Bear Mountain Inn Reviews

The staff helped us plan a party that was both elegantly formal and relaxed. Our guests came from different parts of our lives and it was important to us that they would find it easy to mingle and get to know each other. The folks at Bear Mountain Inn understood what we were after and made sure it happened.

Alyssa Quick and staff at the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain did a perfect job with our wedding from the planning process to the very end of the reception. From our first consultation, we were so impressed with Alyssa’s professionalism, personalized attention, and enthusiasm for our special day. Alyssa helped prepare every part of our wedding from our initial vision, wedding floor plan, timeline, and hiring excellent vendors. If we had any questions, Alyssa got back to us with helpful answers immediately. She kept us on schedule so that planning was stress-free. Alyssa helped us with our personal touches such as setting up our centerpieces, décor, and canopy the day before the wedding. She helped us plan a delicious plated meal for our guests, arranged for us to cut the cake with Patrick’s (groom’s) heirloom cutlass, (sword), coordinated mother and sons’ dances, toasts, and more. She stayed with us the day of the wedding to ensure that all events on our timeline from arrival to the end of the reception went off perfectly. The staff at Bear Mountain all were calm, professional, and friendly, making for a perfect day. Our friends and family all said that our wedding was terrific and the venue, ceremony, food, music, and dancing were just amazing. We left our wedding topper at the Overlook Lodge and they saved it for us until we returned to pick it up. We highly recommend Alyssa and the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain! A++ Job well done!

I loved getting married here and I loved working with this venue. The views are stunning, the food was spectacular and the space is everything you could want for a rustic but elegant wedding. Did I see the not so positive reviews? Of course i did! Here’s my take - I chose to get married in the Hudson Valley during the fall season, the busiest time of year for the wedding industry. I chose a venue that does 2-4 weddings a weekend, they are BUSY. And you know what? Valerie, our venue coordinator, was honest and upfront about all of that right from the beginning of our planning process, giving us the opportunity to plan ahead. She was upfront that there was a wedding the night before so I couldn’t sleep at and get ready at the inn in the morning. She and Gia were clear about their timelines and when we were expected to hear from her, and I felt her communication was on par as someone who is managing multiple weddings a weekend. We hired a day-of coordinator (best decision ever) and a team of vendors who have worked at Bear Mountain before. There were a few chaotic moments on the day of, but at least it ended with 2 vodka sodas on my table 🤣. We made it a point to check in with Valerie over the phone often throughout the process, and she was always very helpful and friendly throughout every call. Her team pulled off the wedding of my dreams.

The only downside is that Bear Mountain Inn is in a state park so it can be crowded on a nice day. But it didn’t put a damper on my day at all!

That being said, I recommend getting married here. And if any Bear Mountain Brides saw recent reviews and are nervous - Stick to your gut and hire a good team of vendors who know the venue well. You will not regret choosing this venue :)

Bear Mountain is the perfect location for a fall wedding! The trees were spectacular and our wedding photos looked beautiful! The event staff were very professional and helpful! I lost a vendor just two months before the wedding and they gave me tips that led to a replacement! They made the wedding day absolutely spectacular! Everything was done to my specifications and the food was delicious! I cannot express enough how magical they made our special day!

Bear Mountain was the first of four venues we toured when we began looking, and we knew immediately that they were the place for us. We began our tour with Tracey, and she was our coordinator for the entirety of our two years of planning. Tracey was responsive, she went above and beyond, and she made sure we were completely comfortable from start to finish. Tracey oversaw set up the day of the ceremony and the venue space could not have looked more perfect. The entire staff made sure that the venue fit our vision. The food and service overall were also excellent. Cocktail hour was a hit, and our guests are still raving about the reception food. The catering staff were also incredible, making sure we and our guests had everything they could possibly need. They stayed on our timeline and made sure that everything ran as smoothly as possible. The day truly was the best day of our lives and Tracey and the staff at Bear Mountain all helped make it possible! Thank you so much to Tracey and the rest of the Bear Mountain Inn staff for a wonderful experience!

Buffet with just under 100 and the Overlook Lodge was the perfect place. The planning process made easy with our amazing coordinator Alysa! Everything came together for an incredible ceremony and even better reception. The food was delicious; Our guests raved over the lobster rolls & chicken tenders. Overall incredible execution by their entire service department. Highly recommend!

I could not be happier with our decision to have our wedding at the Bear Mountain Inn! The Inn is the perfect combination of rustic and elegant and the staff was incredible. Alysa, Gia, and Valerie were so easy to work with and made wedding planning so seamless and our day so special. I wholeheartedly recommend the venue!

Pros: Alysa was our day of coordinator. She was absolutely amazing, helpful, professional, organized, and thought of every detail that I did not. She was calming and just ran everything so incredibly smoothly. My wedding day was so easy and relaxing because she took care of things!

THE FOOD WAS EXCEPTIONAL!!!! We did a weekend event (Rehearsal dinner followed by late night munchies on Friday; wedding Saturday; Farewell brunch Sunday) and every single meal was eloquent and delicious! People are still talking about the food three months later. I still think about the food, I can't wait to go back for a date in the restaurant. Service was wonderful and organized.

Beautiful venue with extremely professional staff, weekend of my dreams!

Cake included with venue; the venue took care of everything excluding photographer/DJ/shuttle. Very easy planning.

Bridal suite included with the venue!!! You can choose to do hair and makeup at the spa for an additional cost which is conveniently located down the hall from your room. Would probably recommend you bring your own hair and makeup however.

CONS: There is limited logging, weddings at the inn do have the option to rent out each room in the inn (13 I believe in total) which are expensive. Plus, this is limited. We were able to book two cottages, the overlook had an event however. So know that you'll have to shuttle. There is a holiday inn at fort Montgomery.

Beware using the carousel during summer months, it IS NOT air-conditioned! Our Friday event was held in the carousel which was unique and awesome for kids, but, I lost like seven pounds in sweat. It was SO hot, would recommend against summer months there.

It is a state park, so weddings are at 6 pm after the park closes. People will weirdly watch your ceremony, take pictures of you, and refuse to move out of the way for a bride's professional photographer. People in the park were real inconsiderate and weird, like shockingly so, so don't expect people at the state park to be considerate that it's your wedding day. The venue and cocktail hour are inside the Inn which was private, we did not have issue with people once the ceremony was over (more an issue for pre wedding photos).

--10/10 would recommend!

Having our wedding at Bear Mountain - Overlook Lodge was everything we could have hoped and more for our special day! From the moment we first hiked at Bear Mountain to touring the venue for wedding options we fell in LOVE with the space and atmosphere with Tracey! Having Tracey with us through the planning process to the actual big day, she was incredible to work with! If you choose to have your wedding here, you will be in great hands and won’t be disappointed. Our families were fond of all the employees at Bear Mountain and are still raving about the day, food, vendors, ceremony, hotel services, and everything in between!

We LOVED our experience with Bear Mountain Inn. Our coordinator, Alysa, was the best coordinator we ever could have asked for. She went above and beyond answering our questions, helping us create a unique wedding (with lots of vegetarian/vegan options, a ping pong table, Chinese tea ceremony in addition to all the rest), and making us so comfortable throughout the entire process. The staff at Bear Mountain are all so kind, thoughtful, and generous, too, and made us feel like stars and so well-taken-care of on our big day. We can't say enough good things about the venue and setting, which speak for itself. If you're looking for a great, rustic but well-run wedding venue that also holds a deceptively large size (we had almost 200 people), go for Bear Mountain! xo

I loved getting married at the Bear Mountain Inn. Valerie was incredibly helpful in planning the wedding, and did a great job giving us advice without pushing us toward anything. She was incredibly kind and knowledgeable and made our wedding go so smoothly! I had a lovely bridal suite that was very comfortable for my entire bridal party to have hair and makeup done while eating and hanging out. I loved taking photos at the Merry Go Round. All the rooms for our wedding were beautiful and felt cozy despite having over 100 people, and the food was delicious. My husband even got in a short hike to see the foliage on the morning of our wedding! I'm so glad we chose to get married here.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about this venue! Alysa, our coordinator, was an absolute dream to work with! Our day wouldn’t have been the same without her. The staff was phenomenal. The venue is absolutely gorgeous. Everything went completely seamless on the day of our wedding! Truly the best day of our lives! Thank you so much Alysa and the Bear Mountain Inn staff!!!

The food was great at BOTH the cocktail hour and dinner (a rarity at weddings these days).
The Servers were fabulous. They were friendly, attentive, patient and always had a smile on their face. I have been to many weddings and the staff here are top notch, A+, fabulous.
Shout out to Myles and Jordan!

I cannot speak more highly of Valerie and Gia and their team at Bear Mountain. They were so lovely to work with and made our wedding perfect in every way. Every stress we had went away after our meetings with Valerie and having her there on the day of the wedding was such a comfort. We really couldn't have done it without her. The venue itself is so beautiful and the bride and groom suite was lovely. I also cannot emphasize how good the food was so good!!! I completely recommend having your wedding at Bear Mountain!

I just want to thank the both of you for helping put together a fabulous wedding day and breakfast brunch.
Valerie-you were always available to answer any question. You are so great at easing any anxiety that was arising. You were the best wedding planner out my 3 sons weddings.
Gia- I never did get to meet you but the brunch was so perfect and a great way to end a wedding weekend.

It takes many months of planning but it all came together and happy memories are left.
We are so happy with everything you both did for us

My husband and I just got married last weekend and wow! It was amazing. Would definitely recommend to any couple. Alysa was our coordinator and she was THE BEST.

