Most venue lists are written by people who have never been inside the venues. This one is not. We have filmed or photographed weddings at fourteen of the seventeen places below, and you can watch several of those films right here on the page. For the three we have not worked, we pulled the details straight from the venues themselves so you are not planning around a number somebody guessed.
A note on geography before we start. Almost nobody searching for a Scottsdale wedding venue means the city limits literally. Paradise Valley sits right against Scottsdale and holds some of the best properties in the Valley, so it is here. Two Phoenix venues are included because couples ask about them constantly and it would be strange to leave them out. Each one says where it actually is.
Capacities change, packages change, and every venue quotes differently by season and day of week. Treat the numbers here as a starting point and confirm them for your date.
Resorts and clubs in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley
Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort
7500 E Doubletree Ranch Rd, Scottsdale. (480) 444-1234.
If you knew this property as the Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch, it is the same place under a new name after a $115 million renovation. It reopened as Arizona’s first Grand Hyatt.
What it solves is a specific problem: weddings where a lot of people fly in and the celebration runs longer than one afternoon. With 496 rooms, 18 casitas and 90,000 square feet of function space, you can house your families on site and keep the welcome dinner, the ceremony and the brunch in one place. Nobody drives between venues.
Ceremony sites are unusually varied. Lawn Court holds up to 800 with date palms and a gazebo. Terrace Court holds 600 against the McDowell Mountains. Palm Grove holds 500 and is the one the resort markets for sunset. Waterfall Terrace is the small one at 120, built around a water feature. Indoors, the Arizona Ballroom holds up to 1,400 and the Vaquero holds just over 1,000.
We filmed Kevin and Sheetal here, a wedding that blended Christian and Hindu traditions across two days, with the ceremony staged in front of the property’s ponds. Water is worth asking for by name when you tour. It doubles your light, because late sun coming off the surface fills faces from below in a way no reflector matches, and it gives wide shots somewhere to go beyond the back row of chairs.
Watch Kevin and Sheetal’s film or read our full guide to this venue.
The Phoenician
6000 E Camelback Rd, Scottsdale. (480) 941-8200, weddings (480) 423-2520.
Two hundred acres at the base of Camelback Mountain, and the closest thing Scottsdale has to a grand hotel wedding.
Three ceremony sites are published. Orchid Lawn takes 50 to 250 beside the Orchid Waterfalls. Dream Lawn takes 50 to 250 and sits right up against the mountain, which is the frame most couples are picturing when they say they want Camelback in their photos. Canyon Patio is the intimate one at 20 to 60, built around a waterfall.
For receptions there are two indoor ballrooms at 150 to 250 each, plus The Club Lawn outdoors at up to 300 with views over the golf course and the Valley. Wedding packages include two dressing rooms and a room for the wedding night.
The thing to know about Dream Lawn is that a mountain that close is a light source as much as a backdrop. It bounces warm light back at you late in the day, and it also blocks the sun earlier than the clock suggests. Ask what time the mountain shadow reaches the ceremony site on your date, not just what time the sun sets.
Omni Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Montelucia
4949 E Lincoln Dr, Scottsdale. (480) 627-3200.
Andalusian architecture at the base of Camelback: archways, tiled courtyards, hand carved wooden doors, 293 rooms. If you have been looking at Spanish and Mediterranean inspiration and everything else in the Valley feels too modern, this is the one.
Valencia Lawn is the main outdoor ceremony site. Cortijo Plaza is the big paved courtyard at 8,000 square feet. Kasbah Patio and Alhambra Terrace handle smaller groups. Indoors, the Alhambra Ballroom is the largest room and Castillo Lucena is the character room, with cathedral ceilings, exposed beams and 16th century Spanish doors.
Worth asking about specifically: the Camelback Presidential Suite. It is 2,800 square feet with its own 2,000 square foot lawn, and the resort sets it up as the getting ready space with proper mirrors and styling chairs. Getting ready rooms are where the first hour of your film gets made, and most venues give you a spare guest room. This is not that.
Montelucia is elegant the whole way through, and unusually generous to the people filming it. There are good frames on every side of the property, and the mountain itself is right there. The ceremony lawn with Camelback directly behind it is the picture most couples already have in their heads when they start looking.
The one to plan around is the fountains at golden hour with the clock tower behind them. That light is a real treat for couples and photographers alike, and it is worth putting on the timeline rather than hoping you get to it.
We have filmed here twice. Connor and Sydney’s day we shot partly on Super 8, which suits the architecture better than almost any modern property in the Valley: warm, grainy, already looking like a memory.
Watch Chaya and Kory’s film here.
Mountain Shadows Resort
5445 E Lincoln Dr, Paradise Valley. 855.485.1417.
Midcentury modern, rebuilt, and one of the two most design driven resorts on this list. It also publishes its pricing openly, which almost nothing else here does.
Two ceremony options. The Mountain Shadows Lawn holds up to 300 with Camelback behind it. The Camelback Overlook is a rooftop deck holding up to 250 for dinner, with views in three directions and bistro lights and sound already installed. Indoors, the Paradise Ballroom holds 250 and has a retractable glass wall onto its terrace, so an outdoor ceremony that gets rained on does not become a different wedding.
Published numbers as of writing: the Deluxe package starts at $7,000 and includes two nights of accommodation, ceremony sound with a technician, and a getting ready room. Food and beverage minimums run $25,000 on Friday, $40,000 on Saturday and $20,000 on Sunday, or guest count times $225, whichever is higher. Menus start at $225 per guest.
This is one of my favorites in the Valley, and a lot of that is the people. The team is genuinely accommodating, and Missy Holmes, the catering director, is one of the kindest vendors I have worked with anywhere.
The ceremony lawn and the steps behind it look excellent on camera. The one thing to know is that you will have golfers in the background, so your photographer and videographer need to be composing around them rather than finding them later in the edit.
Upstairs, the reception patio is a genuinely unusual space: large, views in every direction, and an outdoor fireplace sitting right behind where the sweetheart table usually goes. As the sun drops, that corner of the night is as romantic as anything on this list. Protect that window in the timeline before something else claims it.
See more from their day, or read our full guide to this venue.
Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows
6114 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale. (480) 368-1234, weddings (480) 214-4678.
The most art driven property on this list, and the only one built around a specific design point of view. There are 185 bungalow style rooms across 23 acres, all with private patios, named for the midcentury designers the place takes its cues from: Albers, Girard, Saarinen, Eames, Knoll. The look draws on Alexander Girard and on the Cattle Track Arts Compound, the historic Scottsdale artists colony, and the event rooms carry it through with craft trade names: Foundry, Forge, Loom, Press, Guild, Easel, Mural. Camelback and Mummy are both in view.
One small thing that confuses people: the resort gives its address as Scottsdale, but the 85253 zip is Paradise Valley, so you will find it listed both ways.
From the resort’s own capacity chart, Cholla Lawn is the big one at 7,000 square feet and 300 seated. Andaz Studio Lawn holds 250 seated and combines with the indoor Studio for up to 500 at a reception. Albers Lawn holds 110 and the Turquoise Pool Deck holds 200. At the other end, The Grove takes 30 and the Organic Garden takes 20, which is a genuinely tiny ceremony space and rare on a property this size. Indoors, the Foundry Ballroom seats 220 and the Andaz Studio seats 130.
Girard House and Albers House are both two bedroom houses, roughly 1,600 and 1,800 square feet, and they are the obvious getting ready spaces. The Palo Verde Spa has salon services and its own private pool.
I have been here four times in the last year, three weddings and a networking event for The Collective by Confetti Studio, a design competition for planners. A few things I would tell a couple looking here.
