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Olbrich Botanical Gardens Reviews

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Madison, WI
4.0 out of 5 rating, 22 Reviews
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Reviews

4.0 out of 5 rating
4.0 out of 5 rating
22 Reviews
80% recommend it
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  • Quality of service
    4.1 out of 5 rating
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Awards

22
  • User2212876 Sent on 07/06/2015
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    So glad I chose this venue for my reception! The gardens and venue space are beautiful!
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    G Sent on 06/05/2015
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    Our wedding at Olbrich Gardens was perfect. There was supposed to be a 40-60% chance of rain that day, but the weather held long enough for us to have our ceremony outdoors followed by about an hour or so of pictures. The flowers were in bloom and it was simply gorgeous.

    Working with the rental coordinator was easy and quick. She responded to emails promptly and helped us arrange things so that we could do a rehearsal at the Outdoor Event Gardens and just peep into the Atrium. We weren't able to do a rehearsal at the Atrium due to a event that was scheduled to happen that day, but she allowed us and our day-of coordinator to peep in to get an idea of how to set up the room.

    Thanks for a simply wonderful wedding day!
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    Anke Sent on 06/01/2015
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    Working with Patti is wonderful. She is very easy to work with and can answer all of your questions. We were married in the gardens because we had beautiful weather, but the atrium area would have been fabulous as well. The gardens were stunning for our guests to walk through even in early Spring.
    • illustration stars

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  • User1916136 Sent on 11/11/2014
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    the atrium was the perfect size room and it was beautiful with the sun shining through, and being surrounded by windows with the a view of the gardens. Patti was very helpful.
  • Holly P.
    H Sent on 10/17/2014
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    The Olbrich Gardens is the perfect place for a wedding!! Its Beautiful & nice to walk around to take a break from dancing. Patti the coordinator is the BEST!
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    Katie Sent on 09/23/2012
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    Our wedding was more than I could have imagined. A big part of that was the venue. We had both our ceremony and reception at Olbrich Botanical Garden in Madison, WI. Our contact at the garden was Patty, she was so organized and checked in often. She was friendly, helpful, and gave great advice and tips! The other staff at the garden the day We had a list of caterers for cocktails and dinner that we could choose from. The list is short and was seen as a downfall - but the choices range from top of the line plated dinner to buffet from a local co-op, so it ended up being just great. There is only one business who hold the liquor license to serve, which is a bit limiting. However, they were great to work with, as well. The outdoor space for the ceremony was just amazing...all of the natural floral and plant surroundings were perfect. It is set back and away from the main path, so there weren't a lot of people walking through the ceremony to sneak a peek. We have some wonderful pictures from our ceremony and afterwards taking pics outside in various places in the gardens that we will cherish for many years to come. The indoor space we used worked perfectly. The getting ready room was a great place for us (bride, groom, parents, flower girls) take a breath and relax a bit before the wedding. We did some first looks by parents up there and it worked perfectly as a private space. The reception space was so spacious and worked really well for cocktails, dinner, and dancing. The staff at the gardens set up all the tables and chairs and did so according to a drawing that we had to complete prior to our wedding day. I am so pleased with our choice of wedding venue - it was perfect for us. I am so thankful we had so much help from Patty and our guests left the wedding and reception pleased and with many wonderful memories.
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    Tessa Sent on 08/04/2009
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    Olbrich Gardens is the most beautiful place to have your wedding!

    Everything went smoothly, and we couldn't have asked for any more!

    If you have never been here, take a look at all they have to offer, and you will love it too!
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    Schmidt W. Sent on 10/23/2019
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    Absolutely stunning venue!

    We had our wedding reception at Olbrich Gardens and it was wonderful! They were easy to work with and give you a list of the approved caterers. If you want to provide alcohol at your event, they only have one option that you have to use. They help set up and take down the tables and chairs. There was also a special event going on at the gardens the evening of our wedding and we were able to provide discounted tickets to our guests! Was a fabulous perk!
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    Melissa Sent on 09/22/2009
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    Patti was great to work with; she responded to all e-mails very promptly. The day went off without a hitch, and we were able to schedule a rehearsal too. We only did the ceremony here, and we were lucky to have beautiful weather (our ceremony took place at the outdoor Event Garden).
    There is a dressing room available - the floor could have been cleaner, so I recommend bringing a sheet to lay under your dress while you are getting dressed.

    They book very quickly!
  • Jenni
    Jenni Sent on 10/27/2016
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    I just want to say that I came across a few iffy reviews of Olbrich when making the decision to book them for the wedding. I was a little nervous, but the location and setting were too perfect. This venue was well worth the investment, and Patti was always responsive to questions. She was very helpful, and definitely an expert in terms of what works best. I did not find her to be bossy, however. She offered up great suggestions and I felt like she was invested in helping me make the best wedding I could. Yes, there are quite a few rules to be sure to follow, but they aren't unreasonable, and there weren't any demands made of us. It was all about making sure things went smoothly. And seriously, the day of the wedding really was smooth.
  • User2294245 Sent on 08/31/2015
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    We had our wedding ceremony (but not reception) in the outdoor event garden. The gardens are beautiful! The atrium is also one of the nicest/prettiest indoor rain backup spaces we saw when looking for a a ceremony venue. Patti was helpful and very quick to respond to all of my emails.

    They don't have chairs so you will have to rent them. They were upfront about this and suggested that we could split the cost with other weddings on the same date. Unfortunately no other wedding was scheduled on our date and I was really surprised at how expensive chair rentals were,

    They do have a lot of rules (time limits, no flowers or anything thrown on the ground) and minimal flexibility, but it wasn't really a problem for us other than we would have liked to have been able to drop off items the night before when we were there for the rehearsal.
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    Anna Sent on 05/12/2016
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    Will update after the wedding.

