Gardener Ranch is a beautiful outdoor venue with endless amenities. We had over 200 guests at our wedding and everyone was RAVING about the grounds, staff, and beautiful scenery onsite. I would definitely want to host an event there in the future - perhaps, a family reunion or work retreat!

Gardener Ranch was love at first sight and we booked it immediately for our wedding on memorial day weekend! The venue is beautiful the villas are large and beautifully furnished and decoratated. The staff was super friendly, helpful and flexible. Nanci was amazing, she made sure we had everything we wanted the way we wanted it. We liked that we could accommodate all our family members from around the world at the ranch and spend this special weekend with them. Even though it rained on the day of the ceremony and we needed everything to be moved insde, Nanci and crew handled it all so seemlessly we didn't even notice the changes. We are grateful and will carry all the beautiful memories from GR in our hearts forever.

My wife and I got married at Gardener in early April of 2019. We did some venue scouting at a couple other spots in Carmel Valley which were all nice but we were drawn to Gardener because of the excellent blend of classy event space and casual rustic appeal. Nothing feels pretentious yet you get the vibe of being somewhere really special. As soon as you walk on site, you immediately notice the huge trees, landscaping and planted flowers/trees blooming all around and the various building structures on the property almost fade into the background so that it feels much more like you are in the middle of a forest clearing. And that is without any kind of added floral decorations of any kind. [pro tip: save some money and go easy on your florist order] We rented the venue from Friday afternoon until check out on Sunday morning. This gave us the opportunity to host our Friday night welcome party on site instead of having to rent a separate space off site. Apart from bringing in a caterer ... Read moreto do a taco bar, we kept this event as simple and casual as possible and it was an awesome way to kick off the weekend festivities with almost all of our wedding guests in attendance. We used the pool deck furniture that came with the site and brought some picnic blankets to throw down on the lawn in case there wasn't enough space for people to sit. No issues for a group of roughly 120-130. We elected to use Gardener's alcohol package for both Friday and Saturday as it was roughly the same amount as if we had purchased all of the booze ourselves (without ending up with a ridiculous amount of leftovers to take home) and definitely cheaper than having a third party supply it with insane wedding price markups. I would highly recommend using this service as there are several different types of packages available and Gardener was really helpful and flexible with us making small adjustments to get exactly what we were looking for. Another aspect that drew us to Gardener was having the guest houses on site. We asked a couple different groups of friends to stay in the various houses and it gave the weekend kind of an adult summer camp vibe with one of the houses that included a kitchen preparing breakfast each morning. It was nice to be surrounded by friends the entire weekend but still have our own cottage to relax in and get away from the action if we needed. We had everyone pay us a small amount to stay on site (a fraction of what they would have spent on a hotel room) and that helped us recoup a little bit of the money we spent on the venue, which was nice. Whether you have friends or family staying on site this is a great touch to have a more inclusive and fun wedding. For all other guests there are several hotel/inn options in the immediate area that range from simple and affordable to higher end luxury, so everyone can still have easy access to the site. In addition to the guest houses, there are really nice bridal/groom suites on site to get ready in prior to ceremony. A great place to relax and hang out. It should be noted that, as with all things wedding, costs can get out of hand sometimes and far too often, additional fees pop up after initial discussions. Because you have to bring in third party vendors for almost everything (outside of onsite lodging, pool deck furniture/heaters, tables/chairs), a venue like Gardener can come with more costs than a venue that provides those things like food, alcohol, lighting, place settings, etc. This is something you should consider if cost is a huge factor for you as there will be things you never thought of that will come up throughout the process. However, I will say that through the planning process, Gardener was very up front about all the costs that we would be on the hook for and we never had any surprise fees from them. Our only complaint would be that occasionally we had a hard time getting timely email responses on certain items. Keeping in mind that you aren't their only clients and that sometimes things can slip through the cracks, follow up emails and phone calls were required sometimes when we needed to get in touch on more time sensitive or important matters. Since our date was relatively early in the wedding season, we had the impending doom of a rainy forecast up to and through our wedding weekend. After a couple "end of world meltdowns" we realized that even though we may not be able to have any of our events outside, that the interior spaces on site, while a bit more cramped, are still quite beautiful and charming and that the rain wouldn't impact our ability to have fun. We were told by Gardener to not freak out and to wait and see as the weather in Carmel Valley had it's own way of doing things, contrary to the weather forecast for the greater area. Since certain vendors need a final plan several days ahead of time we had to make a decision whether we were going to move everything indoors or roll the dice on our outdoor festivities. Gardener helped us make the decision by saying that if it was going to rain day of, that they would move everything inside for us and do whatever needed to be done so that we wouldn't have to worry about anything (with no additional fees or anything like that). As it turned out, it rained a bit Friday morning but by the time our welcome party started it was sunny and you would never know it had ever rained that week at all. We got that sunny weather all the way through the end of the weekend as we had been told we might, but it was nice to have the reassurance that we didn't need to change our entire plan for the weekend or have to worry about making changes last minute. Because of that we had the most relaxing weekend with nothing but good times to focus on. All in all, we had a blast during our whole wedding weekend and the location had a lot to do with it. Whether it was having the ceremony next to a babbling creek, eating dinner with the sunlight of dusk filtering through the trees or watching our guests jump fully clothed into the pool as festivities ramped up later in the night, I would very much recommend exploring Gardener ranch as an option for anyone planning their wedding in the Carmel Valley area. Happy planning and try to remember not to let the little things freak you out :) Everyone remembers the atmosphere and how much fun they had, not the little details that may not have been correct or exactly how you wanted them. Cheers

