Nature (a Michigan Retreat)

nctuary, which is absolutely stunning, then shuttling us down for our reception. We also loved that we had it for the whole weekend so we were able to use the bonfire pits whenever we wanted which ended up being some of our favorite moments. Overall the venue and our wedding couldn’t have been more perfect.

is a blank canvas, which let us customize everything to our budget and tastes, but could be overwhelming for some. I have no regrets though. And our photos we’re absolutely stunning thanks to the beautiful backdrops!

ny compliments from our guests and "how did you find this place?" It is a hidden gem. The property, main building and atmosphere is like no other. Relaxing, unique, beautiful and peaceful. It is a place where I felt so special :) Bryan and his family are so welcoming and accommodating. We got the wedding of our dreams even through such crazy times as the pandemic! Anyone who is able to have a wedding there in the future is lucky because it is only going to get better and better! With the cabins being built and not dealing with all the uncertainty of Covid. Bryan was great to work with through it all, very responsive, personable and calm. We had a big wedding, and there was plenty of space for everyone. We set up a large wedding tent and served up an old fashioned pig roast, buffet style, under the tent with all the fixins! Then went inside for music, drinks and dancing. We also set up an outdoor bar, with 300 people to serve it worked great! The building hardly needs decorating because it is already so beautiful. The bathrooms are clean and new.The pond and beach are great for kids. Randy and I, most of the bridal party, and some of our family and friends stayed in the glamping tents on property. We all loved it! Star gazing, driving around on the golf carts and being able to be outdoors yet still have the comforts of being at a resort. The after party bonfire spot is fun and keeps the party going after the DJ shuts down. In the morning we were treated to some amazing food from the food truck while we cleaned up. What an experience. I want another wedding because it was all so GOOD! The day was just perfect. I think about our wedding every day and feel very blessed to have been able to have Nature as our wedding venue. Another thing worth mentioning was how much FUN we had before the wedding day planning, touring and spending time there! Bryan was ALWAYS available and we have some good memories all of us together. My advice to anyone considering Nature is get it booked for as long as you can! We had it for the weekend and it was great but it goes so fast! You will want to spend more time there! We had our rehearsal dinner in The Great Nest and it added another level. The pictures and places you can get to is a BONUS. We were able to do pictures on the beach at Glen Haven day of the wedding and then be back to Nature in 15 minutes! I could go on and on.

ocess.” This was the #1 reason we booked him, because the idea of a camping weekend in the woods to celebrate us with our closest family/friends in N. Mich sounded perfect. I was in constant communication w/Bryan for 18+ months, and not once did I speak to him where he remembered us/the weekend. I can understand confusion happens, but after that long, I expected more. He constantly wanted to discuss things over the phone, but with the lackadaisical/forgetfulness, I wanted everything in writing. Throughout the entire experience, he overpromised that cabins were “coming along&everything was still on track.” We even discussed pricing so that I could include that info in my invites. I printed them in Mar '21; in April he had didn’t even have the professionalism to call me, I had to call after 2-3 ignored emails. During this convo, he had the audacity to say he was “on his 5th contractor & it wasn’t looking like he would have them in time for my wedding.” Not only did he never discuss the falling out of his 2nd, 3rd, or 4th contractor, but he tells me this 5 months before my wedding, in N MI, & as expected all of the Hotels in the area don’t take wedding block reservations/already booked. He assured me that “we would figure it out,” which turns out meant nothing. My guests were on their own to find lodging. The only thing he offered in return was a “glamping tent” which were overpriced, falling down canvas tents, with 1 bed that the guests had to bring their own bedding for. I had to ask him to pay for reprints for my invites, he didn’t offer, and once he agreed, it took 2+ months for him to send the money. During our whole weekend he lurked around, was in the back of pictures, & we always knew he was there. He lives onsite with his wife/2 kids. He was constantly asking us to “keep it down because his baby was sleeping,” which we tried to do out of human kindness, but shouldn’t have been expected to when paying this much. He assured me that he puts his wife/kids in a hotel for wedding weekends or they stay in a tent. In the middle of our wedding reception, his wife+kids were dressed up, mingling &his older daughter was following me around on the dance floor. She is in many of my wedding photos. After my wedding, I found out that he was giving as tour to another couple, during cocktail hour! I’m not sure why this was okay to him. On the day of, was that I, along with my bridal party, watched him take multiple plates of food up to his wife/kids from my buffet. We never discussed feeding him, or his family&it was not part of the contract. With how expensive weddings are, he should have known better, than to steal. There was afood truck in the front&we had to ask multiple times to move it. Our wedding was beautiful & perfect, & that had everything to do with my other vendors and the love/laughter our family/friends brought to our day. Our photographers and videographers got the most beautiful photos from the stunning scenery of the venue, and I remember nothing but love from the weekend, but the added stress could have been avoided if we had trusted our gut. He was by far the most disappointing part of my entire experience. I think the vision he has is amazing, but he needs to hire some sort of assistant.

