Rockledge Gardens’ educational area now welcomes weddings
For 55 years, Rockledge Gardens has been a place for Space Coast residents to connect with nature. People come here to add life to their gardens and landscaping, enjoy community events, take educational seminars and shop the farmers market. And now, perhaps fulfilling its ultimate destiny, it’s a place to celebrate love and get married.
The oasis of greenery on US 1 in Rockledge has undergone a transformation.
“For a garden center, we need to find all sorts of ways to be relevant in people’s lives and be a hub for the community,” said Liz Lark-Riley, Rockledge Gardens director of events and marketing.
Already with a full calendar of community happenings, things picked up in spring 2017 with Rockledge Gardens hosting its first weddings in the renovated venue, designed by Lark-Riley’s husband, Joseph Lark-Riley. A theatrical scenic designer, Joseph took his years of experience working around the world and at The Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse and stepped into the architect role for the first time.
A beautiful and spacious wood pavilion covers an area that can seat up to 120 people — or 100 if you want to leave room for dancing — also with a 65-inch flatscreen TV that folds up into the ceiling, speakers, microphones, outdoor kitchen with grill, stove, oven, mini fridge, dishwashing, kegerator and sink. An adjacent gazebo, grassy area with permanent tall tables and other garden features create an intimate and unique venue.
If your event crosses into evening hours, a staff member will tend the large fire pit.
Called the Harry and Mary Witte Learning Center — named for Joseph Lark-Riley’s grandparents, the original owners — that modern area of the gardens is still intertwined with nature. That section of the property was created with the primary function of being an educational hub.
“We decided to create this as an educational space that also happens to be a pretty space for getting married,” said Liz Lark-Riley, who married Joseph in 2011 at the greenhouse on the Rockledge Gardens grounds, with party in the warehouse. Joseph’s parents, Theresa and Kevin Riley, are the current owners.
“It’s an extension of the gardens, that’s our goal, that you’re getting married in the gardens,” Kevin Riley said. “Liz has put it that it’s almost like if you don’t have a backyard to have your wedding, we have a backyard.”
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