Fall Philadelphia Zoo Wedding

Ever thought of getting married at the zoo? Deb and Drew did! They chose the Philadelphia Zoo for their September wedding with a reception in the Peacock Pavilion tent. Their beautiful celebration came together thanks to A Little Soiree, and Castell Photography captured the day!

Where to get married? My husband and I looked at a few traditional wedding venues (inns, vineyards, etc…) but found ourselves being uninspired. We wanted our wedding to be non-cookie cutter. My parents had been to many functions at the Philly Zoo around where I grew up, and my mom suggested that we look there as an alternative wedding venue when she heard my frustration. At first I thought she was kidding, but we made the trek home and instantly fell in love with the idea of a zoo wedding. The grounds were beautiful without being overdone, the venue spaces were so fun and unique but still could be made formal enough for a wedding, and the party tent option fell right in line with what we wanted – to design (or have our awesome wedding planner Kelsey design) a setting for our reception that was beautiful and one-of-a-kind. We also had the option to incorporate as much of the “zoo” (i.e. the animals) as we wanted or not at all. Being at the zoo, though, we opted for our ceremony outside the Avian Center at Bird Lake where we had a surprise peacock walk by, our cocktail hour in the primate house (which is an awesome industrial space with the added bonus of cute monkeys to watch), and our reception in the Peacock Pavilion tent. Deciding to have our wedding at the Philly Zoo was one of the best choices we could have made. We are still getting compliments a year later and having our friends tell us they want their weddings to be as fun and beautiful as ours. – Deb