Looking for photography inspiration for your Gamble Garden wedding? You’ve found it! I’m delighted to bring you a small selection of photos from Diana and Rodrigo’s beautiful wedding which took place in December 2020.
But I want to give you more than pretty pictures in this blog post. I also want to share information that will be useful planning your Gamble Garden wedding.
Gamble Garden is a quiet and quaint wedding venue on the San Francisco peninsula, combining history and nature.
A beautiful garden and historic home make the Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden the perfect setting for an intimate event for 50 guests in the heart of old Palo Alto.
Weddings at Gamble Garden
Table of Contents
About the Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden
Gamble Garden is a private Horticultural Foundation open during daylight hours. As a non-profit Bay Area event venue, this is a wonderful organization to support, which is only keep going through private donations and bookings.
Read more about ethical weddings in the Bay Area, including utilizing non-profits’ spaces:
The venue has been offering spaces for small, intimate weddings of fewer than 50 guests since before that was the norm 😎. In fact, so have I been a photographer specializing in intimate weddings for over 5 years now.
The Main House and Carriage House are set within a plot of 2.5 acres! The property also includes 1902 Edwardian-style structures and perfectly complement the old-world feel.
Gamble Garden is conveniently located near downtown Palo Alto, Highway 101 and the Palo Alto Transit Center. If you’re traveling from San Francisco like I was, it was an absolute breeze.
About the wedding couple
Diana and Rodrigo are both originally from Mexico. Crazily, they went to the same school and same college but only met randomly at a wedding back in Mexico! It was a long-distance wedding until relatively recently. This couple could not WAIT to be married and truly together!
They live in Foster City, a place they love! On our phone call, they told me all about their adventures exploring the waterways of Foster City which was intriguing!
They got engaged in Hawaii in early December 2020. And – readers – they pulled off this wedding in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! They picked the awesome date 12/12… and got to work!
Due to the pandemic, there were restrictions which they needed to honor. So, guests were masked and social distancing was in effect. They decided in the end to have a sit-down meal and it worked beautifully!
Diana and Ro prioritized lots of candids! On their photo planning document, they told me they wanted photos of the “little fun moments when we’re laughing and being goofy.” And I would like to think that I gave them exactly that.
Lots of stolen little moments that will take them right back to the way their wedding day felt when they look back in the decades to come! 😉
Gamble Garden pricing and planning information
Event areas are perfectly proportioned for small celebrations. There are three different ceremony locations: the Rose Garden, the Wisteria Garden and the Tea House Patio for your ceremony. Weddings can take place evenings Monday – Friday, or during weekends, all subject to availablility.
Gamble Garden’s reception spaces are the Carriage House and Tea House Patio.
Rentals include The Carriage House with full kitchen and Carriage House patio, The 1st floor of the Main House, Tea House and Tea House patio, Wisteria Garden and Rose Garden.
Staff can advise you on what areas would suit your tastes, budget and guest count. They have an on-site coordinator, Gabrielle, with over 20 years’ experience who was instrumental in making Diana and Rodrigo’s wedding a TRIUMPH!
However, a quick aside. A venue coordinator, while worth their weight in gold, does not negate the need for a dedicated wedding planner who has the overarching view of every piece of the wedding.
Diana and Ro used Something Blue Events, the team that worked tirelessly running around behind the scenes so the couple could simply enjoy!
Prices to rent the Gamble Garden begin at $1,200/event for weekend weddings starting at 8 hours. Different rates may be available for off-season/ weekday weddings.
All prices and details are subject to change without notice. Always contact the venue for up-to-date information about your unique event.
And now for the not-so-great. Many previous brides have said that the event coordinator has been difficult to get a hold of, with phone call being the only option.
Others have voiced concerns that the venue’s insistence on using only musicians from their list – and absolutely no amplified music – is overly restrictive.
What photographers need to know about the Gamble Garden
- On the weekends, access to certain parts of the Garden may be limited.
- No mini-sessions permitted (one individual photo shoot is allowed per photographer).
- You are requested to check with the Office one or two weeks prior to your photoshoot.
- Group numbers should be limited to 15 or fewer.
- Photographers and artists must stay on the paths.
- No tripods, lightstands or other free-standing apparatus is permitted.
- Photographers are welcome to work at the Gamble Garden for non-commercial purposes, or when hired for weddings.
To wrap up!
I really hope that was both helpful and inspiring! There is something really beautiful and magical about this venue. Diana actually initially turned it down, and then suddenly realized it was the perfect venue for her!
So filled with history, mature gardens, horticultural excellence and a location that can’t be beat. Pandemic or not, there are few Bay Area wedding venues that can be as enchanted a setting as this for an intimate wedding of 50 guests or fewer.
This wedding was planned SO incredibly quickly! It’s amazing to see how the wedding vision was pulled off when time wasn’t on their side. Diana purchased some items from my list of downsized DIY wedding must-haves including that awesome ceremony setup, pictured above.
If you’re planning to get married at the beautiful Gamble Garden, I hope you’ll check out my wedding planning resources linked below, my wedding portfolio and then get in touch if you like what you see!
Vendors
Venue Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden
Photography Zoe Larkin Photography
Planning Something Blue Productions
Floral design Design With Flowers
Dress BHLDN
HMUA Wow Pretty
Catering Aurora Catering
Musician Janice Ortega
For similar intimate outdoor wedding venues surrounded by nature, check out some others below:
Photos from Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden wedding
Zoe Larkin
I’m Zoe, a wedding photographer based in San Francisco! My style is candid, capturing authentic moments for my couples all over the Bay Area and Northern California. Creating content is my passion! Follow along the blog and Insta!