As a former event planner and venue manager, I was sold on Hunter Mountain from the start. When we were deciding on a venue, I was really only looking for one thing: the right people. And even though the mountain was magical, and the ceremony at the summit was incredibly unique, and the banquet space was gorgeous, and the food was delicious… from the very beginning to the very end Debbie, Tim, Bailey, Dave, and their teams were what made our wedding day so special.

That is not to say that Hunter Mountain isn’t perfect as well. The rooms were enormous, the ski lift before and after the ceremony was so fun, and the reception was everything we had hoped for. We even asked for some unique requests and they accommodated joyfully and creatively. Debbie even offered a few suggestions that became key design elements.

They treated our guests and vendors with utmost respect, communicated clearly, and found several opportunities to go the extra mile in ways we hadn’t even thought to ask for.

In every regard, truly, our wedding was perfect. We couldn’t be happier that we had our wedding at Hunter Mountain.

My daughter's wedding on September 4, 2021 was perfect in every way. The weather was picture perfect, and the venue, scenery, staff, etc. were outstanding. First let me tell you that I do not know why there are bad reviews about the Lodge because it was clean, rooms were large and staff was top notch. The bridal suite was absolutely stunning and large enough for all the bridesmaids including getting ready the next day with our hair and make up people. They catered to our every need and were so excited for my daughter's big day. Debbie was great through all the Covid stuff. She kept us informed about restrictions etc. Thank goodness, we made it through with the wedding of my daughter's dreams. Everyone loved the chairlift ride to the top, taking pictures and enjoying every last minute of the ceremony. It was breathtaking. The food was excellent, the Hors d'oeuvres were delicious, especially the bruschetta. The prime rib, chicken cordon bleu and the pasta rollatini were delicious. Everyone raved about the food. Service was good, we had a lot of people at the wedding so they were working extra hard. Josephine kept things moving at the reception as did Sari during the ceremony. At the end of the reception, Josephine had everything boxed up and brought up to the lodge where we collected our things and brought them to our cars. That was a big help. The after party at the firepit behind the lodge was so much fun. We roasted marshmallows and ate the food that was left over from the wedding and cocktail hour. We stayed out there until 4am. Thank you so much Debbie, Josephine, Sari and the entire staff at Hunter Mountain for making my daughter's wedding everything she had hoped for.

My husband and I got married at Hunter Mountain on July 3, 2021. We got engaged two years earlier, prior to the pandemic. It was quite a journey to get from there to here, but we had a great experience with Hunter and their amazing staff. This will be a detailed review because reading past reviews really helped me plan my wedding. Overall, I would absolutely recommend Hunter if you are looking for that unique mountain wedding.


Planning Process:

We really fell in love with Hunter when we visited December of 2019. The hotel looked great, and the views from the top sold us. We met with Josephine and her can-do attitude was a huge reason we decided to go with Hunter Mountain as our wedding venue. Then started a long planning process. I was put in touch with Debbie who helps brides plan details for the big day and answers all your questions. It was quite a planning process, as the pandemic hit and suddenly Hunter Mountain closed its doors, and a lot of their staff began working from home. We were unable to visit before our wedding and could not do a food tasting due to covid restrictions. On top of this, Hunter Mountain was also changing into a Vail owned resort, which meant several policies changed, hotel room prices changed, staff changed email addresses and phone numbers changed. With all of this happening, I definitely had concerns at first. However, any time I felt anxious, talking to Debbie always made me feel so much better. She answered all my questions quickly and we scheduled a video chat to help calm some of my nerves. Debbie was so incredible during all the craziness and changes. There were so many changes from when we started planning to the actual wedding, but Debbie kept me in the loop and eased my stress. I am so thankful for Debbie and her calm, kind energy during the planning period. A week before the wedding I was put in touch with Josephine again, and she immediately went to work as my week-of and day-of-coordinator. She finalized all the details, called all my vendors, and met with me a couple days before the wedding to drop off decorations at the CopperTree and talk details. I’ll talk more about Josephine later, but she truly was the most helpful, generous, hard working, and determined person the day of my wedding. I don’t think I would have gotten through everything without her.


