The Garden at Elm Bank Reviews
Reviews
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![Katherine]()
Katherine Sent on 10/14/2025August Wedding
Our late August wedding at Elm Bank was everything we hoped for. The planning process was smooth and stress-free — the Elm Bank team was professional, responsive, and organized from start to finish. The gardens were in full bloom, making our photos absolutely stunning. We were excited to use almost every part of the gardens for photos, the Italianate garden for the ceremony, Maple Grove for cocktail hour, and the Hunnewell Building was perfect for our 130 guest reception with space for a band, dance floor, and was air conditioned.
We used mostly preferred vendors, which made coordination easy. We’ve since used our membership to enjoy the gardens year-round for other events — a lovely bonus to an unforgettable wedding experience. -
![Riley]()
Riley Sent on 08/14/2025DREAM garden wedding venue
Elm Bank was our dream wedding venue! It’s absolutely stunning, and Chelsey and the team there went above and beyond. They were incredibly communicative, organized, accommodating, and kind. Thank you Elm Bank! -
![Alison]()
Alison Sent on 08/09/2025Wonderful venue
We had a wonderful experience with the whole team at Elm Bank. We felt supported, heard, and celebrated throughout the whole process. They recommended amazing vendors and were very responsive with any concerns throughout the process. We fully recommend The Garden at Elm Bank to anyone looking for a beautiful outdoor venue in the Boston area. Our guests had a great experience and our wedding was everything we hoped it would be. -
![Dedania]()
Dedania Sent on 05/18/2025A fairy-tale dream come true!
The photos really don’t do justice to how beautiful the gardens are. This was my first time visiting, and even just the drive there felt magical—you cross a little arched bridge that makes you feel like you’re entering a fairy tale. The property is so expansive that we were transported through the gardens by golf cart, which added to the charm.
Our wedding took place during peak tulip season, and we were initially offered the option to hold our cocktail hour in the tulip garden near the greenhouse. Unfortunately, due to severe rainstorm warnings during that time, we had to pivot. Thankfully, the venue was flexible and allowed us to still hold our ceremony outdoors, since there was only a 50% chance of rain. They do have a rain backup plan, but we decided to take the risk in hopes of capturing some stunning photos by the fountain—and we’re glad we did.
My only real complaint is related to communication on the day of the wedding. From the very beginning of planning, we had asked for the ceremony chairs to be set up facing away from the Manor House, with the fountain spout turned on behind us. When we arrived two hours early for pre-ceremony photos, the staff was setting up the chairs facing the Manor House instead. Thankfully, we were already in the area and were able to catch it in time and have it corrected. As for the fountain, it was off during our photos—I assumed it would be turned on during the ceremony, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
These were minor issues in the grand scheme of things, and overall, we had a truly wonderful experience with this venue. I only bring them up to help future couples: make sure to confirm the ceremony layout and specific details like the fountain on the day of, ideally with a point person from the venue or planner. That said, the beauty of the location and the flexibility of the staff still made our day feel magical.
*Our photographer was “Chace Yang Photo + Video” or @chaceyang on Instagram in case anyone is wondering! He is amazing!* -
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![Alyssa]()
Alyssa Sent on 01/12/2025Stunning & Timeless Venue
Our wedding at The Garden at Elm Bank was simply perfect. From the moment we began planning our big day, their staff impressed us with their superb organization and attention to detail. We always felt at ease knowing they were on top of everything, allowing us to focus on enjoying the day rather than stressing over the little things.
The venue itself is breathtaking—our guests couldn’t stop raving about the beautifully manicured grounds and vibrant gardens. We happened to luck out with perfect Fall weather, which added to the overall charm of the day.
Another huge plus was the list of preferred vendors provided by The Garden at Elm Bank. We found this resource incredibly helpful, and it made our vendor selection process a breeze. Even better, the staff at Elm Bank worked seamlessly with each vendor, ensuring every detail was handled without a hitch. We loved working with Chelsey- she was so responsive and positive!
