Me and my Wife searched the internet, for quite some time, to find our wedding venue. We had no idea that the zoo could be an option, until we stumbled upon it. We are so glad that... we did, it was perfect for us.
Blank Park Zoo offers many locations on the property to host your ceremony and reception. We were only planning a small wedding, and hosting the reception elsewhere. So we chose to use their aquarium room, and rented out the discovery center.
The discovery center is a large indoor zoo, with free roaming birds, plants, trees, and other critters. There is a path you fallow to look at all the exhibits, eventually leading you to the aquarium room.
The aquarium room is beautiful, with a wall sized salt water fish tank. There are several other tanks in the room, along with plants,(kinda jungle like) and the sounds of the giant waterfall that's in the discovery center.
The staff is super friendly and very helpful. The coordinator did all they could to accommodate our needs. We thought the sound of the waterfall was too loud, so they shut it off for our ceremony.
The coordinator helped with everything, from the time we booked our date. Email was good way of communicating, she would get back to you pretty quickly, sometimes responding in the evening hours. On the day of, she even helped unload the decorations, and helped set up what she could. She seemed stressed on the day of, and i took that as a good thing. It showed how much she cared about our big day. We appreciated that very much :)
Overall, it was perfect. Our wedding was nothing like anyone else s, and the family thought it was beautiful. It was a very budget friendly venue as well.
I would recommend booking your date well in advance, as the popularity of the zoo as a venue seems to be growing.
We spent around $800, including our zoo membership cost. The membership saved more then its own cost, using its discount to rent the venue. Also the membership is useful, you and your fiance, will be able to visit the zoo anytime before your big day, with free admission..
Best of all, the Blank Park Zoo, is a non profit organization, meaning that the money your spending, is going to help take care of their animals, and or make future upgrades.