ceremony at Dallas Arboretum?

mandafaerie

Anyone here planning on using the Dallas Arboretum for ceremony/reception, or have used it? We have a few days to sign the contract but I am having second thoughts as the arboretum does not provide a back up plan for rain and no refund. Huge risk and was wondering what anyone else did as a quick back up plan for the possibility of rain??

MarieSD

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_ceremony-at-dallas-arboretum?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:aef058f8-c027-4034-a2bc-c3681688ab3dPost:78330784-8bb0-4499-a492-e6f4c4ad23f5">ceremony at Dallas Arboretum?</a>:
[QUOTE]Anyone here planning on using the Dallas Arboretum for ceremony/reception, or have used it? We have a few days to sign the contract but I am having second thoughts as the arboretum does not provide a back up plan for rain and no refund. Huge risk and was wondering what anyone else did as a quick back up plan for the possibility of rain??
Posted by mandafaerie[/QUOTE]

Hopefully other brides that wanted an outdoor wedding will chime in on what they think about this. I know for me (but I'm biased because I ONLY looked at indoor venues -- then again, my date was in April!) I would absolutely need a backup plan.

I did a quick google on "Dallas arboretum wedding rain" looking for wedding blogs that mention rain on the wedding day, and found these two right away that show the "backup plan" these couples did. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jonathanivyphoto.com/blog/2011/05/20/dallas-arboretum-wedding-jordan-leigh-anne-seale/" title="http://www.jonathanivyphoto.com/blog/2011/05/20/dallas-arboretum-wedding-jordan-leigh-anne-seale/">Link 1</a> and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ohlouisedesigns.blogspot.com/p/our-wedding.html" title="http://ohlouisedesigns.blogspot.com/p/our-wedding.html">Link 2</a> (which looks like they must've reserved the backup option ahead of time, to me at least). So I think they do have indoor options, but maybe you have to pay for both? That seems unfair, but definitely the safest way to go.

rsaleh84

My friend had a very small wedding ceremony @ the Arboretum last year, and it was such a beautiful space.  We did see that there were indoor facilites that you could rent, but I'm not sure on the pricing...I think if you could afford it, maybe have a tent set up outside just incase of rain...if not, then definitely look into their indoor space and maybe have the ceremony outside and the reception indoors...either way, congrats on your upcoming wedding and awesome choice on the venue!

angelsong21

The indoor facilities are very pricey, at least when I looked into it last year.  I wouldn't sign a contract with anyone where there was no indoor "plan b."  The weather in Texas is just so unpredictable... I can't imagine spending all that money and then it just got rained out.  That being said, the Arboretum is certainly gorgeous... just not sure that it's worth that big of a risk.

ktwed1

I would have to say that I would need to have an indoor option or a plan B because I think it would stress me out too much worrying about getting rained out.

fallbride1109

Yeah, that's a tough one.  For me, no rain contingency plan would be a deal breaker, but we have had some Knotties have outdoor only options with no rain plan and it worked out.

Jen6862

Another option might be Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park. From what I remember they have both indoor and outdoor options, although same as Arboretum you have to pay for each rental site. Here are the rates if you want to compare.

Website:http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/rentals_and_weddings.php
Rates: http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/Basic%20Rental%20Information%20--%20TXDG.pdf