Wellfield Botanic Gardens — Attraction in Elkhart

Our family went the day after Thanksgiving, we were all very excited. We have been here many times before in the summer. Before entering, we were greeted by the worst parking structure in history. They have a huge new lot built, but they designated the entire parking lot as handicap only for the light show…. So everyone else hand to park a few blocks away. It was windy and cold and completely unnecessary, as the majority of the main lot remained empty. The majority of the guests were forced to park in an overflow lot a few blocks away, then walk to get in. It’s a small light show… it took us an hour to walk through the whole thing. I would understand if the light show was bigger, and we needed to accommodate more people with disabilities, but this was ridiculous. Secondly, after walking to get in, the ticket checkin process was worse than TSA. We had purchased tickets ahead of time and the lady was so rude about letting us into the lobby before our whole party was there. I have three kids under four and the temperature was in the twenties. The lady made myself, my husband, and my 9 month old wait in the vestibule until our 3 and 4 year old arrived, who were with their aunt and uncle. This Left a mom and her baby outside freezing rather than waiting in the lobby for a few minutes to warm up.

In summary, the Lights were good, parking awful, checking in was an unnecessary hassle. Common sense changes need to be made to improve the...

I give this place 3 stars because the actual gardens are incredibly beautiful and peaceful. I bought a membership for myself and family members, and I regret spending that money due to the fact that the women at the front have been beyond rude to me the 2 and only times I’ve ever been; and unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to return because of it. I thought maybe they were just in a bad unwelcoming mood the first time, but the second time sealed the deal. The woman was absolutely brash. While standing outside waiting to enter (where you’re literally told to stand...) the lady busted out of the door and told me to verbatim “move out of the way!” For guests whom she was smoozing with - Instead of maybe a more palatable version like “hey would you mind moving to the side?” and then for some odd reason interrogated me over the age of my child who is clearly a child even though I have a family pass. I was then both times just starred at awkwardly when I left, while they held the door and were pleasant to others. As a business owner in the area myself, it’s completely distasteful to cherry-pick who you decide to be courteous to in your facilities. Not exactly sure why this is, as I have only been pleasant to them, I’m not particularly a shady looking character and have complied with all their rules etc. Just a very odd, uninviting and souring experience for me personally; but again, the grounds...

Absolutely loved the wedding that we shot here in 2021. The Wellfield Botanic Garden was the ceremony location and it was beautiful. There were so many options for photos - from ivy walls to large florals and a pavilion. Although it was an extremely hot day, the couple opted to do all pre-ceremony photos out in the garden and I am so glad that they did (and I’m sure they were too!) The ceremony was held on the lawn and all of the backdrops in our photos were great. The space was able to accommodate the guest count of over 150.

After the ceremony, we did couple portraits around the garden and we were able to capture unique shots from pre-ceremony pictures - all on the property - because the gardens had that many options. We headed about a mile across town and had the reception at the Lerner Crystal Ballroom. The ballroom was large and, although we did not take many pictures on the outside of the building, there was a lot of potential for getting a city...