The Garden Villa at Florida Federation of Garden Clubs Reviews

Great open space! Vendor was so accommodating and flexible with how we could utilize their venue for our special day. Its a great space if you want an outdoor/indoor wedding day!

This was the perfect venue for our small wedding. They really optimized the space for less than 30 guests. It didn’t feel too big which is just what we were looking for. We loved the ability to have our ceremony outside and then move inside for dinner and dancing. It felt like our own little oasis. It’s a beautiful spot for pictures as well. Definitely recommend.

This venue was a true hidden gem with a secret garden vibe that had our Disney loving hearts soaring. When our first venue fell through and we were panicking to find another venue in time for almost 200 guests we had lost hope after looking from almost every venue from Sarasota to Pensacola, nothing felt right for us. Then we found The Garden Villa and our faith was restored! Truly everything must happen for a reason because I could not think of a more perfect venue for us. We just had our ceremony there but it was perfect. We did our first look photos in the arched greenway section and it was magical. This venue’s indoor and outdoor space is perfect and just breathtaking. Our reception was at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market and The Garden Villa complemented it perfectly. It’s a beautiful space you can customize to be your own however you choose. There isn’t a big getting ready space, there are two rooms with a single private bathroom in the back of the building that are great for getting freshened up or just getting dressed only (we had hair and makeup done before and just got dressed there and that worked perfectly for us). The Villa staff was always professional, kind, and patient and a delight to work with and always answered my questions! I can’t recommend enough!!

Had my bridal shower here because my wedding guest count was to large to host there. So beautiful!

Overall this area ended up beautiful for my wedding and photos turned out great. However, they have made some BIG mandatory changes that people need to be aware of.
Ill start by saying this location is huge with lots of potential for anyone who has any kind of taste be it indoor or outdoor weddings with lots of customization and they allow well behaved pets which was great for us! . My photos turned out great and everyone loved the location. But there are some issues. They now have speakers outside that are MANDATORY use speakers. Your DJ can not use his own. These outdoor speakers are SO QUIET!!!! We could not hear us being announced as husband and wife for the first time, it was very sad. You can only head the sound of these speakers when you are on the deck, no where else. I know this is due to their mandatory sound ordinance, but they were not in place when i signed my contract with them so i was very upset when i was forced in to them. Secondly they now will not let you have send off outside which is SO WEIRD! Again when we signed our contract you could have an outside send off. great for photos, and we were told we could use organic plants for confetti which is what we planned on. But then some other groups ruined it and now you can only do an inside send off which is awkward and completely ruined our flower petal send off. Additonal comments only come from me being obsessed with plants, but be aware that they only super maintain the plants at the front of the building. They completely let a giant elephante ear plant die near weeks before my wedding (which was suppose to mark the entrance of my venue and i had plans for for photos) and the jungle pathway as i call it was filled with dying plants or weirdly way cut back. Not to mention they cannot keep their grass alive by the union tree at all even when we were promised there would be grass. It was for sure patchy. Only good grass was up front. But that's the nature of an outdoor wedding venue. I was just very sad about the elephant ears dying, it made the entrance feel very empty. BUT If these things are really not a huge deal for you, then this location is beautiful! Quiet, remote, and you don't feel like you are in Florida. its great, but be aware that you now can ONLY use Cocktails Catering for your food vendor and we had a not great experience with them.

It was important to us to find a venue that would let us bring our own alcohol (our family owns a winery). The Garden Villa worked out great and is so naturally beautiful we barely needed any decor!

I Gotta give a shoutout to Alycia, she was professional, knowledgeable, and amazing to work with! Everyone on the cocktails/Garden Villa team did an amazing job at bringing out big day to life. Not to mention, we’ve been speaking with them for two years as our wedding got postponed due to the pandemic. So easy to work with and accommodate all of our requests. This venue is amazing if you want to dress it up or make it your own. Its so versatile and beautiful inside and out.

This venue was absolutely beautiful from ceremony to reception, pretty magical in fact so glad we choose this venue for our wedding day

The Garden Villa is the cutest yet romantic venue in Winter Park. It truly is a hidden gem. I had my ceremony outside on the deck with the trellis and reception inside the building - it was perfect! The grounds on the property made for a perfect scenery for wedding photos!

When choosing a venue, my main goal was to find a place with an outdoor, garden setting...but where we'd not be intruded upon by random visitors. Some of the more public areas cannot keep onlookers from passing through. Garden Villa is a perfect location for that indoor/outdoor garden wedding...will full privacy for your party. So many lovely photo op areas, and beautiful nooks for photos...and its "all" yours on that day...no strolling bird watchers or family picnics in the background.

The inside was redone not too long ago, and so the room is a little different from the 3-D viewer on wedding wire. There is no longer a stage at one end of the room (which is much better). The gardens are well kept, and beautiful at any time of year. Definitely put this on your list!!!

We were incredibly happy with our venue choice!! Everything turned out perfectly. We went through Cocktails Catering and worked with Alycia. We have no complaints!

We got married December 15th and we were thrilled with our venue choice. The Garden Villa is gorgeous! The property is filled with lush romantic greenery and enchanting hidden corners perfect for wedding photos. The team was a dream to worked with and helped us pull off the perfect wedding day!

This venue was beyond gorgeous. We first visited in March and went several times throughout throughout the year till our wedding in January and in every season itwas beauriful. Bridal suite-- not super fancy but completely closed off with a door and with a bathroom. Recently redone wood floor inside also beautiful.

BEAUTIFUL OUT DOOR SPACE ! dress it up to your liking , its a canvas

We had such a great experience with this vendor. They were flexible with multiple details we inquired about. The venue was a perfect blank canvas for us to create the wedding we had visioned!

I am having my wedding here next year and I absolutely cannot wait! I have been working with Alycia from cocktails and she has been so responsive and so helpful and very flexible with allowing me to visit the venue when I wanted! The venue is beautiful and exactly what we were looking for!!!

There is a beautiful woody/garden area for a ceremony and a gorgeous brick patio setting for a reception. The owners are very accommodating to different needs and dreams! We can't wait to see what happens as we continue building closer to our wedding date!

There is just so much to say about this venue! I was extremely close to giving up on my venue search when I came across the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs on a blog. I didn't know too many details, but I knew I wanted both my ceremony and reception to be outdoors. When my husband and I visited the site, we fell in love immediately.

The garden is nestled in the heart of Winter Park and is secluded where you truly feel like you are in your own world. What more could you ask for on your wedding day? The garden looks like a blank canvas at first glance, but it is so full of potential.

We had our ceremony on the grassy lawn that is shaded by many tree canopies (we advised guests to wear flats or wedges since we chose this area). After our ceremony, the guests walked on the sidewalk around to the ivory wall where cocktail hour was held. Our reception was on the patio covered area and I couldn't have been more pleased with our venue choice. It was truly idyllic.

I didn't have too much interaction with the staff at the Garden Club, but when I did they were very resourceful, directing me to who could help me with the question at hand. Overall, the value of this venue cannot be beat and if you have a vision for your wedding, the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs is the perfect canvas.

I loved having my wedding there! It is so beautiful. I do not, however, like the way my family and I were treated from the very beginning. I read a few comments down where it says that Dawn the manager was helpful, and i have to be honest, she was NOT! She was not helpful at all, she was in a disgusting mood Every single time I saw her, she wouldn't let us rent additional hours and was not flexible at all, even if the contracts advises of additional rental times, she did agree to a 20 minute rehearsal and as my family walked up to the building at the agreed time she yelled at us and as i approached her she said she didn't remember the time and said we can stay outside because the building is closed and then slammed the door in my face. Well, i must say, i was nervous the day of my wedding only to be surprised to see someone else, and i must say, relieved. This lady was nice except when we got to the end of the night, she was rushing out my family and yelling at all of us to hurry up and clean about an hour earlier than what we paid for, and taking coffee out of my guests hands because it was time to close up. That type of service was disgusting and i have yet to receive information on their superiors that I'm sure they don't want to provide. Other than dealing with that, the location is beautiful and if they had someone better running the place im sure that it would flourish.

Such a gorgeous venue!!! Loved having my wedding here. Worked perfect.

The place is beautiful! Had my wedding there and the place was what I envisioned: trees, roses, the Florida outdoor look. Dawn was kind and helpful throughout the process. She was also prompt in answering questions I had. FFGC had a good list of companies but sadly I chose Cocktails. Cocktails was great at first throughout the planning process but the day of, the guy in charge didn't bring the rental chairs I had purchased and arrived 45 minutes late, leaving an hour to set up. He thought FFGC had chairs already (They don't. Only tables.) He had my bridesmaids and groomsmen help his company with setting up tables and chairs (He had to go back and get the chairs, which were out ten minutes before the ceremony). Would not recommend Cocktails for that reason. However, I do recommend FFGC. The person who oversaw my wedding that night was helpful and made sure that Cocktails corrected their mistake ASAP. Was thankful for her help. I had 70 people attend. If I had more, the tables would have filled up the reception room leaving little to no dance floor.

The venue is very beautiful, and was perfect for our size wedding and theme. When we booked with Dawn, we were very excited, and she was very responsive. Once we signed the contract and paid deposit that responsiveness and courtesy diminished. We saved money (since we were in the project management business) to run our event personally, and had questions. When asking these questions to the venue, they were extremely rude on the phone and down right nasty; Dawn even went as far to tell my mother that our group would be a problem since we didn't hire a professional to handle our event. The day before, my mother and father went to venue to ensure that the garden had been trimmed and cleaned. It was not, the venue did step up and have their gardeners come and bring the area up to par. Saturday was our wedding, my project coordinator (friend of the family) showed up to start, the onsite representative was extremely helpful and pleasant. We were able to set up and get everything in order prior to our guest arriving. The onsite rep was a joy to work with, and she stated to my mother how pleased she was and that our set-up crew and caterers were one of the best she has had at the venue so far. We were very pleased with how the wedding turned out, as you know the bride doesn't get to see all the behind the scenes activities, but I did inquire afterwards. I would recommend this location for any couple wanting that intimate wedding, with a beautiful back-drop! However, I would recommend if you have any questions leading up to your day, to get it prior to signing the contract. It's like pulling teeth to make sure you are organized. The score of 2.4/5.0 is due to the communications with the venue prior to the event.

Dawn was always a pleasure to work with. She answered all of our questions quickly and she let us stop by whenever we needed to double check everything. The venue itself is a hidden gem. Absolutely perfect for a wedding like ours, with 40 guests. There was plenty of free parking for our guests. It is located in a residential area but feels super secluded. There are lush trees, including cypress trees with gorgeous Spanish moss, in and around the outdoor area which provided the perfect backdrop for our wedding. All of our guests were raving about the location and how beautiful and perfect everything was. We held the ceremony in front of one of the large trees in the grassy area. The only thing I want to make sure to advise everyone is that the ground is soft out in the field and make sure to advise your guests to not wear open shoes or stiletto heels if you would be doing what we did. Of course, we already knew that so everyone was prepared! We held the reception on the platform area outside, on November 5th, and the weather was perfect. There are two private rooms for changing or storage of your personal items, at least two large bathrooms for your guests. Everything was spotless! There was also a large hall indoors that was very nice with a stage area, but the garden/outdoor area is so beautiful, we just had to take advantage! This venue provides several options for your perfect wedding, and it is so affordable! I can't say enough about this place! Thank you again, Dawn!

edit: I would also like to add that we are a lesbian couple, so FFGC is definitely LGBT-friendly!

I would definitely recommend. Beautiful venue for a wedding and reception.

This was a perfect venue for our wedding! We had 85 guests, including the wedding party. The garden setting and reception room are lovely. Dawn Murphy the General Manager was most helpful in recommending other wonderful vendors who helped make our day so special!