Hartley Botanica

I absolutely love this venue. It's a hidden treasure tucked away in Somis (Ventura County). I've never had so many people tell me that if they had known this was there, they would have had their own wedding there or that they will get married there also. nI absolutely LOVE this garden! Their wedding coordinator was not on top of things as much as I expected her to be, but the caterer absolutely made up for any short comings!

This venue was absolutely gorgeous. They made it easy by providing a list of vendors that they recommended. All of their recommendations were great. The catering service they provide is amazing, the food was delicious and the decor that came with it was beautiful. The grounds were amazing, we couldn't have chosen a better location!

Hartley's is great, truely beautiful landscaping and waterfalls! Our guests are still raving about how great our wedding was and how smoothly everything went. The food was amazing, Command Performance does an exceptional job with service and professionalism, and I would use them in the future. Wendi the day of coordinator was so patient and so helpful - she really pulled off exactly what we asked for. The florist Belle of the Ball was amazing and knew what we needed for the location so we did not over spend. I would recommend Hartleys if you want a perfect day and perfect memories!

Before I got married, I didn't even know where Somis was, but I'm so glad that I happened to stumble across it when I was looking for wedding venues in Ventura. We wanted to get married on the beach, but figured we could stop by Hartley's on our way up to Ventura. Right when we walked in, my husband and I looked at each other and said "This is the place". We originally wanted to get married in Kauai, but decided against it, but this is the next best thing to it. It's a lush tropical garden designed just for weddings. It's completely outdoors with an exception of a cute bridal suite. It's intimate, romantic and beautiful. When you book with them, you have to use their caterer (Command Performance). We have no complaints about them, their food and service was great. You bring in all of your own alcohol, which we loved. You get to serve exactly what you want and get to take home the leftovers. You also get a day-of wedding coordinator, Wendi. She is the only reason I didn't give Hartley's a 5 star rating, which it deserves. I wanted to rate them even lower based on my experience, but everyone else that was involved was perfect. She (Wendi) is the pushiest woman I have ever met. I could easily sit here and rant about her, but to make a very long story short, I wouldn't recommend Hartley's to close friends or to complete strangers because of her. Some people may think I was just one of those Bridezillas, but when I had guests send me emails after our wedding complaining about her, I knew I wasn't crazy. Bottom line is this: Hartley's is beautiful, Barbara (the owner) is fantastic and Trevor (Head of Catering) is great. If you fall in love with this venue like we did, I would strongly, STRONGLY encourage you to bring in your own wedding coordinator because Wendi ruined a huge part of my big day and I would hate to see it happen again to another bride.

This place is as good as it gets! Absolutely magical and the best venue for an all outdoor wedding. I had so many people tell me ours was the most beautiful wedding they've ever been to (...yes!!) Everything is inclusive and you have the option to add other additions and upgrades too. The caterer that comes with the venue was not only easy to work with, but made the most delicious 'wedding food' I've ever had!

We LOVED Hartley! The evening was flawless. Trevor (From Command Performance Catering) and his staff were so easy and awesome to work with. He was so accommodating when we wanted to create a more personalized menu. BTW, the jalapeno mac and cheese is to die for and your guests will LOVE it. The wait staff was great, and the BYO bar set up is a definite $ saver. Wendi was a big help for the rehearsal and day of! We also used Cakes by Vreeke and Rockrose Floral and couldn't have been happier with both choices. Hartley is worth the drive and every penny!!

I really wish I could write a better review. I was married here in August. Hartley Botanica is beautiful and unique in many ways. This is why we chose the venue. Our guests were impressed with how things looked and many aspects of our day. However, we had a poor experience with Wendi (the day of wedding coordinator who comes with the venue). I found her to be rude and in my opinion she mishandled certain important aspects of our wedding and reception. Family members and some of our other vendors complained to us about the way she spoke to them and found her manners to be unpleasant. I found her tone and choice of words used towards me to be offensive and really unpleasant. Guests who observed her behavior towards me expressed concern as well. Her conduct is the main reason I am not comfortable recommending this venue to other brides. I do not think that wedding coordinators should be rude to brides on their wedding day or act in ways that have a negative impact on a customer's experience. I do not believe this is an unreasonable expectation. During our planning phase we had pleasant interactions with Barbara (the owner) - I found her to be reasonable and friendly. We also found most of the other vendors affiliated with Hartley to be of quality. There were some other less important issues - but nothing that would dissuade me from recommending the venue completely (besides our experience with the wedding coordinator). I am just very surprised, given my previous pleasant experiences with Barbara, that the wedding coordinator felt it was acceptable to act in the way that she did towards us. All I can think/hope is that the owners are not aware of the extent to the issue.

