National Aviary

Room & the Rose Garden were all beautiful & unique spaces. We loved having an outdoor option for guests to mingle. The venue was such a modern & unique setting that our guests continued to rave about. The panoramic views of the surrounding park were such a beautiful view. While we didn't add on habitat access for guests, we did have a Penguin encounter during cocktail hour. Our guests LOVED it! For the planning process, we worked with multiple employees primarily via email. We had a walk-through about 5 months prior to our big day too. Everyone was so kind & quickly answered any questions I had. We are truly so happy & thankful that we used the Aviary for our wedding day. It is a day we will never forget! e 100% recommend the National Aviary if you are looking for a venue that is modern, unique & absolutely stunning!!

a great meal. We've had multiple people tell us it was the best wedding they've ever been to.

y was so beautiful, and adding the penguin encounter was so much fun for us and our guests. Beautiful space and all team members were so pleasant to work with.

e Aviary open for guests during cocktail hour, and we had a penguin and an owl come to the cocktail hour as well - it was SO incredible. The only hiccups were that some staff at the Aviary were not as communicative as they could've been with some policies that left us scrambling to make some decisions last minute, and we had issues with the program they used for seating charts which we had to fix. I would highly recommend working with at least a partial wedding planner if you want to go with the Aviary - overall I loved having my wedding here, but we really benefited from having a professional planner in our corner to help the wedding day go smoothly.

space itself is also so beautiful! We kept receiving compliments on how nice the venue was.

ing cocktail hour (with an additional cost). They work exclusively with Atrias for catering and it did not disappoint. We worked with Yvette who took great care of us and answered our numerous questions. We highly recommend the National Aviary!!

I appreciate how customizable the packages are and the details that the events team covers. Jordyn was our event day coordinator but we also worked with Yvette, who was very helpful. Also, EVERYONE, even our pickiest guests, loved the food provided by Atria’s. Their head chef is incredibly thoughtful, detail-oriented, and proud of the kind of service and staff they have. We are also very thank to Natalie, the events coordinator, from Atria’s because she was always incredibly responsive and had helpful recommendations to streamline things and to alleviate potential issues.

y did not disappoint. Also, the Atria's team is fabulous!

anning process and made everything so easy. They were so accommodating with showing the venue to us various times with our families. If you are looking at them for your wedding.. just do it!! Honestly so worth it.

The aviary partners with Atria's. The taste and price were better than anywhere else we looked. Top notch service. Individuality 5/5. The aviary brought out a penguin (not Crosby but still) and a falcon for the guests to see from just a few feet away and and everyone was able to stroll through the exits after hours without other visitors being there. Thank you Aviary events team! ~Mathias

It even rained about an hour before our ceremony and staff members were out there wiping off all the chairs. The day of our event the staff helped us with whatever we needed, opening up the glass doors to the outside terrace was fabulous, and our guests loved visiting the birds during cocktail hour. It was a wedding, an experience, and a good time.

venue was.

, helpful and great during the wedding and leading up to it! They were quick to respond and accommodating. All of our guests also raved about the food catered through Atrias- it was delicious! Natalie- the catering manager was great and all of the servers and bartenders were so nice and helpful. We had a bit of rain in the forecast (although it didn’t end up raining!!) and so we decided last minute to do an indoor ceremony- they opened up the windows and it was still a stunning backdrop for our ceremony. Highly recommend and we are so so happy with our decision to have our wedding here.

Aviary during cocktail hour!

d the process was made very easy for a person working full time whilst wedding planning. Atrias and the aviary also gave us a gift even though we paid them to have our wedding there. It was truly above and beyond

fect size for a small intimate ceremony. The bird encounters we did after the ceremony were so cool! We surprised my mom with the penguin encounter and the owl was a huge hit as well. It was such a neat feature that made our day that much more unique and special.

events team, Yvette, Jena, and Jordyn, made this an absolute success. They were so great to work with and incredibly organized and so very nice. The venue is absolutely stunning. The catering staff was amazing. The food was incredible. There is not a single thing that we would have done different. It is by far the nicest venue I have ever been in for a wedding.

think thats how most weddings feel though lol). And that the Bridal suite was available sooner so my bridal party and I could've gotten ready there instead. At the same time it all turned out better than I could've hoped.

