$3,200 starting price
300+ guest capacity
This venue can host 300+ guests
About this vendor
Host your wedding at Happy Apple Celebrations!
Happy Apple Celebrations is a rustic wedding venue in Norwalk, Iowa. This venue and staff ensure every couple can enjoy a stress-free weekend that is every bit as romantic and fun as they’ve always dreamed. Happy Apple Celebrations provides a unique setting for nature-inspired weddings. The sweet smell of apple blossoms, the majestic rolling hills, and the rustic setting all lend to a romantic and intimate setting for the big day. Choose Happy Apple Celebrations for a truly unforgettable event.
Happy Apple Celebrations provides both indoor and outdoor venue space for your wedding day. You can enjoy your wedding ceremony outdoors among the apple trees, or indoors. The outdoor space features patio space and a fire pit to warm your guests as they enjoy drinks and conversation after dinner. The spacious open floor plan accommodates any seating style. Two get-ready rooms are onsite for the wedding party to prepare before the ceremony. The venue also has a built-in catering prep kitchen and full-service bar for serving your guests throughout the evening.
Services Offered
Happy Apple Celebrations helps couples create their one-of-a-kind wedding days. You’ll be able to work closely with the staff to plan every detail and flawlessly execute on your big day. Happy Apple Celebrations rentals include two and a half days of access. The day before you’ll have the entire day to set up and can even host your rehearsal dinner at the venue. You will have all-day access on the big day, including overnight parking. On the day after you can enjoy a leisurely cleanup time. Other services include:
Open vendor policy
Full-service bar and bartenders
Outdoor ceremony site
Seating for 400+ guests
Get ready rooms
Shelves of rustic and glass decor
Lighted backdrops and ceiling decor
Classic White chairs, round tables, and long tables
Pricing details
Starting prices
Reception:
$3,200
Ceremony:
$3,200
Bar services:
Contact for price
Catering:
Contact for price
Starting prices don't include service fees, taxes, gratuity, and rental fees. Guest count and seasonality may also affect prices. Peak season for this venue is Apr-Oct.
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
On-Site Accommodations
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Guest Capacity
- 300+
Settings
- Barn
- Farm & Ranch
- Park
- Trees
Venue Service Offerings
- Bar & Drinks
- Bar Rental
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.1
out of 5.019 reviews
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We loved Happy Apple as our venue! We paid for the entire weekend and it was so easy being able to have rehearsal dinner and clean-up/brunch at the same location. The staff were very helpful and accommodating.
We had our wedding at Happy Apple last weekend and couldn’t have been happier with the venue or the owners! Sarah, her husband, and their employee Erica were just fantastic. So helpful and accommodating. The bar staff were also amazing. The venue itself is the perfect vibe- beautiful and rustic. The bridal and groom suites are perfect. We literally felt at home the entire time we were there. I loved being able to have the venue for the whole weekend. It definitely lowered the stress by being able to decorate on Friday and hold our rehearsal dinner there, enjoy my wedding day on Saturday, and come back to clean up and gather our belongings on Sunday. Highly recommend Happy Apple for your wedding!
I would not recommend this place to anyone. With all the other options out there. I would recommend not hosting ANYTHING in the bar, as someone who works in the event industry. I strongly believe they were double posting charges on the tab. The lady who does the selling was great. The husband however should consider going to a few hospitality classes. Super disrespectful to the bride and other guests. He made me and my bride do a walk around the entire property at 11:30pm with a flashlight after the event picking up any trash or bottles. Which I don’t believe was emphasized enough when we signed the contract. So if you do decide to book here, just be aware that you will be asked to clean up immediately after your wedding.
