Botanical Garden Center Weddings

ENP4berry

Hi! I am getting married at the Roger Williams Botanical Center next May. Any advice from past Botanical Center brides would be much appreciated in regards to a few things:

1) Temperature: Is it hot/humid/muggy/etc inside? Our cocktail hour is at 6pm (outside) and dinner/dancing at 7pm. Should we rent fans? Was hair/makeup okay?

2) Space: We are having ~ 140 people for sit down dinner and also a band with dancefloor. Did you have to rearrange the room at all after dinner? Was it tight? Did you use a bump-out tent & if so, was it expensive and/or worth it?

3) Uplighting: Did you have it? Who did you use? Was it expensive?

Any advice/insight would be much appreciated!!!!

musictchr25

Hi Elaine! I was a Botanical Center bride! Congratulations! You will absolutely love the venue when it's all set up with for your wedding.  

We got married in October, and the weather was fine. It was a little humid, as we had a small rainstorm pass through, but it wasn't unbearable. In May, you shouldn't have too much humidity, but if it does end up being unusually humid for that time of year, the cross-breeze through the space should help a little. 

In terms of space, we ended up with 83 as our final number, so while that's much smaller than you, we did have a 23% decline rate with our final numbers of invited vs. attending.  Keep that in mind, because while you may be inviting 140, you may not end up with that many.  With that many people, having a dance floor in the middle of the space would likely be your best bet, but having a band will be difficult.  A band needs a lot of space to setup, so that will take away from the space that you have for your dance floor and the tables.  A DJ would only need a table, which can easily be setup in that space without intruding too much on your dance floor space and table space.  I think that Heather, the coordinator, requires that anything over 150 people needs to be held in the tent instead of in the small greenhouse with the koi pond.  

I didn't use uplighting - I really didn't want to take away from the ambience that the space gives off on it's own, and plus, it was a huge cost savings to not have any additional lighting. I know that each light is about $200, so keep that in mind when planning the space.  

I hope that this is helpful! I also have a blog, Rhody Life, with all of my wedding planning, and more information about the RWBC, including the professional pictures from my wedding in my recaps.  Please let me know if you have any other questions!

ENP4berry

Thank you so much Amanda!!!

mrossignol

Hi Ladies, 

Just wondering how expensive renting the Botanical Garden was and who you used for catering? Also, do you have any photos from the wedding to share? I am interested in getting more information about having a wedding there, I'm planning for next year. Thanks!!