yn ensured the whole night went smoothly. The food was delicious and all the servers were so friendly. So happy with our wedding there!

mend for anyone looking for wedding venues!

edible the entire time. Everything was so organized and these ladies were always available to talk and answer any questions. The facility is gorgeous and I got so many compliments from my guests! We had a Penguin encounter which was a huge hit! It also was so unique to our wedding. Thank you all so much for making my dream wedding come to life!

ght ended, it was spectacular! Now the only reason I would give the aviary a 4 and not a 5 was because Yvette Fox was flat out difficult to work with. 100% do not recommend working with her. Everyone else at the national aviary that we encountered was great. She was difficult and any small detail we asked about, she got upset. Luckily, because everything else went smoothly, our night was perfect.

ur cocktail hour, the Aviary can bring out birds to meet your guests. Sunshine the penguin was the true star of our wedding! The Aviary is obviously an Aviary FIRST and a wedding venue SECOND, so keep that in mind when booking this space. It's worth it, but note, you won't be able to set up early and you have limitations within the space. I will say that the staff was awesome, it was a lot of moving parts, and they did their best to make everything run smoothly. The forecast on the day of my wedding was low for rain, but about 2 hours beforehand, it looked grim. The Aviary did the herculean task of moving the ceremony indoors with limited time. They set up in the lobby, which I'm told was the first wedding to do so and it was absolutely gorgeous. Brides I highly recommend you use this as the rain plan moving forward. The most magical space and my guests had so much fun in penguin point.

indows overlooking the garden and the park. And the birds! Our guests loved getting to see a penguin up close, and we were able to get photos throughout the venue - truly unforgettable. The food was great, the staff were amazing, and every little detail was absolutely wonderful. If you're reading this looking for venues, congratulations, you're done - the Aviary is spectacular!

he planning team was extremely accommodating, giving us regular updates and checking in for any of our needs. On the day of the wedding, everything was in place at the right time, and our bridal parties were led to where they needed to be when without any hiccups. It was truly a spectacular day, and I'd absolutely recommend the space to anyone getting married soon!

day so special!

so helpful to me that they would just ask me questions to get everything set up since I really didn't have a whole lot of ideas of what I wanted. They were amazing from start to finish. There was a festival in the park behind the Aviary the day of our wedding and due to the noise it seemed like it would be better to have the ceremony indoors. With the beauty of the Rose Garden though, I just knew I wanted to get married there and they made it happen. We aren't big into decorations and that made the Aviary a great choice for us. With the beauty of the Rose Garden combined with all the stunning birds on exhibit, decorations weren't even needed. Our guests loved getting to check out all the exhibits and getting to take pictures with a penguin and an owl were huge hits. The entire staff was amazing all night and kept making sure we had everything we needed, including a purse that was left behind by one of our guests. They deserve more than five stars. They helped give us the wedding of our dreams. So many thanks to the Aviary Events Staff!

they helped work with me around time changes and multiple viewings, planning changes. They were so patient with every question we had and gave great recommendations and ideas. The day of the wedding, they helped make sure everything wedding smoothly with the wedding, timeline and guests. The venue itself is spectacular and our guests LOVED walking through and viewing the birds. Everything was beautiful, our wedding was perfect and a big thanks goes to the Aviary and their staff. A dream night at a dream venue! THANK YOU!

our day perfect. They coordinated the rehearsal and helped us work through all the details, which eased our minds for the next day. On the day of our wedding, they made sure everything was perfect and we didn't have to worry about anything. The space was beautiful and we wouldn't change anything about that night, all thanks to the Aviary and their wonderful staff!

O extremely helpful, prompt and knowledgeable about how to run a wedding. I did not have a single worry the entire day. They made sure everything was perfect and ran smoothly without a single bump in the road. I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful this new space is!!

he Garden Room was a dream to host our guests and have our ceremony/reception. Having 2 animal encounters during our cocktail hour was a HUGE hit with our guests and the food catering by Atria’s was phenomenal. We continue to get rave reviews from our guests about their experience and my husband and I recommend this venue a million times over; you will not be disappointed!!!

through Atria’s exclusive catering was outstanding. We were thrilled to work with events coordinators. All of the staff was extremely helpful. I can’t thank everyone enough for making our big day extremely special.

there I felt rushed out the door.

orgeous! All of our guests thought our venue was so unique and special. Our penguin guest just made it that much better. The staff were all wonderful to work with, and we couldn't have asked for a better day. Thank you!!!

s so helpful in planning everything, and Jena was there for us at our rehearsal and day of. They work great as a team. Such a unique wedding place and a great Pittsburgh venue!

