The Ruth Bancroft Garden & Nursery — Attraction in Walnut Creek

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a breathtaking venue — but behind the beauty is a deeply disorganized, unprofessional, and unaccountable team. Our wedding day was beautiful only because of the incredible vendors we hired — not because of the venue staff, who were negligent, evasive, and at times, careless with our belongings and emotions.

We spent two years planning our wedding and were assigned three different venue coordinators due to turnover. By the time our day arrived, we were working with Fiona, whose title is House Manager — not Event Coordinator. That distinction matters: she lacks an event planning background, and it showed in every step.

Fiona struggled with basic communication. She attended our final walkthrough, yet emailed weeks later asking when it would take place. She repeated questions not for clarity but because she failed to retain or document important details. It left us uneasy about the staff’s ability to support our day.

And that fear became reality.

On the day of our wedding: • Venue staff arrived 20 minutes late, delaying setup. • We were promised five event assistants, but the week of the wedding were told we’d only have three. Our coordinator fought to get four — still short of what we paid for. • The assistants were inexperienced teenagers. One vendor reported giving them clear instructions that were ignored, resulting in damage. • Fiona was aware of the damage but didn’t tell us until we asked about it later.

After the reception, our coordinator was told she had to leave by 11 p.m., even though her plan to stay until midnight was clearly communicated and documented. That decision — made by Fiona at the last minute — directly led to the most devastating part of our experience.

Once our coordinator was forced to leave: • Our bridal bouquets — custom, sentimental, expensive — were taken home or thrown away by venue staff without permission. • When we followed up the next day, we were dismissed because they had “another event.” • What could’ve been resolved with a quick phone call dragged out for four days.

Worse, the venue blamed our coordinator, claiming she gave permission to discard the flowers — which she did not. They only responded once she intervened and falsely claimed it was a “miscommunication on her part” to get our items back. She took the fall because the venue refused to take responsibility.

The few bouquets we got back were wilted and never placed in water. The rest were never returned. Staff said it was “standard practice” to throw or keep bouquets, as if packing them with our belongings hadn’t occurred to them. Taking or tossing someone’s wedding bouquet without consent is unacceptable.

And the damage didn’t stop there: • Our personal items were thrown haphazardly into bins. Some were broken. Some are still missing. • A vendor contacted us days later — her couch was broken. It had been dragged across the floor, snapping a leg. • Fiona admitted to seeing it was “wobbly” but didn’t report it, claiming she assumed it was already damaged.

This pattern — of shifting blame, avoiding responsibility, and minimizing impact — was present throughout. The venue didn’t just mishandle our wedding — they broke our trust.

And the most telling part? Look at older reviews. Nearly everyone praises Tawny, the former event lead. She clearly held the department together. Without her, the events team at Ruth Bancroft has fallen apart. We’re certain none of this would have happened if she had been there.

Yes, the garden is gorgeous. But the experience behind it caused real heartbreak. What should have been a sacred, joyful day became one marked by stress, disappointment, and grief.

Until Ruth Bancroft Garden overhauls its event team, communication, and leadership, we do not recommend them. If your wedding matters to you — don’t...

A great place to visit but a horrible venue. I strongly recommend looking for a wedding venue anywhere but here. The Ruth Bancroft Garden venue is stunning but you will running into numerous frustrations and issues with their staff.

When my wife and I originally chose this place for our wedding we were working with the event manager, Tawny, who was an absolute gem. Unfortunately we ended up being passed through two others, Mary and Fiona. We didn’t realize it until later on, but this was a sign of the disorganization of the venue management.

Our experience with Fiona was abysmal. She was inattentive, disorganized, unaccountable and disrespectful. This lead to a ton of frustration and heartache to my wife. Do not be mislead. She is the House Manager, not an events manager or coordinator like the previous person. It’s clear that Fiona does not have the experience or aptitude to be handling such important events and I would not wish for any other couple to have to deal with what we went through.

With our contract we were allowed to get up to five event staff. Much to our concern and dismay, the “event staff” consisted of only teenagers. And our concern was well placed. We are now missing some of our personal items and we have had vendors reach out stating that their items and furniture was damaged/broken. None of this was communicated to us by Fiona, we had to reach out. It took forever to get responses on this. When we did get in contact, Fiona did everything to not take accountability. She consistently tried to blame things on our coordinator.

It truly feels like any cooperation went out the window as soon as they were inconvenienced. The biggest case of this was with our bouquets. Prior to the big day, we had clarified that it was okay for us to leave our things to pick up the next day. At no point were we told that there was nothing we couldn’t leave. Yet despite this our bouquets, that we painstakingly put together by ourselves, had been given away or tossed in the trash. I personally had gathered and put together those bouquets in a bin. The bin had then been taken down and put together with OUR things. It should have never been touched.

Fiona insisted that she had gotten permission from our coordinator to throw them away, which is a complete lie. Our coordinator was well aware that we wanted our bouquets back.

Both Fiona and the executive director Rodger were unwilling to work with us in our attempts to recover our flowers and the broaches attached to them. At one point we couldn’t get a response from the venue until our coordinator was forced to take on the blame. It is unacceptable that it took almost a week to get this resolved, especially when Fiona herself had my wife’s bouquet.

Fiona and Rodger tried to minimize my wife’s pain and sadness over their faults, to the point my wife was in tears. Any person willing to try and inflict emotional manipulation on someone else, does not have your best interest at heart. They will not treat you with the respect and care that you deserve on your special day.

As someone who has had to deal with this new management, I absolutely cannot recommend this place unless there is a serious change and overhaul of the staff from...

40+ year old 3 acre drought tolerant 4 season garden and plant nursery in the middle of a neighborhood. There is always things blooming.

With your $10/adult admission fee, you are given a self-guided garden booklet which list the different number paths to enjoy looking and photographing different succulents, cacti, aloe, agave, and native California plants and wildflowers (California poppies were in full bloom in April).

There are chairs and tables and benches scattered around the garden to sit, enjoy, and eat your food you bring in.

The friendly volunteer docents are full of plant information or can get information from one of the Ruth Bancroft Garden staff members.

While the garden is right next to busy Bancroft Rd, walking around here can feel like a mini getaway or oasis.

The garden is flat with either dirt or gravel paths. Easily accessible for both babies in strollers, toddlers walking themselves, and people who used walkers or wheelchairs. The docents make everyone who enters feel welcome.

In the plant nursery has many of the plants you see in the garden for sale. The plants are either propagated in the on-site greenhouses or from from growers around the country. Many of the water-conservation plants are either California natives or have origins from around the globe.

If you are a Bay Area gardener, you will get great inspiration visiting the garden or the nursery. And if you enjoy taking pictures of plants and gardens, you will be among the many photogs with their cameras on their tripods looking to take their next photo.

November 2019 Update: Went to garden to see what was blooming during autumn. There was a bucket of “free umbrellas” at the garden entrance to be used if you wanted to protect yourself from the sun and heat.

Kid Friendly & Accessibility Friendly - paths are wide, flat, and smooth for strollers, wheelchairs, walkers, and cans. Young kids are able to run around and along the paths. There is a diaper changing table in the...