From my first contact with Bear Mountain Inn to the day of the event, everything was perfect. The food and service were excellent! The space for our event, which was a bridal shower, was bright and clean with an outdoor patio accessible to us as well. I could not have asked for a more perfect day! If you are looking to book a venue for an event in the Hudson Valley, I would highly recommend the Bear Mountain Inn. You will not be disappointed.

Bear Mountain was a perfect location for our wedding. They were able to host our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception in a upscale rustic setting. The staff was amazing, especially their event planner, Valerie. Their food catering service was outstanding. Our overall experience exceeded every expectation.

We had our wedding at the carousel at Bear Mountain this past May and we could not recommend the venue highly-enough. Alyssa Quick was the perfect coordinator. She personally guided us from the first visit all the way through the wedding day, and it was amazing to have one person to rely on for the entire year+ we spent planning. Our wedding was at the carousel, which was the perfect size for our 80 person party. The ceremony and reception were both indoors, which was great because we had rain all day. The heated floors and fireplace kept everyone warm the entire evening. The carousel made it such a unique venue, and we’re still getting compliments on it months later. The food was unbelievable, and the bar was quick and efficient. We loved the fact that the venue had rooms available for our guests and a salon for day-of hair and makeup. This was the perfect day, thanks in great part to Bear Mountain Inn.

My wedding was June 26 at the Carousel. I worked with Valeria and Gia, truly a dream team! Valerie made my day so magical and my vision come true!! Part of the reason I got so emotional walking down the aisle was because of seeing the beauty of the venue for the first time! They truly went above and beyond to make every detail of my day perfect! The carousel ran the whole time for guests and the food and cocktail hour was amazing. All of my guests have told me how great the décor, atmosphere, and seamless all events throughout the night were. I am forever thankful to Valerie, Gia and Bear Mountain for my dream wedding!

My husband and I have a lot of memories at Bear Mountain and we decided to get married there. The venue offered a lot with the package for a very reasonable price! We had the best weekend of our lives- while becoming "we" people. I cannot thank Valerie enough for everything she did for us. They were fully booked with a wedding on Friday and 2 (including ours) on Saturday but everything went off without a hitch. The guests have been raving about our party for the past week!

Getting married at Bear Mountain was easily the best decision we made. Not only are all staff just absolutely wonderful to work with, but the value that you get for the price you pay is just unbeatable! Everything was included in our package, right down to cake and gratuity. The Merry Go Round was the best centerpiece, and we're still getting compliments on the food!!! Alysa was our coordinator - and we truly would recommend her to any and everyone. Do yourself a favor - at least consider Bear Mountain for your wedding/events - you will not be sorry!!

Our wedding at the Bear Mountain Inn was a dream come true! From our first visit wandering around and meeting Alysa, who became our coordinator, to our wedding reception and farewell breakfast - we loved our experience with Bear Mountain! We hosted our wedding in the ballroom and had our wedding ceremony & cocktails on-site as well. Having an on-site coordinator was a huge help with everything - finding vendors, food selections, decor, logistics. So many vendors we met with had wonderful experience working at this venue and were familiar with the property - which helped as we were not from the immediate area. Having a venue with in-house catering made the food experience easy - the gourmet selections were amazing, our guests raved over the food at both the cocktail hour and reception. Service was amazing for the wedding- we had 120 people and no one waited in line at the bar! It was also great to have a venue that allowed for an on-site after party in the bar as we had many guests staying on-property. We were able to host a farewell breakfast as well. The only advice I can give it to make sure you know how you want to layout the room as it makes a huge difference to be able to discuss with vendors and, if you use the spa, make sure you are hyper organized because there was a lot of confusion (even though the hair stylist and makeup artist were AMAZING!!! I highly recommend this venue - and work with Alysa if you can as we will make planning a pleasure!

Valerie was great to work with. I was a wedding planner hired by a bride and groom. Valerie sat on long calls with me, went over run of shows with me, and helped set up a great wedding for my clients. The catering team was also incredibly helpful and quick to adjust things.

We had our wedding this weekend at Bear Mountain Inn and everything went perfectly. We toured Bear Mountain Inn toward the beginning of our engagement and ended up comparing everything else we saw to it. It had everything we wanted; a beautiful outdoor ceremony space, a natural and open reception ballroom (we got married at the Inn), and places for our family and bridal party to stay. We were so fortunate to work with Alysa, who helped guide us from tour to the day after our wedding. She was incredibly communicative, helpful, and sweet. We also worked with Gia and Mina at different parts of our journey. Everyone at Bear Mountain Inn was incredible.

A few highlights:
-Bear Mountain feels like a destination wedding without being far from home. Our guests were able to enjoy all of the amenities of Bear Mountain State Park and stay on property in one of their 3 options for accommodations.
-We were able to have our rehearsal dinner on site at the Merry Go Round Pavilion. Our guests were thrilled with the casual BBQ dinner (the catering menu is extensive!) and working carousel. It was a unique and memorable dinner to say thank you to our bridal party and family.
-Bear Mountain Inn has a spa where all of my girls and I got ready. They did an amazing job on all of the hair and makeup. We also got massages the day after our wedding, which were incredible.
-The food was delicious! Our guests were really happy with our options and BMI was even able to offer a vegan option for our guests.
-We were able to host a morning after breakfast for our guests who stayed over.
-The bridal suite! The pictures on their website don’t do this beautiful space justice. We booked it for the evening before our wedding as well and it made the perfect place for the bridesmaids to relax and get ready for the wedding. It was also included in our package for us the night of our wedding.

A couple things to keep in mind:
-It’s a state park and there may be people around during your wedding. It was not disruptive at all and didn’t bother us, but its something we didn’t consider before we booked.

We are so grateful to Alysa and the whole staff at Bear Mountain Inn. Thank you for the perfect wedding weekend!

Mina was so helpful and coordinated all our interests

We had my our daughter’s wedding at the Inn on New Years Eve 2020. It was magical! The venue was beautiful. The staff was a pleasure to work with, they were professional, responsive, creative and all around terrific. I cannot say enough about Mina Park and her crew!!

After having my big wedding postponed I knew I was still going to get married on that day. I contacted Bear Mountain and learned that they host micro weddings. James and I were able to meet with Mina and replan our entire wedding in about 2 months. My husband and I got married at the merry-go-round pavilion at bear mountain inn on 11/28/2020. Our biggest concern was keeping everyone safe; the safety guidelines were fantastic, tables were spread out and they go by the NYS rule of 50 people and no dancing. They currently have a buffet style dinner and have the servers who are gloved and have mask handing the food out, so no one else is touch the spoon. Everyone felt comfortable. Mina allowed for us to come up the day before to decorate the space, her attention to detail was phenomenal and she helped so much! She always answered my text messages, emails, phone calls, Mina and her team were a delight to work with. Also the scenery at bear mountain is breathtaking, I can’t get over the photos I have received. Thank you Mina for making our day special and easy to plan!

My daughter had her wedding at the Overlook lodge 10/24/2020. Mina and her staff not only took every precautionary measure to ensure we remained within NYS guidelines, they were just amazing to work with. In less than four weeks she helped us create a fabulous micro wedding. Attention to detail, professionalism and of course a great experience. Food was delish, desserts too and the view was picturesque Thank you from all of us for this wonderful day Sarah, Kyle and their Moms!!!

Having our wedding at the Merry Go Round at Bear Mountain was a dream come true. From the moment we went for a tour with Valerie, we knew we had found our spot. Valerie and her team worked wonderfully with us to ensure we had an unforgettable time and comfortable stay at the Inn. The setting is absolutely gorgeous which made decorating hassle-free. Our guests had an amazing experience!

It’s hard to find all of the words to describe how incredibly amazing the Bear Mountain Wedding experience was. They really made the day the best day of our lives. From the moment I sat down on our tour with Valerie, it was clear that this was where we would get married. She took care of everything right from the start - and not just wedding details and planning, but throughout the process she took amazing care of us and really made us feel special and welcome. Together with Gia & Alyssa, they removed any stress, worry or chaos about weddings, which is a pretty impossible feat. Mina is another team member who wasn’t part of our wedding planning but somehow she managed to be part of it and make the experience that much greater. What I am saying is - that entire team is absolute FIRE and you can rest easy in their hands. They are a FANTASTIC crew from from front desk to the kitchen. The chef is OUTSTANDING. The food is INCREDIBLE. The space is GORGEOUS and everything about every moment is WARM and WONDERFUL.

On the day of it felt as though the team were part of our family. Everything was smooth and as care free as a wedding day can be. And for that I am eternal grateful and recommend this team for your wedding, events, or for any occasion or emergency! They’ve got your back. (Valerie is a saint!)

Whatever wedding dream you have, they bring it to life. All the stars. And all the thumbs up (my husband was born with 3 thumbs, and if that 3rd thumb were still around, it would be up too!)

(photo by Gustavo Tessaro Photography)

We can’t thank the entire staff at the Bear Mountain Inn for the most beautiful day! Valerie is excellent!! She went above and beyond for us and the wedding went off without a hitch! The rooms were great and our family had a great time! If you want something different that’s classy and beautiful this is it!! Also, the food was amazing!!!

My daughters July 2019 wedding at the Bear Mountain Inn was truly wonderful (and our large family has MANY weddings). The spectacular outdoor grounds, the perfect lodging, the incredible food, thoughtful party room structure, but most of all…THE GRACIOUS STAFF. From housekeeping to front desk, from wait staff to chef (Armando), from barkeeps to catering (Gia), we could not have been happier. Valerie (Coordinator) and Rich (Banquet Captain) were graciously professional and hands-on the whole weekend. A most memorable weekend and perfect wedding. THANK YOU 😊.

Where do we begin? As a wedding photographer’s wife, I have seen so many photos of different weddings and heard horror stories of venues simply not living up to a bride and groom’s expectations. My husband assured me that the Bear Mountain Inn was one of the venues that time and again did live up to the expectations every time he photographed a wedding there.
Without Mina, our coordinator; Rich, our maître d; and their staff our wedding day would not have gone as perfectly as it did. There was a snowstorm the day of the wedding, which led to plenty of issues and stress, including guests and our shuttle company cancelling last minute. This is where Mina really exceeded our expectations and kept me from having a breakdown on my wedding day. With so many things seeming to go wrong at once that were totally out of anyone’s control, she somehow found a way to calm me down and take control of any and everything we needed. Mina went above and beyond to make sure she found a new shuttle company for us to work with the night before our wedding, hired extra staff to be available in case others couldn’t make it in with the storm, and seamlessly rearranged tables to accommodate for the last minute cancellations from a handful of our guests. She and her staff even slept over the night of the wedding to continue working into the morning hours to make sure our wedding was as perfect as possible. I was given the freedom to design the reception space as I pleased, and my vision was executed flawlessly by the staff. We even booked one of the rooms downstairs at the Inn for our rehearsal dinner because we love the look and feel of the entire space – not to mention the incredible food. Everywhere you look it’s inviting, cozy, and romantic, which is exactly what we had in mind for our wedding weekend. We could not recommend the Bear Mountain Inn enough for a wedding venue. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I was in the car the other day with my daughter, and I said to her, "Out of all the venues we considered for your wedding, I am so happy you and Jim chose the Bear Mountain Inn!" The reception was just amazing; our guests are still talking about it. From the beginning, we appreciated the setting, and we knew it would look even more beautiful in December. We worked with Valerie who ensured that all of our needs were met and went over and above to help in the planning of the day. She made sure that any concerns were taken care of, and we were comforted to have her on site for any last minute needs and questions. Alysa assisted us in touring the hotel facilities so we knew where our guests would be staying and was also helpful through the whole process. At the cocktail hour and reception, the food was plentiful and delicious. The staff was friendly, courteous, and eager to please. The ballroom is spacious, and the dance floor was large enough for our guests to dance freely. We were very happy that we could have an after party in the lounge and then enjoy the guest brunch there in the morning. The convenience of being able to stay on property was an added plus.

The best decision for our subtle Game of Thrones wedding. The Overlooks views were stunning and to die for. Thank you to Mina for helping make sure our day went smoothly.

My wedding at the Bear Mountain Carousel exceeded my expectations. The space was absolutely amazing, the food was delicious and the staff were wonderful. Valerie, our coordinator was beyond helpful. She was always quick to respond to any questions I had. She was always happy and positive when we met. We had the most wonderful experience.

We got married at the Bear Mountain Overlook Lodge in November 2018 and can't say enough great things about the experience and the staff, especially Mina Park and Alysa Quick. We wanted something rustic and this venue became our top choice and because of the view overlooking the lake we could let the venue speak for itself without a lot of decorations. We also wanted it to be as simple as possible and thanks to Mina being incredibly flexible and also recommending all our vendors it definitely lightened the burden. We ended up with 90 guests and because the venue had rooms attached to it we were able to keep all guests on location between the rooms at the lodge and the stone cottages (the after party was held here). The ceremony was also held onsite and we weren't able to do it outside due to weather we had great flexibility to decide whether it would be indoor or outdoors. The food was also great from the appetizers to the main course including the cake (outside vendor that Bear Mountain has a relationship so we didn't have to coordinate).

We used all recommended vendors and each was great and friendly. We used Bok-Music as our music/DJ and Brendan and his team did a great job from the pre-planning to the event. They used a great blend of music (ethnic/American music) and knowing the perfect timing (helped me coordinate thank you with music). We used Flowers by David Anthony which were amazing and because of their familiarity with the venue delivery and setup was perfect and effortless. Todd Marti was our photographer and Kyle Harrigan our videographer who both did an amazing job, and because they shoot this venue frequently they knew where and when to shoot to capture everything.

Any wedding regardless of size is a major undertaking but because of Mina and her staff at Bear Mountain they made this a day much smoother that resulted in a wedding that far exceeded expectations.

We were looking for a Hudson Valley venue that was rustic, elegant and warm, and of course, within our budget - we were so glad that it worked out with Bear Mountain! It was truly one of the best days of our lives, and in large part due to this venue and our amazing coordinator, Mina. She helped us keep everything organized in all the planning, guided us through all the decisions we had to make, recommended amazing vendors and day-of, kept our bridal party organized and everything in lock step. The venue is gorgeous and full of amazing photo ops everywhere you turn. It was a busy summer day with a few on-lookers, but we barely noticed as we were swept away in it all. And most of all, we're looking forward to going back and reminiscing for anniversaries to come!

We loved the venue and the coordinators were amazing to work with. They were very accommodating to everything that we wanted to for our big day. We chose the Merry-Go-Round pavilion and were extremely pleased. All of our family and friends loved the setting and the carousel was a huge hit. We had 80 guests in total and the size was just right. We were a little nervous about the ceremony and reception being in the same spot, but the staff was amazing in how they transformed the room over a few quick minutes.

Everything was perfect. The food, the staff, the venue. The weather made the ceremony even better outdoors.

When you’re engaged for 2.5 years you have a lot of time to plan your big day, and you also have a lot of time to daydream about how that day will actually go. You wonder if your expectations will actually be higher than the result. That couldn’t be farther from the truth with our wedding at the Bear Mountain Inn. Mina made sure that our day was nothing short of a fairytale. She went above and beyond all expectations. I can say without a doubt that our wedding was the best day of our life. We loved Bear Mountain from the start. To be honest, it was the only venue we looked at. We had our wedding at the Inn. It’s beautiful just the way it is – I mean it! No need to spend tons of money on decorating, especially if you’re into the rustic theme like we are. The wood and stone throughout the venue along with the fireplaces make it romantic. Add some candles and subtle flower arrangements and you’re good to go! Now to the food. My favorite part. The food is out of this world. We had our rehearsal dinner at the restaurant the day before and everything was delicious. I hoped that our wedding food would be just as good as we remembered at the tasting, and it was! The beef was tender, the food was plentiful, and guests raved about it for weeks. Let me say, the staff is amazing! Mina will do whatever you want to make your day happen. But it’s not just Mina. Our maître d Richard and the restaurant manager, Augie catered to our every need and made sure we were comfortable and our guests were too. Richard did such a great job during the wedding making sure our glasses were always full and that we were comfortable the entire night. The food selections are great and the cake was phenomenal. Homestyle Bakery is amazing! We had 2 different cake flavors and had special cookie platters made up as an additional favor for our guests. What I love about Bear Mountain is it’s a one-stop shop. Site fee, catering, tables/chairs and cake is all included. -Michelle & Matt

We got married October 2016 at the Merry Go Round Pavilion at Bear Mountain and it was beyond magical. We worked with Sandra and she did everything possible to make sure we had the wedding of our dreams. The food was delicious and I still have guests telling me that it was the best wedding that they have ever been to.
Sandra made us feel special from beginning to end and totally embraced the offbeat nature of our whimsically spooky wedding.

Wow what a night. My wedding will forever go down in the history books as the best wedding ever. My family already wants to book a annual family reunion at the inn. My wedding was the end of October and my goodness I couldn't have had it anymore magical. Guests came up to me and my husband all night and complemented how EVERYTHING was perfect. Mina is a doll. She really knows everything that needed to be done that day and the months leading up. She never even questioned herself. Always found a solution. The whole staff was extremely accommodating. I wish I could do it all over again and again. I wouldn't change a thing.

This venue is perfect for a rustic wedding! My husband and I love the outdoors and knew scenery was important for our wedding. We went to look at Bear Mountain and it ended up being the only venue we looked at and booked. We live in Connecticut and the majority of our family and friends were coming from New York or New Jersey which made the location very accessible. There was so much for our guests to do other than attending our wedding that weekend--hikes, visits to the zoo, Oktoberfest, golf, etc. We wanted our wedding weekend to also be a nice weekend away for our guests which Bear Mountain delivered on.

We did everything on site for our wedding. We did our Friday night Rehearsal/Welcome dinner at Merry-Go Round Pavillon which was a great way to kick off the weekend. The food was delicious, venue was beautiful and our guests got to ride the merry-go round (great photo opts!) For our wedding the ceremony, cocktail hour, reception and after party were all at the Bear Mountain Inn which has a great natural flow from one portion of the wedding to the next. The outdoor terrace was absolutely beautiful for the ceremony. Our ceremony was at 6:30 so the natural lighting in September was beautiful. Both the room for the cocktail hour and reception are very spacious. With our 120 guests, there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out. We heard numerous compliments from our guests throughout the weekend about how good the food was. The accommodation options on the property (the Inn and cottages) were perfect for our guests that wanted to stay on site.

One of the other highlights of our wedding experience was working with Mina Park, Director of Catering. Mina was extremely responsive (even on her days off!) any time I reached out with any questions. She was very organized and offered great suggestions along the way. She expects a high level of service from her staff which was very clear throughout the entire wedding weekend.

Our wedding was held at The Cliff House at Bear Mountain and it was truly a spectacular venue for an intimate event.
The food was out of this world and got several comments about how the food was the best wedding food (and it was buffet). Mina was very accommodating and helpful and I am trying to come up with another event I can book just to work with her again and eat the amazing food we had at our wedding.

We LOVED our wedding at Bear Mount Inn! It is such a beautiful and special location...and still so close and easy to get to from NYC and surrounding areas. The entire staff, especially Mina Park, director of catering, were so amazing from start to finish and paid attention to details that helped make the weekend flawless-and keep me calm! There are too many awesome and thoughtful things that Mina did to list-from being extremely accommodating like when we switched our ceremony and reception chairs last minute, to getting us drinks and food at the cocktail hour so we made sure to eat...all of it just made everything go so much more amazingly!! The staff there are clearly experts at their job and I feel so lucky that we got to work with them! I recommend this venue highly and have only great things to say about it!!!

