Hartley Botanica

I absolutely love poppa Hartley and the whole crew at this company! My daughters wedding was out of this world. The whole event was done 1^st class and trust me when I say they are the very best ! Love them all .a proud DAD .ps thank you Hartley Botanical you made it easy and great!

I have been living in Somis 24 years… This is the place to get landscaping at a very reasonable price. Owner run and very, very helpful, knowledgeable, and down right NICE
RICHARD works his tail off and always has time for you…
Thank you Hartleys…

This is a little piece of paradise tucked away in Somis! I worked with Kate asking for a specialty fruit tree, that she had one day later for me to pick-​up! She is one of the kindest people that I have ever met, and made you feel right at home in a matter of minutes. The property is magnificent, and beautiful, so when you go… take your time, walk around so that you get to see everything!

My daughter was married at Hartley in July and it was beyond all my hopes and dreams. Karen was so attentive and Barbara responded quickly to our every request, and said yes every time. The day of the wedding I turned over control and it was flawless. Upon entering Hartley, we were absolutely transported to a magical place where everything is perfect. The gardens are beautiful during the day, but absolutely stunning at night. I can’t thank them enough for giving us an experience we will remember forever.

Amazing venue! It couldn’t have been more perfect of a place to have my moms memorial. So very happy. :)

Best Wedding Venue EVER!!!
We found Hartley and other sites on pinterest and random wedding websites. We knew we wanted an outdoor venue but everything we had found and toured were extremely small and/​or pricey or had space/​noise restrictions or pushy staff or artificially dyed ponds. When we went to Hartley we were greeted by Michelle who gave us a tour. She showed us the Lotus Tea Garden, ceremony site, reception area, secret garden, bridal suite, man cave, children’s playing area, kid’s garden and and and! This place is HUGE! We knew we had found our venue but didn’t want to book then and there. Michelle was never pushy, gave us paperwork that showed every cost involved and hugged us and sent us home to think it over. Shortly we were invited to their open house to taste the food and meet some vendors. After tasting the food, we were willing to sign anything.
We just got married here last Sunday and have been told by so many of our guests that it was THE BEST WEDDING EVER! We certainly thought so but was also nice to hear it from other people. Barbara Goodrich was extremely accommodating. She was super responsive via email, text and voice. Booking with Hartley came with the catering company as well as a professional wedding coordinator. The catering company, Command Performance was top notch. Our guests could not get over how amazing the food was. Everyone raved about the short rib, loved that we had incredibly tasty mac n’ cheese, and could not stop asking what the little orange puffy thing was because it was unlike anything they had tasted! Trevor from Command Performance was so easy to work with. Our meeting with him was fun, smooth and efficient. He never once tried to push any upgrades, I dunno we thought that was what wedding vendors do but no one at Hartley ever did that.
Last but certainly not least, our wedding coordinator, Karen was incredible. Karen was professional, kind and so composed. Throughout the planning process, she was always available and quick to respond. I found myself stressing over anything and everything but as soon as I talked to Karen I immediately felt better. She spent time explaining things over the phone and made sure our DJ and the rest of our vendors were all on the same page. On the day of our wedding, Karen was extremely attentive. She came to us often to make sure we were doing okay and verified we were okay to go on to the next event. Our wedding was a huge success! None of the guests knew Karen spent so much time chasing me around and they certainly did not know we were at least 30 minutes behind our timeline. Haha! We loved you Karen! Thank you for taking such great care of us.
Thank you Hartley, our guests are all still on a high from our super awesome wedding!

Hartley literally gave me the wedding of my dreams! I got married here in July and it was more than I could have hoped for! The venue is stunning! My guests are still talking about it! It is beautiful during the day, but once the sun goes down, it is magical!!! Candlelit dinner and dancing under the stars… could you ask for more? They only have one event at a time so you have the entire place to yourself. Your guests are free to explore the gardens, which are just beautiful!
Furthermore, Barbara is wonderful! She was upfront and honest about everything. Our quote even included tax and gratuity so we knew exactly what we would be paying. There were no hidden fees or surprises. And she was great about answering questions!
Karen, our day of coordinator, was spectacular. She kept everything running smoothly and let me relax and just worry about getting married.
The food from Command Performance was also great!
It truly was a magical experience. I am sooo glad that we chose to get married at Hartley Botanica!

