Kimberly Crest House & Gardens

"When I’ve shown photos of our tour of Kimberly Crest, people cannot believe it’s less than 2 hours out of Los Angeles. If you’re looking for an outdoor wedding venue for great Princess-esque photos, this is the place to go. I needed to tour Kimberly Crest because I always wanted a Disney Princess wedding, but I didn’t want to get married at Disneyland or in Downtown Disney. To book the tour slot, we filled out the form on their website and emailed to coordinate a time with Mary and Tanya after sharing some additional details about our wedding (priorities, budget, timing, guest count). The historic home and additional stone stairwell and fountain add-on are beautiful, and they are great for couples who want a photographic venue and have put a high emphasis on getting great wedding portraits in a castle-eqsque setting. We were looking for a wedding venue with water elements, and felt like the fountain/pond was a great water feature. You have the option for your guests to go inside the house for a guided tour during cocktail hour, but otherwise it is closed, which means the entirety of your wedding is outdoors. Inspired by a French castle, the French château-style mansion was built in 1897 and has an old Victorian-style architecture, and the iconic cascading stone and concrete stairs in the Italian Renaissance-style gardens (the majority of the photos you see online) were added between 1905 and 1909 as a part of the garden overhaul by the new Kimberly family owners. In case of rain in Redlands, they have great tent partnerships and can get your reception space tented for a great day. It’s a venue-only rental, which is great if you’re looking to bring in all of your own vendors for a Saturday wedding with up to 200 guests! The ceremony is on the grass lawn, the cocktail hour is behind the house in a cute secret garden area, and the main reception dinner and dancing are in the courtyard at the top of the stairs, and you can really transform the space for your own fairytale vision. If you book, you get exclusive use of historic gardens & grounds, and the old Carriage House and Garden House as the two getting ready rooms for the amount of hours that you book (keep in mind the hours you book also include the setup and tear down times for your vendors). While we were touring, there were professional photoshoots for Quinceañeras, and I can easily see why they’d select Kimberly Crest for their photoshoot! Although we ended up going a different direction for our wedding venue, we loved seeing the different spaces around the property, and I hope to be able to come back one day."

"This place is freaking beautiful and every angle is picturesque. Great place for a quick stop when you're exploring the area. Come in to take a quick tour and relearn how to pronounce chateauesque. Wish they would reopen the gift store :)"

"Kimberly Crest is a beautiful place for your special moment. I reserved an hour with our photographer to take my daughter pictures for her upcoming Sweet 16 celebration. The scenery is beautiful. Highly recommend this location for that special moment."

"Beautiful architecture. Make sure to book appropriate dates for the inside tour. They don't offer tours every day, but the grounds are still open for visits."

"I had wanted to come see this house for a while and had put it off due to prior reviews saying staff was rude. I can say that wasn’t my case. I pre read all the rules prior, such as no professional cameras without paying, but phone cameras are fine. No photos inside home and come on a day they are open. You can explore the gardens for free but home tour was $15 per person. I can say that I did not encounter any rude staff. Everyone was very pleasant from the time I got there until I left. I appreciate their time and was thankful to have been apart of their tour. The home has history for sure . I gave it 4 stars because I’m a weirdo and there was things in the home, I would have liked to know more about. Example the thing in the kitchen that looks like a laundry chute. I respectfully didn’t open it, but wanted to see what it was. Lol. There were several moments like that where I would have loved a deeper dive. The basement also stuck out seeing how California isn’t a basement friendly state. Those are just a few things. Overall I enjoyed my day. Thank you, again."