The desert area is excellent for portraits and it is at its best at golden hour. Put it on the timeline rather than hoping you get to it.
There are three reception patterns I have seen work. Indoors, where the chart puts the Andaz Studio at 130 seated and the Foundry Ballroom at 220. Flipping the ceremony space into the reception with cocktail hour right beside it. Or ceremony and flip on the other lawn, the one by the bridge.
The big circular lawn, Albers, is my favorite space on the property. It is where both the ceremony and the reception happened at the wedding in the photograph below.
The resort publishes no pricing, and its own Hyatt page gives different square footages than its own capacity chart, so use the chart above as a starting point and confirm both spaces and cost for your date.
Andaz has a guide of its own, covering the four lawns, the shade problem and the three different numbers the resort publishes for the same lawn.
Sanctuary Camelback Mountain
5700 E McDonald Dr, Paradise Valley. 1-844-390-4754.
Fifty three acres on the actual slope of Camelback Mountain, now operating as Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, A Gurney’s Resort and Spa. There are 109 casitas and suites plus eight mountainside villas, so the whole property reads as private rather than as a big hotel.
The Wedding Lawn takes about 150 for a ceremony. Paradise Views Patio is the distinctive one: a terraced amphitheater in grey tile that steps down toward the lawn, overlooking Paradise Valley. Sunset Garden is the small romantic option at around 40 to 60. Indoors, the Views Ballroom has windows running the full height of the room framing the mountains, and Praying Monk is a smaller indoor outdoor space with skylights, sliding glass walls and a direct view of the Praying Monk rock formation.
This is probably the best set of views of any venue in or around Phoenix, and it holds all day rather than for one golden hour. The reason is an inversion most couples never think about. Everywhere else in the Valley, the mountain is your background. Here you are on the mountain, so your background is the city and the desert running out to the horizon.
The trade is stairs. There are a lot of them between where you arrive and where you marry, and more again to the reception. If you have older guests, or anyone with mobility limits, ask about that on the tour and ask what the alternatives are. It is the single most common thing couples do not notice until the day.
Cocktail hour on the balcony is about as good as it gets in this city. It is also tight, which is why this property suits small to medium guest counts better than large ones. The reception room has just come through a major renovation. We were there for a WIPA event this year after it reopened, and the room comfortably held about 75 with space left over for a large stage.
The Praying Monk formation is the other reason to film here. It is a landmark that reads instantly as this place and nowhere else, which is rarer than it sounds. Most resort footage could be any resort.
See Lindsay and Jamin’s photos here.
The Boulders Resort and Spa
34631 N Tom Darlington Dr, Scottsdale. (480) 488-9009, catering (480) 488-7319.
The answer if you are searching for north Scottsdale wedding venues. Ancient boulder formations, saguaros, and a landscape that looks nothing like the rest of the list.
Promise Rock is the signature ceremony site at 150 guests, set among the boulders with a waterfall and grassy knolls. The Duck Pond handles the larger groups. The Organic Garden is the small one at 30, with a water feature, a reflection pond, and a sunset the resort names in its own description of the space. Receptions run through the Latilla Ballroom at 250, with floor to ceiling glass onto the rocks, or El Pedregal Courtyard at 200.
The resort publishes real numbers in its 2024 to 2025 wedding collection. Ceremony fees start at $6,000 for Promise Rock and the Duck Pond, $3,000 for the smaller sites. Reception packages run $210 and $240 per person. A resort approved coordinator is required, so budget for one.
One practical note. Boulders are the best and the hardest thing here. They are gorgeous at the ends of the day and they go flat and grey under midday sun. A late afternoon ceremony is not a preference at this venue, it is the whole reason to choose it.
Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North
10600 E Crescent Moon Dr, Scottsdale. (480) 515-5700, weddings (480) 513-5013.
Adobe casitas in the foothills of Pinnacle Peak, 210 rooms and suites, gas fireplaces and private patios, and the furthest north of anything on this list. If the Camelback corridor resorts feel like the city and you want the Sonoran Desert to be the whole point, this is where that happens.
