The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens 47900 Portola Avenue • Palm Desert • CA 92260

A wedding at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert includes a three-hour rental of your chosen space, access to scenic areas of the zoo for your event and photos, coordination with the events team, vendor flexibility and free event parking. Plan separately for catering and bar service from the in-house team, the 23% service charge, a licensed planner or month-of coordinator (required) and guest shuttles, which some spaces require.

Yes. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens has four ceremony sites and four reception venues. You might say "I do" on an elevated platform beside the giraffe habitat or among the sculptures of the Irvine Patio, then dine outdoors among the palms or inside the Bighorn Café, where walls of windows look out on Bighorn Mountain and its resident sheep.

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens offers vendor flexibility, so you can bring in many of your own vendors. Catering and bar service come from the in-house team, with plated or buffet menus and hosted, consumption or cash bars. A licensed wedding planner or month-of coordinator is required to run the day alongside the zoo's events team.

At The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, reception spaces rent for $3,300–$7,500 for three hours, and ceremony- or cocktail-only spaces run $2,200–$2,750. Plated or buffet dinners run $65–$85 per person, bar service runs $17–$50 per person, and a 23% service charge is added. Extra time starts at $1,950 per hour.

Reception rentals at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens include three hours in your selected space, and additional time starts at $1,950 per hour. Events take place between 9am and 10pm, and amplified music is allowed indoors and outdoors, with some restrictions.

At The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, you can host your ceremony near giraffes, take photos in botanical gardens and toast under desert skies with mountain views. Your wedding also helps support the zoo's animal care, conservation and education work, so your celebration gives back to the natural world.

Yes. For an intimate celebration, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens offers the Stephen B. Chase Building, with a stylish boardroom, an art gallery and reception hall, and an adjacent landscaped patio with a sculptural waterfall. Ceremony-only spaces start at $2,200 for a shorter rental time.