Package deals

Getting married in a zoo sounds awesome!!!!!

Hmmmm I would try and map out how much it will cost to get what you're getting with the yacht venue and see how that measures up. For example, catering and bar service will probably be most expensive. As for DJ, it varies by location, but if you're looking for a specific DJ/style it may be worth getting your own.

Idk how much time you have to decide, but I'd do some research on how much it would be to keep your dream venue plus all the stuff added.

ETA: Im a zookeeper, and when people have weddings at our zoo there's usually an animal or two that makes an appearance. What zoo are you thinking of ?

I vote zoo. That would be fun

I think the zoo sounds cool too!! They probably have a preferred vendors list you can use too for the caterer/DJ/photographer etc.

Someone on here is getting married in a Zoo. I didn't even know that was a thing till recently. Go Zoo.

I have an all inclusive venue and it's made my planning extremely easy. Comes down to whether or not you really want your wedding in a zoo or on a yacht.

Add everything up for each and see if both are in your budget then go from there. Ours is a DW wedding and all inclusive was the best/less stressful option for us since we won't be visiting the area prior to the wedding.

My venue is similar to the zoo option: they provide a few things but most of the vendors are our responsibility to find and hire. Personally I like it that way because it gives us complete control of our vendors. I don't have to use some whatever DJ/officiant/cater the venue happens to have picked; I can make my own decisions of what I think is best.

But doing it this way is more time consuming and virtually always more expensive. So it really comes down to this: do you want to spend the time and money hand-selecting the best vendors, or would you rather save both and have someone else put these things together for you? Either option is just fine.

I had the same decision to make too. I picked doing all separate vendors because it would be more personalized to what I wanted! The way the other place had everything already chosen seemed too cookie cutter for me!

You're talking about two very different kinds of venues, so that's the first decision. I pretty much always advocate for picking your own people, but a lot of yachts won't even let you bring your own officiant.

We've done a number of both, and have had some peacocks in attendance at the zoo, lol....very very cool.

Make a chart to see the true cost with both options.

It sounds like both venues are offering quite a lot, so I would go with your dream venue, which you said was the zoo!

Zoo!!! Omg that would be AWESOME. I'm totally jealous

I had an inclusive venue and it was the best decision! Having everything in one place-as long as it's quality- made things so easy. Two users I know here are having zoo weddings but I'm not sure which zoos.

I'm getting married at a zoo ! I personally liked choosing my own vendors. You can find the best deals and get things the way you want. Yes, all inclusive is less stress, but you get what they offer.

Btw here are some pics of the zoo I'm getting married at. It is beautiful. So excited. If you have the option of the zoo, I would go for it

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Thank you for posting those pictures! I am definitely leaning towards the zoo option. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments.