Sarah P. Duke Gardens

This was an absolutely amazingly beautiful venue and I have NO regrets about having my wedding there. Everything was very convenient (parking, ceremony, reception) and the reception hall brought a great atmosphere. My only complaints here were the following: 1) the lottery system to get it is uber annoying and stressful, 2) the site coordinator was not as responsive as I'd like and I felt her communication skills were not great, 3) they are VERY strict on their policies as far as things you can and cannot do. Again--these didn't end up being a big issue in the end, but I wanted to mention them. After all was said and done, it was beautiful and amazing.

Anyone who has been to the Duke Gardens knows how truly beautiful they are. What they may not always appreciate is how wonderful the Doris Duke Center is. The space is absolutely fantastic; the wood is beautiful, the lighting wonderful, and the layout of the space just right for a small to medium reception (around 150 people). We managed to secure both the Duke Chapel for the wedding ceremony and the Duke Gardens for our reception and the weather and spaces could not have been more perfect. Securing both was rather difficult as there is no coordination between the Chapel and the Gardens and communication with the Gardens can be a bit of a struggle at times, but in the end everything turned out beautifully. If you can reserve the space you will not regret it!

Planned the perfect wedding. Evrrything was set-so we thought. The gardens event manager failed to update our event times accorfing to what we discussed at our last on site meeting and according to the wedding planners emailed timeline. When it came time for the event we were litterally kicked out if the facility an hour early!
The facilities staff member was incredably rude and unwilling to be reasonable, demanding that we 'shut it down' despite the fact that we were in the final hour of our wedding reception.
The facility eventually offered a $250.00 refund for the one hour shortsge. Do they actually think $250.00 makes up gor the fact that we were literally kicked out of a once in a lifetime event? Forget finishing my slice of wedding cake, my glass if champagne, forget the last dance, forget bringing out the final party favors for the guests, forget the beautifully planned exit for the bride and groom- just shut it down.
And they offered $250.00?? A full refind would be appropriate, yet would still not compensate for the emotional loss.
Not to mention all the other venders were paid for the agreed upon duration of the event.
The summer is a busy season for events at the garden. Maybe the facility needs to replace the event managers 'assistant' that left this summer for another position, in order to assure events are facilitated as agreed upon by an overworked seemingly frazzled manager.
Our weddong planner stated that she has never been treated so rudely! Even the Catoring Company staff were upset and verbalized disbelief in the way the facilty staff member behaved and handled the situation.

There is no doubt that it is a beautiful place to get married but $750 for 2 hours in a designated spot in the garden and nothing else included is a little steep.

Not to mention, on my wedding day, I showed up for my 3-5pm slot and another bride was just starting her wedding (an hour late!) she did not leave until 3:40 and my wedding was at 4:00pm. The staff at Duke Gardens did NOTHING in response to this except passive aggressively cursing and complaining to my maid of honor about it. Oh, and one staff member laughed when someone signed MY guestbook, as I was trying to set up my wedding around her guests.

This was NOT the experience I was hoping for and my wedding day memory will always be marred by this experience.

We had an INCREDIBLE time at our wedding reception at the Doris Duke Center in the Duke Gardens. This venue is beautiful and it's great because your guests aren't confined to one room the whole time because there is an outdoor terrace and the gardens right there. The only drawback I can think of is that there are no refridgerators, you have to rent all your tables and chairs from an outside vendor, and the latest we could stay was 11. These were minor incoveniences though, overall it was wonderful.

Very nice venue for our wedding day. The staff was friendly and helpful. Thank you for everthing!

This was only my CEREMONY location. My husband an I love to take walks and really enjoy nature. This place is iconic and maybe a little over done. We really were lucky to just walk in and ask if they had our date available and they actually had 2 openings that day. We jumped on it. The gardens are incredible and really worth the money. We were already having a small wedding and since the area can only accomadate so many people it worked out well. Obviously the only drawback is the weather but that is the risk you take when you go outdoors. I was married at the pergola and it was incredible. Wonderful place for pictures and a great place for gathering with others. It's a place I can go to over and over again and have beautiful memories. Oh and you don't have to pay a cent to decorate it because it's so incredibly beautiful!!!!

We did our wedding ceremony and reception at the Amphitheater and the Doris Duke Center. The setting was absolutely beautiful. The pictures turned out perfect and I wouldn't have any other location for our wedding. Please note that when you are planning to look into the lottery system that they use to award your date for this location before booking any other vendors. Also, if you are doing the reception at Duke Gardens, please note that you can only use certain vendors approved by Duke. Please also note that you will pay the 2500 fee to use the location, and then they charge a 7% vendor fee to use the venue that gets passed onto you. We did not realize this until we paid the 2500 to book the location and started booking vendors. We felt though that this venue was worth every penny. :) Ashley and Jenn were great and gave us some good ideas.

The Duke Gardens are AMAZING! I absolutely loved having our wedding there! It was so beautiful and had everything we needed! We used the amphitheater for our ceremony and the hall for our reception. Jen the coordinator was so helpful and super nice throughout the entire process - from asking questions, booking to final rain back up plans! Also the cost was a great deal! We booked all vendors - caterer, DJ, bar, cake, rentals ourselves. I would definitely recommend it!