Hartley is so incredibly beautiful, it's like a fairytale fantasy. Everyone told us it was the most beautiful wedding to which they've ever been. Command Performance food was fantastic, Wendi, the Day Of Coordinator, was great, and Barbara, the owner, was really helpful every step of the way.

This venue was beautiful. Everyone there told us that it was gorgeous, the most beautiful wedding they'd been to. I thought the day of turned out wonderfully, and that's what counts. Barbara, the owner, was nice, but not always very professional or timely in her responses. We were planning our wedding from out of state, and it was difficult to get things done when she took so long to respond. And, she rarely had an answer for our questions. It was always the same answer- Good question, why don't you ask the caterer? Which was fine until we figured out that this was the same answer the caterer gave us. Annoying. Over all, I'd recommend the venue for it's beauty, and if you live in the area. For an out of state couple, I'd look elsewhere.

Perfect setting for a perfect wedding. They are pros and everything goes off without a hitch. No set up or clean up and an onsite wedding coordinator for the day of. Truly an amazing location!

Hartley's was absolutely beautiful for our wedding. A very romantic setting, and plenty of grounds for people to walk around and enjoy. The aisle that I walked down was stunning with the trees creating an archway with all the twinkle lights. My only complaint would be that on the wedding night, there was a little lack of communication that led to a lot of confusion. But everything worked out great. Wendy was so patient and understanding, especially considering the family "situations". I would not have rather gone any where else. Even our photographer said that it was a gold mine for our pictures.

My good friend was married at Hartleys and she had nothing but great things to say about the service. When I was engaged I had a hard time finding a place that looked beautiful and had reasonable prices. my friend suggested we try Hartleys, but I didn't want her to be upset that I was married at the same place. When she assured me it wasn't a problem with her I made an appt and took my Mother and the Groom to be and we all fell in love with the garden setting. From the first appt. to the wedding day, Barbara and Wendi were amazingly helpful and helped to make our day special for us. Our guests were blown away by its beauty and intimate feeling. I wouldn't change a thing about our day.

This venue provides a day coordinator whom you can have unlimited calls or emails with up until the day of your wedding. The Coordinator as well as Barbara were wonderful and very responsive to our requests. The venue itself was breathtaking. My wedding was like something from a fairy tale. Being a botanical garden, it was already lush and green and it took very little flowers to add vibrant color into the already green area. I would highly recommend this venue to anyone looking for a "garden" type setting for their dream wedding.

Barbara at Hartley Botanica was amazing. She was quick to response to my questions and concerns not only on the day of the wedding but throughout the planning process. It never took more than a day or two to hear back from her. The gardens are beautiful and well maintained. The entire staff and team are well prepared for any wedding event. They work well together and provided my husband and I the ability to be guests and enjoy the day. They took care of every need and want, sometimes even before we would ask. The gardens were beautiful, the food was amazing and the set up was taken care for us. The amount of money spent would have been well worth 3 times more - it was an amazing value. Many of my guests believed we spent much more than we did. I can't brag enough about the wonderful experience we had at Hartley!

Hartley Botanica was amazing. The venue is gorgeous and the staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Most of our guests had never heard of Hartley so it was nice to surprise them with such a beautiful location for our wedding and reception. I would definitely recommend Hartley if you're looking for a garden setting. None of the other venues I looked into even came close.

Hartley was awsome....they had a list of companies that we could choose from to get everything taken care of that we wanted. We didn't want to use the florist they had so we used our own...and we could use whoever we wanted..but stuck with the amazing company Command Performance Catering, Skiffs Bakery for our cake..and a few others like our DJ..ect...

Beautiful Location! I had my wedding there in 2005 and everyone still talks about what a great event it was!!