Three outdoor spaces carry the weddings. Troon Lawn is the small, distinctive one at 2,000 square feet and 130 seated, with a two tiered layout, a boulder waterfall, a firepit, bougainvillea and a flagstone aisle, and published views of Pinnacle Peak. Fountain Terrace is 3,880 square feet and 210 seated, bordered by trellises on three sides with water and fire features. Ironwood Terrace is the largest at 4,600 square feet and 320 seated, with a raised stage built in for a band. Indoors, the Pinnacle Ballroom is 5,940 square feet with 21 foot ceilings and seats 430.
They publish a real rain policy, and nothing else on this list does. At a 40 percent or higher chance of rain the event moves to backup space automatically. Worth knowing that the brochure also says backup locations are not guaranteed and subject to change, while the ceremony inclusions promise guaranteed backup space, so ask them to reconcile that in writing.
Pricing is published, which is rare at this level. Ceremony site fees run from $8,000 for Troon Lawn up to $14,000 for the terraces depending on season, and the brochure does not define which months count as peak, so ask. Reception packages are $325, $362 and $415 per guest, each including the cake, passed hors d’oeuvres, a premium bar and wine with dinner. The ceremony fee includes a dressing room, a complimentary casita, a personal lobby greeter and the rehearsal.
One correction worth making, because it gets repeated: the golf course is not the resort’s. Troon North Golf Club is a separate business next door. What Four Seasons publishes is guest privileges at the Pinnacle and Monument courses and a complimentary shuttle, which is a good arrangement but not the same as having a course on site.
The wedding brochure carries no date or version number, and it contradicts itself on the service charge, describing a 26 percent administrative fee in one place and a 14 percent service charge plus a 12 percent administration fee in another. Same total, different meaning for who gets the 14 percent. Confirm all of it for your date.
The Scott Resort & Spa
4925 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale. (480) 945-7666.
If you knew this as the FireSky, it is the same property rebranded and renovated. The Scott is the one venue on this list built around a theme rather than around a view, and the theme is old Havana: tropical planting, a lagoon, a sandy beach bottom pool, fire pits, and space names that carry it through in Laguna, La Playa, La Boca and The Canal Club.
Laguna Lawn is the ceremony site, roughly 3,000 square feet with a cascading water feature and tropical gardens behind it. Indoors, the Heritage Ballroom seats about 350 for a wedding dinner with a dance floor and the Orangedale seats about 250, with floor to ceiling windows onto a private patio. There are smaller rooms down to the Founder’s Room at 30.
The Scott publishes real ceremony pricing, which is rare. As of writing: an elopement and micro wedding package from $3,000 for 25 guests or fewer, a Sunday ceremony from $3,500, the Radiant from $4,500 with a two night stay, and the Princess from $5,500 with a suite, a couples massage and breakfast. All include chairs, the rehearsal and complimentary valet. All exclude service fees, tax and gratuity, and all require a day of coordinator.
It is worth being clear about what this property is not. There is no mountain view here and none is advertised. What you get instead is location: it sits on Scottsdale Road, walking distance from Fashion Square, the Waterfront and Old Town. If you want your guests to be able to wander out after the reception, that is the trade.
Walking in is the thing. They have captured a cabana on a beach feeling, in the decor, the lighting and the way the rooms are laid out, and you feel like you are on holiday somewhere tropical. It is a wonderful contrast to the desert it sits in, and it never gets old.
For portraits, the front exterior and the lobby entry are both good. There is a nook off to the left of the lobby entry that works well for a first look, and there are more spots just west of the ceremony lawn.
The ceremony space has an elegant wall built into it, and that wall is doing more work than it looks. Without it you would be looking straight through to the pool and the hotel guests, who are not far away at all.