Weekend of:

Weather looked bleak for our wedding. I was stressing all week, calling Josephine in tears, debating what to do. We both wanted the summit wedding we dreamed of and were just holding out hope for clear skies. We had a rehearsal and dinner on Friday before the wedding. Josephine ran the rehearsal in the lobby of the hotel. The lobby was already cleared out and set up for a ceremony, which was perfect for a rain plan for Saturday as well as to practice the rehearsal. We had a nice buffet dinner in VanWinkles due to rain, but had a great time celebrating as family started to arrive to the hotel. The staff at VanWinkles, particularly the bar, were so incredible all weekend. My family ended up staying in the Penthouse suite, which was two floors. It had a huge kitchen and living room area which is where all the girls got ready for the wedding. It also had two bedrooms, three bathrooms, jacuzzi tub, fireplace, and big balcony over the pool. The guys had a 3-bedroom suite to get ready in, which also had a big living area, kitchen, balcony, fireplace, and jacuzzi tub. The rooms were great. We just had one issue, where the ceiling began leaking in our penthouse bedroom. We notified the front desk and maintenance staff took a look and tried to fix. It leaked the day of the wedding too, however it really wasn’t a big problem as we were getting ready. Josephine offered to have us switch rooms, and we were compensated some money for the inconvenience. I was very pleased with how fast Hunter tried to remedy the issue. The first night we all jumped into the pool outside and hot tubs and had so much fun! The day of the wedding we kept an eye on the weather, and it finally looked like it was clearing up! We all got ready, and had the first look at the back of the hotel on the patio next to the pool and behind the restaurant. It was a beautiful location and we got some great photos there. It still wasn’t raining, so Josephine got all my friends and family up the mountain! She knew how important the mountain top ceremony was to me, and she made it happen! I had a lot of concerns about the chair lift especially because a lot of our guests had fear of heights, including my husband. However Hunter got them all up the mountain smoothly, and everyone understood once they saw the view from the top. My family and myself were the last ones up the mountain. Josephine got a van to drive us to the chairlift, and then up we went. My DJ brought a portable sound system that he brought up the lift, and he played music for the ceremony. We had an absolutely breathtaking and beautiful ceremony. Everyone was talking about how perfect the location was and how beautiful it was. After the ceremony and the photos we took at the top, it was time to go down the mountain again. However, my husband, who hates chairlifts, was really feeling nervous about the ride down. Josephine managed to get a van (which already left the top of the mountain) to come back up and get us and bring us down. She stayed with us at the top of the mountain as it started to drizzle and rode down in the van with us. When we got down to the CopperTree, Josephine brought me to the back and she bustled my dress, helped fix my lipstick, and even got on her hands and knees and used a shout stain wipe to clean the dirt stains on the bottom of my dress! Later, when my dress bustle completely broke off, Josephine made a brand new bustle using safety pins. Anytime I needed her anytime during the night, she was there to help me. Josephine is like a super woman. She does a million jobs, and she does them flawlessly. She and her staff decorated the CopperTree so beautifully, and even better than how I envisioned it. She made sure to even pack up our reception food, and a piece of our wedding cake (which I was so grateful for because I didn’t get to eat a piece during the reception) and hand-delivered the food to our hotel room. She also packed up all our decorations after the wedding and made sure we got them the next day. At the end of the reception, she got us a van to take us back to the hotel, and she helped set up our after party in the back patio. We saw her working in her office way into the AM hours that whole weekend—I don’t know how she does it all! Josephine, we are so thankful for your help the whole wedding. You made all our dreams come true, and were our biggest helper and supporter the whole time.