Lastly, we truly appreciated how flexible and accommodating everyone was as we navigated a few last-minute changes. Their willingness to adapt and find quick solutions made us feel at ease, and we can’t thank them enough for that. If you’re looking for a gorgeous outdoor venue, The Garden at Elm Bank is an outstanding choice for a memorable wedding. -
![Emma]()
Emma Sent on 10/21/2024Wonderful Experience at Elm Bank!
Getting married at the Garden at Elm Bank this September was an incredible experience that we would repeat in a heartbeat. The planning process was incredibly easy with support from Chelsey Munsey and Elizabeth Pruitt - both were easy to reach, professional, and highly knowledgeable, and made our whole experience from planning to execution on the day of the wedding feel seamless.
The Garden at Elm Bank’s vendor recommendations were spot on. It was lovely that Elm Bank offered the option to choose from a diverse list of caterers - it really helped to narrow things down without being overly restrictive, and we loved working with Capers, who they highly recommended.
It was so nice to have the whole venue to ourselves all evening - something that isn’t always the case at other venues. The grounds and gardens were all beautiful and in pristine shape, from the Daylily Garden where we had our Ketubah-signing ceremony, to our main ceremony in the stunning Italianate Garden, to the Belvedere and Wheezy’s gardens where we had our cocktail hour, and the Hunnewell Building and adjoining tent where we had our reception. Every area was so gorgeous, and we received so many compliments from our guests. Importantly, the gardens were all wheel-chair accessible for our relatives and loved ones with mobility concerns - something that can be tricky to find at other outdoor venues. Elm Bank staff worked with us and our planner (Lauren at Starborn Weddings + Events, who we loved and found through their recommended vendors list) to customize all the spaces to match our design vision, and collaborated well with our vendors to ensure everything went smoothly on the day of the wedding.
On the wedding day, every staff person we met was so friendly and attentive - the most helpful was having someone to take us in a golf cart from location to location to minimize walking in our dress clothes. At the end of the night, Elm Bank staff worked to make sure that all of our personal items were carefully collected, neatly labeled, and securely stored until we could pick them up the next day, and then Chelsey was so kind as to help bring everything out to our car.
We could not have asked for a better experience or a more beautiful venue for our wedding, and we are so happy to recommend Elm Bank to anyone who is considering it for their upcoming wedding or celebration. -
![Jenelle]()
Jenelle Sent on 10/16/2023Stunning Venue and amazing staff
Every staff member that we worked with went above and beyond to ensure that we were supported leading up to and on the big day! Lindsay, Chelsey, and Asia were incredible - so responsive and accommodating, including letting my dad and I have access to the venue space a few weeks beforehand to practice our dance. The venue itself is stunning, the gardens are so well maintained and full of life. All of our guests commented on how beautiful the location was. There are so many difference spaces within the venue that you can utilize to create a dream wedding. We did first looks in front of the green house, family photos along the path, wedding party photos in the garden, sunset photos along the meadow, and our ceremony was in the Italianate garden. Every backdrop was more gorgeous than the last. -
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![Yanni]()
Yanni Sent on 09/05/2023The most stunning experience with great staff
Elm Bank was an absolute no brainer for us. Lindsay, Chelsey, and the rest of the staff at Elm Bank were extremely responsive, flexible, and kind throughout the planning process. A special shoutout to Chelsey, who asked us thoughtful questions during the planning process that helped us stay ahead of the curve, and consider things we wouldn’t even known to think of. The grounds were stunning - I grew up near the venue and have visited many times, but it was somehow even more breathtaking for the wedding, and especially so at sunset and at night. Elm Bank has a variety of beautiful settings to hold a ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, and provided golf cart shuttling to our family members would needed assistance getting around. They worked extremely smoothly with the caterer, coordinator, and DJ to make everything perfect.
One final note and thank you: one of our guests had a small health incident after the ceremony and the Elm Bank staff was exceptional at helping her. We can’t thank them enough for reacting quickly, accommodating our guests, and going above and beyond to take care of her.