The one thing to ask about is sharing. I believe the property can run more than one wedding at a time, which means the best photo spots get shared. On one wedding, while the ceremony space was being set with the wall structure, another couple and their photographer stepped in front of that same wall for vows and a few quick portraits. They were finished well before our ceremony started and nothing went wrong. But waiting for a spot to open on your own wedding day creates tension you do not need, and the same applies to the vintage convertible parked out front, which The Scott also uses for guest tours. Ask what else is booked on your date.
The resort’s own capacity chart dates to 2019 and its two published charts disagree with each other on a few of the smaller patios, so confirm your room for your date. Some directory listings invent ballroom names for this property that do not exist. If you see a Sky Ballroom or an Elements Ballroom quoted, that listing is wrong.
The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa
6902 E Greenway Pkwy, Scottsdale. (480) 624-1000, weddings weddings@kierlandresort.com.
This is the largest property on the list by a wide margin. Around 790 rooms and suites, 27 holes of Troon managed golf, and 45 event rooms totaling more than 200,000 square feet across indoor and outdoor space, all inside the 730 acre Kierland community in north Scottsdale.
That scale is the whole proposition. Marshall’s Outpost Pavilion and Lawns runs 30,400 square feet and takes 1,040 seated. Pittman Lawn takes 800. Northern Sky Terrace takes 300 and Vista Morada Patio 525. Indoors, the Kierland Grand Ballroom is 24,395 square feet and seats 1,900, the Herberger seats 1,170 and the Trailblazers 840. Rainmakers is the smaller room at 240 with golf course views. Nothing else in Scottsdale absorbs a wedding this size without strain.
The thing to know before you tour: the resort is in the middle of a multi phase renovation announced in April 2026. It covers a redesigned lobby, an expanded Scotch Library, a new speakeasy, pool upgrades, and modernization of all three ballrooms and all 45 meeting spaces. The FlowRider, The Rim and The Scotch Library are currently closed. If you are booking a 2027 date, confirm in writing which ballroom you are getting and whether it will be finished.
For guests with a spare afternoon there is a 110 foot waterslide, a lazy river and an adults only pool. The resort has a long running Scottish thread, including a bagpipe ceremony at sunset, though that is no longer mentioned on its current pages, so ask whether it is still running if it appeals to you.
It feels more like traditional elegance than the design driven properties on this list, and the defining quality is simply scale. Large common areas, a giant golf course, large reception rooms. Be ready to walk. Getting the couple and the wedding party to some of the good portrait spots takes real time, so build it into the timeline rather than discovering it in the gap between the ceremony and the reception.
Two things worth asking about directly.
First, drone. We have had mixed signals here across two weddings. For Akshita and Alex we were not permitted to fly over the ceremony space at all, only at the front of the venue. For Will and Scarlett there were no restrictions. If aerial footage matters to you, get the answer in writing for your date and your specific ceremony location rather than assuming.
Second, the ceremony space sits in the general path hotel guests use behind the venue. It has to be blocked off and actively supervised by the resort during your ceremony to stop people wandering through. They do it, but it is worth confirming who is responsible on the day.
The resort publishes no wedding pricing at all. Every dollar figure circulating for this property comes from directory sites, they disagree with each other, and none carries a date. Its own wedding page also quotes much smaller capacities than its own capacity chart, so work from the chart and confirm.
McDowell Mountain Golf Club
10690 E Sheena Dr, Scottsdale. (480) 502-8200.
A public golf club in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains, and the simplest venue on this list. The Event Lawn holds up to 150 and faces the McDowells across the fairways. The Palo Verde Room indoors holds up to 100. The rental runs five and a half hours and includes tables, white padded garden chairs, linens, china and glassware, in house catering and full bar, two hours of early access and free parking. No valet, no resort fee, no room block.
Being straight about what it is: this is a golf course for the ceremony and cocktail hour, and then you move into a smaller room. There are a couple of good spots for a first look and portraits. If you want a straightforward day without resort machinery, that is the appeal, and the price of it is that the property does not have much range.