Venue:

The food was delicious, and the staff was so incredible. My family loved working with the staff and getting to know them all weekend. Everyone was so helpful and kind. We had four options for our meals, which Debbie recommended since we could not do a tasting due to covid. We picked the beef tenderloin, wasabi encrusted salmon, chicken francaise, and mushroom ravioli. We did the standard open bar and appetizers. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal and the drinks from the bar. Everyone also loved the balcony behind the CopperTree and the views from there. We ended up doing a sparkler send off right behind the CopperTree, and then made our way over to VanWinkles for the after party. We ordered food for that, which was demolished by my family. We ordered pizzas, grilled cheese, sliders, and had smores. The grilled cheese were SO good and a huge hit. My friends and family had fun gathered around the firepit and kept the night going long. The next day was July 4th, and we held a farewell breakfast in VanWinkles. We had a breakfast buffet, with standard menu items. Breakfast was delicious, especially the French toast! It was a great way to say goodbye to all our guests and to recover from the partying the night before. We then went into town and watched fireworks for the fourth. It was the most perfect weekend!
In all, I couldn’t recommend Hunter Mountain more! All my dreams came true, and my wedding was even better than I could have imagined. They did a great job, especially considering my wedding was their first big wedding (that allowed a rehearsal, after party, and welcome breakfast) after the pandemic. The staff, from Debbie, to Andrea (the hotel room master!), Josephine, and everyone at the Kaatskill Mountain Club, VanWinkles, and CopperTree were all superb. Fantastic service all weekend—we felt so special! Thank you Hunter Mountain for our dream wedding. Hunter will forever be a special place in our heart!

My now husband and I booked Hunter Mountain as our venue in January 2020, before covid-19. Throughout the stressful process of trying to decide to postpone or not Debbie and Josephine were both extremely responsive and helped ease our worries. We ultimately decided to move forward with our May 29th wedding (Memorial Day Weekend). Mother Nature was not in our favor and it was raining all morning and cold. We told Josephine no matter what we wanted to make it up to the summit and she delivered! It was 20 degrees and misting during our ceremony but it was still perfect! All the staff ranging from chair lift operators, to the bartenders were all fantastic. Our guests raved about the food and said it was the best prime rib they have ever had. Josephine, the day of coordinator was FANTASTIC. Any problems that arose (such as our DJ breaking down on his way to the ceremony) were handled by her and he didn't even know there were issues. The day was magical and our guests are raving about going up the chair lift (even though it was freezing) and the beautiful scenery that Hunter Mountain provides. When looking at venues our number one goal was to have somewhere that guests did not need to be transported anywhere. Guests were able to walk from their hotel rooms to the chair lift and the reception started at the bottom of the chair lift. We can't wait to go back for future anniversaries!

Our experience hosting our wedding at Hunter Mountain was indescribable and amazing! We met Debbie and booked Hunter Mountain as our venue nearly two years before our actual wedding day, and throughout all of that time, she was incredibly responsive, patient with us (answering our many(!) questions), and thorough. Our wedding planning process was made much smoother because of her! Then when we met Josephine, who was our week/day of coordinator, we knew we right away that we were in great hands! Together, Josephine and Debbie (and the entire team at Hunter Mountain) made our wedding a day that we know that we will never forget! It went so smoothly, and was truly more than we ever could have hoped. Thank you to the entire Hunter Mountain team for literally the best start to our married lives! We loved every second of it!

I didn't view the site prior to the wedding because I live on the West Coast. Debbie made planning from afar so easy. She responds quickly and is more accommodating than she should be. My day-of coordinator, Josephine is beyond amazing. Took all the work of last minute details and made everyone and everything come together so perfectly. She even did all the worrying for me when we had a major flower issue. Can't thank you gals enough! Oh! And can't forget Chuck for shuttling my guests around with a smile. :)