We had our wedding at Gardener Ranch and it was stunning! We invited 230, and 170 came. I did a lot of research in Carmel Valley for a wedding venue and ended up falling in love with GR. I felt like I had the most flexibility with GR. Other places had a lot of rules and stipulations which really frustrated me: requiring you to use certain vendors or catering, Mission Ranch has a 5 hour maximum event time which I didn’t like (including ceremony to end of the reception). GR really gives you so much control to create your own unique event, you aren’t just another wedding like all the others. You could go as cheap and rustic as you want with a food truck, or as fancy as you want with full catering and they won’t pressure you to do anything a certain way. We chose to stay three nights, such a fun way to bring families together and it was SO worth it to have a full wedding weekend with everyone. When our friends & family arrived and toured the grounds, they were stunned! It was... Read more beautiful. We all loved visiting each other in the houses. It was a great way for our families to get to know each other better. We had our rehearsal dinner on site, very convenient and fun! Very relaxing to have everyone on site or nearby and able to enjoy the whole property! GR really goes above and beyond to make the experience easy. Heather & Nanci were extremely easy to work with and always thorough with their responses. I was a very budget conscious bride. We picked off season and had our wedding in March, which saved us a good amount of money. We used GR’s alcohol package to receive a 20% discount and that was great. We did an hour of margaritas (they were strong and very good!) plus wine & beer. We used Jeffrey’s catering, the food was amazing and you can’t beat the price. They weren’t always responsive to us, but when it came to the wedding the food and service was great. Most catering companies gave us quotes over $25k, Jeffrey’s was about $12k and we had a lot of people comment that the food was amazing and the wine was flowing freely! We picked salmon and filet mignon and did a sundae bar which was a hit. We did a small cake with Layers, they are the best in town! GR was constantly there in the background, cleaning up things and moving things to set them up for us. But I really felt like we had the place to ourselves and could fully enjoy the property. We used Bouqs Co and made our own flower bouquets right there on the venue which was fun and easy. We were worried about rain for our wedding. We went through options with Chic’s rentals. Option 1) Pay over $20k for a huge tent and dance floor 2) Pay about $5k for a custom tent from Chic’s rental that fits on the patio area- we would have chosen this if rain was 100% for the whole afternoon. 3) Move inside and split up our guests. Fortunately it didn’t rain for our outdoor ceremony, but because of the temperature we chose to move the reception indoors which ended up being just fine. Make sure you think through a rain option and go over options with Nanci & Heather so you’re not stressed before your wedding. I highly recommend hiring Mark Banks for your DJ. He played live music for us, and everyone loved it! Brandon Scott was also an incredible photographer. Oh and the black and white dance floor! It’s SO awesome in pictures!!! You are guaranteed to have a unique and lovely wedding at GR. You can choose to do something more budget conscious like I did (I kept ours under $45k) or of course do something extravagant, but it is possible to do it for a more reasonable price! One piece of advice I wish I had known: lodging for the venue gets tricky very quickly. We chose to charge everyone $60 per night per person staying on the venue. We ended up having about 42 people stay. Anticipate a lot of opinions on where people want to be. If I could do it again I would charge people less if they were staying on a couch. A lot of our family opted to stay across the street at Carmel Valley Lodge (which was convenient and easy!), but anticipate that when you are doing your budget. We had hoped to fill all 51 spots but it just didn’t happen. I cannot recommend Gardener Ranch enough. We are still getting compliments on what a wonderful venue we picked. Especially our out of state guests—they loved the excuse to come to Carmel Valley!

