Mary Rogers 
Charming little gardens are the perfect place to say 'I do'
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Never mind the threat of wind or rain. Forget the heat and cold. The popularity of garden weddings seems never to tarnish. President's daughters apparently like the out-of-doors and so do celebrities.
Recently, I attended an event at a garden tucked away in Fort Worth's Meadowbrook neighborhood and decided wedding planners might add it and a couple of others to their list of garden spots.
TheSherrod-Pool Garden is one of the city's best-kept secrets. Even from the street it's hard to imagine the haven that waits beyond the garden gates. Pathways wind through more than an acre of lush plantings past a shady arbor and a hundred-year-old farmhouse.
Owners Katie Sherrod and Gayland Pool live in the heart of the garden, but visitors enter though the "Chapel Garden" a sanctuary with the heavens for a ceiling and windows salvaged from Christ the King Episcopal Church for walls.
"That garden will seat only 100," says Katie, a journalist who keeps an office in the farmhouse. But there are other lovely places to exchange vows and a shady arbor to stage a reception buffet. "About 250 ... no more than 300 works well," she says.
The farmhouse is off limits to visitors but has a kitchen available to a caterer.
Call 817-531-3369 for more information
The Katie Wright Sculpture Garden is surrounded by a high metal fence, and a lush green lawn offers the perfect place to stage a wedding. This intimate little garden sits adjacent to an art gallery and studio called Artspace 111 just east of downtown where twin brothers Daniel and DennisBlagg and other Fort Worth artists show their work, including Nancy Lamb, John Harley, Leslie Lanzotti and Jo-Ann Mulroy.
When the Blagg boys bought the 1911 warehouse in the 1980s, KatieWright lived next door in a big square house that had no electricity. They struck up a friendship with her and eventually bought that property too. Now it has become a useful extension of the party space that the gallery and its long deck provide.
There is a small kitchen in the studio that works well for caterers. Rental pricing is tied to the number of guests. For more info, call Taylor McDaniel at 817-909-7490.
For a while, Grapevine's La Buena Vida Vineyards was a well-kept secret -- but now the news is spreading fast. Located just a couple of blocks east of Main Street, the historic limestone building is the centerpiece of a charming garden that features fountains and a spacious arbor that can serve as a chapel. New owner Gina Puente-Brancato says much of the garden can be tented during cool or inclement weather.
Of course, the vineyard can offer wine, but it also works with a preferred-caterers list for elegant buffets and can recommend cake vendors, DJ's -- even florists.
Want more info? Go to www.labuenavida.com or call 817-481-9463.