Truly, Elm Bank was everything we wished for and more!! -
Kathryn Sent on 03/17/2023
My wedding dreams come true
We hosted our reception here last May and it was truly my vision come true. Elm Bank fit so many of my wedding goals- budget, ambiance, indoor/outdoor, capacity, etc. We had no problem choosing from the preferred vendor team and our guests were thrilled with the food and location. My only regret is not going over budget by just a bit to really *wow* with flowers and lighting, but as the bride I’m the only who thinks that! Huge shoutout to this excellent property and team, we had so much fun! -
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![Jessica]()
Jessica Sent on 11/27/2021Beautiful wedding venue & wonderful staff!
Kayleigh and Lindsay were absolute gems to work with in planning and re-planning our wedding day due to COVID! They both helped make the process seamless and were so very patient with our endless questions, especially when our original plans were derailed. The venue itself was already beautifully magical, but working with them both ensured our special day would be just as so! -
![Larry]()
Larry Sent on 11/02/2019Garden at Elm Banks EXCEEDED our whole family's expectations
Working with Kaylee and the team from the beginning to the final goodbye was an absolute joy. It was everything we hoped for and Kaylee and her staff made a beautiful setting all that much better. Could NOT have been smoother and they all were friendly, helpful, and professionals at making dreams come true.
I speak for [the bride] and [the groom] and his family. ALL of our guests said it was the best wedding they have ever attended… and we saw that feeling reflected in their faces all night long.
We will heartily recommend The Gardens to any of our friends looking for a place for a special event. -
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![Matthew]()
Matthew Sent on 06/18/2019The most beautiful venue!
After looking at a bunch of wedding venues, we visited Elm Bank and immediately knew it was our venue. It’s one of the most beautiful gardens and settings in New England. The Italianate garden is the perfect, fairytale-level ceremony setting, the children’s garden was fantastic for our guests during cocktail hour, and we not only had a great dinner but turned all the way up for the reception/party in the carriage house/tent! Kayleigh was so responsive in working with us, answering our questions, re-arranging our tables, and working with our vendors. Trish was invaluable on the day of to make sure everything ran smoothly. If you want the best of both indoor and outdoor settings, book Elm Bank! -
![Kristen]()
Kristen Sent on 01/06/2019Beautiful gardens!
Elm bank was absolutely stunning - the gardens gave us so many options for how we wanted to arrange the guest seating, and they were very cooperative with ensuring we knew about rain options, and the different locations we could use for different events the day-of. Highly recommend! In particular, Kayleigh and Mary Kate were a huge help, super communicative and responsive, and provided a day-of coordinator who we met in advance to be on site the whole day with us. They also gave great recommendations for vendors who we ended up using. -
Megan Sent on 10/03/2018The Gardens at Elm Bank is absolute perfection! From our first meeting to the entire process, everything was very smooth. We were initially attracted to this spot because of the gardens and they did not disappoint. Mary Kate and Kaleigh were always quick to answer our questions, even offered suggestions on things to do. It was so great to have the wedding ceremony, reception and photos all in one location! There are so many options when it comes to customize and design your wedding whether it the Carriage House or renting a tent. We knew our guests would love exploring the gardens before the ceremony or during the cocktail hour. The Carriage House is charming for our reception but is such a marvelous place, it could’ve been transformed to whatever we desired, even weather permitting a ceremony spot. Elm Bank’s preferred vendors are certainly the way to go when determining caterers or lighting designs. We did find it beneficial to have a wedding planner or coordinator to help facilitate the moving pieces and vendors. Overall our friends and family are still commenting on how stunning the venue and wedding was. My husband and I could not be happier with how things turned out! I’m so pleased we chose the Elm Bank and would do it all again!
