Weddingbee Blog

This is the second installment of my little “Venue That Wasn’t” series. For this venue, I wanted to show you all Leila Arboretum. Seriously one of the most beautiful places in Battle Creek. In the spring, it is bursting with new flowers and green everywhere. In the summer the trees are lush and beautiful. If the fall it is a Midwestern dreamscape of orange, yellow, and blue, and in the winter it is a marshmallow magic land of rolling hills and sledding.

OK, enough yip-yapping! I will show you pictures!

When you come up the main drive, this is what greets you.

Then their are paths and hills and gardens everywhere. Truly beautiful!

Some modern art



Beautiful views

And this is what you see as you drive out. Stately isn’t it?

*All photos from the Leila Arboretum Facebook page.

I have attended a handful of beautiful weddings at the Arboretum. They also allow receptions, but we decided not to go that route for a number or reason.

1. We were getting married in a church, so this would be a reception-only site.
2. There would be LOTS of renting involved (floors, tents, heat lamps, etc.)
3. Early April is kind of a no-man’s-land plant-wise in Battle Creek. There is no snow, but things aren’t quite green yet.
4. The largest reason we could not hold our reception here was that they do not allow alcohol. This was really the nail in the coffin of this locale for us. We don’t drink much, but our friends and family would be a bit surprised and disappointed at a totally dry wedding.

That being said, if you are looking for a non-alcoholic, beautiful outdoor site in a more weather-predictable time of year, I could not recommend this more! SO lovely…maybe we will have to bop down there for pictures during our “gap-time.”

Did you have a venue that wasn’t?