Rose Garden Weddings - Right For You?
Rose garden weddings are part of a fantasy wedding for many women. Imagine a huge, lush rose garden with 1000s of plants in full bloom…the fragrance alone is heady stuff. The photographs and videos will be unbelievable. It will be an event people will talk about for years to come.
But many families shy away from rose garden weddings because they think it will be too difficult or time consuming to plan. If you have ever wondered about how to plan a rose garden wedding then read this article and learn the important points you should take into consideration while planning.
Things you should know about rose garden weddings
The key decision you should make before planning an outdoor wedding of this type is whether you want to use a public or private rose garden. There are some advantages and disadvantages to both types of gardens. But in this article let's go over the details of using a public rose garden for your ceremony.
Public Rose Garden Weddings
- Bookings - these gardens are often booked months if not years in advance, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Most are managed through the city's park and recreation departments. If it is a semi-private property such as botanical garden hosted by a garden club, church or association, you may have to put in a membership application in order to use the garden.
- Costs- unlike vendors a public garden will may require permits and other city mandated fees. You will not be able to haggle or negotiate a better deal.
- Number of Guests - Check and double check with the rose garden owners on the maximum size of your wedding party.
- Locations - Public gardens usually have ongoing maintenance projects. And that particular spot you have always dreamed of using may be unavailable to remodeling or construction. So try and stay flexible about the "exact" location of your ceremony.
- A Stand up or Sit down Ceremony? - Most public gardens restrict or ban the use of any kind of chairs, seating or decorations. You should check the locations within the garden for "alternative" seating such as benches, low stone/brick walls, gentle rolling banks or grassy berms. Also be aware of wheelchair or handicap accessibility. Most US parks have retrofitted walkways, but this is no guarantee for "off trail" areas.
- Music - The wedding march played from a boom box, may not be your idea of romance but make certain you verify what kinds (small hand held instruments allowed?) and how many people (1-3 piece ensemble okay?) are acceptable. Do you require noise permits, etc.?
- Day/Time Limits - most rose garden weddings due to their popularity usually have very strict day and time restrictions. Make sure you understand exactly what time slots you are acceptable and make plans to adhere to them. You don't want to have relatives talk about how Aunt Sue got hauled off by park security because your ceremony ran over the time limit!
- If you can't book the rose garden for the ceremony itself, how about seeing if you can be married somewhere else in the garden facility but have your wedding party photographed in the rose garden?
See, now that you know what traps to look for when planning rose garden weddings, you add this idea to your possible locations in your pre-wedding plans.