Hunter is hands-down the MOST incredible wedding venue!!! Our wedding weekend was absolutely perfect -- it totally surpassed our wildest dreams!!! It was by far the best weekend of our lives -- and it was all with HUGE THANKS to the amazing team at Hunter and the spectacular, beautiful venue itself!!! Our guests still cannot stop telling us that our wedding was the best one that they’ve ever attended!!! We are soooo grateful for everyone at Hunter!!! Reasons why Hunter is a cut above the rest: (1) THE PEOPLE… The staff is incredibly competent, attentive, and personable. Debbie Reilly is truly exceptional to work with. I had so many questions throughout the year leading up to the wedding (she and I communicated almost every day because of that!) -- and Debbie ALWAYS answered promptly, thoroughly, thoughtfully, and with a positive attitude. She was always patient and kind, creative and flexible, and went far above and beyond for us. Debbie kept me sane throughout the process and it gave me so much comfort and confidence knowing we were in her hands. We had a large wedding of ~220 people, several events throughout the weekend (e.g., a unique talent-show type of rehearsal dinner on Fri night, farewell brunch on Sun, a special small ceremony on Fri in addition to the bigger one on Sat, getting ready time, after-party with s’mores, etc.)...and Debbie helped us plan and think through all of the details. I am beyond grateful to Debbie for handling all of my questions (she never missed a single question!) and doing it all with grace. Debbie has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and she delivers it all with a smile!! On the wedding weekend itself, Josephine Michaud was our main coordinator and go-to, and she was totally incredible too! Josephine helped make sure that our entire vision for our wedding weekend (that we’d planned meticulously with Debbie) was fully implemented and that everything ran smoothly. She was extremely helpful, supportive, calm, patient, and positive. I loved Josephine’s can-do attitude and uplifting spirit! She was also very organized, which was important given our planned details. David Kukle was also totally fabulous!! Throughout the planning process, David sometimes weighed in on some of our questions/approaches, and was very thoughtful about the way things could work. During the wedding weekend itself, David went above and beyond (e.g., took us to the summit with our photographer for an extra photoshoot). Along with Josephine and Debbie, David made sure to follow through on all of the details that I had mapped out, and did it all happily. On our wedding day, the weather was suboptimal but we still did the ceremony at the summit, which actually still turned out to be INCREDIBLE and our guests LOVED it and had sooo much fun with it (they smiled, *sang*, and laughed in their ponchos and umbrellas!). It was totally memorable for everyone and we even got a RAINBOW during our ceremony! But I was very nervous due to the weather...and I’ll never forget how, right before we started the ceremony, David came over to me with a huge smile on his face, made some quick jokes and reassured us that the ceremony would still be amazing. He gave me the positive boost of energy that I needed in that moment, and I am so grateful for it. It will forever be a wonderful memory that I have from our wedding. And Chef Fabrice was also a pleasure to work with! We had so much fun at the tasting and he really met our needs. (See “food” section below for more.) Debbie, Josephine, David, and Fabrice worked seamlessly together to ensure that our weekend was a huge success. They also worked really well with our vendors which made our lives so much easier. And everyone else who we met at Hunter was so nice and helpful all weekend. (2) THE VENUE SETUP/LAYOUT… Hunter has a *magical* setup in which the reception, ceremony, lodging, rehearsal dinner, and after-party are all located on the same property -- so all of our events were walking distance from each other. That made everything super easy for our guests and it was sooo fun to have everyone in the same vicinity all weekend long. Togetherness and community was very important to us for our wedding weekend, and we were able to achieve that through Hunter. It’s very rare to find a venue that has all of these things AND is super nice, clean, beautiful, and runs smoothly...Hunter really has it all!!! The grounds are STUNNING. Everyone felt so wonderful being in such beautiful natural surroundings, and our photos are fabulous! All of our guests stayed at the Kaatskill Mountain Club hotel which was such a wonderful situation. We kept seeing our guests throughout the weekend, we had time to catch up with them, old friends reconnected, and that setup just made our hearts so full. We had so much fun hanging out with friends by the pool/hot tub, getting breakfast at Van Winkle’s, bumping into our guests in the hallways, catching up in the lobby area, etc. The hotel staff (e.g., Heather Bragg) were very accommodating especially given our large number of guests. They worked tirelessly to make sure everything worked smoothly and we are so thankful. And beyond Hunter, the surrounding town is adorable with great food and hikes, and our friends loved exploring it! (3) THE MEMORIES & THE EXPERIENCE… We had the most AWESOME time taking the chairlift to and from our ceremony, and so did all of our guests (young and old!). The ceremony was stunning and everyone told us that they will never forget our wedding because it was so fun and unique. We loved waving at our guests as they descended down the mountain after the ceremony in the chairlift. That will forever be one of our favorite memories from the weekend. The Copper Tree is also a fantastic reception area because it’s so spacious, the bar is super fun, and the hanging string lights with drapery give an elegant and ethereal feel. We had 220+ guests and everyone fit super comfortably in the Copper Tree. It was perfect. And Van Winkle’s is a fabulous location for the farewell brunch/breakfast and the after party which we did with s’mores around the fire pit on the patio. It had everything we could have ever wanted or needed! Hunter has such a wonderfully cozy vibe and facilitates exuberant fun!!! (4) THE FOOD… Our guests (including foodies and/or very picky & critical of food) cannot stop praising the food from the reception!!! Several people have told us that they have never had such delicious food at a wedding, and can’t believe how it was possible for the Hunter team to make such delicious steak for 220+ people! Usually cooking for such a large number of people compromises the food quality...but that didn’t happen at Hunter! And for Friday night rehearsal dinner, we did the Casual Italian Buffet which was delicious...as well as various platters like cheese and crudite for getting ready...and everything was absolutely delicious! Big kudos to Chef Fabrice and his team!!! (5) IN SUMMARY… We cannot thank Debbie, Josephine, David, and the rest of the Hunter team enough for all of their diligent help and support throughout the year-long planning process and during the wedding weekend itself!!!! THEY ARE THE BEST!!!!! We cannot recommend Hunter as a venue enough!!!! We miss it soooo much already!!! We have immense gratitude for all that the Hunter folks did for us and how they made our wedding weekend better than we could have ever dreamed!!!!