One thing to plan around. The lawn holds 150 but the only indoor space holds 100, and the club publishes no rain plan. A full size lawn wedding here has no published indoor equivalent to move into. Get the wet weather answer in writing before you sign.
Old Town Scottsdale
Hotel Valley Ho
6850 E Main St, Scottsdale. (480) 376-2600, events (480) 248-2017.
Built in 1956 by architect Edward Varney and restored, this is the midcentury landmark in Old Town: 241 rooms, glass walls, private balconies, and a look that has not needed a filter since the Rat Pack era.
The Palm Courtyard handles ceremonies up to around 300 under palms planted in the fifties. The Sky Line rooftop takes about 200 with views across downtown Scottsdale to Camelback. The SoHo Ballroom is the largest indoor room at roughly 4,000 square feet, separated from a landscaped courtyard by a wall of glass. In June 2025 the hotel added Citrus Grove, a 4,080 square foot outdoor space between the northeast wings among citrus and palm trees.
If you want your wedding to look like a specific decade rather than like a nice hotel, this is the strongest option in Scottsdale. Being walkable to Old Town also does real work: guests can leave the reception and keep going, which changes the whole shape of the night.
I have worked a wedding here as a second shooter, and it is one of the most unique resorts in town. It also feels like a party from the moment you arrive. You come in through the glass doors, past a bar, and straight alongside a huge pool area with hotel guests in their swimwear. Do not let that fool you. The accommodations here are excellent.
Cocktail hour is about ten stories up, and you cross a bridge to reach it, with views of the city in every direction. The reception space is a bit of a walk from there. At the wedding I shot, Luxury by BTS made that room look incredible with drapery and candles.
Capacities here are drawn from listings rather than the hotel’s own site, so confirm them directly.
Clayton House by Wedgewood Weddings
3719 N 75th St #100, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. 866-966-3009.
Previously known simply as The Clayton House, now operated by Wedgewood Weddings. If you find an old listing with a different address on Indian School Road, use the one above.
A converted warehouse in Old Town: polished concrete, exposed beams, floor to ceiling windows and sliding glass doors. The Rafters is the ceremony space, with high wooden ceilings and glass that opens. There is a landscaped outdoor porch and a larger reception hall. The venue maximum is 350.
This is the one venue here with no mountain view, no garden and no sunset, and if your inspiration images are dark, moody and modern rather than sunlit desert, that is exactly the point.
It is also the section where being a vendor rather than a copywriter earns its keep, so here is the honest version.
The ceremony space is indoors, and it is the only ceremony space. That matters more than it sounds, because of what the sun does across the street. Late in the afternoon it lights up the buildings opposite and comes back through the glass, so everyone walking down the aisle is strongly backlit while the room itself stays dark. We bring lighting to weddings here to lift the interior enough that faces are not lost during the processional. Whoever you hire should be planning for that in advance rather than discovering it at four o’clock.
What the property does well is flow. The reception hall and the cocktail space sit right next to each other, so nobody is herded down a corridor between courses and the night keeps its energy.
For portraits, the north and west sides are the good ones: urban in character, with trees and plantings softening it. And there is one genuinely great frame here. At golden hour the sun comes through the bush wall on the west side of the cocktail area, and with the misters running the light turns into visible rays. That is the shot we used for the thumbnail of Tess and Alex’s film.
It also publishes pricing: packages from $79 to $144 per guest, ceremony from $495, venue fee from $795, plus a 22 percent administrative fee and tax.
Gardens, history and desert
El Chorro
5550 E Lincoln Dr, Paradise Valley. (480) 948-5170.
The oldest story on this list. El Chorro opened in 1934 as a one room schoolhouse for girls, became a bar and dining room in 1937, and spent the fifties as a celebrity haunt. It is also the first LEED Gold certified restaurant in Arizona.
