Botanico at The Garage

The Garage is a colonial-era house, carefully conserved, on Cluny Park Road, inside the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the city's first UNESCO World Heritage site. It now runs as two places under one roof: Wildseed Café on the ground floor and il Giardino, an Italian restaurant serving small sharing plates, upstairs.

The pull is simple. Guests arrive through the greenery of the Gardens, then step into a cool, air-conditioned room for the celebration. Botanico, the restaurant once linked to The Garage, is no longer listed by the venue, so weddings are now run through il Giardino.

There is an indoor dining hall plus a covered, air-conditioned patio looking over the Gardens, and both work for a solemnisation or a reception. A seated banquet takes up to 145 guests, 86 inside and 59 outside, and a cocktail reception up to 200.

Packages usually include a Western four-course menu, beer, wine and soft drinks, a private bridal room, AV, printed menus and place cards. You can bring your own florist and photographer. The terrace has a full roof, so a tropical downpour will not stop the party. Dinner runs for four and a half hours and finishes by 10.30pm, and lunch runs for four hours, ending by 2pm.

There are no bedrooms at The Garage, so guests stay in Singapore's hotels and come to the Gardens for the day. The venue works with partner hotels including the St. Regis, the Fullerton and the Fullerton Bay, and may offer corporate rates for wedding guests.

Build the days around the Gardens themselves, an early walk before the heat, brunch at Wildseed Café, and an evening of Italian sharing plates upstairs. Botanic Gardens MRT station is a short walk away, and drivers can use the Cluny Park Gate car park.