I can't say enough about how much we loved having our wedding here. First, we were thrilled that guests who wanted to spend a weekend out of NYC, where we live, could turn this into a weekend trip full of hiking, enjoying the Hudson River Valley and for history/military buffs, nearby WestPoint. And in October, Oktoberfest was nearby - and many guests pre-gamed - but not on the property as in years past. Second, I was so glad to have the convenience of having a salon and a place to eat on premises and near where we stayed. Third, I LOVED staying in a Cottage before the wedding - the night before and night of, we filled 2 cottages with close friends and family and in the hours prior to the wedding itself, hosted a "snacks & drinks" for the bridal party (helpfully guaranteeing they'd be in the right place for photos). I will admit, I thought the rooms in the Cottages were pricier than I expected - I think a wedding package that provided a modest discount on rooms if you booked at the venue would be a great marketing tool - I was so glad we splurged in the end.

Our partners at the venue, Mina Park and Sandra, were incredible. We worked with Mina for the bulk of the year and she is smart, has a good eye, is hardworking and responsive and knows her stuff - she recommended our florist (Lily's of the Valley nearby) and provided some great ideas for decorating the space. I'm grateful to have worked with her, because wedding planning is not easy (for someone as high-strung as I am) and her kindness and warmth were so great. And Sandra was able to step in the week-of and is amazing - also warm, she's bubbly and energetic and projects utter competence. Not once did I worry that something would go wrong (which I've been told is unusual) and these two are why. It's also very fun to meet people who so obviously love their jobs.

Our wedding was nothing short of perfect at the Bear Mountain Inn! Our coordinator, Sandra, was amazing! She was so helpful with everything and worked with us and made sure everything was perfect and exactly what we wanted. Everyone keeps telling us how awesome our wedding was, and how awesome the food was. I cant thank everything there enough for making our wedding one to remember.

We were married there on June 14,2013. Chris and Aj where just wonderful to us. They took care of everything and made us feel like the special brides we were. We highly recommend bear mountain for your wedding venue. The chef Michael made our cocktail hour and reception meal with such delicious food our guests have not stopped talking about the great time they all had.

My husband and I had our reception at the Bear Mountain Inn on October 20, 2012 and is was absolutely PERFECT! From start to finish, everything I had envisioned and requested came true. I worked very closely with Anne Marie Grew, the catering manager, and she truly went above and beyond to make sure that we were happy with every aspect of the big day. We had signed our contract with BMI while the renovations were still in progress but I knew once we met with the staff that our wedding would be everything we dreamed.... and it was.

I would recommend this venue to any bride that is not looking for the conventional ballroom type wedding reception. Our wedding was rustic and nestled in the beautiful autumn backdrop of the Hudson Valley.... which was exactly the wedding I had dreamnt of as a little girl. Thank you Anne Marie and the rest of the staff at the Bear Mountain Inn.

We had our ceremony, and reception at the Overlook Lodge. My husband and I and our family and most guests also stayed overnight at the lodge. They did such an amazing job with setting up for our big day. Everything came out beautiful. The staff at the lodge were awesome and very fun to work with. They really made our special day one we'll never forget. The view is beautiful there and the food is amazing and delicious. The Overlook Lodge is a beautiful place to have a wedding at or any occasion. Thanks for making our day perfect.

We had our wedding here and it was a great / memorable time! The food was great, Ann-Marie was responsive, helpful, knowledgeable and flexable! Her staff was the same - great! The event went flawless and she had the perfect recommendation on other vendors to use. Our wedding was exactly what we pictured and eveyone who came commented on how much fun they had, how beautiful everything was, how good the food was and that "it was the best wedding they ahve been to in 15 years". This was comiong from mostly family and friends with big italian fmailys who have been to many wedding all over NYC. We decided to have ours "up-state" so it could be a "destination" wedding only 45 minutes from NYC. This was perfect since it wasn't too far but everyone stayed over at the lodge for the night and the partyy kept going until 3 or 4 am... No drunk drivers, lots of fun and since our party booked all 28 rooms we had the whole place to ourselves for the "after party"... Very memorable as people are still talking about it 2 months later

The entire team at Bear Mountain made our wedding so very special and a pleasure to plan. I planned the entire wedding from Cleveland and Ann Marie, AJ and Dana were always available and and eager to answer any questions or concerns we had. AJ even made sure we had a table for Sunday Brunch on top of everything else! The entire venue (Merry Go Round, Overlook Lodge, The Inn, the grounds) was stunning, the food delicious, and the service impeccable! Thank you!

the staff did a great job on our weding, the food was delicious and our guests didnt stop complimaneting the scenery all evening. i would love to use them again soon!

I had my wedding at the Inn in November 2010 before the Lodge reopened. I was hoping to be one of the first weddings in the newly renovated lodge but when it's completion date got pushed back and I ended up in the Overlook instead Ann Marie Grew made sure every detail was just how I had envisioned. She was wonderful, responsive and is an absolute pleasure to work with... she handles picky brides very well! The venue was absolutely breathtaking and the food was wonderful. Our ceremony was held in the Merry Go Round Pavillion and the reception at Overlook, guests loved both locations! When I came up with ideas she was accomodating and made it happen. I couldn't have been happier with my choice for location and highly recommend it to anyone considering Bear Mountain for their special day. All that being said I did have one complaint... making the lodging arrangements. That was the biggest headache. I forgot the man's name who ran the front desk, but he was quite unorganized and made a number of mistakes on our reservations. We had pretty much the whole place booked out with the exception of a few rooms. Example of one mistake made, we also had most of the lodges below the Inn reserved. These have 6 rooms each that share a living room. He booked people that weren't with my wedding in the same lodge as guests, so that they walked in to a cabin that had items scattered all over the living room area from strangers (they weren't there when our friends came in). They need to improve on the lodging customer service portion of the venue - however, that being said if I had to do it all over again I would still book Bear Mountain, while it was frustrating, it didn't take away from a beautiful wedding.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception at the Overlook Lodge, and I couldn't have asked for a better venue! The views were amazing, the food was incredible, and the staff was great! The coordinator Ann Marie was a blessing; she was an immense help w/ the planning leading up to the wedding and then w/ helping the day run smoothly. I would highly recommend this venue to anyone looking for an amazing place w/ an extremely reasonable price tag.

We had our ceremony and reception at the Bear Mountain Inn on August 17, 2012. We live in NYC and were looking for somewhere not too far from the city that was still affordable. Bear Mountain is less than an hour away, and most of our guests were able to stay on site or very nearby. Things could not have gone more smoothly. The bridal suite is gorgeous and perfectly laid out; the two bathrooms made it easy for my bridesmaids and me to get ready and the swinging French doors dividing the bedroom and seating area meant the groomsmen could hang for a few minutes after the ceremony while my girls bustled the dress. The ceremony was outside on the deck, overlooking the lake. We were able to have a rehearsal the day before with everything all set up, and the staff was so helpful as chuppahs, flowers and music were set up throughout the day. Of course, the beautiful, rustic setting provides the perfect place for portraits and group shots! And the reception was everything we could have wanted. It was so nice to have the reception in a separate space from the cocktail hour, as it made everything go so much more smoothly. The staff followed our instructions about placecards, table names and favors to a T, and the effect achieved was even greater than I could have envisioned. The room was perfectly laid out for our 156 guests, and the dance floor was able to handle the stampede of enthusiastic guests. Ann Marie worked with us every step of the way to make sure our special day was beautiful and memorable. When we decided on Bear Mountain, the inn was still a construction site, and it could not have turned out more beautiful! Many of my relatives can be opinionated and fussy, and some are actually in the hospitality and wedding business themselves, and all agreed that Bear Mountain Inn did an exceptional job with the wedding. Friends reported that the cocktail hour had some of the most amazing and unique food they have tried (Thanksgiving dinner in a martini glass!).

We had our wedding at the merry-go-round pavilon at bear mountain inn. What a wonderfull venue. Especially for a night time wedding. Service was impeccable. Food was delicious. Everybody had a good time. The event coordinator is were friendly and always available to aswer our question. The price is were affordable for the hudson valley. They had room for all of our guests. Rooms are very nice.

We could not pick a better place for our big day.

I realize that my review rates higher than others, which I think is largely due to the fact that we did not use the Overlook Lodge for lodging...though we offered it as an option, we provided other hotel blocks.

That being said, I really feel like I cannot speak highly enough of working with Bear Mountain for our wedding. Lots of positive things to speak about--the food, the support we received from Ann Marie (the catering manager), the flexibility during our planning, the beauty of the set up, the support with setting up for the wedding...it was really all great.

Like others have said, the food was delicious, and there was a lot of flexibility with our menu--a few alterations were made to include vegan options without any issues, and lots of compliments were given by all, vegans and non-vegans a lot. And there was a LOT of food. Considering how much their was, I feel like the per head price was more than reasonable.

As far as the set up goes--the morning of the wedding we handed off our decorations, etc. to Ann Marie with minor instruction, and it all ended up exactly how I envisioned it, which was really nice and a huge stress relief. Plus, it was wonderful to walk in and have everything be beautiful and how I envisioned it.

I feel like this is a bit of a gushy praise, though really we had a wonderful experience with our wedding. Planning was simple, everything turned out beautifully, and everyone really had a wonderful time.

