Weddings

Please do:

• Enhance your décor with free-standing props, such as pillars, podiums, arbors, floral containers, and planters.
• Gather and remove all event-related materials at the conclusion of the event.
• Ask the events manager specific questions in the early planning stages of your event.

Please do not:

• Do not use adhesives or attach decorations to the Arboretum’s buildings, pillars, pavement, or plants.
• Do not use decorations or materials that are not environmentally friendly, including balloons, confetti, streamers, pompoms, glitter, rice, and breakable vases.
• Do not release live animals, insects, plants, or plant parts (including flower petals), as laid out in our Release Policy for Animals and Plants.

Photographers hired by Arboretum rental clients may take pictures of the wedding party and guests both in the rental venue and throughout the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens. All photographers must abide by guidelines in the general photography policy pertaining to not blocking walkways or entering planting beds and water features.

Rental clients are welcome to bring the wedding party to the gardens for an informal walk-through prior to the ceremony. To schedule a rehearsal, please contact the events manager at least two weeks in advance. While the Arboretum staff will make every effort to accommodate rehearsal requests around existing events, please note that this cannot be guaranteed.