two ceremony sites Bryan and Emma commonly use back there are a very short hike which was great for most guests, but they also had multiple golf carts on hand that could take our less mobile guests up to their tents and to the ceremony sites. We had a large group (45 people) of our family and friends stay on site in the tents he provided and that really made our weekend so special. Most guests arrived on Friday morning and stayed until Sunday and having them all there with us throughout the weekend was something we will never forget. It really made our wedding feel so unique and guests loved being able to spend quality time with loved ones they normally don’t get to. During the weeks leading up to, and throughout the wedding weekend, Bryan and Emma were very responsive and went above and beyond to make our wedding perfect. They’re great people who did everything they could behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. The reception venue is also beautiful with great design throughout that gave a great outdoor vibe with a refined dining feeling to it. As we look at some of the other reviews, we see some people upset with Nature, but we did not feel this way at all. While there might have been a couple of organizational hiccups (that are to be expected with any growing business) it did not at all affect our weekend and the guests had no idea. We really cannot recommend Nature enough, with the drop-dead gorgeous woods, the fantastic hospitality from Bryan and Emma, the resort-like touches, and refined design inside and out the Great Nest, Nature made our wedding weekend absolutely perfect.

an positive reviews and the owner’s responses prior to booking,. Our wedding at Nature was beautiful, special, and filled with love. This had everything to do with our incredible community of family and friends who always bring good energy. Yes, Nature is a stunning venue, but in the end it’s not where you are but who you are with that really matters. In the lead up to our event, the owner at Nature was unorganized and unprofessional, frequently mixing us up with other couples and unable to keep track of previous agreements/conversations. The owner overpromised and underdelivered and never took responsibility for shortcomings. Throughout our wedding weekend, the owner failed to make himself discrete and lurked around while engaging in random conversation with us and our guests, often oversharing personal details about his life and interrupting fun and special moments. Our guests were polite at the time but expressed their discomfort afterwards - several even used the word “creepy” to describe their experience. The owner + family live onsite and their kid accidentally splashed our guests with a shovel of rainwater from their balcony while watering a plant. Cleanliness was a major issue, and we cleaned the tent pad and bathrooms on our own as the owner(s) was not maintaining them. None of this is what you would expect from a “luxury” venue. Writing a review like this is not something we ever wanted to do, but we hope that in doing so we can help other couples. Our advice - ask lots and lots of questions (then ask some more), read all the reviews, and don’t feel pressured to commit because dates are “booking fast”. If you do decide to move forward – get every tiny detail in writing and signed on a legal contract. If you have an uneasy or off feeling at any point – look elsewhere. We were so taken by the beauty of the venue that we ignored our gut instincts.

ked”, which was an eyesore and should not be used for food service, and showers which we cleaned ourselves after use so that guests would have some level of cleanliness. The owner, Brian Cloninger blamed his cleaning crew, his contractors, and his computer for any obstacles and referred to himself a victim throughout the process of planning for this special day. Beautiful location but unprofessional experience all the way around.