The Event Lawn is the main ceremony site, sitting between Camelback and Mummy Mountains. The Herb Garden and South Lawn are the smaller ones, each with a mountain on one side. Casa Paloma is the reception pavilion at up to 250, opening onto patios, gardens and outdoor fireplaces. The Classroom Bar and Bocce Lawn is the original bar from the schoolhouse days, restored, with a copper topped fireplace.
Two named mountains in one frame is genuinely unusual. Most Valley venues give you Camelback and a lot of sky.
Abby and Tommy married on the large ceremony lawn, which then converted into their reception for the evening. Worth asking how that flip is handled and where your guests go while it happens. For portraits there is plenty to work with between the trees and the plantings, and a short walk takes you to open desert with Camelback behind you.
And the sticky buns. Every wedding vendor in the Valley knows about the sticky buns. Have them.
El Chorro’s own PDF and its own web pages give different capacities for the three outdoor spaces, so get the current numbers from the venue. There are no guest rooms and no published getting ready suite, which is worth asking about early.
Desert Botanical Garden
1201 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix. (480) 941-1225.
In Phoenix, not Scottsdale, a short drive from Old Town. Couples ask about it constantly, so here it is.
Dorrance Hall is the indoor room at 250 seated, and it comes with Boppart Courtyard and Kitchell Patio. Webster Auditorium is the historic room at 75, bundled with Ullman Terrace and Eliot Patio. Binns Wildflower Pavilion holds 100 and the Amphitheater holds 100. Rental fees are published, from $1,200 for the Amphitheater to $4,200 for Dorrance Hall, and a dressing room comes with your rental.
Most outdoor events here run from 5pm to 11pm, which means you are working at dusk and after dark by design. That is a real advantage. The Garden lights its own paths and installations, so the second half of the night has a look built into it rather than depending on what your DJ brought.
Royal Palms Resort and Spa
5200 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix. (602) 283-1234.
Also Phoenix, also at the base of Camelback, and the most romantic property on this list. A 1929 mansion with Spanish Colonial architecture, stone paths, century old benches, citrus trees and a reflecting pool.
There are several ceremony options. Vernadero Lawn is the largest at around 180, and the resort describes it as having the sunset view of Camelback. Alegria Garden holds 120 inside stone walls, with an elevated stone platform and a brick aisle. Camelback Vista is the secluded one at 70. Indoors, Estrella Salon has mountain views and Palmera Salon has an antique fireplace.
Royal Palms is iconic, and there is not a bad angle on the property. The drive in is lined with palm trees, and the giant wooden doors, rustic and elegant at the same time, make for some of the best portraits in the Valley at golden hour.
The thing to plan around here is sun. Vernadero Lawn, the main courtyard lawn and the largest ceremony site, sits in direct sunlight during the ceremony. Anywhere between April and October that means hot, and it means your guests look it in every photograph. Alegria Garden, the smaller space toward the back, is under trees and stays shaded the whole way through. If you are marrying in the warm half of the year and your guest count allows it, ask about Alegria by name.
Both cocktail hour spaces are excellent. The one beside the main lawn has a beautiful pool. The other has a small pavilion with Camelback sitting behind it.
The photograph at the top of this post is from Royal Palms, at a reception designed by Bash Boulevard. The walled gardens are the reason to book it. Enclosed, planted space gives you a wedding that looks like a private estate rather than a resort lawn, and it keeps the background clean when the property is busy.
See Katie and Garrett’s photos here.
If you are getting married in a church
Saint Bernadette Catholic Church
16245 N 60th St, Scottsdale. (480) 905-0221. Marriages: 480.905.4433 ext. 204.
Plenty of couples in Scottsdale marry in a church and celebrate at a resort, and that combination has its own set of rules that a venue list will never tell you. Saint Bernadette publishes its policy, and it is worth reading before you set a date.
