About this vendor
Weddings at Zoo Knoxville are truly unforgettable, with lush romantic settings and exotic animals to set the theme for your ceremony, reception, or rehearsal dinner. Our venues will transport your guests all over the globe, and our experienced team of wedding and party planners can make your event memorable and enjoyable for you and your guests.
Zoo Knoxville is a unique wedding and event venue located in Knoxville, TN.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Covered Outdoors Space
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Settings
- Garden
- Historic Venue
- Museum
- Park
- Restaurant
- Tented
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Cakes & Desserts
- Other Desserts
- Destination Weddings
- Food & Catering
- Planning
Awards and Affiliations
2-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2024.2022.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.018 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
We eloped at Zoo Knoxville and it was everything we could have wanted and more!
Price: the venue is rated $$$ here, but for an elopement I would say the price is extremely reason...
able, especially considering what is included. For our price we got access to the Zoo after hours for our event, access early for ourselves and our guests and vendors, two private areas to get ready, a golf cart tour for photos, a walk through before hand to map our photos and the event plan, an arch (we brought in a few flowers to decorate), chairs, a table and linens for cake and cards, several dedicated event staff who coordinated locations and timelines and music, and access to the carousel after hours for the most incredible photos. We were able to add on Champagne for a toast for a very reasonable cost too! We didn’t add on an animal encounter package but they were a bit more expensive. Since this venue is a non-profit, we felt good about our money going back into the Zoo and animals.
Venue/Location: we got engaged at this location, so it was an easy choice for us. I will say the animals are animals so some were more active and willing to show off for photos than others - but we counted on none of them and were pleasantly surprised by anyone who did show up. There were so many beautiful spots around the zoo for photos (bamboo forests, wooden covered bridges, caves, rock formations, a waterfall, a tree house, the carousel, and more!) so even without the animals we loved the space. There was more than enough parking and it was easy to get downtown immediately after for our dinner and reception.
Events Team/Coordinator: Truly the best group of people on the events team to work with! We worked primarily with Marie - and she was INCREDIBLE!!! Even though our event was relatively small, pulled together within ~6 weeks, and right before Christmas/the end of the year, Marie and the team treated it like it was their number one priority and the most important event they could possibly be working on. We appreciated their responsiveness - especially to my many lists of questions - so much as we pulled together an event in a short time frame. They helped us customize the event to exactly what we wanted/needed and were so flexible in terms of our timeline and accommodating of all of our preferences. Marie gave us a walkthrough and showed us all the best photo spots and personally drove around our golf cart for photos on the day of. She also set up the arch with the florals we brought. The laptop we brought for music died and they immediately adapted and pulled up their own music that fit the vibe of the playlist we had made and covered it so seamlessly that I never even knew that our playlist wasn’t the one that was played! They truly made the day an easy and smooth dream for us.
We would choose this venue again in a heartbeat, and we would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested!
Booked the tiger viewing area for a rehearsal dinner. Guests all had a great time viewing the animals while dining. Food was good, staff was friendly. Will definitely hold my next ...
rehearsal dinner here too.
The location was amazing and beautiful. I did not have to worry about any small details because Miranda helped me to plan out everything. She and her team did all of the decorating...
and breakdown, relieving me from any of that stress. They provided us with a wonderful room to get ready in, and gave us amazing suggestions for first look locations.
If you are considering booking the zoo for your wedding, this is your sign to do it. Every single aspect exceeded our expectations! I honestly can’t emphasize enough how accommodat...
ing they were. They truly listened to everything we wanted, and even then went above and beyond what we asked for to make our day perfect. I was honestly surprised in the best way at how much they did for us. On our wedding day, they had an event that morning that more people showed up for than they had accounted for, and even still, they made us priority. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, the catering was top notch, and the set up and breakdown were effortless. For a day that everyone warned me was chaotic and stressful, that was just simply not the case at the zoo. Miranda was our coordinator and I will forever be grateful for her and how she made our special day (and the months leading up to it) the best way we could’ve asked for.