weekend on site with our wedding party so paid the weekend rate but when they were not completed Bryan was unwilling to budge on price, knowing it was over priced, they kept stringing us along and letting us down. This seems to be a trend among others who choose this venue. During our reception our planner spent most of the night cleaning and restocking bathrooms because the site provided no help. Extra money spend on tents, generators, etc for the property will blow up your budget. Just a mediocre, expensive experience, would not recommend.

came and hung out with me the rest of the time! He is a very kind, interesting guy and he runs an incredible business. I could not have been happier with the beautiful venue for our elopement and the attentiveness of Bryan and his wife.

f, I appreciate their attention to every detail and the importance of making their guests happy.

iple ceremony site options along with reception spaces! Even through the ebb and flow of COVID-19 changes leading up to our wedding, we felt assured knowing we had outdoor options paired with their help to truly make our big day not just happen, but but make it special, too! Being outdoor enthusiasts, we especially loved their dedication to zero waste. Our guests were very impressed with the gorgeous scenery, fun firepit for s’mores and the beautiful interior (although we had to move most everything outside due to COVID-19- but Bryan and Emma went above and beyond with extra cleaning and help to ensure this went smoothly). Definitely would recommend Nature- be sure to visit in person to appreciate all this venue has to offer!

mping cabins. Well, due to COVID, the production of the cabins were stalled (understandable, there is a pandemic), however we had been in contact with him throughout the whole pandemic about the status of the cabins. Knowing the status of the cabins was important to us, because if they were not going to be ready in time for our wedding we would want to relocate our guests that had pre reserved cabins for our wedding. (JUST TRYING TO BE PROACTIVE). I have emails from Bryan in May saying that he is on schedule for the cabins to be ready for our wedding. A month later we go up there to check things out and ask Bryan about the cabins. He told us they were most likely not going to be ready. So, we told him since the cabins aren't ready and all of our guests will be off the property there is no reason for us to be paying for the weekend rental package $7500 opposed to single day $5500. He told us he would think about letting us switch and "make things right". We told him he had a week to give us a final status on the cabins as well as his "making it right offer". WE HEARD NOTHING FROM HIM. A month before our wedding, our wedding planner spoke to him about the pandemic rules. We did not feel comfortable with the excessive rules he put in place, more so than what the law required. He told us and our wedding planner he would kick anyone out who was not 6 feet apart from one another (which is very subjective). We came to the conclusion that this venue was not for us. We shouldn't have to fear our guests being kicked out of our wedding. We had a phone meeting a month and 2 days before our wedding on Monday July 20th, with Bryan and our 2 wedding planners to come to a conclusion. Unfortunately, we were not able to come to an agreement on any sort of refund and mutually decided it was best to part ways. As a bride, it felt like our event was not valued or important. It was clear he had a lot of other issues and things going on. From the beginning of COVID, we told him we did not want to reschedule. We would elope, cut our guest list, etc. Multiple times he confused us with other couples, and he would talk about our event to us as if it were a different date and we'd have to remind him "no that's not our date". The best decision, though difficult, was to part ways with Bryan. Take your money to other venues in the Traverse City region who will treat you with respect, go above and beyond for you, and value your event, even during a Pandemic.

ost magical weekend in one of the most magical places. Thank you so much for helping making this such a special weekend.

often and you can’t go wrong no matter the season. Will definitely return anytime we can for camping and relaxation.

tion and implementation of our dreams was turned into something even better than we imagined. The building on the property was designed with a true aesthetic intent and shapes any vision incredibly well. The owner adds a personal touch and is by your side every second that you need him, whether it is to light up the bonfire pit in the middle of a thunderstorm, to help as a bartender, to help with transportation, or anything that you may need at any time. This 80 acre property is one of a kind, especially in Michigan. We truly cannot wait to go back for our many anniversaries and to see how the Nature team continues to make the proper a land of dreams.