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![Jessica]()
Jessica Sent on 10/25/2014We can't say enough about the venue. The natural beauty of the Gardens at Elm Bank are unprecedented in high season. The service and flexibility were great. We wanted to make the most of the different Gardens and they allowed us the flexibility to do so. The venue was also very catering to all of our vendors and their schedules, which enabled a smooth event. We were so happy with the service delivered. They even had an attendant on site who helped our elderly guests get from the parking lots to the tent with golf carts. I would highly recommend this venue, not only for its incredible beauty but also for its service and flexibility. -
![aliciawysk]()
Alicia Sent on 07/07/2009We had our cocktail hour in the beautiful gardens (great backdrop for a ceremony as well), dinner was in the carriage house and dancing and dessert in the tent! It was so fun to have use of all the different spaces and made for a unique wedding! And the pictures are stunning! -
![Mackenzie]()
Mackenzie Sent on 10/08/2023Extremely accommodating and absolutely beautiful venue!
Very accommodating with our tight budget! We did not have a wedding planner, a friend coordinated the day and the staff here was so helpful answering my many emails months leading up to the wedding to make it seamless for all who helped us!
Beautiful space, we received so many compliments for how gorgeous the venue is! I love that there are several gardens you can choose from for pictures, ceremony, cocktail hour etc.
This venue does not have in house catering and you must choose from their exclusive catering list. -
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Emily Sent on 10/29/2020
Fantasy garden outdoor/indoor ceremony & reception
Elm Bank had everything we could have dreamed of for our Aug. 2018 wedding -- beautiful outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour locations in various gardens, so many options for taking amazing photos, air conditioned indoor reception area, and friendly, helpful staff (thanks to Kayleigh and Mary Kate). There are liquor laws and noise requirements in various MA counties, and Elm Bank allowed us the most flexibility so we could have the ceremony at 5pm and dance till 11pm. They book up a year in advance, so we chose a Friday evening, which saved us money over a weekend. They were very informative and flexible to tour from the beginning, and responsiveness picked up as we got closer to the date (I'm a project manager by trade, so I like to do everything early and have lots of questions -- a year out sometimes communication could lag, but a month or two before the event they were super quick to respond and full focus was on us!). They were very flexible whenever we needed to check on things for staging tables/chairs, lighting, music, photos, etc. and recommended vendors as well as coordinated directly with them for several requests; they even put us in touch with the other couples having Saturday and Sunday events to coordinate with their vendors for discounts (so they didn't have to take down/set up different things) -- since they had a relationship with our caterer, Tastings, who also did decor, this was clutch! They were accommodating for special requests and were very visible the day of so we could easily find them if we needed anything. In particular, they helped keep our secret reveal during the reception that I was 10 weeks pregnant! They helped conceal with sparkling cider instead of champagne for me, etc. They didn't rush us out at the end of the evening and conveniently pre-packed up decorations, gifts, etc. so there was minimal work to be done when we finally cut the music. The only snafu we had was the chair arrangement for the ceremony wasn't exactly how we requested it, which the groom noticed and helped rearrange before many guests had arrived (such a small thing though in comparison to all of the amazing things this venue has going for it). I'd definitely recommend and would love to use them again for future events! -
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![Katie]()
Katie Sent on 08/29/2019Drop dead gorgeous venue - so unique and breathtaking!
Elm Bank is the one of the most gorgeous and unique wedding venues I have ever been to - and something we heard over and over again from our guests. We were so excited to have our wedding at the Gardens at Elm Bank (August 2019) and our wedding day exceeded all of our expectations. The Italianate Garden where we were married was gorgeous - the flowers perfectly complimented our ceremony and made for the perfect backdrop. Cocktail hour was gorgeous outside and the bistro lighting and drapery in the Hunnewell Building and attached tent continued to provide an amazing ambiance for our wedding. The staff, especially Kayleigh, were so great to work with. Kayleigh went above and beyond in every interaction we had and I was lucky to have her working our wedding - she is amazing and so so sweet! Kayleigh and the Elm Bank staff also have developed great relationships with some of the industry's best vendors - which made asking for suggestions and vendor management that much easier. Elm Bank was the perfect venue and we were so lucky to have gotten married there. We cannot recommend them enough! -
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![Elizabeth]()
Elizabeth Sent on 06/08/2019A FairyTale Wedding
We recently had my daughter's wedding in a tent (Sperry Tents) in the Gardens at Elm Bank. It was so beautiful. I cried when I saw the tent all set up because it was exactly as we had imagined. The gardens are so beautiful for photo's, cocktail hour etc. It was a little stressful worrying about rain but thankfully it held off until the second we boarded the busses to leave!!!! Kayleigh, Mary Kate and Christina were great to work with and all of the vendors were phenomenal and worked well together. It was a fairy tale wedding and a dream come true. I highly recommend the Gardens at Elm Bank for your wedding or next event. -
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![Nicole]()
Nicole Sent on 10/28/2025Beautiful garden wedding, amazing experience!