We absolutely loved Bear Mountain. My wife was looking for a place that had a rustic, Adirondack feel, and Bear Mountain had it in spades. The staff was great; when we first started looking at it, there appeared to be some turnover in the catering staff, but after a couple of emails, we had one person that we were dealing with, and couldn't have been happier with her. Sandra responded to every email in a matter of hours, and was so knowledgeable. She helped us with timing, planning, and organizing everything. She contacted our vendors to set up timelines with them individually, and made sure that everything was taken care of with our room block. The one negative I would have with regards to the staff was the front desk staff, who gave our guests a few issues with booking rooms through the block. Thankfully, Sandra got everything ironed out in a very short period of time, she was truly a pleasure. Sandra was very helpful with putting together all of the decorations and everything else for the venue, and when we got upstairs, it looked exactly how we had hoped, if not better.

re: the food- we were very happy, and all of our guests raved about the food. There appeared to be plenty of it, and everything I ate was just as good at the wedding as it was at the tasting. We didn't know if it would be possible to scale all of that food for that many guests and keep the quality, but they absolutely accomplished it. Chef Erin and the staff were very flexible in terms of adjusting the menu to fit what our guests' various dietary restrictions.

We had about 160 guests attend, and the space looked appropriate for that size, but easily could have fit more if necessary.

This review is inexcusably late! We had our ceremony and reception at the Overlook Lodge and it was truly fantastic. Ann Marie and her team were extremely responsive and helpful throughout the process. The setting/atmosphere is stunning. The food was excellent. All of our guests gave it rave reviews. And the price cannot be beat. We know two people who have subsequently book their weddings here. Highly recommended.

The venue was amazing! Alysa Quick was our coordinator and helped us through the entire process. My husband and I are located in Colorado but had our wedding back east. Alysa helped with every step and answered all of our questions. The venue has recommended vendors and each one that we used DID NOT DISSAPOINT! The food, venue, location, time, and anything else was perfect. It was a magical day!

Just had my wedding this past weekend at Bear Mountain Inn and i cant speak to the experience enough. From the start Valerie our coordinator from the venue was hands on and super helpful, she was always accessible and there to answer questions as needed. She helped contact vendors closer to the date also and really helped it feel as seamless as possible. Day of she was very caring and helpful, she really makes you feel like your wedding is super important to her. The food was good, the price is a little steep but for such a beautiful venue and backdrop its worth it. Downside also is that since its a public park you get a lot of random people on the grounds, we had to wait long to get into the parking lot and had to park super far down. (same for my guests) Would be much better if they had a lot for guests of wedding and wedding party. Especially for the price we pay, its a premium price, just felt like we should not be walking for 10 minutes from the car with tons of stuff to be getting inside the building. Other than that that was our only complaint. Thanks again to bear mountain.

We couldn't have imagined a better place to host our wedding! The staff, including Gia and Valerie were so helpful in the days and months leading up to our wedding. They were responsive and went above and beyond to coordinate with our vendors. Valerie and her team orchestrated our set-up perfectly, and all of our spaces turned out just as we had planned. The food for our rehearsal, cocktail hour, and reception was amazing! Their chef is fabulous. We had a buffet and our guests were definitely getting seconds! We had our ceremony on the patio outside of the Inn. Even though the inn is within a state park, the space was peaceful. Our dance floor was huge and there was space for our nearly 200 guests to hang out and relax. We had afterparties both nights at the bar, which was a perfect ending to our evenings. All of the staff were so helpful and cheerful. We truly couldn't have imagined a better day!

Got great feedback from guests. Staff especially Val and our Captain for the night, Rebecca, were very helpful. Valerie and Gia held my hand many times through the planning.

My now husband and I had admired the views at Bear Mountain for awhile. A year ago we had looked at their rates for a wedding and it was out of our budget... Due to COVID our venue closed & we were grateful to be able to explore Bear Mountain. Due to the loss of business Bear Mountain had, they created special elopement packages. It was ideal for us to be married in this magical space with our most loved ones (restrictions in place.) Mina Park helped us plan our wedding in 3 months and what started off as an elopement became a beautiful intimate wedding with 30 guests at the Overlook Lodge. Mina helped us book group rates for my party as most of us stayed the day before at the Lodge. She also let us decorate the space the day before. She really pays attention to detail and addresses any concerns or wishes from connecting you to vendors, your seating, rehearsal, etc. The day of my wedding it was about a 3 and a half hour event, including the ceremony, cocktail hour, buffet style entrees and unlimited drinks (wine and beer.) We were allowed to have a parents dance and first dance as a married couple. Now restrictions are lifting and I believe you are allowed to dance. Still- we loved that due to no dancing we paid more attention to the guests. It was a once in a lifetime experience and what is even better is that we can always come back to remember the night. I definitely recommend. Also, will say as a tip to make sure you reach out to their spa/salon for massages, hair, nails and makeup asap as they get booked!

We had our wedding at the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain in the beginning of November. Everything about the wedding turned out amazing. The venue was gorgeous and we loved the accessibility of having the ceremony and reception all in the same place. The scenery was breathtaking especially with the changing seasons. It was also really convenient to have our hair and makeup done right in the Spa. Mina Park was our point person for everything throughout the planning process and she could not have been more helpful and accomodating with our requests. If you are looking for a picturesque wedding venue capable of providing most services with a friendly staff who goes above and beyond I would definitely recommend Bear Mountain!

We had our wedding this weekend that was booked 2 years ago. Mina Parker and her team knocked it out of the park. Every step of the way she was there with all the changes. We rented the Stone Cottages the week up to the wedding to relax and enjoy time with family. This too she assisted us with. We rented the entire Lodge that day which made guest che check flawless. She gave us ideas where to take pictures not her job but again she went above and beyond. The day of was amazing our guests wanted loved every moment. I highly recommend this venue the location is beautiful and such a short ride away from NYC and NJ yet you feel like your fair away from civilization. Mina you made the 13 wait worth it.

Bear Mountain Inn was great to work with, the venue itself needs almost nothing, it looks amazing on its own. The food is incredible almost three months later I’m still hearing from guests about how fantastic the food was. Valerie is fun to work with, such an upbeat person. It was also really nice that the return to did the catering so I was able to go to one person with all my questions about the day.

Having a Friday wedding was a blessing in disguise as I had originally wanted a Saturday. We were able to come up early Thursday and do a majority of our setup since the event rooms were not being used and then were able to really enjoy and relax for our rehearsal dinner that night at the 1915 restaurant. We stayed in the suite Thursday and Friday nights which was really convienent for both after the rehearsal and getting ready the morning of the wedding.

The day of the wedding Valerie and her crew were great at setting up and awesome and making small adjustments as needed and made all of our decor look flawless. We had our ceremony outside which was beautiful and around the back of the building on the patio so there were no tourists wandering around. The pre ceremony champagne was a great and a much appreciated touch for our guests. We had our cocktail hour just inside from the patio and our reception took over most of the second floor. Since our guests had booked all of the rooms on the third floor it was REALLY nice having free reign of the building and not having to worry about bothering other guests. We also took advantage of the after party option in the restaurant bar with another round of food and were able to keep the party going well into the night.

I would absolutely recommend holding an event here and plan on taking family pictures on site for years to come, there are an endless number of stunning locations for pictures.

Amazing! Everything about Bear Mountain was perfect. Mina, the staff, the rooms, the food(get the mushroom ravioli!), and the venue were everything that we wanted. Our guests raved about how beautiful the inn was and how great the food turned out. Bear Mountain is also the perfect backdrop for pictures. We wouldn’t change a thing about our day.

We just celebrated our November 2016 Merry Go Round wedding and loved every minute of it! The venue is so unique and truly comes alive at night for a wedding. It was a different vibe, with all of the classic wedding touches that you'd expect. Open bar, great food, amazing staff. Mina Park went above and beyond throughout the planning process. She was extremely responsive, candid, and helpful. She stepped in and helped with set-up, when my day of coordinator unexpectedly quit 3 weeks before the wedding. I really appreciated this! Our guests loved the venue from top to bottom and really enjoyed the opportunity to be kids again. You should definitely look into this venue, you won't be disappointed!

We had a ton of fun here. We used the Cliff House and had an intimate and secluded ceremony and reception. The staff was excellent in helping us prepare, from the tasting to the rehearsal to helping us get all of our decorations in place. We didn't have a lot of time to plan, and the fact that our package included so many details was so helpful, and still our wedding was unique and fun. Our coordinator was there from the beginning to partway through the night to help keep things on track and organized. My husband and I were also able to take some portraits at the summit, which are absolutely gorgeous. We had an afterparty at the bar at the Inn, and many of our guests stayed at the Inn for the weekend. I can't imagine a less stressful / more fun experience. Cheers!

I had my wedding ceremony at the Cliff House and reception at the Merry-Go-Round Pavilion.

In general, Bear Mountain is very flexible and accommodating; we got a positive response on just about every special request we made. The event staff itself is awesome—super hardworking and the Maitre D’ (ours was Joe) was on top of everything the whole night. The food was delicious and they have a lot of great options. They arranged all the rentals (linens, tables, etc) which saved me a big headache. The on-site hotels made things super convenient for guests, and it’s worth pointing out that we did not have any confusion with the room blocks as other reviewers have mentioned. We stayed in the Inn’s King suite, and it was great. For the most part, they were very responsive through planning. There were some isolated incidents when there were delays due to the state park needing to be involved (more on that below), but I think this will be less of an issue for others going forward since Oktoberfest has been moved.

When we booked our wedding, we specifically selected a date before the start of Oktoberfest. But, about 6 months before our wedding, we discovered that Oktoberfest would in fact be starting the day of our wedding. This led to a large number of issues; for instance, we were supposed to be married on the lawn, but since that is used for parking during Oktoberfest, that was no longer an option. Anytime the State Park had to be involved in a decision, the answer took at least a week longer than normal. This led to a lot of waiting and worrying. I do think that these issues were unique to Oktoberfest, and that now that Oktoberfest has been moved to Anthony Wayne, it will have less of an effect on activities at Bear Mountain.