Response from the Vendor on 07/25/2023
William, we are disheartened to learn of your dissatisfaction with your event at our venue. We appreciate all feedback from couples and guests to ensure we are proving the best possible service to everyone. When looking back at your event with ...
your final guest count and bar sales, it looks like the cost is right in line with the average drink purchase for a guest at an open bar wedding of $15-20 per person for that length of time. While our contract does state that the “lessee will pick up any outdoor trash, including smoking materials”, we wish the staff member would have approached it differently. Since your event, we have hired new staff and revised our customer service expectations to provide respectful service to all guests.
Any questions?
They kept our money after we canceled the wedding due to exploding covid cases and Governor's mandates on large gatherings. They said we were in violation of the contract since the mandates were not a complete shutdown. The complete shutdown came a short week later. The wedding was supposed to happen 3 weeks after that. Didn't hear from them for 6 weeks after cancellation in spite multiple e-mails and texts. Then to find out we were not getting a refund of any kind. ALL other vendors gave a full refund.
Response from the Vendor on 10/13/2021
COVID was a hard time for all of us. We worked diligently with all of our brides, this one included, for options that allowed a move forward while allowing us to keep our doors open for everyone else. All but this bride walked away happy.
In...
this case, the customer canceled their wedding contract prior to any mandate from the State that prohibited their gathering and a myriad of options were provided anyway. We were saddened that an agreement couldn't be forged, but were thrilled that the marriage occured the same contracted day at another location.
Absolutely the perfect venue to get married at. They have so many decorations to use and a beautiful outdoor and indoor area. Sara is so nice and helpful! I could not have found a better venue!
We had the most beautiful wedding and experience at Happy Apple Celebrations! The owners, Sara and Ryan, were amazing to work with throughout the entire process and were available whenever we had questions! While the weather did not cooperate for the ceremony outdoors, Sara and Ryan made sure to help organize moving the ceremony indoors which turned out to be just as beautiful! They truly made everything go off without a hitch and the venue itself was perfect for our big reception! The best part was that your reservation of the venue is for Friday through Sunday so you aren't trying to scramble to set up Saturday before dawn like some venues and we were able to have our rehearsal AND dinner there which saved on having to find a separate location for that. We highly recommend Happy Apple Celebrations!
Beautiful venue. Horrible experience with owners. Very unprofessional from eye rolling, making rude comments to attendees, WAY over charging for drinks, to doing illegal and inappropriate acts. Again, it is a very beautiful venue but I would never recommend this place to anyone. On your special day you should never have to encounter that kind of behavior and unprofessionalism.
Response from the Vendor on 02/19/2020
Hello, Chris! I'd like to apologize for the experience you had under the prior ownership. My husband and I purchased this venue in 2019 and can guarantee that nothing like what you experienced will ever happen to anyone else, ever again! The...
venue is even more gorgeous than when you were here and we are now offering our facility up for far more than weddings - at price points that can't be beat! Let us know if we can offer you a drink to show you around and showcase how things are different! ~Sara
Participated in a wedding last night and was very impressed with this venue! The decor is very rustic with some very unique aspects. The ambiance was amazing and the owners are super nice! Hope to visit there again soon!!
This is a beautiful venue and a great choice as long as you don’t mind a little casual racism and inappropriate questions from one of the owners. Male owner thought it was appropriate to ask a member of the bridal party what ethnicity she was and went on to say “I’m not racist but...” If you have to say that, then yes, yes you are racist. The following morning, when referring to any small problems that arose, he thought it necessary to refer to the kids running around as Hispanic. He also asked the bride if she was pregnant. 😳
Response from the Vendor on 02/19/2020
Hello Lucy! As one of the new owners of Happy Apple Celebrations, I'd like to apologize for the experience you had previously. My husband and I are a younger, energetic couple. We are very respectful of all people....always. If we can show y...
ou around and provide you a taste of the quite-different manner in which we now operate, let us know! :) ~Sara
Sue and Rick are AMAZING! There is nothing that compares
We loved this place. We just had our wedding and we ended up having to move it inside due to the cold weather. We were able to make it just the way we pictured!! We loved that we were able to have both the wedding and reception at the same place. Sue and Rick were great to work with!! Highly recommend this place!!
