Bowers Museum Reviews

We had our wedding at the Bowers Museum in April and it is an absolutely stunning venue and very underrated! Our ceremony was outside in the front courtyard (Margaret and Cleo Key Courtyard) and the reception was inside (John M Lee Court). Parking is free and available onsite. For the ceremony, there is so much greenery and beautiful features that you don’t need to spend too much on flowers or decorations. The reception hall has sculptures on the walls and artifacts around the room, giving the venue depth with an added touch of history and culture. We worked with Al Kanjo, who is very accommodating and easy to work with. The rate is very reasonable to either get a portion of the Bowers Museum or to rent it out completely. We were finding venue’s for 2x to 4x the price and for less space/grandeur. The bridal suite is basically an old conference room without windows, so I would recommend getting ready at a hotel (which is what our wedding party did). This is a very unique and modern venue so if you are looking for something that isn’t your typical reception hall or hotel, this is the place for you!

Amazing venue to get married. Patina is the Best caterer in the country. Food and service were perfect. Price is very reasonable. Catering manager was able to help stay within my budget.

Bowers Museum was such a fantastic venue to have our wedding at!! They were extremely responsive and while Judy was late for almost every meeting, she made up for it by being pretty flexible. We had our ceremony in the main courtyard, rented the Huang courtyard for cocktail hour, and moved the reception back over to the main courtyard. The event was seamless and everything was beautiful. I think that renting the Huang courtyard, while expensive, is definitely worth it. The ambiance in the Huang Courtyard is amazing and your guests don't have to watch the flip of the space during cocktail hour! Love the Bower's Museum...definitely a jewel!

We had our wedding reception in the Margaret & Cleo Key Courtyard in August 2016 and the day couldn't have been more perfect! We primarily worked with Judy (Events) and Dominique (Tangata/Patina group) to plan our reception and both were professional, flexible, and accommodating to any special requests. Growing up in Orange County, I fell in love with the beautiful Spanish style courtyard, large open space, orange trees, and lavish staircase. Bowers Museum created the perfect romantic, California summer evening, outdoor reception.

My husband and I live in the bay area, so we planned our wedding from afar. Judy was always willing to help meet my parents when they had something to drop off from us and Dominique scheduled our tasting for one of the weekends we were in town. Our food tasting in itself was an experience and we had the most wonderful time sampling Tangata Restaurant's delicious cuisine. The chef worked to customize our final dish selections and ensured us that they always have other options for those guests with food allergies (we had a few severe peanut allergies). Dominique worked with us and our planner to arrange the final floor plan for our reception and even ordered tablecloth linen samples for me to look at.

As far as the actual wedding day goes, it was perfect. Everything was setup on time, the staff was courteous, and the food was delicious! Our guests continue to rave about how stunning the reception was and how it was some of the best food they have ever had at a wedding.

If having an event at Bowers Museum, you do have to go with their catering (Patina group) and have liability insurance for your vendors. You will though, need to order your cake from an outside vendor. The price of the catering was a decent amount of money, but the quality of venue and food you are getting will be much worth it! The Key Courtyard at the Bowers Museum is BY FAR one of the most beautiful wedding venues in Southern California!

Bowers Museum was such a fantastic venue to have our wedding at!!We had our ceremony in the Huang courtyard, and moved the reception inside of the museum. The event was seamless and everything was beautiful. The ambiance in the Huang Courtyard is amazing and your guests don't have to watch the flip of the space during cocktail hour! Love the Bower's Museum...I will recommend to everyone.

Loved this venue!!!

I highly recommend Tangata for any event. We planned on having approximately 100 guests, though we ultimately had about 75. The serving staff is fantastic, the food is not only wonderful and delicious, but served hot, promptly, and with an impressive presentation. The administrative staff worked with us to adjust the menu to suit our guests' needs, accomodated a family recipe, and was just overall delightful to work with. We used the cake that comes with the package (from Great Dane Bakery) and it worked perfectly. I wish we could do it all again!