Overall, I would recommend Bear Mountain—it is a beautiful location, and the day itself went off without a hitch. The entire staff is very nice and easy to work with, and they really did a great job to make our wedding day special.

We had a wonderful wedding at Bear Mountain! Despite rain and almost 90 degree weather, it was a fantastic day.

The Inn itself is just gorgeous and has a really great, unique feeling.

After some early snafus - our first coordinator left without warning and the catering department was initially a little hard to reach - everything came together. Chris was fantastic dealing with last minute, unexpected changes and he was with us all night long. Joe, the maitre d', was also great - thoughtful and courteous. We also ended up having significantly less people than our agreed upon minimum and Chris was terrific in giving us a bit of a break.

The only slight negative to Bear Mountain is that the space immediately surrounding the Inn is a public park which can get crowded on summer days. On our wedding day, there were a lot of people bbq-ing and playing music around the lake, so I'm glad we ended up having to move inside.

Overall, we had an amazing day and I couldn't be happier with how it went!

We recently had our reception at the Overlook Lodge and I couldn't have been more pleased with how it all turned out. The staff is wonderful, responsive and accomodating. The only issue I had was that the original person I was working with left and no one informed me. It took some work to find out she was gone and who the new person was. Prior to that, they were very responsive and Brittney, who took over, was also very responsive and helpful. The Overlook Lodge was exactly what I was looking for and perfect for our reception. We had approx 70 guests, which filled the room nicely without feeling empty. The food was excellent and we got pleanty of compliments on how everything turned out. It was a rainy day, but we still were able to get all our pictures outside, and from what I have seen so far, they look amazing. The setting is perfect! I would definitely recommend Bear Mountain to anyone planning a wedding. It is not your typical/boring catering hall type venue.

My husband and I got married at the Carousel at Bear Mountain recently and are very happy with our experience! Our coordinator at Bear Mountain Inn, Mina Park, had so many excellent suggestions throughout the planning process that made our day even more special. Our guests loved how beautiful Bear Mountain's property is and how unique the carousel wedding was. On any given Saturday, there can be up to 4 different weddings happening at Bear Mountain (between all the different areas for ceremonies and receptions), as well as hundreds of people simply enjoying a nice day in the park, so that is important to keep in mind for couples who are looking for something more private. The busy atmosphere didn't bother us, though, (Mina had told us when we booked that there would likely be multiple weddings on the same day) and we found Mina to be attentive and fully present when she was with us. In fact, she and another Bear Mountain staff member led a couple of my family members in a whirlwind set-up that transformed the Carousel Pavilion into the wedding of our dreams! All the decor we had brought looked even more amazing than we expected, thanks to Mina and her staff's professional eye and experience running large events. Because Mina and her staff are juggling so many weddings, though, you sometimes need to be patient or a tad persistent in getting responses to calls or emails throughout the planning process. But once we did get ahold of staff, they were so helpful and gave us even more information and details than we had asked for every time. The other important thing to note is that cell service and wifi are a little bit spotty in and around Bear Mountain, which, coupled with the heavy Oktoberfest traffic, could be very stressful for some brides or families. However, we are sincerely happy with our Bear Mountain Wedding experience and would recommend it again to friends!

We had our wedding there on June 6th and we as well as our guests had the best time. Everyone loved their meals, the space was very spacious even with a big band, and the place looked spectacular at night.

Highly recommend to those looking for a nice rustic venue :)

This review is a little complicated to write. Overall, we loved having our wedding and reception at the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain. We felt like we got a terrific value for the money spent in terms of catering. The food was delicious and portions were generous! The service/waitstaff were attentive and lovely. The event flowed very well. The catering manager, Ann Marie Grew, is so organized, responsive and helpful that we just loved working with her. We were completely delighted with our wedding day at Overlook.

Ann Marie made some good recommendations in terms of local vendors.

Bear Mountain's Achilles Heel is the reservation bookings for overnight guests. We had continual problems, start to finish, even though we stayed on top of them as much as possible.

So I would recommend having your event at Overlook because of the view, the fantastic food and staff. Again, it was a phenomenal quality given the affordable price.

The only thing you need to know is to stay on top of those room reservations. Even if you think they have it right, keep checking because you want to make sure the reservations STAY right.

Also, you need to be aware that Hessian Drive, which is the road leading from the Stone Cottages to the Overlook has no lights, and is too long and dark (in my opinion) to ask your guests to walk to and from Overlook, especially the ladies in high heels. So we booked a van service as a shuttle.

Beautiful venue even in the rain! This is a wonderful wedding venue if you are looking for a 'destination' wedding without flying or driving hours. We had ceremony, reception and overnight accommodations in one place, plus it offered our guests some day after activities. Wonderful venue!!

My husband I were married at the Bear Mountain Inn on August 30, 2015. It was a beautiful day, and we were able to be married outside on the porch. The staff, especially Mina, was great and took care of us the entire day. I would call this place a rustic venue, which holds alot of its charm. That, coupled with being in the middle of the gorgeous Hudson Valley, made for a perfect wedding day. I think this venue is great for those that love nature and don't want the standard fanfare you see at most wedding venues.

The initial person we dealt with, who is no longer there, was a bit inept and unprepared in many circumstances. But when Mina took over our wedding, we couldn't have been in better hands. She knows exactly what she is doing. Again, if you book here, make sure you meet with Mina. Mina, Mina, Mina.

From what I could tell, the food went over well. Their catering menu could stand to be a bit more flexible in places, but I think they are working on it. We did the buffet (because I'm from the South and love a wedding buffet), but as I came to learn, Northern buffets are a different story. Still, the food was good, but not as good as a Southern wedding buffet.

The cocktail hour is right next to the porch, and the reception was upstairs on the 2nd floor. It was great to have everything in the same space.

Pro tip: We got married on a Sunday. If you get married on a Sunday, you will most likely not be able to stay in the Bridal suite the night before because there will most likely be a Saturday wedding. We stayed in the Lodge on Friday and Saturday night, and it was fine, especially since we had our Rehearsal dinner there. The biggest stress was moving into the Inn on Sunday around 1 pm. I was pretty oblivious (aka ignoring any kind of stressful thing), but I know some of the men got put out.

Overall, great place to throw a wedding.

We booked the Merry-Go-Round at Bear Mountain in the fall of 2019 for our December 2020 wedding. The location was perfect for what we wanted. Although communication from the venue was lacking at times and we were not given many COVID-related updates and it often took several days to get a response, Mina, the Director of Catering, worked extraordinarily hard to answer all our questions and help us navigate the constantly changing COVID rules. I’m not sure our wedding would have been successful without Mina’s help. She worked to amend the terms and pricing of our contract to fit the COVID requirements, and on the day of our wedding was very, very helpful in coordinating the set up and making sure everything went as planned. Thumbs up to Armando, the chef, as the food was amazing and our guests kept raving about all the selections. That said, the hotel desk staff caused us unneeded stress leading up the wedding, as they released and sold our reserved room blocks to the public even though Mina confirmed that they were still on hold for us (due to a system issue on their end). This caused guests, including our Maid of Honor, to be told that there were no rooms available for her to book. It took several days of back and forth between people who told us they couldn't help us, and for Alicia, the general manager, to step in in order for the situation to be resolved. Overall, Mina was outstanding, the food was delicious, and the venue itself is great, but communication from the venue and hotel services need some improvement.

My daughter's wedding was held here recently. The venue is not a sterile hotel venue and that is what my daughter wanted. The State Park is beautiful. The building is historic and has different spaces which can be used for the ceremony and reception. The ceremony was on a terrace that overlooked the lake. There were many people having picnics in the State Park on a beautiful summer day which added to the charm of the setting. We did quite a bit of work to make the various rooms for cocktail hour and the dinner beautiful but in keeping with the architecture. Our day-of coordinator, Sandra, really pulled through, The food was quite good and the chef Alex was someone who we worked with to make a simple but elegant dinner. We had valet parking for people coming to the wedding on a Saturday night since the parking lot for the Inn is shared with the State Park. An interesting setting for someone who wants a rustic setting, close to New York, and not sterile hotel wedding.

My review is kind of complicated- we were unsatisfied with one aspect of our wedding at Bear Mountain, but thrilled with another. I wish I could star the catering and the lodging separate, because the catering would get 5 stars and the lodging would get 1 or 2.

With the initial planning, everything was fine- the price was wonderful and they happily accomodated our specific menu requests. Communication wasn't great- things seemed to get worse and worse until we were passed to the wedding planner, who ended up being wonderful. She cleared up all confusion and we finally felt confident that everything would go smoothly. The ceremony and reception went beautifully - everything was set up perfect, timing was great, the food was awesome and the staff was so professional and nice! The catering staff and event planners are great! 5 stars!

The rooms in the stone lodges were very clean and cute- and they allowed dogs- a huge plus. Having the lodge filled with family and being able to use the common room together was a lot of fun.

The problems came in with room reservations. Like the other reviewer, we reserved lodges- 2 full lodges, one for each family. We were told these would be blocked until a certain date, then when family called to book their rooms, the rooms were not available. We were then told they don't block rooms that far in advance (even though I had proof in an email). Right up until the day of the wedding, there were mix ups with the rooms- leading to much frustration with family members, including some from out of state that showed up to check in only to be told there wasn't a room available. In the end, we got our 2 lodges; however, I feel that if we weren't annoyingly persistent, we would have lost several of our rooms. Staff and management kept blaming it on the reservation system- totally unprofessional. There was never a concrete record of anyone's reservation, and everyone seemed to pass the buck. There were more issues in this regard, but I'll stop here. It's really a shame, because the location is so gorgeous.