Emails were quick, questions answered, very patient, flexible to all my changes , very nice
When we were deciding on a venue we looked at several places in and around Knoxville we found two very common themes - barns and warehouses. While many of the locations we looked a...
t were beautiful we wanted something fun and unique, which is how we found Zoo Knoxville. We knew that it would allow for a once in a lifetime memory for ourselves and our guests, and boy oh boy it did not disappoint. We held our ceremony in front of the elephants, the cocktail hour was in the treehouse near the gibbons, and our reception was in their event tent near Kid's Cove. The Zoo was great to work with from the beginning to the end, we had a team of coordinators to work with and they had their own catering/bar service so it was on stop shop. I can't recommend Zoo Knoxville enough if you want a unique wedding experience that your friends and family will be talking about, this venue is for you. Plus it's somewhere we can easily go back to relive all of our memories.
When my husband proposed, we both knew immediately that Zoo Knoxville was the only venue we'd want to have our wedding at (otherwise we would have inevitably eloped.) We're big on ...
travel and animals, so anytime we visit a new place, we always make time to peruse the local zoo; getting married in one of our favorite places only seemed appropriate. We had agreed on a plan A (our intended itinerary of events) and plan B (in case it rained), and boy did it rain - but it all worked out! Our wedding coordinator (Miranda) and team (Maria and other staff) worked fast to move our chairs/ metal trellis/ signage/ etc. all indoors, including cocktail hour items to a new location. Although I was nervous about how the day-of events would turn out, all tasks went smoothly and without a hitch, AND we were able to capture a ton of photos with animals before the downpour, which made the day even more special. Another added plus was the food. Although my husband and I had no time to snag a bite (lol), our guests raved about the items we chose! If I could do it all over again, I would choose Zoo Knoxville every time!
Zoo Knoxville provided my husband and I with an INCREDIBLE experience. On top of that, our guests had the time of their lives. Nobody has been able to stop talking about how unique...
and fun it was! The value of this venue is impossible to explain. There are a team of staff the day of just to help and support you. They take care of every detail and concern, and they truly work with you to achieve YOUR vision. They are a well-oiled machine, and everything went off without a hitch. You could not have a more special experience if you tried! We did a photo tour around the zoo during the cocktail hour and enjoyed an animal encounter (feeding the tigers) with our guests as well. Having one-on-one encounters with different animals after-hours is an indescribable experience. At our adults-only wedding, everyone was able to let their inner "kid" out, especially on the merry-go-round! Zoo Knoxville is well-organized, responsive, helpful, and FLEXIBLE. Book Zoo Knoxville NOW! You won't regret it!
Zoo Knoxville was truly the best place that we could have found to get married. My now husband and I found out the Zoo was an option for our wedding after a chance encounter with a...
incredibly friendly and kind event coordinator, Suzi. We were excited about the idea of such a unique venue, and were floored with the ease of planning our wedding/reception. Zoo Knoxville not only has a lot of services in-house, but their services are all top notch and made incredibly accessible but their ASTOUNDING event staff! They were responsive, caring, professional, and supportive every single step of the way! I wish that I could throw a party for every major event in my life at Zoo Knoxville! Our wedding day was unique and magical in so many ways, and I would not have changed a single detail!
I can’t say enough great things about the Knoxville Zoo. They were so incredibly helpful to make our rehearsal dinner something to remember. Most of our guests double checked to se...
e if the rehearsal dinner was actually at the zoo! Working with Miranda & the team at Knoxville Zoo was incredibly smooth. We were able to accomplish all of our agreements online as well as properly set everything up without ever having met in person. Day of operations was even better. Our guests were greeted and were taken directly to our event room, the tiger room. Our seating and arrangements were completed and the food was ready to go almost immediately. Wow, I can’t believe the Knoxville zoo catered this food. It was so delicious and so well done and the staff was incredibly helpful. Originally we thought we only had access to the tiger room, but we also had access to a little area outside by the fountain where our guests could roam just a bit and get a chance to see a bit of the zoo at night time. It also served us incredibly well for our wedding rehearsal to be able to have a bit of a larger space than the room where all of the tables and chairs are located. We sincerely recommend the Knoxville Zoo for any of your special events and if you haven’t thought of doing your wedding rehearsal dinner at the zoo, you do not want to pass it up. #shoutouttotherisotto
Suzi and the team at Zoo Knoxville are incredible! We had the easiest time planning our wedding at the Zoo in September. All of our guests said it was one of the funnest and cooles...
t venues they have ever been too. We even had a sloth experience at the rehearsal, a pig as our ring bearer, and giraffe feeding experience for our bridal party. Suzi drove us and the photographer around before the wedding to capture some incredible shots, and we had fun doing it too! The food was prepared by the Zoo chef and his team, and it was delicious. They were even able to accommodate all our guest food allergies.