This is a review of Bowers Museum only (not there exclusive caterer, Patina Catering Group).

Judy was a great planner and very responsive and helpful. She was extremely professional and very responsive to questions and details; she and her assistants kept notes on everything and very few things needed to be repeated to them.

The location and setting is also great for weddings.

The only drawback is, they have an exclusive caterer (Patina's Catering Group) which is not nearly as good as the Museum staff. Please see reviews on Patina Catering for more info on them.

From a venue only (excluding caterer), I highly recommend using Bower's museum.

I loved the people and the location. Everything went perfectly and the food was amazing. I still hear comments about how beautiful the wedding was and how yummy the food was.

The venue itself was beautiful, unique, and breathtaking. We got married in the Huang Scupture garden, had cocktail hour in the foyer, and reception in the John Lee Court. So modern and interesting! We had about 125 guests, and the venue felt huge. Pictures came out amazing, and the food was DELICIOUS! It's pricy for the food and drinks, but I thought worth it. That being said, service was a little disappointing. The main issue was that from the time we booked, to our wedding 10 months later, we had 3 different contacts, one of which told us totally incorrect information and mid-quoted us (she was fired). She was the one we did our planned by walk-through, so I was disappointed when we had to totally rearrange parts of our reception and certain things weren't transferred over because she was no longer with the company. Guests at our wedding also had a great time, and food/service at the wedding was fantastic. I just wish communication before had been better. Only bummer, you can't set up till after museum is closed (4) so wedding didn't start till 6:30, which was fine, but it also had to be done by 11, which just kind of made things rushed. But you won't get better pictures, and they do let you come on site earlier than 4 for pictures. Just make sure you get everything in writing in regards to where things will take place, what times, etc. This will help on the day of (there were 3 different people helping, which was great, but they didn't all seem to communicate with each other at times). Also, make sure you are very clear on catering costs before booking the venue. The venue is pretty affordable to book, but you are required to use Tangata and they have minimums, that could be out of your budget range.

The museum and venue itself is 5 stars. Very beautiful and clean, I do not regret having my wedding here. The museum/special events staff could be better. Judy, Bower's event coordinator, was almost out of the picture. She did the initial deposit and all, but never told us she would be on vacation during our wedding. There was a bit of a problem w/ the garden that arose and we needed their maintenance staff to attend to. It did get resolved, but could have been handled better to avoid last minute stress on our end.

You have to use Patina Catering. They are quite pricey and less flexible, and I am not sure you get the return you pay for with the premium. The meal is quite good, as guests did compliment us. Don't count on appetizers being generous. There were hiccups here and there (such as cider toast and iced tea not served, no silverware or toasts at the cake). The dedicated staff to the bride/groom is very attentive and that helped.

One surprising thing is just the overall lack of coordination or management from Patina & the Bowers. It is like you are literally on your own there. The Bowers coordinator usually isn't there the night-of and the Patina coordinator leaves once the first plate is served. It's like all they do is set your contract up and then leave it to their staff to do the rest. We had a wedding coordinator and she thought it was a bit odd. They really expect your coordinator to do everything, which I understand, but to some extent there should be a coordinator on their side to ensure everything runs smoothly. I've been a part of many weddings and there is always a representative from the venue that helps with coordination (to some extent as a bride usually has her own coordinator). I expected a bit more based on what you pay, so keep that in mind.

We LOVED the space, and was willing to go over our wedding budget to get it. But throughout the process, there were many bumps along the way that made working with them somewhat frustrating. They definitely nickel and dime you with EVERYTHING. On our wedding day, our linens were the wrong color, the vegetarian option (which they WONT let you taste on tasting day) was disgusting. Every single person I know who got the vegetarian dish said they couldn't even eat it. It was so bland, my guests had to dress it with a lot of salt to even take a couple of bits. So beware. You think, for the amount of money you are spending for the food and service there, that they would make a decent edible vegetarian dish... Those were just a couple of things that really stood out, and which made my experience with them not so happy. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.