Salisbury House & Gardens Reviews

We had a fantastic wedding at Salisbury House & Gardens! The staff were beyond helpful and were easy to communicate with during the months leading up to our day. The pictures turned out stunning, and with such a gorgeous location, it didn't take much to decorate. The location, the art, the history! Five stars!

We had a wonderful day at the Salisbury House. Although a tad warm, for the middle of September (95 degrees). Our outdoor ceremony was beautiful. Bonnie was wonderful to work with as well as the rest of the staff. The grounds are worth every penny for beautiful pictures / video!

The ladies at Salisbury House and Gardens were a DREAM to work with! Owning an event company in Charleston, SC, I wasn't able to visit the venue prior to the wedding, and they were VERY resourceful and always willing to help. The venue was stunning and I cannot recommend Salisbury House and Gardens enough!

I absolutely ADORE the Salisbury House and Gardens in Des Moines, IA. What a dream location! We had our ceremony and reception all on site. The wedding coordinator of the house, Bonnie, was amazing to work with as she would keep in touch with us throughout the year leading up to the big day. Bonnie kept us updated on rules of the house as well as all the options we had for our special day. Bonnie also helped us create a Plan B for weather, which had to be put into effect. Bonnie and her team did an amazing job of setting up chairs and helping direct vendors. I know many of our guests were impressed with the wedding venue and enjoyed exploring the gardens and the first level of the house. I would highly recommend the Salisbury House for any size wedding. Ours was small (less than 100 people) so we had more options to move it indoors and avoid using an outdoors tent, but I know there have been beautiful weddings that have been on site as well, so it's really a dream site for any bride and wedding party! Thank you to Bonnie and the Salisbury House for a magical day... I wish it didn't have to end!

Beautiful venue for our wedding. The staff were very helpful as we planned our setup and carried out the event. When mosquitos popped up with a vengeance just after dinner, staff came to the rescue with bug spray for the guests. Could not be more grateful that we were able to have our special day here.

A remarkable location and impeccable staff. All and all a flawless event on the most special day of my life and I couldn't be more appreciative, or speak higher of the Salisbury House and all it entails.

We live in Chicago and came back to Iowa for our wedding. The Salisbury House was a perfect setting for our reception after the church ceremony! I wanted Old World charm with sophisticated style. The majority of our guests were from out of state and loved the guided tours of the historic house (we made available during appetizers while we took pictures). The backdrop of our pictures were beautiful. After dinner, guests walked around the gorgeous garden admiring the lovely, groomed flowering plants. The staff worked well with my caterer, florist and band. Everyone was very flexible with my plans using different parts of the house and lawn. If inclement weather affects an outdoor reception, there are limitations on the number of seated guests since The Salisbury House is a museum. Entire staff is wonderful and accommodating! I highly recommend The Salisbury House.

We had a wonderful experience at Salisbury House. Bonnie was extremeky helpful in making our day great. I think the best way to describe our day and our experience was perfect. I wouldn't change anything about our day or experience.

Bonnie was very helpful getting our intimate wedding planned. We got married in the middle of the week, during business hours in January. There wasn't anyone who came into the house that I know of, anyway! I highly recommend the Salisbury House, especially for a small intimate wedding. It was everything we had hoped it would be.

The Salisbury House is a beautiful location for a wedding ceremony.

The Salisbury House is the perfect Fairy Tale Setting for an outdoor wedding! My husband and I were married in the gorgeous garden which made for fantastic wedding photos! Following the ceremony,we held the reception on the side lawn with dancing on the grand patio.

About Salisbury House: Discover the enduring charm of 16th century England, the changing America of the 1920s, the vibrant culture of the 21st century. Salisbury House is all of that. Imagine moving through room after majestic room...the expansive Great Hall, the art-filled Common Room, the elegant dining room, the rare book-filled Library. And the experience has just begun. Treasures of art and antiquity create the dazzling mosaic that is Salisbury House.

www.SalisburyHouse.org

The Salisbury House staff was wonderful to work with! They were with us every step of the day, making sure we were where we needed to be, keeping to the timeline, and just general help with photos and such. I would recommend anyone to work with the Salisbury House as it was the perfect ceremony location for us!

We had a fairytale wedding at the Salisbury House! Bonnie was great to work with. She is punctual, knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful in making your big day what you want it to be. The Salisbury House is a stunning venue. We had a perfect day there and recommend you do too!

We had our wedding ceremony at the Salisbury House. It is a beautiful but over priced venue. Bonnie is very nice and great to work with, but the venue is extremely strict about everything. If I could go back I would have gone with a different venue.

I would never recommend someone get married at Salisbury House. Let’s just say there’s a reason they have “dates still available this year!”. I had a wonderful wedding day because of all of my other fantastic vendors (which you can read reviews on), but I could go on and on about awful situations and circumstances Salisbury House put me in. If you’re reading this you likely know that SH costs more than any other venue in Iowa and that the fee comes with nothing. I want to stress this – you get nothing in return for your money except being able to physically walk on the property which you will still likely be yelled at for. Our guests – and US, the bride and groom!! - were routinely chastised, rebuked and lectured during our wedding, enough so that I’m still hearing about Lori from our guests, SH’s so-called “guest experience manager”. Their security guard, which I also had to pay for, banned my 90-year-old grandmother from coming inside in 95 degree weather because she had a sealed bottle of water in her hand. We were forced to dispose of hundreds of dollars of wine because staff wouldn’t let guests walk through the Salisbury House with any kind of drinks, even water, despite the contract stating otherwise. 15-minutes after being married, Lori berated my husband and I for being in the room that Bonnie told us to be, in which she grabbed the flower-end of my bouquet and threw it. We were told SH would provide a dolly for my aunt to move chairs 120 chairs from one end of the house to the other, but they did not provide it and when she asked about it the staff refused to get it. The planning was almost worse. Salisbury House made it stressful and traumatic. They have no amount of flexibility, will help you with nothing, and line-items you have in your contract will not be followed through on. I have also been in contact with people from the State of Iowa regarding SH's ethical issues/non profit status, but suffice to say I do NOT recommend.