Absolutely fabulous, stunning, etc! My husband and I got married at Hartley in August 2015. I cannot say enough good things about the atmosphere, Trevor from Command Performance (caterer), Jennifer from Belle of the Ball Designs (preferred florist), Barbara the owner, Michelle who gave us our first tour and got us all set-​up, and of course, Karen the day of coordinator. Everything was beautiful, we heard from several people, «best wedding ever», «stunning location», «great food», «beautiful florals», and great vendors. Barbara was there for us anytime we had any questions and would respond so quickly which always put me at ease. Karen is seriously amazing. Before the wedding she would answer any random question I had (which was frequent because I’d ask her a question anytime a thought came into my head!) and she was so thorough with all of our details. The day of I was shocked that she found me half the time because I was all over the place, but she was able to find us and keep us on our timeline, which I so appreciated! It was amazing. Best day of my life, and Hartley is an absolute dream location. Anyone who wants to have an outside wedding, this is the place for you :)

I love Unilocal!How we can all write reviews and share photos, and get ideas of how people are decorating and arranging the space. It’s like a Pinterest board but specific to the venue space itself!
If you’re considering having your wedding at Hartley Botanica, I wanted to offer a review from my perspective as a wedding photographer. This perspective will be from my experience having photographed at Hartley Botanica and hopefully will offer a different viewing angle for you to consider around light, layering, and background locations.
WHAT SETS HARTLEY BOTANICA APART
I’ve used the most limiting of backgrounds in some of the worst photographic locations to carefully craft amazing photographs. When I first set foot on the grounds at Hartley Botanica, I got goose bumps. This location has no limitations. Hartley Botanica is a playground of layering, and depth, and foliage. This space offers us as wedding photographers a creative palette that we can keep drawing from and drawing from and never run out. The grounds were amazingly well kept. Green and green. And then green, and a little more green. Crafting photographs in this space feels like I’ve entered a tropical oasis.
SO THAT’S WHAT THE PERFECT LAYOUT LOOKS LIKE
I know what makes the flow of a wedding run smoothly. One look around Hartley and you can tell some experienced thought was put down on paper in the design of this space. The traffic flow and layout is just one of those bonuses that could perhaps be overlooked. Having photographed in spaces that don’t flow well, this is one of those fist-​pump features about the property I get excited about
THE ARCHES
We’ve all seen those beautiful arches over the aisles. This. I don’t know if there is more to say than, ‘This.” WOW!
HIDING THE COUPLE, SECLUSION
One of the perks of having such a well laid out space is that the individual locations are easily separated from each other. This makes it easy to hide the couple from each other before the wedding. And for those couples that want to do a ‘first-​look’ intimate reveal before the wedding, there are a few perfect, quietly secluded spaces that allow that time to remain intimate between just the bride & groom.
Please feel free to hit me up if you have any questions. I love sharing!
Matt
Rewind Photography

Came here as a wedding guest in October 2014 and it was such an enchanting experience. Everything about it was so magical, I really am in love with this location.
As I take my journey to reach the altar I think of Hartley quite often. Only thing stopping me? Two of my friends tied the knot here… Kind of a turn off… slightly. Am I being too picky? But HB has definitely set a standard for me that can hopefully be met.
The ceremony area is so majestic, the bride walked down the aisle canopied by trees and surrounded by nature.
The wedding party then moved into the cocktail area which was also pretty chill. There was a waterfall in the area which made for some photo ops.
The reception space did not disappoint. It was twinkly and green and luscious. What I absolutely loved was the artificial turf. Nope, not sarcasm. As a high heeled lady, I truly appreciate this. It’s such an inconvenience to have my heels sinking into the grass as I walk to the dance floor. Not a problem at HB.
The food was good. I have no complaints about it. I won’t get into that only to say it was filling and tasty.
The overall selling point for me was how green it was!
My friend Bianca J, was very happy with her choice. and really that’s what really matters. Read her review!
Only con? The dance floor was slightly slanted. As I tossed them back I became increasingly conscious of this. But it was such a rocking evening it really didn’t matter.

Let me start by saying this is an absolutely beautiful wedding venue. We did our ceremony only here for the pictures and it didn’t disappoint. The reason I’m dropping down the stars is the staff. When we booked, we were assigned RJ. She must have moved on to another job at some point because were were reassigned to someone else and not thrilled. RJ was fantastic and the new person/​company was not.
It’s not that anything was particularly offensive; it was all just so meh. Her response times on our VERY seldom communications were terrible. She seemed kind of disinterested in our process which is strange for a wedding planner. What really irritated us was the venue sold my wife’s email address for marketing purposes and rather than apologizing for the mistake, said «Well, most brides like it.» I get that most brides may want to know about different vendors, but that doesn’t mean you can freely give out contact information. About a month after the wedding, we finally had to reach out to them to get our deposit back. Kind of a minor thing, but some communication after is normal for a wedding.
Our wedding was fantastic and we were thrilled with how the ceremony venue came out, but it would be swell if Hartley changed planning companies and communicated with their clients a bit better. I’d recommend this place to anyone, but with that warning.

