Chester Zoo Reviews
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Abbie Sent on 15/09/2025A dream wedding and unique venue
Chester Zoo provides the ultimate wedding package with a sustainable edge. The venue is absolutely stunning, the staff are wonderful, and the food was delicious! We cannot recommend The Square at Chester Zoo enough.
The Square is a unique wedding venue with so much character. Designed and built with sustainability in mind, our guests were left speechless at the building and its charm. They particularly loved the claw marks on the original brick from the lions! Not only is the building beautiful, but the zoo grounds are so well-kept that you have numerous photo locations.
A member of staff kindly took us and our photographer around the zoo in the evening for dusk/sunset photos, which was magical and a whole experience in itself. If you do this, please be aware that buildings are closed and most of the animals will be settling down for the night, so prioritise these shots in the day when the zoo is open. For example, the penguins will unlikely be in the water, so the best photo opportunity will be during the day.
In terms of the wedding schedule, we wanted to make sure our guests got as much time in the zoo as possible. We got married at 12 pm, had our drinks reception at 1 pm and then had the wedding breakfast at 4 pm. Every single person at our wedding left the venue to explore the zoo and had an amazing time. The zoo is the perfect location for family-friendly weddings.
Both of us are vegetarian and decided to make it a fully vegetarian and nut free wedding. We chose the classic package, which included a 3-course meal, tea & coffee, evening buffet, plus alcohol. We added breakfast for the bridal party, and chef very kindly put together a bespoke bread station for the drinks reception, which included bread, olive oil/balsamic dip and olives. The food was exceptional, and the portion sizes were very generous! We had so much positive feedback and I think a lot of people see vegetarian food in a new light now.
The team were all so kind, courteous and professional. Every single task was executed to perfection - from meticulously steaming the table linen, to delicately laying out the doughnuts we ordered from Krispy Kreme on the dessert table, to fluffing my dress before I walked down the aisle. The team even noticed that we hadn’t eaten any of the evening buffet and kindly put together a big doggy bag for us to take home. The bar staff were fantastic and had great humour, we thoroughly enjoyed the baby Guinness shots. Big shout out to the security team, who were so lovely and helpful. We cannot thank Jess, Natasha, chef and the whole team for everything they did for us on the day. We couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Not only did we have such a wonderful day, but knowing that the profits from our wedding went towards conservation and education just makes it even better. -
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Ffion Sent on 05/06/2026
Perfect Day
We honestly could not have chosen a more perfect wedding venue than Chester Zoo. From the very beginning, the entire team were absolutely incredible and made the whole process feel so easy and completely stress free.
A very special thank you has to go to Rachel, our coordinator, who went above and beyond for us every step of the way. She was so organised, supportive, friendly, and reassuring throughout the entire planning process and on the day itself. Nothing ever felt like too much trouble, and she made us feel completely looked after from start to finish.
The team were amazing not only with us, but also with all of our guests and the other vendors attending the wedding. Everything ran so smoothly, and you could really see how experienced and professional everyone was behind the scenes. They were also so accommodating to every little request I had as a bride and made sure everything was exactly how we imagined it would be.
One of the most unforgettable parts of the experience was staying in The Reserve. It was absolutely incredible and made the whole wedding feel even more magical and unique. Being able to wake up in such an amazing setting was something we’ll never forget.
They also made getting to and from the zoo so easy and stress free for all our guests, which was such a huge help on the day. Every guest felt welcomed, comfortable, and truly part of something special.
We genuinely cannot thank the whole team enough for everything they did to make our wedding so perfect. If you are considering Chester Zoo as a wedding venue, do it — it was the most amazing experience and a day we will treasure forever. -
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George Sent on 26/05/2026
A Colourful Wedding at The Oakfield
My partner Sara and I had a perfect May wedding day at Chester Zoo! From the moment we saw The Oakfield we couldn’t have imagined a better venue for our ceremony. Jess Hampton was our wedding coordinator and was a huge help throughout the whole process, always available to answer questions, offer recommendations and easily breakdown the many pieces of planning for our day. On the day itself the staff were all incredibly helpful and friendly throughout, which is a huge relief with so much going on! Our guests all paid huge compliments to the wedding breakfast food, the decor of the venue and Chester Zoo on the whole - many of them are already planning their return visits.
We opted for the intimate package which was perfect for the size of our wedding at about 45 people, the Library room was more than spacious enough for the ceremony and the meal in the conservatory - while cosy! - was also the right fit. Having exclusive use of that room and the terrace, it felt like we had a really nice private space even on a busy weekday at the zoo.
We both heartily recommend the Oakfield as a venue for your wedding - not only do you get a beautiful building to marry in, but you contribute to the good cause of animal conservation at an amazing zoo. -
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Hannah Sent on 21/03/2026My perfect wedding day
The team at Chester Zoo, especially Rachel, were so supportive with organisation, planning and delivering our wedding day.
We had such an enjoyable wedding planning process. We truly appreciated every meeting and every conversation. They accommodated our every suggestion and made the day truly unforgettable. It was so brilliant that it is surreal, we can hardly believe that it was actually our wedding day. We would love to do it all again!
I cannot fault the team in any way. -
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Andrea Sent on 31/12/2025Our incredible August 2025 wedding at The Square
As one of our favourite places as a couple, we had wanted to get married at Chester Zoo for a long time. We viewed The Square shortly after getting engaged in 2023 and we both instantly fell in love with the space and the idea of getting married in such a special place.
The most important aspects that influenced our decision to get married at Chester Zoo were the sustainability focus they have within the venue, how all of the food was locally sourced, and how as a not-for-profit the proceeds from our wedding would go towards conservation. We loved all of the care and detail that has gone into the building itself, and we had lots of comments from our guests about how beautiful and welcoming the whole venue was. The Square is bright, cosy, and airy, and works fantastically as a blank slate venue so we felt it was so easy to add our own tastes and touches to it.
The full team at Chester Zoo, from our co-ordinator Jess to all the on the day staff, were all fantastic and made sure everything ran smoothly and we were kept informed at every stage of the planning. We ended up with some last minute changes of plans due to the weather forecast (having to decide to have the ceremony indoors instead of in the courtyard as we'd planned for, and the evening BBQ having to be served inside) which the team dealt with seamlessly, and they had contingency plans for everything to ensure the day still ran perfectly (such as guests being provided with umbrellas so everyone could still explore the zoo).
The catering was all fabulous - from the canapés and wedding breakfast to the BBQ buffet in the evening. The meal choices were great, with generous portion sizes, and the catering team dealt with all of the dietary requirements very professionally. The planning process of tasting and choosing the meals was great too, although we did spot a change had been made to our meat main course that was different from what we had agreed beforehand. It was a very minor issue that our guests didn't even notice and we had lots of lovely comments from our family and friends afterwards about how much they loved the food.
One of our highlights of the day was the zoo ranger discovery tour. We arranged for this to take place after the wedding breakfast and before the evening BBQ, just as the zoo was closing to the public, and the rangers offered 3 different tour groups for our guests to choose from. They took us around the zoo (despite the rain!) to see various different animals, telling us facts and behind the scenes stories about each animal we saw. Our guests loved it and we can't thank the rangers enough for showing our family and friends around a place so special to us!
We absolutely loved our zoo wedding, and we want to give a huge thank you to Jess and the Wedding & Events team for making it an even better day than we could have ever imagined. We'd 100% recommend The Square and Chester Zoo to anyone looking for a unique and memorable wedding venue. -
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Heather Sent on 30/12/2025A fantastic venue
Chester Zoo was a fantastic venue for our wedding. We’re so glad we chose to get married here!
The Square was easy to style to fit the vibe we were going for. It’s a bit of a ‘blank slate’ and suits a lot of different styles but is light and airy on its own. There was plenty of room for our guests in the Square and having the boardroom to get ready was also useful.
All the staff at the zoo were extremely professional and kind. They really did a wonderful job making the whole day feel magical. Jess did a great job keeping us on track with planning and coordinating with our other vendors. It took a lot of stress off us.
We enjoyed going around the zoo during the day and so did our guests. The food was delicious and received a lot of compliments. We would definitely recommend this venue. -
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Amy Sent on 29/12/2025
Our Perfect Day!
Chester Zoo is a venue that is very close to our hearts as we have been member a there for a number of years. So when we got engaged (also at the Zoo) it was the first place we thought of for the wedding and I am so happy we made the decision to book. From us attending the wedding showcase and making our initial enquiry to the day of our wedding we cannot fault the Zoo or any of the staff for a single thing.
We were kept informed all the way through to the day and any questions we had were answered quickly and clearly.
On the day the staff could not do enough for us and were so attentive without being intrusive. Our day was perfect and that was in no small part to the Zoo staff and surroundings. -
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Simon Sent on 07/12/2025
Made our day truly special
The team could not do more for us. The fact that we didn’t really know they were there on the day shows how in control the were. Even the unexpected rain didn’t dampen things. And the added bonus of letting my wife and I into the zoo after hours to get some memorable photos was really special -
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