If you want a seamless wedding, you MUST pick Hunter Mountain. From the planning, to the ceremony, the reception, the whole weekend, the before & after, literally everything.... they were PERFECT!

My husband and I have been blown away, we seriously don't even believe that it was OUR wedding that happened on August 31st at Hunter Mountain. It was just too incredible.

So for the planning, Debbie is one of a kind. She is on top of her game. If you have a question, she has and answer and if she doesn't - she WILL get one for you. If you email her, you are going to get a response quickly. If you call her, she's calling you back as soon as she gets your message. Our wedding was pretty easy, Allen & I are not picky. We did run into one issue, we wanted a sundae bar rather than cake and had trouble finding a vendor. Debbie to the rescue! She made it happen. She makes everything so transparent, there's nothing to look for between the lines. I was waiting to find a catch but there was absolutely no catch to ANYTHING.

Heather, who handles guests reservations, was on top of it. She continually sent Allen & I updated sheets of the room block including which guests were staying at the hotel, their check in date, and how many nights they were staying. I really appreciated that, especially because I was making hotel bags for each guest that was staying with us. It made it so easy to make them a few at a time rather than all at once towards the end. She answered every question that we had and even made sure my grandmother was in a room near my father because she has a hard time getting around and needs a bit of help. Just knowing my family would be taken care of lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. She was beyond accommodating.

The week of, our coordinator was Josephine and oh my goodness she was a blessing. She is wonderful with a get it done attitude. If you want things done a certain way, she made sure it was done. You got what you wanted. What more could a stressed out bride ask for during that last week?? Absolutely nothing. She eased my mind RIGHT AWAY. She set up the majority of the decor that I had brought for the reception, once she had seen the style of everything she went to the basement of the CopperTree and found vintage champagne glasses to use as the "bowls" for our sundae bar and I have to say that was the sweetest and most thoughtful thing a week/day of coordinator could have done. She is that precise. It really made the sundae bar go over the top, it was beautiful!

