What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• I’m giddy with ideas

  H2916ALangiec,,Aug 14, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  The garden was magnificent! I didn’t know about this garden until friends and family started randomly making comments about it. Their enthusiasm made me book immediately . I wasn’t disappointed, and through their garden design realized what I could do to incorporate cactus, succulents and California natives in my garden

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Pick any other wedding venue

  Moore Tutus,,May 17, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a breathtaking venue — but what lies behind the beauty is a deeply disorganized, unprofessional, and unaccountable team. Our wedding day was beautiful only because of the people we hired — not because of the venue staff, who were negligent, evasive, and in many cases, careless with our personal belongings and emotions. We spent two years planning our wedding and were assigned three different venue coordinators during that time due to staff turnover. By the time our day arrived, we were working with Fiona, whose official title is House Manager — not Event Coordinator. That detail is crucial: she has no professional event background, and it showed in every misstep. Fiona failed to stay organized from the start. She attended our final walkthrough, yet emailed us weeks later asking when it would take place. She asked redundant questions repeatedly — not to clarify, but because she failed to retain or document important information. This gave us no confidence that our wedding day would be handled with care. And it wasn’t. On the day of our wedding: • Venue staff showed up 20 minutes late, which delayed setup. • We were promised five event assistants, but told the week of the wedding we’d only have three. Our coordinator had to argue to get four, still short of the contracted number. • The assistants were inexperienced teenagers. One vendor gave clear instructions that were ignored, and items were damaged as a result. • Fiona was aware of the damage but said nothing until confronted later. After the reception, the venue unexpectedly told our coordinator she had to leave at 11 p.m., despite her previously stated and documented plan to stay until midnight to supervise breakdown. Fiona’s last-minute decision led directly to what became the most hurtful part of our experience. Once our coordinator was forced to leave: • Our bridal bouquets were taken home by venue staff without permission and thrown out. • These were custom, sentimental, expensive — the most emotionally important items from our day. • We were ignored when we followed up — only told the next day that they had another event that weekend. • What could have been resolved with a 30-minute phone call dragged out for four days. Then it got worse: the venue blamed our coordinator, claiming she had given them permission to discard or take our bouquets. She had done no such thing. They did not contact us directly, and only responded after she stepped in. In order to get us our items back, our coordinator took the blame, calling it “a miscommunication on her part” — even though it wasn’t — just to get the venue to cooperate. She threw herself on the sword because the venue refused to own their actions. This gaslighting was devastating. The few bouquets we did recover were wilted and clearly never placed in water. The rest were never returned. We were told it was “standard practice” to throw them out or keep them — as though packing them with the rest of our belongings wasn’t even considered. The idea of taking or discarding someone’s wedding bouquet without permission is deeply inappropriate and, frankly, disgusting. And that wasn’t the only damage done after our coordinator left: • Our personal items were tossed carelessly into bins — some broken, some missing. • A vendor reached out days later to say her couch had been broken. It had clearly been dragged across the floor, snapping one of the legs. • When we asked Fiona about it, she admitted to seeing it happen, said it looked “wobbly,” but didn’t tell us because she assumed it was already broken. This pattern — of avoiding accountability, deflecting blame, and minimizing damage — ran through every part of our interaction with this venue. They didn’t just mishandle our wedding — they mishandled our trust. The most telling part of all this? Look at the older reviews. Everyone praises Tawny, the former event lead. Tawny clearly held this department together. Without her, the wedding operation at Ruth Bancroft Garden has fallen apart. Had she been present for our day, we firmly believe none of this would have happened. Yes, the garden is stunning. But that beauty is not worth the emotional damage, stress, and disrespect we endured. The damage done — to our belongings, to our vendors, and to our hearts — was completely avoidable. What should have been a joyful, sacred experience turned into a nightmare because of the venue’s negligence and lack of care. We do not recommend Ruth Bancroft Garden until they completely overhaul their event staff, leadership, communication, and client care. If your wedding matters to you — don’t risk it here.

• Interesting and informative,beautiful colors and composition.

  Gary M,,Mar 30, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  4.00

  Incredibly interesting succulents and other plants. Well laid out paths, however, the sections could have been numbered so that we could find areas more easily.

• Fascinating!

  ladeaut,,Aug 5, 2024

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  The garden is small, so it's easy to see it all in a couple hours. There is an amazing variety of desert plants, cacti and other succulents. It's also very well kept and the objet d'arts (from local artists?) throughout the garden are fascinating. Very reasonable price, also. Incidentally, we started our visit to Walnut Creek and the garden with another couple by having lunch with them at Va de Vi restaurant in Walnut Creek. Wonderful food, wonderful service, perfect outdoor seating--highly recommended.

• Ruth Bancroft Garden

  Revathirajakumar,,Nov 18, 2023

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Ruth Bancroft Garden This place has an amazing collection of cacti, succulents, trees, and other unique plants. It takes about an hour or two to explore the beautiful gardens. The entrance has a cute nursery with lovely plants.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Amazing experience in surreal garden

  robertbuch47,,Oct 21, 2023

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Amazing collection of plants, shrubs and trees from all over the world. It was a great experience. Both our grandchildren ages 6 and 10 enjoyed walking around the impressive garden. We took lots of pictures! Plenty to see.

• Worth the stop to take in the beauty

  GirlGabe,,Mar 22, 2023

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  It was a rainy day after my meeting on 3/21/2023 and the main office seemed to be closed due to construction so I took my umbrella and phone and enjoyed the beautiful gardens, super easy to walk through it, would be a great place to picnic with the lush surroundings.

• Light

  Compass45565643280,,Jan 11, 2023

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Excellent exhibits! My 2 years old grand daughter had a ball. She was monitoring the laser beam and have a lot of fun!! The hot chocolate is an unexpected bonus on a wet night . The ranger staff are very knowledgeable and friendly!!

  

  

  

  

• 2022 Garden of D’Light - 🎆 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 Awesome!

  Camper156591,,Nov 27, 2022

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Beautiful experience… so creative and artful. Amazing visually and conceptually, to walk through the gardens and see the plants transformed by color, light and dazzling yet simple effects… I went the opening night (Nov. 25) with my daughter. We both loved the experience. It would even be beautiful in the rain, if you bring a big umbrella. Hint: be sure to see the “aquarium.” Also the “cats.” So many delightful surprises & magical moments! 🌵 🌺 🐟 🌵 🎆

  

  

  

  

• Succulent lovers’ idea if heaven.

  Sharon D,,Aug 21, 2022

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  One of my favorite places to spend an afternoon. An enormous variety of succulents and cactus from all over the world. Fantastic shopping in their huge nursery and gift area. You can start a real obsession with succulents here. Close to 680 and parking is free.

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