Just had our wedding here last week. Amazing! Not very many of our guests had been to this venue and everyone kept telling us how enchanting the venue was/​is! It gets better as the night goes on. Barbara was helpful throughout the entire process. Karen, the day coordinator, did a fabulous job at keeping us on track the day of the wedding. Overall a great experience. I would def recommend this place to any bride to be. Command perf catering was awesome. Skiff’s cakes did an amazing job.
*My only advice is to make sure all your day items are taken care of by someone you trust. My groomsmen cut down my flower chandelier that hung over us at the ceremony because we wanted to keep it (it cost $ 275). They gave it to a HB worker who said they would put it in the bride’s room. It never got there. The worker put it in the trash can, I’m not sure why, he claims he was going to put it in the room after the wedding party had left but he forgot about it, which inevitably lead to it being pulled apart and the chandelier being removed because they thought it was thrown away (trash). I was disappointed that the worker forgot about this expensive floral piece but at least it served it’s purpose during our ceremony. Kind of a bummer. If the worker had been more diligent, they would have received a 5 star rating.

FROM PHOTOGRAPHER.
If you are considering this venue for your wedding, DO IT.
As photographer I would highly recommend this venue!
Reasons:
Very big place for couple to hide and take photos away from guest!
Very well up kept, tons of flowers and greenery!
Beautiful ceremony location!
Amazing reception space! Your guest going to love it!
Twinkle lights are breathtaking!!! Your evening going to be magical!
Very intimate location, no car noises and you will feel like in fairy tale!
I absolutely loved to photograph there! And my couple was very happy with it as well!

I came here for a wedding last weekend I absolutely love the décor and the location. You would never guess this place was here if you didn’t do some digging.
I can’t say anything about the price etc. But the overall area is pretty amazing!
The area of where the wedding took place was perfect, could comfortably fit 100 or so. Granted I like the way they slanted the chairs, but I realized I could only see a post in my way, so my pictures weren’t fantastic.
The dinning area was perfect, it was spacious and great set up of the food. I absolutely loved the lights they had and the dance flow in the middle.
I really enjoyed the food they had, the prime rib was my favorite.
I do appreciate the fact they had astro turf so your heels don’t sink into the ground!
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place (from a guests point of view).

My wife and I were married at Hartley 11.2.13 and the place was immaculate. I highly recommend them as a wedding venue. We went with almost entirely preferred vendors also and that made everything run even smoother.
Highly recommend the venue. Wait till you are the place light up at night!
Thanks for everything Barbara, Karen, Trevor, and Bruce!

UPDATE: We got married 10.13.13!
Originally I came to Hartley as a guest on 6/​11, got engaged ⁷⁄₁₁. The first thing my fiancé said as we began looking for a venue was take me to the garden!
We have nothing but nice things to say about Hartley Botanica. Everything is clean cut, no hidden cost, extremely professional staff, and the garden is a beauty that speaks for it’s self.
Hartley provides catering or there is a buy out fee, if you must have your own caterer. However, why would you? Trevor will take care of you, his menu selections are delicious! There is a variety of food selections to choose from, but whatever you do add the carrot soufflé to every dish! Our waiters were courteous and efficient, especially the gentleman that took care of us as Bride and Groom. He made us feel like a king and Queen, thank you.
Karen was our day-​of-​coordinator, she is magnificent! I felt like she was inside of my brain the day of the wedding. She needs no direction, because she will ask the bride and groom a set of questions and take it from there. As it was my turn to walk down the aisle I looked at the set up and though, «Karen just gets me»…
Parking is really nice and easy here at Hartley because valet parking is provided for all guest. It makes things more personal and easy to manage for guest. Once the wedding was over everything was already packed in our friends vehicles. The gifts and booze! We just got up and ready for the after party!
Our wedding felt like a magical enchanted evening, our guest fell in love with this garden. The compliments keep coming in. I am so happy that I was invited here as a guest because I would of never known about this beautiful place and our lives wouldn’t be the same… =)