Every single employee that worked our wedding was phenomenal. They were all so kind and accommodating. I think what made it even more special is that they had fun while they were working our wedding and you could tell. They would dance, laugh with you, help in any way that they could, it just made that atmosphere so much fun.

Chef Mike is all around awesome, and when I say all around I mean from the food he created to the person that he is. He came out of the kitchen to chit chat that morning while I was organizing the decor that I brought. He is very kind and caring, it's easy to tell that he enjoys his career. Which brings me to the food. Allen & I never did a tasting, we've never had "good" wedding/banquet/event food, so we went with our gut and we were blown away! We chose Chicken Cordon Bleu (our favorite), Roast Maple Glazed Pork (maple is REALLY big in the finger lakes/southern tier where we are from), and Butternut Squash Ravioli (it sounded like a unique twist). We also added fried mac & cheese and bacon wrapped scallops to our standard hors d'oeuvres package. Every single person that I had spoke to said every single thing was amazing, they couldn't get enough of the food. From the appetizers to the main course, the food tasted like a home cooked meal that was presented as beautifully as you would see something on the food channel. Every single plate looked beautiful, and tasted even better. The last wedding that I attended as a guest, I took one bite of the food and didn't eat the rest. I cleared my plate at our wedding even after eating way too many hors d'oeuvres.

The staff were all very attentive to all of the guests for the entire night. They treated our VIP tables like royalty, and did everything that they could (and more) for everyone else.

We had an "after party" at the hotel bar, where we ran into our ONLY issue, which was minor. Other guests (from another wedding) were eating our food, Hunter Mountain staff did everything that they could, but after a long night and drinking people don't really pay attention to signs. We didn't mind sharing with others, I was just worried about all of my guests being able to get food but that staff ensured that they did, and that was wonderful. Our bag of s'mores items did go missing, it never made it to the after party and staff were unable to locate it. It wasn't a big deal, they were apologetic, and in the grand scheme of things, it was a cold night and many of our guests had gone to bed or didn't want to go outside. Plus it was maybe $20 of items, so no big deal.

The next day all of our wedding reception items were packed up and waiting at the front desk for us, being closely watched. They didn't need to do this for us, but it's what they do and we greatly appreciated their attention in packing things back up just the way that we had brought them. Not a single thing was missing or broken from the reception. That in itself leaves us a lot of tangible memories that I have already packed away in a memory chest. I am so thankful for that, and I know I will be thankful many years from now when we open it and show our children & grandchildren.

Our wedding was a blast. An absolute dream come true. We have zero regrets about choosing Hunter Mountain. Seriously, do not look for any other place, if you're even slightly interested with Hunter, you will not be disappointed.

Put it this way - Allen and I have already decided that when we renew our Vows, we will do it again at Hunter Mountain. With out second thought.

Hunter was amazing! We could not have asked for a better wedding day. Debbie Reilly and Josephine Michaud are absolutely the best! They were very responsive and professional, and worked closely with us to make our vision a reality. The food at Hunter is not your average wedding fare! We received so many compliments on the menu. Chef Tim and the entire Hunter staff were incredible. I highly recommend booking Hunter Mountain not only for the incredible view and scenery, but for the amazing service and experience!

Our wedding went off without a hitch. Everything was taken care of from beginning to end with little surprises along the way. Debbie is the planner up until the day and makes planning a breeze. Kristen the day or planner makes sure everything runs smoothly. We came back to the room to iced champagne and matching t shirts for us to wear which was a total surprise. We had bone chilling winds and weather for our end of October wedding and we’re still granted access to the summit for our ceremony. The food was RAVE WORTHY. Seriously chef Tim is the best. Loved every moment of it. The bridal suite is very nice with a balcony overlooking the mountains and a jacuzzi tub.
Love love loved my wedding day thanks to the staff at Hunter Mountain