedding.

The only major drawback with renting through the metroparks is that you can't get in the night before the wedding to set up unless you want to pay an extra couple hundred bucks.

The locations are well maintained, spacious, and easy to make elegant. Monday through Friday, they answered phone and email promptly and provided great details. However, the Metroparks staff provides very little in terms of wedding planning and coordination - table and chair set up is up to you.

We had our ceremony at The Toledo Botanical Garden in August. It was beautiful but caused a lot of stress because there was no rain back up, no refund, and no tents allowed. You are also responsible for all seating and rentals on your own. Praise the Lord it was a sunny day! The staff was very friendly. They do have some strict rules to protect the wildlife including no rose petals, real or fake thrown by the flower girl! Also a couple wanted to watch our wedding from the garden across the river and ended up in some of our shots!

We booked the whole Oak Openings Metropark Lodge, which included the adjacent outdoor patio and grassy area surrounded by forest. We used this grassy area for our wedding ceremony and the lodge and patio for our reception. The venue was very affordable. We paid $750 ($650 when we got our deposit back) to rent the whole area for the entire Saturday of our wedding. This allowed us to setup and hang out at the venue as suited our needs on the day of, which took a lot of the timeline pressure off. We were also able to separately rent the Caretaker's Cottage for the groom and groomsmen the night before, which was very convenient for a staging area. There were several limitations on decorations, but we found that the space was so beautiful that it really didn't need much decoration anyway. The lighting inside the lodge is very nice and warm and there are numerous windows, including large picture windows looking out onto the forest on one side. Everything was as expected and we encountered no complications or surprises, either in our communications with the staff, or in our expectations on wedding day. We were able to use the fire pit and setup a s'mores bar outside for the reception. Lots of guests said they really liked this setting and the feel of the wedding. We invited 80 people and 65 came, I would not recommend this venue for over the 80 people we invited, but if you have a relatively small group and are looking for a cozy wedding spot, this is a great option.

I used the Ward Pavilion at Wildwood Park for my July wedding. I really can't complain about my experience, you get what you pay for! When you rent out any of the facilities at the metroparks you get tables and chairs and the rest is up to you! It is fairly inexpensive to rent but you are responsible to bringing in your own vendors and decor. Although it meant a lot more work on my part, I liked being able to pick and choose what vendors I wanted to use and I loved the space and beauty of being in the park. One note I would like to make is that the max capacity at the Ward Pavilion is 150 people. However, I had 130 people at my wedding and once all of the different tables and chairs and DJ and such were set up, it was tight! It worked out fine but for a wedding I wouldn't suggest more than 130 people in there. Along with the Ward Pavilion, we also rented the Farmhouse for the women in my bridal party to get ready at and take a few photos which worked out wonderfully! If you don't mind the extra effort and you have the help from friends and family to help put together your wedding day then using the metroparks is the way go! My wedding turned out beautiful!

The Toledo Metroparks staff were excellent and very helpful. The park Rangers were courteous and patient as I had to be let into the hall many times before the wedding day to show the decorator and wedding coordinator. One downside is that the hall wa a little pricey compared to other halls but if you become a member of the Toledo metroparks you receive a significant discount. I would recommend using them.

The Manor House was extremely gorgeous, especially with the fall colors outside for our 10/28/2017 wedding. I haven’t seen many weddings inside of the house and after my husband had proposed in the garden last year, we knew it was where we wanted to be married. The Manor House coordinator was at times difficult to reach (mind you, she was also planning her own wedding), but was helpful when I was able to get in touch with her. My only wish was that there was an administrator available to field questions when the coordinator was out of the office. The day-of contact we worked with for the rehearsal and ceremony was very accommodating and nice. On the day of the wedding, she took me and my bridal party around the house for a tour and we were able to see parts of the house that aren’t open to the public – super cool! It was a nice touch to a very busy day, and getting the opportunity to learn about the history of your venue was superb.

We used the Ward Pavilion for our May wedding. It is a little pricey for what it is but it was the best place we could find at the time. The office staff was helpful in scheduling a second visit during a closed time so my parents could visits the site as well. The ranger that morning was also friendly and helpful, especially when the microphone did not work when we were testing it during set-up preparations. The big thing that a renter needs to understand is that you will be bringing almost every single thing you need for your event. They provide AV equipment, tables, chairs, kitchen area, grill and ice chest. You also have to set-up everything and clean-up the space a little bit before you set-up. Overall our experience was good but there is some extra work involved with this space.

This is a beautiful place to have a wedding and we will have wonderful pictures and memories to last a lifetime. It seems to me to be overpriced considering you are only renting the site and you are not allowed to do anything like drop petals or (what I wanted to do) release butterflies. Also, make sure you are prepared with questions when you meet with the coordinator Erica. We told her 8 months ago that we would be having about 100 people and she wrote it in our contract and said it would be fine. She tried to tell us the week before the wedding that she told us the room would only hold 80 and we would have to pay for chairs for the extra. She was rude We were also not told to reserve the space for rehearsal (it was in our contract, yes, but since we have never planned a wedding before we didn't think to ask). You cannot put up signage on the wedding day nor can you block off the site. We had gawkers trying to film the wedding during the ceremony! Luckily a quick moving photographer chased them away but they will be in our video as we were walking down the aisle. There are just certain things that should be included especially considering the price you pay.