This was a beautiful ceremony setting, and I was pleasantly surprised by both the affordability and by the availability of dates/times. The staff were wonderful to work with both before and during the wedding. The "celebrity effect" of having wedding onlookers is pretty fun, too. :)

My wedding at Duke was absolutely gorgeous. The staff was friendly, helpful and available.

Ashley Carmichael at Duke Gardens is super-easy to work with - we loved this location!

Ashley Carmicheal with the SPD Gardens was wonderful! She was very patient with us trying to decide upon a date. My only problem with the site was the the water pump in the lily channel next to our wedding site apparently broke the day before our wedding and no one bother to tell us. In fact we were the ones to tell Ashley. Ashley, however, really stepped up once she heard how upset I was and made quite a few calls for us in order to be sure that the channel at least held water for our ceremony and was not an unsightly mud hole!

Beautiful venue and very inexpensive. Ashley was easy to work with.

We had a wonderful experience booking our ceremony at the Pergola (gazebo) at Duke Gardens. The lady in charge of reservations was extremely helpful and was responsive to exchanged emails and phone calls to make sure everything was ready for the big day. They took care of setting up chairs and making sure we had parking passes for all of our guests. The booking process was a snap and only required a simple contract that were were able to mail back. Duke Gardens was also very flexible with us on setting a rehearsal time the day before and even extended the time on our parking passes so that we could stay longer and take photos of the wedding party in the gardens. We received our security deposit back right on time with no hassles.

The biggest perk to booking our wedding at Duke Gardens was the natural beauty and scenery. We were able to save a ton of money by not having to buy additional decorative flowers!

Ashley and the rest of the Duke Gardens Staff did a fantastic job helping me and my parents feel comfortable and relaxed about having a wedding and a reception at the gardens. The site is so beautiful and there are many different locations to have a ceremony depending on your guest list. The Doris Duke Center offers a perfect place to have your reception. Ashley did an awesome job keeping us informed on what was allowed and how vendors work in the space. My wedding day was perfect and the gardens were what made the moment so much more memorable.

BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL PLACE TO GET MARRIED!!! All our guests loved it.

The Gardens were a perfect setting for our wedding. Our contact was very helpful, always cheerful, and never stressed you out during the planning. We didn't have a tent so we were lucky it didn't rain. The only difficulty with any outdoor wedding is finding a back-up location. Unless the reception is at the Gardens as well, you can't book their facility as a back-up. There were plenty of options available to us though so it wasn't too much of a problem. The Gardens definitely made our wedding (and the entire planning process) much more memorable than if it had been in a church or hotel (for us anyway).

The Duke gardens are a beautiful place to get married and have a ceremony. We got married at the Pergola and had our reception at the Doris Duke Center on a Sunday afternoon. The only downfall is that the restroom are poorly maintained. We called in March to book for the end of September, but many dates will take planning of up to a year.

Also, the site was a decent price, but many outdoor vendors probably would be less expensive and would give more services. For instance, I thought there would be someone coordinating the wedding (ie. the rehearshal), but we had to manage that on our own.

I had my ceremony at the gardens and it was beautiful! I choose the fish pond location with the garden and pergola as the background, it could not have been more perfect and I didn't have to worry about buying flowers for the ceremony location because you're surrounded by them. The only downside is the limited number of chairs (50) they will allow.

This was an absolutely beautiful place to have the wedding! And a great place to take pictures.

We had our wedding at the Pergola Garden. It was beautiful and everyone was great to work with.

We had our ceremony here. We were able to take pictures, and had a great rehearsal time with no problems. Very inexpensive, as well.

Excellent venue with gorgeous gardens :)

Sarah P. Duke Gardens is wonderful. I've entertained at hundreds of receptions (and ceremonies) at Duke Gardens. They did a beautiful design of the Sarah P. Duke building with a great flow to the ampitheater.

We have photographed so many weddings at Duke Gardens it feels like home! If you are looking for a classic venue you and your guests will remember forever this is it.

Duke Gardens is one of my very favorite places to photograph-- there's no end to the inspiration and beauty, no matter how many times I use the grounds for photos.

I love officiating weddings at Duke Gardens! It is a beautiful natural setting for your wedding ceremony. The scenery is spectacular any time of the year at all three locations and make a magnificent backdrop for your wedding photos. There are three lovely spots in the Gardens for weddings: the pergola, the fish pool and the amphitheater--and plenty of parking. Your guests enjoy the beauty of the gardens before and after your wedding ceremony. The staff is always prompt in putting out your chairs and the signs to redirect visitors from your wedding site.

We love shooting at Duke gardens for engagement sessions, bridal portraits, weddings and fearless bridal sessions for two main reasons. First, the grounds and the Sarah P. Duke Center facilities offer beautiful settings for our photographs and for a spectacular wedding. And secondly, the staff are great to work with, always ensuring that your event, no matter the size, will go smoothly.

Jennifer at Duke Gardens is so easy to work with. Very organized. Duke Gardens is absolutely a beautiful venue to get married at.