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Garden wedding venues in Tenerife: eight questions to ask before you choose

Real capacity, a plan B if it rains, finishing time, noise, parking and what the price actually includes.

· 8-minute read

A round table laid in the garden, with glasses, plates and rose petals
A celebration table in the garden.

Before you start: when to look for a venue

A wedding is usually planned twelve to eighteen months ahead, and the venue is the first thing to be settled, because the date, the number of guests and most of the budget depend on it. In a garden, the venue also decides things that don't come up in a function room: the light, the weather, the noise and the trip home.

These are the eight questions worth asking any garden venue in Tenerife before you sign anything, ours included. For each one we say why it matters and what our answer is. A lot of the answers depend on the date and the number of guests: those we talk through with each couple, and we say so.

1. How many guests really fit, and seated where?

“Up to 300 people” can mean 300 standing at a drinks reception or 300 seated at crowded tables. Always ask for two figures, seated at tables and standing, and ask which area each table goes in. In a garden, the table by the dance floor isn't the same as the one at the back, behind a tree.

Our answer: we can seat up to 250 guests, spread across the terrace, the garden, the covered patio and the area by the stage, with a dance floor. The garden gazebo seats up to six: for the couple's table with their parents, for example. How the tables are laid out we work out with each couple, depending on the number of guests.

2. What happens if it rains?

It doesn't rain much in the south of Tenerife, but it does rain. According to AEMET's figures for the Tenerife South station (1981–2010), about 132 mm of rain falls a year, spread over about 15 days. From May to September it hardly ever rains. December is the month with the most rainy days, about three and a half, and from October to March you should allow for one or two.

So the question isn't whether it will rain, but where everyone sits if it does. Is there a covered space for all the guests, or only for some of them? Who decides to move, and when?

Our answer: we have a covered patio, under the beams. If your date falls in the rainy months, we talk through plan B with each couple, depending on the number of guests.

3. How late can the celebration go on?

This is the question that saves the most arguments. Ask what time the music has to stop, what time the bar closes and what time guests have to be out, because those can be three different times. And whether it can run on, and how much each extra hour costs.

Our answer: the restaurant is open every day from 5pm to midnight, and the kitchen is open until midnight. The finishing time for a wedding and for the music is agreed with each couple.

4. Will there be noise, yours and other people's?

In a garden, sound has no walls. There are two questions: if your music might bother anyone, and if anything might bother you. Spanish law splits the day into three periods for measuring noise (day, evening and night, with night starting at 11pm) and each municipality sets its own limits. Ask the venue what its limit is, what time the music is turned down and whether they've ever had to stop it.

Ask too about what you can hear from outside: a road, a hotel with entertainment, another party.

Our answer: we have a stage with a piano and a dance floor, and the TF-1 motorway runs close by, so you can hear some traffic. The music for the wedding is something we discuss with each couple.

5. Will we have the place to ourselves?

Many restaurants that host weddings stay open to the public the same evening, or hold two events on the same day. That's not a bad thing, but you need to know: it changes the photos, the noise and the atmosphere. Ask whether the venue closes for your wedding, from how many guests, and whether there'll be other customers in any part of it.

Our answer: it depends on the number of guests and the date, so we discuss it with each couple. Ask us straight out: we'll tell you before you book.

6. Where do guests park, and how do they get home?

At a wedding half the guests drive there, and nobody should be driving home. Ask how many spaces there are, whether they're kept for the wedding and how getting home is organised: taxis, a hired coach or the local buses.

Our answer: we have our own free car park, with limited spaces. We're at Av. de Austria 5, San Eugenio Alto, exit 29 off the TF-1, next to Aqualand, and a taxi from Playa de las Américas costs about €5.75 at night on the official fare. We explain it in getting here without overpaying for a taxi. How guests arrive and get home we work out with each couple.

7. What does the price actually include?

The price per guest is almost never the final price. Before you compare venues, ask them to tell you in writing what's included and what isn't:

  • The menu: how many courses, whether there's an option for guests who don't eat meat or fish, and a children's menu.
  • Drinks: whether it's an open bar, with what limit (on hours or on spend) and which brands.
  • The cake: if you can bring your own, and if there's a charge for serving it.
  • Table linen, decoration, flowers, lighting and chairs for the ceremony.
  • Charges that turn up at the end: service, extra hours, cleaning, the bread.
  • The deposit: how much, when, and in which cases it's refunded.

Our answer: there's no service charge. The menu, the drinks and everything else are quoted individually, depending on the date and the number of guests. If a deposit is needed, we tell you in writing before anything else, never on the day.

8. Can we get married there, or only celebrate?

In a garden you can hold a symbolic ceremony with no paperwork at all: the couple arrange it with whoever they like. A legally binding civil wedding is another matter. In Spain it's conducted by the mayor of the municipality or a councillor they delegate, a notary or a court official (letrado de la Administración de Justicia), and the marriage file (expediente matrimonial) has to be processed first. Many couples from abroad marry legally in their own country and then hold a symbolic ceremony in Tenerife.

If you want a civil wedding in the garden, ask the venue whether it's been done there before and by whom, and check with the town council or the notary before you book.

Our answer: we talk it through with each couple when they ask for a quote.

Where this comes from

If anything here has changed, tell us at the table or on +34 620 77 00 72 and we'll put it right, with the source in front of us.

Ask us for a quote with these eight questions

Choose “Wedding or private event” when you book, tell us the date and the number of guests, and we'll reply in writing.

Ask for a quote

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