elow. There were obvious signs of disorganization and poor management from our initial meeting and tour of the venue. We were constantly over promised and under delivered. Don't count on the cabins he advertises to be completed, we had 25 cabins reserved with his approval and when we went up to check 7 weeks before the wedding, only half a single cabin was completed. With no answers or follow up on when they would be completed, we had to relocate around 90 of our closest guests weeks before the wedding. Because the cabins were not completed there was no need to use the entire weekend package, so we wanted to change to the one day rental for $2000 less, which Bryan would not agree to change. Then, 4 weeks from our wedding, we get an email from our wedding planner stating all the pandemic rules that Nature would put in place. Never reaching out to us or updating us on his latest policy, keep in mind Leelanau county is allowed outdoor events of up to 250 people at the time. The overly strict rules made it essentially impossible to hold our wedding of 230 at Nature. We were so fed up with the constant battles and short comings of Nature we decided to part ways with nature and cancel our wedding at the venue. We still have not received any form of refund and Nature has now become unresponsive to our communications. We are now taking legal action to settle this mess a recoup some of our losses. Please do yourself a favor and find a wedding venue that will make your wedding easier not harder. Bryan acts all lackadaisical about his contract and not to worry, but he will hold tight to his contract every chance he gets. If you don't have something official in writing I can guarantee you he won't keep his end of the deal and you will get burned. The best decision we made was to cancel nature and end the non stop charade of over promises, lack of communication, and poor business management. Also, their full deposit 9 months in advance, is one of the only venues in the industry that makes you pay in full that early. Our experience with Nature was so terrible we walked away from our $7500 deposit, hopefully you can learn from this and spare yourself the money and headaches. Good Luck!

ional space that gave us Northern Michigan vibes. Nature was everything we wanted plus more! The space is designed and decorated beautifully. All the windows allowed for the most incredible nature light. Our cocktail hour was outside by the pond, and diner/dancer floor was set inside. The fire pit and outdoor space were great areas for guests to hang out after diner! The space accounted for our 165 guests wonderfully. Bryon and his wife are extremely easy to work with and put so much thought into the space itself. THANK YOU!

ing and every little detail has been thought of. Our wedding was a weekend event and we had every comfort and need met. I cannot recommend Nature more to any couple who is considering northern Michigan. It's a one of kind place. It truly felt like a fairytale. I had so many people tell me it was the best wedding they'd ever been to!

glamping tents, where the wood stoves and comfy beds kept us warm even through Michigan winter nights. We found a beautiful spot for the ceremony off one of the many trails on the property, and got married in a gentle snowfall in the woods - just perfect. From Nature it's an easy drive to the excellent restaurants in Traverse City and Glen Arbor, as well as breathtaking sites like Sleeping Bear Dunes - all stops on our elopement weekend itinerary. And the Great Nest is a gorgeous, airy space that we loved spending time in; we mostly used it for getting ready and a small post-ceremony luncheon afterwards, but we hope to come back for a bigger anniversary celebration soon. Bryan was wonderful to work with, super responsive and friendly - and very accommodating of our crazy plan to elope at Nature while it was still under construction! Finding an eco-friendly venue was really important to us (we're sustainability professionals), and we were gratified to find that Nature goes way beyond the basics. From ecologically restorative site planning, to the tasteful use of locally salvaged wood and energy-efficient design in the Great Nest, Bryan & team have a deep and sophisticated commitment to being good stewards of this land and its many living systems. (And they plant a commemorative tree for each couple that gets married here - yet another reason to return year after year.) We're honored to have been early guests at Nature and look forward to returning!

eciate the thought that has gone into creating this retreat property, a space that has a breathtaking setting, is ecologically mindful, offers a rich, unique, and diverse guest experience for both the wedding event and the weekend stay in glamping tents, and is designed to accommodate vendors so that we can provide the best possible service. Incredibly well done. Bryan is also very responsive via phone (so important during the planning process) and well-connected in the community (he has partnered with area creatives in a styled shoot as well as an upcoming wedding planning giveaway retreat featured on mynorth.com). For the couple seeking a remote experience that's still close to some of Michigan's favorite natural attractions, for the couple looking for an adventurous relaxed vibe, for the couple who appreciates craftsmanship, family-owned businesses, and proprietors with a community minded approach, and for the couple who loves a great bonfire under the stars in summer or winter, this is a true winner! We can't wait to plan a wedding at this property.