Faith brought us to Gardener Ranch in our search for wedding venues, and it was truly the best choice we could have ever made! Nancy, Heather, and Gardener Ranch's Staff are the best!! We stayed the whole weekend and had the most amazing time with our family and friends. We used as much of the property as we could and took it all in!! They took amazing care of us and our guests. We had beautiful weather (10.20.18), and everyone left saying 'That was the best wedding they had ever been to' and that 'We did it right!' (probably due to the fact that we never once had to leave this amazing property all weekend!). Thank you so much again!! xoxo Lauren & Miguel

I highly recommend Gardener Ranch! We got married there in July and the venue, staff and whole weekend, surpassed our expectations. We looked in 3 different cities and saw ~ 30 venues - once we walked on to the property, we knew we found the perfect place! Majority of our wedding guests were coming from the East Coast, so we loved that we could spend a few days with everyone, rather than just one night. The grounds are beautiful, the houses are so comfortable and well decorated and their staff is amazing. It's also reallly nice that you can make each event your own, pick your vendors and it's private! From start to finish, Heather and Nanci were extremely responsive, provided a lot of guidance and were a lot of fun to work with. We had 4 events on the property, so were a little nervous about the logistics and making sure everything was set up but their staff made it very easy and stress free. They met all of our vendors, so we didn't have to do much during the weekend an... Read mored were very accommodating with last minute changes we wanted to make. They even cut the grass to the length we wanted and stopped what they were doing to inflate our pool floats. Doesn't get much better! We had about 30 people stay on the property and each day their staff made sure the houses were clean and each event site was prepped. They were always available to help and especially during your wedding, this type of service is extremely appreciated. Our guests loved the property and we received a lot of compliments on the weekend! They have had a lot of different weddings there, so share your ideas with them and they will help you put it all together.

My wife, Caroline, and I had such an amazing experience having our wedding at Gardener. First of all, the property is absolutely stunning. When you drive on for the first time and start to work around the grounds, you almost have to pinch yourself that it's even possible to get married at a place like this. We feel in love with it immediately. We were shown around by Heather and Nanci, the main people running the show there, and they were so amazing to work with throughout the whole process. They were able to help us realize a vision that was uniquely ours, while still accentuating all of the strong points of Gardener at the same time. In the two weeks leading up to our April wedding, it looked like we were in for rain on our wedding weekend, which was such a huge bummer since we were doing everything outside. We were freaking out a little bit and not sure what to do, and Nanci and Heather worked their asses off helping us readjust everything on the fly. They were so flexible and so kn... Read moreowledgeable, and there is no way we could have pulled it off without them. A couple of other highlights: 1) Having the 5 houses on property is amazing and is what really sets them apart. We had 35-40 of our closest friends and family on site with us for a full weekend, which made the whole experience so much more fun and lasting. It wasn't just 6 hours of ceremony and reception and then we all hit the road; we had a full weekend getaway that we will never forget. 2) Again, the grounds are stunning and there are so many different ways in which you can plan things out. That versatility is a major bonus, as you can truly find a way to do something that fits your vision. 3) During the actual wedding weekend, Nanci is a godsend. She was there for everything that we needed, even when she didn't need to be, and we honestly can't thank her enough. She is the best. 4) The Bridal Camp is ridiculous, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. So cool. Thank you, Gardener Ranch!