Yesterday evening, my husband, daughter and I had the chance to visit the Hartley Botanica for a wedding. Late last night I posted a tip. I said, «This is not just a wedding venue… It’s a truly special «secret garden” – a genuine SoCal hidden gem, if you will. Do NOT pass up any chance of ever visiting the Hartley Botanica as you will not be disappointed.» I would like to reiterate this point in saying that it really is a special place. Not once or just a couple of times, but several times throughout the night I heard many guests compliment the Hartley Botanica on how wonderful it was.
It was obvious how much thought and time was put into the gardens. The possibilities for photos are endless. I feared that the lighting in some of the areas of the Botanica would be an issue, but it never was. The sunlight was actually rather perfect by the time the wedding ceremony began at around 5:00 p.m. Then once the dancing started, the place was well lit. I was also concerned about the temperature with it being an outdoor facility. The weather could not have been more perfect in late September. Half way through dinner it started to get rather chilly, but people either threw a light jacket or wrap on OR they got their booty on the dance floor.
The employees at the Botanica were great. It’s valet only of course. Valet was great. The waiters and waitresses were great. The wedding facilitators as far as I could tell were great. I didn’t have much interaction with bartenders and food servers, but they all seemed efficient enough, but then again, I’m not even sure if these people were hired through Botanica or at the request of the bride and/​or groom.
I have only two complaints. The first is not even a controllable factor for HB, but this is how aggravated I still am about it… plus, I love music almost more than anything else in the world. The deejay that was hired by the wedding party didn’t have the song I requested. Come on man! Seriously, to think I have more music than a Los Angeles based DJ?! Isn’t that what iTunes or Amazon are for? I had excellent cell phone coverage at the Botanica, by the way.
The second complaint is a bit more serious and it ties back to ADA compliant standards. There were not, to my knowledge, any restrooms that met ADA compliance. I only notice these things because of a past job that I had at a college, but also because of a family member that was married into my family a couple of years ago. It is relatively easy to maneuver about the grounds at the Hartley Botanica because I did so with a baby stroller; however, the restrooms could be a problem with anyone in a wheelchair.
Even more relative to me, though, was the fact that there wasn’t a baby changing station. I asked a very nice employee if she had suggestions for me to change my baby and we improvised which was nice, but it’s even nicer when a station is inside a bathroom stall or private restroom.
So glad this is a family operated facility. I hope you have as much fun as we did if you have the chance to go here!
Review #176

Came here for my friends wedding last weekend and the place was amazing. One of the nicest wedding venues I have ever been to.
The place was as green as can be filled with lots of vegetation and beautiful flowers and scenery. I felt like I was at Jurassic park and I was waiting for a velociraptor to jump out and take off a limb.
The wedding was stunning and the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception were held in separate locations within the confines.
The reception was amazing. The decorations were beautiful and the seating layout was very spacious. The dance floor was big and in the center with all of the dinner tables positioned around it.
There were plenty of restrooms available and all were pretty much clean and well kept and the bar was positioned in a nice location with plenty of room to wait in line (if there was a line) and not feel cramped or crowded.
I am not sure if the food was provided by the botanica or if it was a separate catering service but regardless the food was lined up buffet style and the food was delicious. To top it all off and I know this is a separate thing but the place let a mobile In N Out burger trailer come in and serve burgers to all of the guest on the way out.
I can go on and on about have great of an experience I had here as a guest and I am confident that the bride and groom were more then satisfied and very pleased with the way things turned out. It wasn’t my wedding but I would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a great wedding venue and if you decide to get married don’t hesitate to invite me. Thanks!

We had our wedding this past March and could not have asked for a better experience. We looked at several venues, among them a golf course. Yes it would have been significantly cheaper, but in the end, I am very relieved my wife found Hartley because it was worth every penny. Weddings are their specialty and it shows. The setting was spectacular, green and lush everywhere. The ceremony, cocktail hour and reception were situated close to each other and the guests went through each area without any problems. Hartley’s staff and their associated vendors have the routine down to a science. Everything was set up in a timely manner and the pace of the wedding itself was just right, not too slow and not too fast. From a bride and groom’s perspective, my wife and I didn’t feel rushed at all, we had all our needs taken care of by the staff and we felt we had time to savor the moment.
We had a mix of DIY décor and using their vendors, which was perfect. I would highly recommend using their cake and flower vendors in some capacity as they already know the venue so there are no problems setting up. The food from the catering company was awesome. We didn’t have a single guest who didn’t say the food was the best they ever had at a wedding.
Lastly, Barbara (the owner) and Karen (wedding coordinator) were helpful, understanding and patient throughout the whole process. Anytime we had questions, Barbara and Karen were available. Worrying about wedding costs is stressful, but with Barbara, we never felt bullied into anything and she was honest and up front about everything.
Hartley provided the backdrop for one of the most memorable and fun experiences of our lives. This is THE venue to have your wedding, you will not regret it.

We had our wedding here and it was the best decision. The weather in Ventura county is reliable for weddings, and this garden and the aisle archway was just perfect beyond words. The guests said it was one of the most beautiful weddings they’ve been to and the food was great. They let you bring your own alcohol so you won’t be ripped off at hotel prices. The venue itself is pricy (must go with their caterer) but it’s worth it!