    So far, working with Olbrich has been smooth and easy. As others have noted, they have some very specific rules about where you can place things, which caterers you can work with, and there's only one caterer who can provide alcohol. The reception room itself is not particularly impressive, but given the overall rental price and that you have access to the gardens - definitely worth it.

    That being said, Patti has been easy to work with, responsive, and straightforward in how this type of thing goes down.
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    Scott Sent on 06/29/2013
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    The gardens are beautiful and have long been the dream location for our wedding. Unfortunately, they are expensive, come with a long list of rules, and you need to book very early. All of the bookings for the next year open up on a single day in March and are first come, first served, which means you have people camping out in the parking lot at 4AM or earlier to claim their spot in line (one couple got there at 7PM the night before). It's a bit ridiculous, but it is a high-demand location and there's not really a fairer way to do it.

    The high price you pay gets you only three hours in the gardens, since they book two other ceremonies the same day. You don't get any chairs or anything else to use, and those can be a costly addition to the price and a headache to deal with if you want to share them with the other weddings that day. There is a backup location indoors in case of rain that we thankfully did not have to use.

    In the end, our wedding was beautiful and it was worth the costs and hoops we had to jump through. But there are other parks and outdoor locations out there that might be worth a look if you don't have your heart set on the gardens.
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    Jessica Sent on 08/29/2014
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    Olbrich was an absolutely beautiful setting for our wedding. We were so excited to get married there. The only reason they aren't rated a 5, is due to the lack of flexibility. There are some very specific, although reasonable, guidelines. I definitely recommend it overall for a scenic outdoor wedding.
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    Nicole Sent on 07/22/2015
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    Our ceremony at Olbrich was absolutely beautiful - the site was an amazing location for a wedding. There are a lot of restrictions - for example, a very limited space to set up a sound system, and the flower girl could not drop flower petals (or anything else at all). The venue coordinator was rude to the sound system guy on the day of the wedding, which really caused some undue stress. I would definitely have my wedding at Olbrich again - just beware that it's not the easiest place to work with.
  • User1869866 Sent on 10/17/2014
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    Olbrich Gardens was beautiful for our wedding. The gardens are very well maintained, and it is a clean place. The visitors, who were there, but not for our wedding, were very friendly and polite.
    I can’t say the same for the event coordinator. There was no wedding scheduled before ours, and we had coordinated with the wedding after ours to split the cost of chairs and have them set up. We asked if we could have the chairs delivered an hour before our scheduled “slot” and the she got angry. Also, I had numerous guests complain about how rude she was to them. To top it off, most of my guest had no idea where to go for the ceremony site, and got lost. We made signs, but were not allowed to put them out, even though we made easels for them, so they wouldn’t be hanging from anything. She also brought in another couple and showed them the wedding spaces, WHILE I had guests in there. I thought that very unprofessional.
    For as much money as I paid to reserve that space for 3 hours, I at least expected a little more professionalism from her. Also, since we were going to be out of the rental space early, so I told the wedding after ours that if they wanted to come in and decorate, just to make their day go a little more smooth, that they could. I didn’t mind, I paid for the time, and I was not going to be there. The event coordinator also got mad about that and told them they couldn’t.
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    Jesse Sent on 10/15/2014
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    Olbrich is a beautiful place to have a wedding. The pictures here will turn out wonderful, assuming the weather cooperates. During the process of setting up our date Patti, the rental coordinator, was helpful and fairly responsive. However, the day of the wedding she was unprofessional and rude to many of the guests. It was the polar opposite of what we had experienced through email exchanges. Also, Olbrich has a lot of rules when renting from them. It's a bit crippling to have so many restrictions placed on your wedding. On the other hand, it helps you make decisions quicker, since you have limited options. I don't regret getting married at Olbrich because of the beautiful setting and the pictures we received, but it was certainly at the cost of a staff member that was a monster.
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    Courtney Sent on 01/24/2010
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    There were a lot of things that they couldn't accommodate, and that was a little frustrating. However, the outdoor gardens are beautiful for the wedding and for photos, plus they have an indoor venue in case of bad weather. They book up fast, so if you want your pick of a date, you'd better do it very early.
  • Lionel
    Lionel Sent on 07/26/2011
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    Venue was nice and scenic but olbrich was very inflexible about rules without needing to be
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    Reeba Sent on 11/10/2009
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    Olbrich Gardens is a Great place to get married anytime of year, but I have to say I wish they would of been a little more willing to work with us on somethings. We felt we could not even ask them a question before they where saying NO right away, or that if we did ask we felt bad for doing it. No matter what it had to do with. Still in the end Olbrich is a great place for a wedding and to take your pictures!
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    April Sent on 08/03/2010
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    I had my reception here. The fee seemed quite high just for the space. They did not provide anything else - no one to set up the room, etc. They also required that you use Blue Plate for alcohol, giving you no other choices. Also, if there is a wedding ceremony taking place during your reception, you cannot go out into the gardens, making the price of this room even more astronomical. It was beautiful, though, but I can't say I would have a reception there if I had to do it all over.
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    Lana Sent on 10/02/2008
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    They were happy to book us but were unable to make our wedding day easy! They were hard to get a hold of and took forever to get back to you. They told us one thing when we met with them the first time and then after we booked changed things and didn't talk to us. On our wedding day it stormed and rained with tornado sirens going off and they couldn't accomadate us. Our guests were moving chairs and we had to find towels to dry them off because it was supposed to be outside, then got mad at us for opening the door so much because the air conditioning was on. Then the roof was leaking and it was raining on the guests and the water was running down the electrical wires while hoping it wouldn't start a fire on top of everything else! I would recommend any place else then to here even if it is very beautiful.
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