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Quality of service
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Average response time
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Professionalism
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Value
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Flexibility
5.0 out of 5 rating
My husband and I got married this past May in the San Francisco Zoo, and we were thrilled we chose it as our venue. The zoo was beautiful, cooperative, and well-organized throughout the process.
From the start, the zoo was helpful, working with us to schedule our big day appropriately. Originally we had looked at an April wedding, but despite having openings that month, they advised us to wait until May for better weather. As planning continued, the zoo made things easy on us. For example, they took care of the catering, tables, linens, and open bar. This made them almost a one-stop-shop and made our lives that much easier. They offered us a wide menu of food options, and worked with us to set up a buffet for our guests (per our request) after inviting us to taste some of their entrees. About a month prior to the wedding, the zoo coordinator worked with us to get our photographers, florist, and day-of planners into the zoo so they could look over the reception hall, venue, and even much of the zoo for photography planning purposes. The zoo coordinated with us as we made our own tickets for our guests (the zoo allows free access to wedding party members), but with our vouchers guests were also allowed to enter into the zoo early for a reduced price if they wanted to see some animals. Overall, despite it being a wedding, the zoo made the process as smooth and easy as you can imagine.
Since the wedding was to occur after the zoo closed, our coordinator worked with us to take pictures prior to the ceremony. Thus, we and the wedding party were able to take photos in front of our favorite animals including lemurs, pelicans, and bears. The zoo also cooperated with us to get photographs on the carousel and their little train. They ultimately let us take as many pictures as possible before the ceremony, giving us only the problem of sorting through them all!
The wedding venue itself was the area situated in the African Savannah exhibit. Guests must transit through one of two tunnels to get there, allowing for the bride to stay concealed until the start of the ceremony, but also surrounding our guests with a variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and Marabou storks among others. For animal lovers like us, this gave the wedding a great exotic/wild feeling to it, and also made for some excellent photo opportunities. For planning purposes, the savannah seating area fits around one-hundred guests. While this was our desired wedding size, it could limit you if you are looking to have more guests.
Following the wedding, we treated our guests to a giraffe feeding and five animal encounters. The giraffe feeding brings the wedding party, and subsequently guests, into the giraffe house to pet and then feed them bananas and leaves. None of us had ever pet or fed a giraffe before, so it made for a fun and memorable experience.
Meanwhile, since only about twenty-five guests can fit in the giraffe house at once, the rest of our guests enjoyed cocktail hour with drinks, hors d oeuvres, and the five encounters. For the encounters, the zoo has animal trainers bring out five animals (the zoo gave us a list of about twelve animals that were typically available, but realize that sometimes trainers are not on hand or animals could be sick so there may be last minute changes) for our guests to pet, examine, and learn about. We chose the golden eagle, a hedgehog, an alligator, an opossum, and an owl. As with the giraffe feeding, it made for a memorable and fun experience for both ourselves and our guests, and it also allowed us to have unfettered time to take photographs after the ceremony.
Finally, the Great Hall made for an excellent location for our reception. With its large fireplace and high ceilings, it made for a grand but homey setting for our celebration. The buffet was well organized in the back, and we had plenty of room for 100 guests, our sweetheart table, food, cakes, and our DJ, with plenty of room to dance as well. Also, despite the high ceiling, the sound quality in the room was excellent. Outside of the hall was a lobby area where the open bar was located along with our photo booth, which provided enough room for our guests during cocktail hour. Just past the lobby was the dressing room for the bride, allowing everything to be centralized but still appropriately separated.
If you are animal lovers looking for a memorable wedding, the San Francisco Zoo is for you. It offers great views and memorable experiences while accommodating your wedding’s logistics. As an added bonus, you can be happy that the proceeds from your ceremony will go to help the zoo’s animals.
My husband and I got married this past May in the San Francisco Zoo, and we were thrilled we chose it as our venue. The zoo was beautiful, cooperative, and well-organized throughout the process.
From the start, the zoo was helpful, working with us to schedule our big day appropriately. Originally we had looked at an April wedding, but despite having openings that month, they advised us to wait until May for better weather. As planning continued, the zoo made things easy on us. For example, they took care of the catering, tables, linens, and open bar. This made them almost a one-stop-shop and made our lives that much easier. They offered us a wide menu of food options, and worked with us to set up a buffet for our guests (per our request) after inviting us to taste some of their entrees. About a month prior to the wedding, the zoo coordinator worked with us to get our photographers, florist, and day-of planners into the zoo so they could look over the reception hall, venue, and even much of the zoo for photography planning purposes. The zoo coordinated with us as we made our own tickets for our guests (the zoo allows free access to wedding party members), but with our vouchers guests were also allowed to enter into the zoo early for a reduced price if they wanted to see some animals. Overall, despite it being a wedding, the zoo made the process as smooth and easy as you can imagine.
Since the wedding was to occur after the zoo closed, our coordinator worked with us to take pictures prior to the ceremony. Thus, we and the wedding party were able to take photos in front of our favorite animals including lemurs, pelicans, and bears. The zoo also cooperated with us to get photographs on the carousel and their little train. They ultimately let us take as many pictures as possible before the ceremony, giving us only the problem of sorting through them all!
The wedding venue itself was the area situated in the African Savannah exhibit. Guests must transit through one of two tunnels to get there, allowing for the bride to stay concealed until the start of the ceremony, but also surrounding our guests with a variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and Marabou storks among others. For animal lovers like us, this gave the wedding a great exotic/wild feeling to it, and also made for some excellent photo opportunities. For planning purposes, the savannah seating area fits around one-hundred guests. While this was our desired wedding size, it could limit you if you are looking to have more guests.
Following the wedding, we treated our guests to a giraffe feeding and five animal encounters. The giraffe feeding brings the wedding party, and subsequently guests, into the giraffe house to pet and then feed them bananas and leaves. None of us had ever pet or fed a giraffe before, so it made for a fun and memorable experience.
Meanwhile, since only about twenty-five guests can fit in the giraffe house at once, the rest of our guests enjoyed cocktail hour with drinks, hors d oeuvres, and the five encounters. For the encounters, the zoo has animal trainers bring out five animals (the zoo gave us a list of about twelve animals that were typically available, but realize that sometimes trainers are not on hand or animals could be sick so there may be last minute changes) for our guests to pet, examine, and learn about. We chose the golden eagle, a hedgehog, an alligator, an opossum, and an owl. As with the giraffe feeding, it made for a memorable and fun experience for both ourselves and our guests, and it also allowed us to have unfettered time to take photographs after the ceremony.
Finally, the Great Hall made for an excellent location for our reception. With its large fireplace and high ceilings, it made for a grand but homey setting for our celebration. The buffet was well organized in the back, and we had plenty of room for 100 guests, our sweetheart table, food, cakes, and our DJ, with plenty of room to dance as well. Also, despite the high ceiling, the sound quality in the room was excellent. Outside of the hall was a lobby area where the open bar was located along with our photo booth, which provided enough room for our guests during cocktail hour. Just past the lobby was the dressing room for the bride, allowing everything to be centralized but still appropriately separated.
If you are animal lovers looking for a memorable wedding, the San Francisco Zoo is for you. It offers great views and memorable experiences while accommodating your wedding’s logistics. As an added bonus, you can be happy that the proceeds from your ceremony will go to help the zoo’s animals.
