Rising Stars: Meet The Willow Wedding Venue

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Willow Wedding Venue.

Hello The Willow, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Our family has been living in the West Valley since 2005 and have invested greatly into our community. We love to live, work, and play on the west side and want to continue to increase the exposure to the area by opening an exclusive desert wedding and event venue. This idea has been a dream of our family for the last five years and happened only because of the lack of this type of unique business in the area. 

When our daughter got married, it was extremely difficult to be over an hour away from a venue and watching our outside family members, that traveled into Arizona from other states for the wedding, be so disrupted and to be spread out all over the East Valley. It was at that point that the vision was birthed in our minds and hearts. We did not want any other families going through what our family went through. It became a dream and vision for our family to create something in the West Valley that has never been done so that we can increase the quality of life for couples and their families so that they will not have to go through the same thing we did. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Because we chose to be a very unique venue and not just a plain commercial building, we chose a 2.5-acre parcel out in the middle of the desert that was zoned residential. We found this beautiful space but with that, we had to jump through many county zoning obstacles to be able to use our property for a wedding and event venue. We purchased the property in 2019 and were not able to begin business until 2022. It took a year just for the county to approve our site for use of an event space then started all over will plans and the permitting process. We finally had our grand opening event on April 1, 2022, and we have been extremely busy ever since. We had close to 100 weddings in our first year. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The Willow a premier desert wedding venue in the West Valley. Located in Surprise, Arizona, it sits on 6 acres surrounded by the natural scenic beauty of the Sonoran Desert, with the majestic backdrop of mountains. The intimate and unique setting of our private outdoor venue is the perfect canvas to bring your vision to life. Family-owned and operated, The Willow staff is committed to making the experience of planning your special day joyful and seamless from start to finish! One of the only affordable desert wedding venues in the West Valley, we believe every love story deserves to be remembered. 

We’d love to hear about what you think about risk-taking.
This industry is a very high-risk venture. There is NO guarantees for success. We felt so strongly that if we can find the right space that we would become successful over time. I remember talking with my family, and we agreed that if we can do 30-35 events the first year, that would be success for us. This process has been the most excruciating and stressful process we have ever been involved with and we risked everything we had to create this special place without knowing if it would ever work. As of today, we have had over 150 weddings on site, and of those weddings, we have had 20-25 other states represented from couples choosing The Willow for their destination weddings. We continue to grow as a business, and we have the best staff around. It never entered our minds that we would become as popular and busy as we are today and in our future. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thewillowaz.com
• Instagram: @TheWillowAZ
• Facebook: @TheWillowAZ
• Other: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/the-willow-wedding-venue-surprise-az-2076192