We knew, without a doubt, that Bear Mountain was where we wanted to have our wedding. We were able to negotiate our rate slightly (the Friday price for a Saturday wedding) which helped given that this is a pricier venue. The day of our wedding was beautiful. Prior to the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception, our escort cards were put out along with photos and chalkboard that we provided. Each table was set up with our centerpieces and linens that we had requested. We did not have to worry about a thing and we had waiters designated to attend to us throughout the night which was great.

However, the service that we were provided leading up to the event was mediocre at best. I often had to reach out to our coordinator multiple times to receive a response (this was in large part because our original coordinator went on maternity leave and did not return and then our second coordinator also went on maternity leave.) There was also many other events at the Inn the weekend of our wedding that we had to coordinate around.

All in all, though, our experience at the inn was amazing and our wedding was flawless.

If I could rate the spa separately, though, I would give it less than 1 star. The owner was extremely rude and would not let my bridesmaids leave until they gave exorbitant tips (over 20%.) After 2 hours of picture taking, my hair was falling out and when I went to request that they put in additional bobby pins, the owner instructed me to wait 20 minutes. The convenience of the spa on site was not worth it - I would recommend bringing in an outside team.

Like the other brides, I have mixed feelings regarding the Overlook Lodge at Bear Mountain.

Let's start with the good stuff. The food is outrageous!!! There was not a single complaint about the food, in fact most guests commented that it was the best food they ever had at a wedding (and we had some very picky guests). Chef Mike is very willing to work with you. His vegetarian and vegan selections are wonderful too-not your standard pasta with vegetables.
The view from the Overlook Lodge is breathtaking-from the patio and the ballroom. Unfortunately it rained the day of our wedding so our ceremony and cocktail hour were inside instead of on the stone patio.
The bad. We first found the Overlook Lodge 2 years prior to our wedding date. When we finally decided to hold our wedding there, the person we were initially speaking with had left. The first price quote we received from the next person was about 20% higher than what we were initially told. After some emailing, they agreed to give us the original price we were quoted. As we moved forward in our planning, we began working with another person. She was accommodating, but not as much as the initial person we met with. You have to stay on top of everything and double check their paperwork. We opted to upgrade to the premium bar. When we received the updated contract, they also changed the price per person to the rate that was 20% higher. After more emailing, they reduced the rate again. The night of our rehearsal we dealt with our coordinators assistant (this was the first time we met him) and for the final hours of our wedding we dealt with the assistant. Dealing with so many people was stressful, in an already stressful time. The assistant was not as willing to work with us and promptly ended our wedding mid-song. (the coordinator told us we could stay a little later since we got started late). There are not many accommodations there so if you have a lot of people coming from out of town, as we did, you will need to setup additional lodging.
Overall our guests had a fabulous time, which is important. The planning aspect was stressful, and there were many times when I wanted to bail on the venue (even 1 day before the wedding)

I got married there in 2022, s I hope things have improved since.

To start, Val is a lovely woman, and she was very kind in dealing with and accommodating my mother, who was in a wheelchair due to having stage four cancer. Val also opened up the carousel for us to use as an alternate photo location because there was a tropical storm on our wedding day (in November- what are the odds?) She clearly cares about the clients and loves love, but, that being said, there was a lack of organization and communication that caused a myriad of problems that could very easily have been avoided if the very specifically laid plans I had created had been followed.

Val repeatedly misspelled both my first and last names, leading to emails constantly being missed and my husband having to forward them to me. She also never hit “reply all”, so when my name was spelled properly, my husband was left out of correspondence that he needed to be included in.

Val did not book the brunch, and only told me the week before, even though we had discussed it multiple times since we had our tasting in June, so we had to book it at the last minute. It was also not held in Restaurant 1915 as planned, but in the ballroom, confusing guests.

Val knew we were having the rehearsal dinner at Restaurant 1915 because it was on my very detailed itinerary, and we had spoken about it multiple times. She did not send me any booking information, so I had no idea it needed to be done separately, because it is not my job to know that. Val then asked me AFTER THE REHEARSAL, “So where are ya having ya dinner?” I said, “Down the hall.” She said, “Oh, ya booked it with Joe?” I said, “No, I booked it with you, in June.” She said, “Oh no… you were supposed to book it with Joe… okay, I’ll fix it.” It was very evident that the restaurant was not prepared to feed 25 people from a prix fixe menu, and so the food was late and cold. I do not blame the restaurant for this, and all of the staff was lovely.

My brother, the officiant, walked into the ballroom to place something on the sweetheart table along with one of our family friends. A member of the staff snapped his fingers at both of them and said, “Ay ay my man! You can’t be in here!” My brother informed him that they were doing things for the bride.

Val was supposed to come up to the bridal suite and bring us cocktail hour food. She never did. I had originally planned for my maid of honor to do this, and then told her not to worry about it, because Val had it handled. Val did not, in fact, have it handled.

Val took about twenty minutes to line everyone up for reception entrances, making me lose time with my guests. I would have done it myself in about five, but Val, again, told me she had it handled, and she did not. This seems to have been because the bridal party was rushed and hassled into the ballroom prior to entrances in order to give their meal selections to the servers. I was personally asked four times by three different people for my meal choice. Most of the bridal party, and many, many of the guests, were asked their meal choices multiple times. This is especially frustrating given that I had a very specific spreadsheet, that Val had a copy of, that had each guests’ meal choice listed. I understand checking one time to ensure that people have not changed their minds, but to be asked repeatedly by different people who were clearly not communicating is absurd. Why did I spend extra time and money on RSVPs that included meal choices if people were going to be asked multiple times on the day? I could have just had them say yes or no.

Val told me that people who aren’t staying have to pay for parking, and we would have to get tickets to people ahead of time, so we’d have to ask someone to stand outside and give the tickets to people- she emphasized that it could not be someone who work for Bear Mountain, and that I had to make arrangements, so I did- I arranged for my friend to do this, and I relayed this information to Val. On the wedding day, my friend spoke with Val about this, and she seemed confused, telling him, “Oh no, it’s a holiday, so parking is free.” The wedding has been booked for over a year, and we repeatedly discussed the fact that it was a holiday. Why did that information never click in her brain?

Ruby, our wedding night coordinator, was not introduced to me until the middle of the reception. This policy makes no sense to me, as I am now expected to establish a rapport with someone I do not know on an already stressful evening.

We had organized a private last dance and cleared out our guests before 10:30 to accommodate this. The staff turned the lights on and was cleaning up while we did this, ruining the moment entirely.

My maid of honor booked a room and was told she could have early check in. She was not able to check in early. When she was finally given a room and a key, she went to her room AND FOUND SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY IN THERE. She had to go back down to the front desk and correct it, and the oher guest was VERY unhappy, understandably. They then charged the wrong card for her stay, and told her she did not pay, when in reality, they had charged an expired card.

Gift bags for our wedding guests were left at reception. I spoke to Victoria and asked her how many guests were there as the final count, so that I could leave the appropriate number of bags there, and my friend could take the rest to the Holiday Inn, where we had other guests staying. Victoria was very focused on playing with her hair and not answering my questions, and she said, “Umm, uhh, you have 20 people.” I said I knew that could not possibly be correct, and I asked her to count the number of individual guests in each room. She seemed incapable of this and made no movement towards the computer, so I had to go BEHIND THE DESK to the computer screen MYSELF and count them. This is a huge breach of guest privacy, by the way. Ultimately, many guests were not even given the gift bags left at the reception desk, and some had to request them several times before they got them. My mother in law gathered up the many extras at the end, and there should not have been any.

My husband called down to the front desk for some bottles of water after the reception and after party were over. Kevin, who was working at the time, came to the room and knocked on the door. He asked him to leave them outside the door. Kevin asked who was going to pay for them since there was no card on file. We stayed in the Bridal Suite, which was indeed comped for the wedding night, but a two second search would have told Kevin that I had a card on file from the night before when I had booked and paid for the same room, and he could have charged the water to that card .My husband said that to Kevin, and Kevin repeated that there was no card on file. This was our wedding night, and we had to interrupt our time together to deal with pure incompetence. Ultimately, Kevin left with the waters, and we did not get them.

The day after the wedding, we could not find our Fete Phone Guest Book. I called up to Bear Mountain, and was greeted by Victoria, who told me everyone was busy and nobody could help. She then said she would try and contact Tracy and call me back. I waited an hour and heard nothing. I had to drive back up to Bear Mountain to try and look for it myself, as it had to be shipped back by Tuesday. This was the day after my wedding and the day before we were flying out to our Honeymoon early in the morning. I met with Tracy, who was very helpful and searched all the possible locations with me. She also asked how the wedding had gone, and I started crying out of sheer frustration with the dearth of errors throughout the process. I showed her my detailed itinerary and spreadsheets, and I expressed extreme disappointment with the lack of professionalism and follow through. We did not locate the Fete Phone at Bear Mountain- thankfully my sister in law had gathered it up herself. Unfortunately, our guests were not made aware that we had a phone book sign- in, and we had very few people record messages. It is the job of the coordinator to point guests to these kinds of things, and that was very clearly not done.

My guests were none the wiser to the behind the scenes snafus, and everyone said how gorgeous the venue and the food were, and they’re right. However, the bride should not have been so stressed on her wedding day that she was unable to enjoy massive parts of the event she had meticulously planned for a year.