We had such a beautiful wedding! The gardens were so beautiful and well maintained, even later in the season (early october). The staff were very communicative and helped the event run smoothly. They also provided some really great vendor recommendations (they suggested an incredible caterer and a super impressive day-of-coordinator). If your dream is a garden wedding, then this is the venue for you. The price is definitely on the higher side with the venue fee and a full-service caterer, but was worth every penny! -
![Elif]()
Elif Sent on 08/19/2021Beautiful dreamy setting
This is one of the prettiest locations in the Boston area of you are looking for an outdoor, garden setting. I think photos can’t quite do it justice. In person the grounds are incredible, and they put a lot of work into the landscaping and plant life. There are multiple areas to choose from for your event - we had our ceremony in the more formal garden with fountains and the mansion in the background, and later our cocktail hour down the path next to the children’s garden where our guests could casually wander around the gardens or take a seat in the shade. They can show you examples of many other locations and set ups that different couples choose. And for taking our photos there were so many beautiful spots available that we couldn’t get to all of them if we had tried. You could spend a day exploring the different gardens. There is a tent set up at all times during the shoulder/peak season in case of inclement weather, and while I’m glad we didn’t have to use it it was reassuring that it was there and already set for use.
As for the indoor area that is used for receptions, it’s high ceilinged and airy. It was very comfortable for us and our guests and vendors. There’s AC and WiFi, and the bathrooms were large and clean. There’s plenty of private lot parking.
The on site staff were helpful and professional on the days/night of our event, and the event coordinators Kayleigh and Lindsay who we worked with leading up to the event were always helpful with all our questions and concerns.
The good thing - or bad depending on your preferences - is that you have lots of flexibility in how your wedding will go and your vendors. They have a few recommended vendors, and if you choose a caterer who’s not on their list you have to pay an additional fee, but otherwise you get this beautiful background setting and can do as much or as little as you want with it. -
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![Nora]()
Nora Sent on 02/03/2021Do not book here
Okay so we were in LOVE with elm bank. We booked them last March for our summer this July 2021. When I tell you we were in love. We truly were in love. We brought our friends and family there to walk around, we’d just go random days to look at it because we were so in love. So like I said, our contract was signed March of 2020, pre COVID. Jump to very early January 2021, we like many others decided to make the decision to postpone our celebration to next year and do a small wedding this year due to so much being unknown with Covid vaccines, etc. I reach out to elm bank staff and am told that because you can still technically have a wedding on site even if it’s only 25 people or less you can still have a wedding on site. I said to staff that when I signed the contract I didn’t expect a global pandemic that would shake everyone’s life upside down. I told staff we didn’t want to cancel we just wanted to postpone. In the contract it says the cancellations you lose your deposit, but rescheduling, you simply pay your deposit and other dues and an additional 10% fee. That was fine by us. I was then told that this is technically a cancelation. Which it wasn’t. It was literally a rescheduling. I emailed the CEO who might I say is awful. He entirely blamed this on his staff and said they can’t lose that money. He was clearly money hungry and I don’t know if his answer would’ve been different if my fiancé wasn’t black, but we definitely thought about it. Safe to say we cancelled it, lost our deposit, but will happily be getting married this summer on the water and celebrating next year at another beautiful garden venue. Just know that when you sign with them, their contract is not clear and when you want to reschedule, if they consider it a cancellation even if it is a rescheduling they won’t allow you to. Again elm bank is beautiful and Lindsay the interim event director has been nothing but kind. But the board and CEO are predatory, racist and money hungry.
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