We had a wonderful time at our wedding reception and got so many compliments on everything! They have items that others have left that can be used. We were able to get into the venue on Friday for setup and have brunch on Sunday to tear down. This was the perfect spot for our wedding and guests. 300 people is a lot to keep happy and we have heard nothing but positive feedback on the space and beauty of Happy Apple. Very accommodating. I would highly recommend Happy Apple to future brides and grooms.
Wedding 5/21/16....I can't say enough about this wonderful venue and amazing owners! They really make you feel like family. Always available when I would call with a million questions. Helpful with ideas for final decorations, although they already have the place 90% decorated. Rick was absolutely amazing with all the kids and keeping them entertained and happy so adults could focus on the setup and celebrating. He carted my elderly father around and hung out with dad making him feel involved. Sue was amazing! She truely just wanted us to have the most beautiful experience, even if it meant compensating for another vendor. Always available to listen and talk with us. They truely are the sweetest team. Ohh and everyone went on for weeks about how beautiful there orchard is. I have already encouraged 10 if boy more brides to check this place out!!!
Rick and Sue were awesome to work with. Their place is a wonderful place for a wedding. We were planning on an outside wedding and then coming inside for the reception. The weather did not cooperate so we had it all inside. The building was big enough to accommodate us, and they were very helpful when we were arranging it all. Guests had room to visit and move around without being really crowded. Many of our guests have told us it was the best wedding ever.
Rick and Sue are the owners of this orchard, but they make you feel like part time owners as soon as you sign the contract! They are absolutely wonderful and so helpful with anything and everything you might need. They are continually adding things to the property to make it even more appealing to have a wedding there. The price was right, and we had access to the venue for the whole weekend.
This venue allows for both ceremony and reception. Beautiful outdoor setting for a ceremony, but alternative site indoors, just in case of rain. The owners Rick & Sue work to make to ensure that things run smoothly. Rick mows of several wonderful areas for photographs?
The cost was very reasonable. The flexibility was superb.
The owners of Happy Apple Celebrations were very helpul in planning the wedding ceremony and receptions. They are very easy to work with, too. There venue offers many great photograhy locations.
I looked at a lot of venues in the Des Moines area, but I was disappointed by the prices and restrictions I found. Then I came across Happy Apple. I liked that I could do both the ceremony and reception at the same venue (and it was nice to have an easy backup ceremony location in case the weather was bad). I liked that I could bring in any caterer and I could get in the day before to set-up and decorate. Rick and Sue are really nice people who are very easy to work with. The orchard has a beautiful ceremony location overlooking a pond, backed by apple trees. It's just a short drive from both Norwalk and Cumming, so it's easy for guests to get there, and because it's out in the country it's very peaceful. Compared to other local venues, I found the rental price to be competitive and the cost of beer and wine was also reasonable (and they provided bartenders!). I would absolutely choose this venue again.
This venue is great! Huge reception area, beautiful inside and out. Bring any outside vendors in, and good location. The owners are nice to work with, and easy going makes the day a lot less hectic!
Contact
3408 Clarke Street, Norwalk, IA
Interested?
Meet the team
Ryan & Sara Pray
Owner
Happy Apple Orchard was started in early 1970's.The original 2 dozen trees, that were planted on the farm, came from K-mart on Hickman Rd. They were a end -of-the season close-out price, that Rick purchased while delivering landscape stone to their garden department. The trees were label dwarf Red and Golden Delicious? They all turned out to be standard size, MacIntosh apple trees. Rick Motzko thought this would be a good thing for his dad, Dick, who just purchased Cumming Farm. Dick, Audrey (his wife), and son, Rick, planted and nurtured the trees, year after year, until it reached 4000 tree
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$3,200 starting price
Ryan & Sara Pray
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Happy Apple Celebrations
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