Flathead Lake Forevers

ay. Unfortunately, that will be what our family & friends will remember most about our wedding. 😢 We were not satisfied with our experience even though we paid for a FULL weekend wedding package at Flathead Lake Forevers. Our experience was made to be way more stressful and frustrating than we could’ve imagined.  I did not appreciate the hovering over the venue and my guests, during which the venue was temporarily being rented out by US per our contract/agreement. Many of my guests approached us after the wedding and were upset over comments made to them by the venue owners. I was under the impression that the owners would not be present at all during our rental time unless we needed specific help. Instead, they were hanging around uninvited in SWIM TRUNKS, mingling with guests, and drinking our beer. Not to mention their family members were sitting on the shore WATCHING our entire wedding as if it was a movie. It felt extremely violating. I rented a private property for a reason. We compared it to as if we rented an expensive air bnb for a weekend and then have the owners stay and hover over us as we are spending precious, intimate time with family.  We spent most of our budget and savings from the last 5 years on this venue. $9,000! Venue owners made us feel guilty because we couldn’t afford to hire caterers, a bartender, and florist. Many of our family members have worked/ now work in those businesses professionally, so why pay a fortune to have a stranger do it just to make venue owners happy?! Also, MAJOR communication issues. Their website, emails, texts, our rental agreement said one thing and then in person they said another. Super disappointed. The bathroom onsite was not able to be used. We used port-a-potties!! Non-potable water on site, so no clean water at all. Big orange forklift parked on the venue in the back of my wedding photos 😔. We were barked at about getting out on time night of our wedding, as we were scrambling to clean up. I had to stay and clean up my own wedding night of, which was a nightmare. We were approached DAY OF our wedding about not having any liquor, after I had purchased, which I specifically asked venue owner permission to have weeks and days prior to our wedding. Therefore, nobody was able to order signature drinks I spent a long time organizing and spending money on. All of my guests were extremely respectful, nobody got rude or crazy due to alcohol, and we had 3 licensed bartenders, so there were no issues on their end with alcohol. Their website states that ALL linens and a lakeside fire pit with beach chairs are included at no extra cost as apart of the full package. We asked several times about these and were told that they weren’t included… so none of my guests got to use this included feature. My husband was YELLED at not to drive on the grass when I had asked him to pull the car around closer to me so I could clean up easier. Their whole parking lot is grass! This should be clearly outlined in future contracts if they want renters to drive and park a certain way on site.  This is just the tip of the iceberg. We contacted the venue owners after the event to share our feedback/concerns and received a small refund, basically just our deposit back, which we appreciate. However, nothing can be done about changing our wedding day experience. 😕 It was very unprofessional and we don’t recommend anyone book this wedding venue. We would hate for anyone to run into the same issues we did!