From venue shopping to the wedding date, Heather and her team we so so so accommodating to us! Frankly, when looking at venues in Carmel and Carmel Valley, Gardener was not our first choice. But after touring the grounds and having Heather really give us the time to envision our perfect day, it was a no-brainer! The staff really helped us make our special day absolutely perfect! We are so thankful for their "can-do" attitudes and ability to work with us and all of our requests! They worked seamlessly with our planner and offered advice on best practices. We loved choosing out all our own vendors and making the wedding weekend one-of-a-kind. A lot of our vendors came from out of town (Hawaii and LA) and the Gardener Ranch staff made sure to be available for their requests as well. So professional! We are so thankful for the Gardener Staff, they made our wedding weekend an absolute blast!!

Getting married at Gardener Ranch was an absolute dream for me and my husband. Not only are the grounds incredible, but the onsite staff and managers are so kind and easy to work with. The property will stun your guests with its beauty and allow you to create an individual, unique wedding that is all your own. We are so grateful to Gardener Ranch and still feel like our wedding there was a complete dream!

My wife and I recently got married at Gardener Ranch in November.  We fell in love with the venue the moment we took our site tour, and immediately knew that we wanted to get married there.  The venue grounds are kept in immaculately good condition, with lush green lawns and an abundance of trees.  As the entire property is rented out, there are many ways to utilize the various lawns for different aspects of the wedding day, and you really can't go wrong with any combination, so get creative! We absolutely lucked out with the weather, as it was perfect all weekend long despite being a November wedding weekend.  If the weather is poor, they do have a contingency plan which allows you to hold all activities in the main building, but we were so thankful for the perfect weather as the beauty of the outdoors at Gardener Ranch is really what makes the venue special. Throughout the wedding planning process, our contact at Gardener Ranch was exceptionally professional and very respon... Read moresive to all emails.  They were always quick to answer any questions we had, but did occasionally come off a bit terse.  One of the few negatives is that they are very "by the books" at Gardener Ranch, and by that I mean you will sign a very long legal contract, and they are generally not very flexible about exceptions.  For example: no open flame candles, no pampas grass, no early guest check in, etc, but I suppose they do this to protect themselves as a business.  Just make sure to read the contract thoroughly so that you don't have any unfortunate surprises, or inquire about exceptions before anything is signed. The other challenging thing about Gardener Ranch is you cannot simply rent the venue for the day of the wedding, but are required to rent the entire property (including all 5 houses) for the wedding weekend (Friday afternoon through Sunday morning), unless you have the wedding on a weekday.  This is a significant upfront cost, which then requires that you charge wedding guests to stay onsite in order to recoup some of the money (or I suppose you could treat them if your pockets are deep!).  It also requires that you figure out which guests will stay in which house, and which bed each guest will use.  This was a stressful, and at times awkward component to our wedding planning which we would not have had to worry about had we chosen another venue.  With that said, having some of our closest friends and family stay onsite with us over the wedding weekend made it that much more special, and overall, we are very happy with how everything turned out.  The houses are all in fantastic condition, and we only heard positive things from the guests who chose to stay onsite. Having the entire property rented out for the weekend allows you to create a truly memorable and unique experience, as you can host events on Friday evening and Sunday morning if you so choose. All in all, my wife and I were absolutely thrilled with our wedding experience at Gardener Ranch, and would absolutely recommend it.  It was a stretch for our budget, but we really do feel we got a phenomenal value for the money spent, and the beauty of the venue simply cannot be beat for the price. Additional tip:  We HIGHLY recommend using Paradise Catering if you get married at Gardener Ranch or anywhere in the Carmel Valley area -- the food and service they provided were absolutely phenomenal, and they work with Gardener Ranch frequently.

