Our wedding ceremony and reception were held here and we were overall pleased with the experience, but there were some issues that could have been improved. For instance, the wireless microphone that was intended to be used during our ceremony was not operating correctly outside, so any of our guests who were not within earshot, could not hear us! When the event coordinator, Frank, was approached about this, he shrugged and said, “Nothing I can do about it, batteries sometimes die!” This of course infuriated me because it was something that should have been checked prior to the event taking place! Many people did have difficulty hearing, too, because there were only 80 chairs set up on the patio for about 150 people, so many people had to stand the whole time! Good thing it was a short ceremony! Also, earlier in the day, before our ceremony, the ATM held within the lodge wasn’t working. I wanted to withdraw cash to tip our DJ and photographers, but when I approached Frank, he simply stated, “I can’t do anything about that…”, which is not true because obviously someone services the machine, and he could have made a call to try to remedy the situation. Instead, the ATM remained broken all night and guests could not use it when there was a cash bar during dinner. We also had a minor issue with the open bar option, as the bar staff was charging for beer at the beginning of the event. This was later resolved, but some people still had to pay for beer at an open bar earlier in the night, even though it was our arrangement that everything was to be included as part of our bill!! One thing that upset me before our event took place was that they were not able to provide any food samples for us so that we could choose what dishes to offer. I wouldn’t expect him to make a whole prime rib for us to sample, but some of the description for the chicken dishes were vague or unfamiliar to us, so it would have been nice to know exactly what we were choosing and would be serving to our friends and family.
On the positive side, the food was excellent and the staff was really friendly and accommodating. The venue was adequate in size for a wedding with 150 guests. The scenery is amazing since you are surrounded by mountains, and it is relatively private. The event package—which includes use of the outdoor patio and gazebo, use of outdoor chairs (but only 80), 25 guest tables and a head table, all linens, utensils, and glasses, plus add-ons, such as the bar options, hor’dourves for cocktail hour, etc.—was very reasonable, and we actually came in under budget! The coordinator, Frank, also made sure everything was set up and taken down with care. He, for the most part, was patient with me when answering any questions or concerns I had.