I had a lot of them) so quickly! She was wonderful to work with, and so organized, I was so sad to see her go a few months before our wedding day. When Ashely left we got passed off to Sam Moore and Yvette. We first met them over zoom when we had a COVID guideline zoom meeting to go over COVID restrictions and answer all of our questions. However, Yvette was harder to get a hold of than Ashley was, she was a little slower getting back to my emails, and I sometimes had to send them multiple times to get an response. She seemed unorganized and it got frustrating. I didn’t have too much interaction with Sam Moore as he also left the Aviary shortly after that zoom call meeting we had with him, which kind of made me question why everyone was leaving and it was a little frustrating to keep getting passed off to new people. He gave me Kate’s information when he left - I sent her two emails to which she never replied. We then got passed to the new events manager, Jena, who replaced Ashley. We met her at our last meeting 6 days before our wedding. Yvette informed me that she would be the new point of contact, but did not give me her contact information – I got that at our first meeting with Jena from Jena. I do wish there hadn’t been so much turn over, and I really wish Ashley hadn’t left because she was just so great. There seemed to be a lack of communication between the staff who left and the staff who stayed/replaced them, but also between the old staff (Yvette) and new staff (Jena). The Aviary does have a good relationship with Atria’s (their exclusive caterer) which is nice, and they worked well together to make sure everything ran smoothly the day of. I would recommend the Aviary because it’s an absolutely beautiful space, as long as their new staff stays – otherwise, it was kind of a headache to get passed around and not know the people you’re working with, especially with the lack of communication (i.e. having to do my seating chart THREE times on their program because Yvette did not give me proper instructions the first time and then also took it upon herself to go in and change things incorrectly). I’m hopeful now that Jena is there future brides that book this beautiful space (I could not have been happier with the venue space!) will not be passed around and will be given direct and correct information. Even with the frustration of working with some of the people at the Aviary, I would not have chosen anywhere else to have our wedding because the garden and garden room were so, so perfect, Atria’s was amazing, our guests being able to see the birds during cocktail hour was so nice, and the penguin encounter was AWSEOME - my recommendation though would be to work with Jena SOLELY.

he only hiccup we had was dealing with the changes in event planners and some miscommunication with them.

t the entire process. We were the first wedding in the new event room they build this year and it is so beautiful. It was perfect for a COVID-safe wedding because the side of the room facing the rose garden can be completely opened up to allow fresh air in and guests can easily flow in and out of the room onto the patio and into the rose garden. They also altered our buffet service so that Atria’s staff served the food rather than guests serving themselves for no additional cost. The reason we are giving 4/5 stars is for a few minor things. First, there are 2 large beautiful fireplaces in the room but neither was working the night of our wedding which was disappointing. 2nd, you are required to use Atria’s catering if you get married at the Aviary but they won’t tray your cookies or arrange them whatsoever (not even for an additional fee). We had to tray cookies ourselves the night before the wedding and find someone to set them up for us which was super stressful. Atria’s was wonderful but I think if you force couples to use a caterer they should tray cookies since it’s such an integral part of Pittsburgh weddings. Overall though we were very pleased with the Aviary and the venue is definitely all we wanted it to be!

e, Ashley, and Laura were on top of everything! The food is catered by Atria's, but there's nothing wrong with that because all night long, guests were commenting on how delicious the food was. Everyone involved did a great job helping us out with every detail, including the coordinators, the chef, and other workers. We had a cute penguin visitor to our wedding during cocktail hour, and the guests loved that. Guests keep telling us how much they loved the unique venue that is the Aviary. We were supposed to have our ceremony in the Rose Garden, but it rained, and Yvette was prepared to move everything inside to the theater. It turned out beautifully! :) We still had the reception outside under a heated covered tent. It was a beautiful and fun wedding. We would HIGHLY recommend the Aviary if you are looking for a unique venue to hold your wedding, and you will not be disappointed! :)