This place is gorgeous! It's a fun little Christmas evening. They have food trucks, music and a pop up Christmas house for kids to jump in! It's free and gorge atmosphere. The police presence is comforting and I feel safe. It's a great family outing for Christmas time! It's tonight December 18, 2025 read more

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We LOVE the gardens and walking trails! There is a lot to see and the trails are as enjoyable for my toddlers as they are to the big kids and adults. There are lots of places to sit and rest, so you can really go any pace. The gardens are beautiful. My family can pass an entire day here. read more

We totally enjoyed our visit to the newly renovated Arboretum. The staff was super friendly and took time to explain special features that were added and some of the interesting creatures we might see. Good job! The gardens are a beautiful addition to the Waco community! read more

we had no problem enjoying the grounds today, there was plenty to see and do and the children's area was much needed! Great Job WOODWAY!!!

This place is beautiful! The first time I had ever been to an arboretum. I had gone to the Woodway park to walk the nature trail but it was greatly flooded so I decided to check this place out. I am so glad I did. The flower gardens here are gorgeous. The grounds are well kept. There is a smaller nature trail but still very pleasant to walk. There is a church replica there that is used as an art museum. I am yet to go in and check it out. There are beautiful benches and gazebos and a nice pavilion. Beautiful statues and water fountains and nice monuments. I will be coming here again. read more

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I used to love coming here before the remodel but I can't go now. The gravel paths that have been added make it impossible to enjoy with a baby in a stroller. I can't imagine coming here again while my child is still using a stroller. It's still a beautiful place but I hope they have plans to pave the pathways to make it more accessible. read more

This is the best place to have a wedding. We had our wedding there on 10/27/18. It was the first venue we looked at and we instantly fell in love with it. All of our guests were from out of state and it was a perfect place to have the ceremony (in the gazebo) and the reception hall was right behind it. The gazebo built in seating seats about 60. We rented a few more chairs from a rental company and it was perfect. The hall has giant windows and high ceilings and the lighting was on dimmers do we could customize the look and feel of the lighting. They have tables and chairs for indoor use and you can choose your layout and they set it up for you. They also have a bar top you can use and it comes with the linens for it. They have a bridal suite type of room where my girls and I got ready and has lots of natural light in it. We got soooooo many compliments about how we chose such an amazing venue. The staff we worked with were super nice and answered all questions super quick. You will not be disappointed. read more

Carleen Bright Arboretum - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Woodway, Texas

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Great place for an event. Gorgeous! Pretty outside. It's surprisingly modern here. It's kind of out in what I would call the sticks (seeing that I'm from dallas) but it's very pretty and a worthy place to have a shin dig. read more

Carleen Bright Arboretum - Wedding - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Woodway, Texas

This place is NOT an arboretum, it might be an event center. We went on a Monday about 2 or 3 pm and the Welcome Center was all locked up. We could not even see where you could walk around and "see" the flowers. All there was were a few walking paths that had nothing more than could be seen at a park. read more

The Arboretum is one of the best places to have a wedding in the Waco area. We held both our ceremony and reception there in December 2016. Although the gazebo was our ideal location for the ceremony, as the cute wooden benches and flora provide for beautiful photos/scenery, due to bad weather, we moved our ceremony indoors into the Whitehall Center. I am so thankful that we did. It is a stunning little chapel-like setting, and it was large enough to comfortably fit our 200 or so guests. The Pavilion is a newer building with vaulted ceilings, breathtaking beams, and bay windows. It is honestly the perfect building for any type of event, but it was a great space for our wedding reception. There is a comfortable bridal suite, large kitchen and serving area, large bathrooms, and two large porches overlooking the grounds. In the main room, despite having several tables and decorations, the room still felt very spacious. I was so impressed by the team at the Arboretum. Holly is so nice and so easy to work with. I called her with several questions throughout the year, and she always answered them quickly. They have seriously thought of everything here, and I couldn't think of a better group of people to work with when planning my big day. read more

The Arboretum is well cared for and provides a great place to walk, run, or enjoy the gardens. The Pavilion and gazebo are available to rent for events and weddings. read more