Suzi and her team also went above and beyond with decoration set-up and even gave us a painting as a gift. They coordinated all the decorations and vendors which made our wedding day a breeze. We literally just had to show up, get ready with our friends in the huge bridal room. and then party all night. I wish we could get married again at the zoo, and we will be sure to host many more events at the zoo.
We had such a beautiful wedding at the zoo. Suzi and Britney helped us with special orders for the bar, and choosing our animal ambassadors! The animals were a hit with our guests,...
and we really enjoyed feeding the giraffes with our wedding party. Everything went smoothly and without any issues! That’s all a bride can ask!! We really loved that the zoo was all-inclusive and we didn’t have to spend time and energy choosing from a list of vendors for food, bar, etc… We also chose our photographer from the list of preferred vendors the zoo supplied us with, and we loved her as well! All around, our expectations were exceeded!
We absolutely loved getting married at Zoo Knoxville! The Zoo event staff worked so hard to make our wedding perfect for us, and we're so grateful to them. They took care of all of...
the rentals, catering (the chef is AMAZING), and day-of coordination, which made our wedding day so stress-free and seamless. Plus, there were so many special ways to have the animals involved, which All in all, Zoo Knoxville was such a fun, unique, and beautiful venue, and we are so happy we chose them for our day!
My zoo coordinators (Suzi and Britney) did everything in their power to make my wedding everything I dreamed of and more!
Suzi and her crew helped make the day perfect and very low stress for us. We knew we didn't want to do a ton of planning but wanted a unique and enjoyable wedding. We were able to ...
nail down specific details we wanted and add in the uniqueness of being at a zoo! Everything was straightforward, customizable, and the communication was great. I would highly recommend considering Zoo Knoxville for your wedding. Not only will the day go perfectly, but you'll also get a wild good time! :D
Our guests said that this wedding was the funnest wedding they have ever been to. Between the surprise animal visits to being on a carousel, there was never a dull moment. Best nig...
ht of my life. Suzi and Britney didn’t miss a thing and made everything super easy. 110% would recommend!
We honestly cannot say enough great things about Zoo Knoxville and their Event Sales Manager, Suzi! We got married in a time where everything was up in the air and nothing could be...
certain anywhere. Suzi was absolutely amazing at making sure we had plenty of backup options for every single detail well ahead of time, and then implementing option B, F, or W the day of without us ever having to ask or even be involved and try to make more decisions. The staff took our vague decorating ideas and decorations, and made an absolutely stunning reception space that surpassed our expectations. Suzi took the time to get to know the two of us before the big day, and used that to create and incorporate some wonderful and unexpected details for us throughout the day. The entire process, from meeting Suzi at a bridal expo to going back to pick up things left behind, was just so effortless. Everything had been thought of for us and we just had to fill in the blanks with our own personal touches. It really doesn't get any better than that. The day ended up being a lot colder than we had anticipated, and I have Suzi and few other staff members to thank for keeping me from getting hypothermia and I will forever be grateful! While it wasn't exactly the wedding we had planned (thanks, COVID!), it was the best wedding we could have possibly had thanks to Suzi and her staff.
Better Than My Wildest Dreams
Being a less-than-traditional couple, deciding to have our wedding at Zoo Knoxville was a no-brainer. Animals at our wedding?! Duh.
The customizatio...
n of the wedding packages is fantastic, and the Zoo's event management staff went above and beyond during a stressful COVID-wedding planning process. Suzi and Miranda were gems, answering all of our questions and catering to our sometimes ridiculous whims (look, we really needed that personal shrimp tower for our sweetheart table!). The rest of the staff that helped make our special day possible were kind, gracious, and very well-prepared.
What I'd consider to be the coolest part of the day was the fact that Suzi and company drove our bridal party around the zoo on golf carts to take photos before the ceremony. And after the ceremony, we were whisked away to take photos together as husband and wife throughout the zoo. It was fun, goofy, and just plain magical.
I can't recommend Zoo Knoxville for your wedding enough. This team knows how to do it right!
Contact
3500 Knoxville Zoo Dr., Knoxville, TN
