Two novel coordination complexes, namely, dichlorido[3,5-dimethyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl-κN)-1H-pyrazole-κN
2]zinc(II), [ZnCl2(C10H11N3)], 1, and aquachloridobis[3,5-dimethyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl-κN)-1H-pyrazole-κN
2]nickel(II) chloride monohydrate, [NiCl(C10H11N3)(H2O)]Cl·H2O, 2, have been synthesized. The crystal structure analyses revealed that complexes 1 and 2 are mononuclear and have ZnN2Cl2 distorted tetrahedral and NiN4OCl distorted octahedral structures, respectively. Complex 1 displays a dimer in the crystal structure, while complex 2 forms a chain along the [010] direction. The fluorescence properties of both complexes were also investigated. A search of the Cambridge Structural Database for other complexes of the ligand 3,5-dimethyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole (L) shows that there exist different coordination polyhedra with different arrangements as monomers, dimers and polycyclic structures. Here it has also been demonstrated that there is a relationship between the crystal packing and the fluorescence properties of ZnII and CdII complexes of L.