Gardener Ranch exceeded our expectations. With a variety of cottages on property we loved that our bridal party and family could stay on property with us and celebrate all weekend. They have a fabulous pool, which we utilized for a welcome pool party, a gym, the most beautiful classic black and white check dance floor, and multiple beautiful lawn settings for the ceremony, dinner, etc. I still get so many guest comments raving about the venue, it's truly one of a kind and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

The moment we got out of our car to look at this venue we fell in love. It is absolutely beautiful! It was peaceful and green and gorgeous. They had three ceremony sites to choose from and we fell in love with the one by the Carmel Valley River. There is a gorgeous tree that twists over and provides a perfect spot for the ceremony with the sound of running water just beyond it. They have a classy and rustic décor in their club house that we loved. Other venues really had no personality while Gardnener was overflowing with personality. This abundance of personality meant that I did not need a ton of décor as I didn’t want to take away from the beauty that was already there. My wedding was in December so we had dinner inside as it cooled off at night but they have the option to do dinner outside on one of their beautiful lawns. Bridal camp for getting ready could not have been more perfect. Classy elegant space for the ladies while the gentlemen get a poker table and manly area to ge... Read moret socialize and relax before the big event. This venue is a beautiful secluded venue that is still close to civilization. People could still have fun and get home safely without driving for hours. It is its own little oasis of beauty and bliss.

Gardener Ranch is exactly what it looks like. It is tucked away, a private little paradise for you and your guests. The accommodations are wonderful. The process of choosing Gardener Ranch was smooth. Our first visit was very thorough, we got to see the entire property and ask a lot of questions. Communication was easy, though sometimes it did take them a few days or a week to respond. Heather and Nancy were both friendly and easy to work with. They were also pretty flexible in working with me to help pull of the weekend I was hoping for. I booked their bar package and they helped with the linen rental, and everything was smooth and easy. My wedding was in early November, which helped us save some money because Gardener Ranch offers off-peak pricing. The daytime was lovely and sunny, near 70 degrees. Once the sun went down it was a bit chilly, but the heat lamps and fire pit kept everyone warm. All of the houses had plenty of blankets and heat, and we used the fireplace in our ho... Read moreuse too. Our entire wedding weekend was pure magic and I am so glad we chose Gardener Ranch.

My wife and I got married at Gardener Ranch in August 2016 and the venue is everything we could ever imagine in a venue. We scoured venue options up and down California for places that could provide on-site lodging for weekend wedding without feeling like a campground. We also wanted the freedom to fully select the vendor team we wanted (including providing our own alcohol). Gardener is one of the only places that met these criteria, but it’s also so much more. The venue totally made our wedding. All of our guests loved the property and it was a completely perfect location to host a weekend full of events. The venue is absolutely gorgeous, and has a huge variety of spaces to host events. We did a welcome barbecue in the Oaklands, our Ceremony in the Woodlands, our reception in the Grasslands, dancing in the Clubhouse, a brunch poolside in the Breakfast Room, and had 45 guests staying a 5-minute walk from all of it. During our wedding planning process, the Gardener staff was going... Read more through a transition period and some of their policies changed. This caused a small period of confusion for us on their catering rules & fees, but everything was ironed out and super smooth by the time of our wedding. We highly recommend working with a wedding coordinator if you book Gardener Ranch, as it’s a large property with so many aspects to consider. We worked with Coastside Couture, and we highly recommend them if you book Gardener - see our separate review of our experience working with them: http://www.yelp.com/biz/coastside-couture-santa-cruz-2?hrid=iGV9UMZ7NRTRkEFS5fDAfA. Gardener Ranch as a property sells itself. We knew it was exactly what we were looking for the minute we walked on property. Go visit for yourself if you are considering a wedding weekend in the Carmel-area. It is as gorgeous as the pictures make it out to be and access to the entire property for the whole weekend will ensure that you have the most memorable wedding you can imagine.