Venue itself is beautiful. Unfortunately, vendor is emotionally unstable and unreliable. There were actually times when we felt that our safety was at risk due to the explosive outbursts and confrontations from Chevin and her son. She harassed our guests and would not respond to most texts, calls, and emails she received from the wedding planners during the rehearsal, wedding, and reception.

We rented the entire Venue for the weekend and also rented the Ruby and Sapphire cabins for 3 nights. Chevin really has ruined the memory of our wedding in a lot of ways, and the reason I’m leaving this review is so that it will not happen to any more couples moving forward. I am not hoping to have any financial gains from this review, and most of the information delineated below is undoubtedly shocking and perhaps even hard to believe, but I assure you this is the truth of our experience.

When we arrived to the cabins, they were dirty and had huge roaches crawling throughout both cabins. There were soiled towels on the floor at the bottom level, there were cobwebs everywhere, and the place was covered with dust. The outdoor back porch areas of the cabins were so bug-infested that we couldn’t use the outdoor area at night. Outside, there were swarms, well over 100 bugs flying around. I told Chevin about the bugs, and she did nothing about it. When this was mentioned the day after our wedding during the face to face argument with her and her son (when she confronted us to demand more unsolicited money outside of Airbnb), she acknowledged that she received our messages and stated they did not spray for bugs because she was all-natural…. But there ARE all-natural bug sprays, and even UV zappers.

The kitchen that the caterers used did not have gas, so they had to cook all of our food (for 80 guests) on a tiny little grill that they just happened to bring for the weekend as a backup. They reached out to Chevin about the gas, and never heard back from her. She did not appear at all during the rehearsal dinner to make sure we had what we needed, and she did not appear when they were setting up for the wedding the day of the event to make sure that they had what they needed. The event planner messaged her and emailed her multiple times throughout the rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding to ask her things such as why there was no gas. She did not respond and she didn’t show up at all to the wedding until the very end, and at that time she approached our event planner to fuss at him for turning on the air conditioner. She even said to him, “who am I charging for using the air conditioner, you or the newlyweds?” Thankfully, he was able to reach her in the very beginning when he had to actually ask her to cut her 18-inch-high grass that we as well as the wedding party and guests were going to walk through.

Multiple guests were approached by her throughout the weekend, when leaving and going to the cabins. She even had the audacity to tell one of our guests that he wasn’t behaving like a married man because he was driving 20 miles an hour down the road to the venue and said “what would your wife think if she saw you behaving like this?” While he was actually on the phone with his wife.

The wedding planners had to really press her to cut the grass, which was knee-high, in the area where we were going to have our wedding. Thankfully they did cut the grass, but wouldn’t respond about the gas stove or air conditioner, or the bugs.

She actually entered the cabins after the wedding (which would hold 12 guests per cabin) at like 1am, accused our Wedding party and family (that’s all who was there) of smoking in the cabins (which they were not), and said “weddings over its bedtime”. I assure you, we spoke with the entire wedding party — there was no smoking (who even smokes these days, right?) inside or outside foe that matter. The only people who were there were our guests listed on the Airbnb reservation. They were planning on actually staying and leaving in the morning. There was one wedding guest who missed the bus to his cabin, and one of my best friends and her husband (also staying the night) said they would drop him off on their way out…when Chevin actually brought him to the cabins when he was trying to walk back to his cabin.

She told several of our wedding party and family members that she was “coming back in 20 minutes” and they “better either be gone or going to bed”. She even entered the cabins without being invited, which is 100% illegal for the landlord to do that. She went upstairs and downstairs in the sapphire cabin.

I assure you, this was not a party. These two cabins were listed to accommodate a total of 24 guests. Everyone who was there was listed on the reservation…. Except the one guest who was brought by Chevin after he missed the bus. This was not a party, there wasn’t loud music blaring. The cabins don’t even have the capability to play loud music— the guests were playing music from a Bluetooth speaker. There wasn’t even any dancing - - it was family and friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while who were spending some time together and catching up.

Some of the guests actually did leave… even though they’d planned on staying… they actually packed their things (after having been in the cabins for a few days) in the middle of the night and left without plans of where to go.

The next morning when my husband and I woke up (we were in the honeymoon suite the night after the wedding), we went down to the cabins. Everyone was gone except my husband’s two best friends, and Chevin and her son had both of them cornered and was yelling at them. I’ve were flabbergasted, absolutely mortified.

She approached one side of our car and her son approached the other side so that we were actually locked in. They both said “pull out your checkbooks, we need $800” — who even writes checks these days? She said bc of a breech in the contract, however we didn’t breach the contract. There wasn’t any party, the people there were listed on the initial reservation (except the one guy who she brought and was only briefly there). Furthermore, if they felt we should pay them stuff, then it should have been requested on Airbnb. Her and her son were both yelling at us, and her son said some threatening things to my husband and I. We truly felt our safety was in jeopardy, and we were actually supposed to stay two more days in the honeymoon suite, and we actually left right then without even walking through to make sure we didn’t leave anything. We didn’t have a mini-honeymoon because of Chevin and her son.

We left in such a hurry after this absolute threat to our safety, we actually left our alcohol inside the venue —over $1000 worth. Apparently when our caterers went back after the wedding to do the venue walk through and make sure they didn’t leave anything, the doors were locked. I have over a dozen witnesses to attest that the cases of alcohol were visualized in the coat room for the main entrance to the wedding where the caterers placed it. The wedding party who helped pack up our wedding also attest that it was in this room. I did call the county sheriff to try to report this. In order to report them, I would have had to drive up to the venue which is two hours away to fill out a report. I would have driven up there if a deputy could have went back to the venue with us, but they wouldn’t be able to until Tuesday or the following week (or something like that) and I would have to go up there during business hours. Surely, the alcohol wouldn’t have still been there by then.

Maybe it’s for the best that we didn’t get our booze back, honestly. If we had gotten it back, I probably wouldn’t have left this review! We reported them to Airbnb, and after their investigation, they refunded us for one of the cabins. That did cover our alcohol losses, at least. We’ll never forget this experience, and how Chevin and her son nearly ruined our wedding.

Thankfully, our caterers and event planner were able to conquer these setbacks, and ultimately we still got married, and that’s what’s most important! DO NOT book with Chevin Woodruff or her husband Steven Woodruff. Our interactions were limited with her husband Steven, but I don’t really have any complaints about him. Chevin and her son should not be permitted to hold weddings at their venue.

The venue was stunning. everything is customizable, so if you want a cookie cutter wedding, this is not the venue for you. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, the venue is a BEAUTIFUL secluded location. We booked the entire property for the wedding weekend, and everyone who stayed at the cabins on location thought they were very charming and they had a good time. Also, please keep in mind that this venue is on the smaller side. We were told 75 guests was the perfect number, but we utilized the outer deck of the reception hall. It worked out perfect for us since we had such good weather, but it’s something to keep in mind for larger venues.

This property is absolutely beautiful! We chose Splendor Mountain not only because of the incredible mountain views, but also because of the option to rent the cabins on the property for the weekend of your wedding. We got married hours away from our homes, so being able to find a place that could accommodate both families was really important to us. It rained on our wedding day, and Chevin & Steve were so kind to open their home to us for us to get dressed, do first looks, & take a few pictures before the ceremony. We weren't able to have our ceremony in the garden due to the rain, so we moved it to the Shadow Rock Pavilion, which could not have been more perfect. I am still in shock at how beautiful our pictures came out. Chevin & Steve are wonderful hosts, and checked on us throughout our stay to make sure we had everything we needed. You will not regret booking Splendor Mountain for your wedding!!