The parish asks for at least nine months of notice, which it describes as a Diocese of Phoenix requirement. There is a required preparation process with several components, and at least one of you needs to be a practicing Catholic. Non parishioners can marry here with approval at a published church usage fee of $5,000 for four hours.
The part that affects your film and your photos: flash photography is not permitted during the ceremony. Photographers may not enter the sanctuary, the altar area or the steps leading up to it, and must work from the rear or the sides with stationary equipment. Video is the same, from the rear or off to the side, with a signed agreement. There is a 45 minute limit for photos after the ceremony.
None of that is a problem if your team knows about it in advance. It is a problem if they find out that morning. Rules like these mean long lenses from fixed positions rather than moving with the ceremony, which is a different craft than roaming a resort lawn. We have filmed here, and we plan for it. Ask any photographer or videographer you are considering how they handle a church that will not let them move.
Watch Brett and Michelle’s film here.
Confirm all fees and requirements with the parish directly. Policies are revised periodically.
Choosing by what you actually want
- Large guest counts and out of town families: Grand Hyatt Scottsdale, The Phoenician, Omni Montelucia, Andaz Scottsdale. All four can house your guests and hold every event of the weekend on one property. For a guest list in the many hundreds, The Westin Kierland is in a category of its own.
- A published rain plan: Four Seasons at Troon North is the only property here that puts one in writing.
- North Scottsdale and desert landscape: The Boulders, Four Seasons at Troon North, McDowell Mountain Golf Club, The Westin Kierland.
- Design and art as the whole point: Andaz Scottsdale for the midcentury art program, Mountain Shadows for the architecture.
- Old Town and a walkable night: Hotel Valley Ho, Clayton House, The Scott Resort.
- Small and intimate, under 60: Andaz’s Organic Garden at 20, The Grove at 30, Sanctuary’s Sunset Garden, The Phoenician’s Canyon Patio, The Boulders’ Organic Garden, El Chorro’s Gallery Room.
- No resort machinery, no room block: McDowell Mountain Golf Club. Two spaces, published plainly, free parking.
- Something that does not look like a resort: El Chorro for history, Desert Botanical Garden for the desert itself, Clayton House for industrial, Royal Palms for a walled garden.
- Views that last all day: Sanctuary Camelback. You are on the mountain rather than looking at it.
- Luxury, in the sense of a property that feels private: Sanctuary and Silverleaf Club. Silverleaf is a private club in north Scottsdale that publishes nothing publicly about weddings, so it is a phone call rather than a website. Reach their catering team at 480-515-3203.
The season and light conversation nobody has early enough
Every Scottsdale venue will tell you spring and fall are the good seasons. That is true and it is not the useful part.
The useful part is that in this valley the light does the work, and sunset moves by more than two hours between June and December. A 4pm ceremony in March and a 4pm ceremony in October are two different weddings on camera. Before you sign anything:
- Ask what time the sun sets on your specific date, then build the ceremony backward from it. Most of the frames you are imagining happen in the forty minutes before sunset.
- Ask what time the mountain shadow arrives. At the properties against Camelback, the mountain takes the sun well before the horizon does. This catches people out every year.
- Ask whether your ceremony site is in sun or shade at that hour. Vernadero Lawn at Royal Palms and the shaded Alegria Garden are the same property and two completely different experiences in July.
- Ask about the indoor backup and go look at it. A retractable glass wall like the one at Mountain Shadows is a genuinely different answer than a windowless ballroom down a corridor.
- In summer, move everything late. June through August is real money saved, and it works if the ceremony is at dusk and the reception is indoors or under cover.
Filming and photographing these venues
We are a wedding film and photography team based in Scottsdale, and most of what is above came from working these properties rather than reading about them. If you are looking at any venue on this list, we are happy to tell you what we know about it whether or not you hire us.
Collections begin at $1,999 for four hours of coverage. Photography and video can be booked together or separately.
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