I just had my reception and wedding ceremony at Merry Go Round Pavilion and my experience was mixed. This is my first review ever, but I feel it's important for other brides to know what they're getting into. First off, Chris, the catering director, is absolutely incompetent. Do not contact him....avoid. He did not respond to emails or phone calls; a week before my wedding I actually had to call his boss for him to call me back. My husband is in the Airforce and we had to move to Colorado during wedding planning. Chris made the experience so much more stressful than it had to be. Luckily, the wedding was very nice and the staff did a nice job setting up. My only gripe is that I had a plate of food that they removed before I could eat it. So I'm sure the catering is wonderful, but I wouldn't know. Overall, it was beautiful and my pictures are great. Everyone had fun. You need patience and a long lunch hour if you book this venue.

Our wedding was the best day of my life and this venue was absolutely beautiful. But what made it beautiful was not the staff or their actions - it was the unique setting, great band, talented florists, and most importantly our friends and family. Communication is a HUGE issue at the BMI. Throughout the process, emails and calls went unanswered for up to a week (when I followed up again), contracts were incorrect, credit cards were charged for the same thing multiple time (by "accident"), the staff was MIA for most of the evening. There is big staff turnover here and it shows. Additionally, the AC in many of the hotel rooms did not work. I would have been very concerned on my wedding day had we not hired a day-of coordinator to make sure everything went as promised. There was a lot of unnecessary stress during what should be a very exciting time.

I got married at the bear mountain inn last weekend. It was stunning, but that was all thanks to me, our florist, and friends and family.

Communication here is the worst I’ve ever experienced. You won’t get a phone call or email back unless you hound them, or show up in person.

We got a room block for our friends and family. Rented the whole place out. Had trouble with the room block for the ENTIRE year (to the day) that we were planning. Everytime I turned around, someone was dropped out of the block. I had spoke to them 5 times on the phone and had to drive there 4 times at 45 minutes away because of so much incompetence. Flash forward to the night of the wedding. I am told that my maid of honor was dropped out of the block and they gave her room away to an outsider. So here I am arguing with the manager on my wedding night during my cocktail hour instead of enjoying my family friends and new husband.

The manager Jim is so unbelievably terrible. He has no idea how to run a business and is arrogant and unphased by anything you have to say. He basically told me he didn’t care whenever I had an issue. To the point where he has nerve to have even applied for the job. He should not be working in hospitality because he is unfriendly and rude. He even asked us the bride and groom if we could be out 4 hours early the next morning because the groomsmen for the wedding the next day wanted to get ready in the bridal suite. We had problems with him and rooms for 12 months and then he wants us out early? Not on your life, buddy. I can honestly say I don’t have one nice thing to say about him.

Mina and Rich held my wedding together when I felt like it was about to fall apart in front of my eyes. They are great! Hard to get hold of, but great.

Our outdoor ceremony went without a hitch and the reception was an absolute blast. Food A+!!

All in all of I had to do it all again, I would still choose BMI, but just know you would have to do everyones job yourself.

I don't even know where to begin with this. Planning our wedding at BMI was the worst. Let's just get into it.

The communication is non existent at best. When we were able to get in touch with them and did get responses, our questions and concerns were ignored- literally just not answered. About 6 months out from our wedding we started to get worried that things weren't getting done so we hired a planner hoping that maybe it was just our own inexperience that made the process so difficult. It was not. Our planner confirmed that this was one of the most unprofessional venues she's worked with. They double booked our wedding, then didn't speak to us for 5 days when we were trying to clarify the situation. We had paid 50% of the total cost and they couldn't find proof of payment (we had to resend it to them). Our coordinator could not for the life of her remember my husbands name or face despite having met several times, even on our wedding day, she asked who he is.

When it came to the double booking and other confusion with our room blocks, it was 3 months out from our wedding. We were holding off on sending out our invitations because we didn't know if we had a place to get married. We got so desperate that we even tried to cancel the whole thing and just forego a wedding (unfortunately we were too financially committed at this point). It even got so bad that I messaged the GM on LinkedIn. Luckily he stepped in quickly and seemed to light a fire under them and get some things done.

The hotel department is by far the worst. Talking the hotel manager, Michael, was like talking to a potato. The incompetence, phew, next level. I've never experienced anything like it. He gave away the complimentary "honeymoon suite" to another guest for some reason. They accidentally booked us for an extra night at the hotel (we have no idea why) and when we asked him to rectify it, he said he couldn't or we would lose the room entirely? Why? Who knows? But magically a couple days later he was able to fix it.

The pros are:
The catering department/food was good
the venue itself is pretty
It's decently priced when compared to what's around

Luckily we had a beautiful wedding in spite of the horrible communication and disorganization, but I attribute that entirely to our planner Marina Paige Designs, who was a miracle worker. If you go on to local bridal FB pages, you will see many reviews like mine-- and i wish I'd seen them before I had my wedding there. If I knew what I know know, I would get married at a different venue.

Consider yourself warned!

It’s impossible to book any cultural events here. Indian weddings stay away.
We are an Indian party attempting to arrange a pre wedding dinner. Due to diet restrictions, we need an Indian caterer.

Tracey would only quote me prices as if this was a wedding. And she would only quote me prices higher to not have their food vs their food which is nothing similar to what an Indian dinner is, as she claims.

She quoted me $150/pp for no food and $140/pp to use their food no alcohol in either. This is really poor management and nonsense for a casual setting merry go around space. If I were to add up an outside caterer cost and an alcohol package, it’s more expensive then the fanciest places like the Rockleigh and Florentine gardens or any legit huge wedding hall space which as insulation for one, and chandeliers and up lighting and a fancy setting.

Stay away, their lack of understanding of other cultures is so far off the mark.
And an Indian sangeet is not a wedding, FYI.

I had my wedding here recently. The wedding itself was perfect — but the venue was not. Everything felt disorganized, and we were treated more like we were on a conveyor belt than a couple on our wedding day.

From the start, I was told there was no bridal suite, which I appreciated being upfront about, but I was also told they’d try to get me in by 1 PM, so I booked a room for the night before. After that, I heard nothing and ended up paying for both late check-out and early check-in. It was a huge headache, and the accommodations that were promised never materialized.

We had our rehearsal dinner at the venue. Two months out, we confirmed the date and time with no issue. Four days before, we were told there were too many events that day and the chef would be “overwhelmed,” suggesting we move the time or find another place. With such short notice, we pushed the time back. Even then, we waited nearly three hours to be served, and when the food arrived, the steaks were so tough that guests couldn’t cut them. One guest was completely forgotten and only served after she asked — they said they “miscounted.”

We were also told a staff member would save us some cocktail hour food while we took photos and could escort us to the carousel for pictures if it was locked. Neither happened. We never saw a bite of our cocktail hour food, were told the carousel was locked and unavailable, and the staff member who promised all this was nowhere to be found.

During the reception, I was approached about issues that were specifically assigned to my bridesmaids — something a professional venue should know not to do.

Multiple guests also commented that the steaks at the reception were just as tough as at the rehearsal dinner, though the other dishes were good.

At the end of the night, less than five minutes after the reception ended, while we were still saying goodbye to guests, a staff member named Ruth approached me and said, “This needs to be cleaned up right away. We have an event tomorrow.” I was never told cleanup was our responsibility, and I have no idea why this was brought to me. When I pointed that out, Ruth said, “I don’t know who your bridesmaids are.” Guests wore black, bridesmaids wore red — it couldn’t have been clearer. Because of this unnecessary rush, my family, bridal party, several guests, and even my husband and I had to help clean up, causing us to miss a significant portion of the after-party we paid for. Ironically, when we stopped by around 1 PM the next day, the reception room was empty, with some of our decorations still out and no event in sight.

The next morning, when we asked for our cake, staff first said they couldn’t find it, then later claimed it had all been served. We don’t believe that and suspect it was thrown out. Any experienced venue should know that the top tier of the cake is traditionally saved for the couple’s first anniversary. Instead, we were told to “go to the bakery and buy more.” After our honeymoon, we found we’d been given only two small slices, which had spoiled while we were away. Because we were rushed out, we hadn’t realized we even had them — and clearly, neither did the venue.

Even setup was an issue. We were told a specific spot for the photo booth, then the venue pushed for a different location. When our coordinator requested the original spot, staff claimed I had asked for the change — which was completely untrue.

The venue is beautiful, but that’s the only positive thing I can say. Thankfully, our incredible vendors, bridal party, family, friends, and, of course, marrying my husband made the day perfect in spite of the venue.

To future brides and grooms: please look elsewhere. Your wedding should be joyful and stress-free. This venue only adds stress. It’s not worth it.

DO NOT GET MARRIED HERE!!! Valerie and Gia are the WORST!!! I have spent every family gathering here since I was 2 years old so didn’t hesitate to choose bear mountain as our venue. WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE!!! They will take your money and ignore you!!! Please I beg you, do not have your wedding here!!! Any other place is better then how you will be treated here.

We did not end up booking Bear Mountain, so I can't speak to the actual experience of working with them. I had my heart set on the merry-go-round room, but communication was downright abysmal. The woman giving our tour was an hour late, we got conflicting info from her and the manager, getting answers or any responsestook multiple follow up calls and emails, and I generally felt like an annoyance. If it was that bad when they theoretically wanted our money, I can't imagine how it would have been once they had it. Ultimately, having a venue with a team I could trust and communicate with was more important than a carousel.

We used Bear Mountain for our rehearsal dinner and would not recommend it to ANYONE. We had a terrible experience with them and the service aspect was a complete nightmare.

We were originally drawn to Bear Mountain due to the spectacular natural setting and the really cool carousel room. From the beginning, it was difficult to get information from them, and we were frequently told different information by different people. Even worse, sometimes one person would promise us something and then months later, someone else would claim there was no record.

One of the appeals of Bear Mountain was that there was a large number of lodging options for our guests. We reserved 4 of their stone cottages for our guests, each sleeping about 12 people. However as our guests began calling to make reservations, we discovered that Bear Mountain had given away two of the cottages to another wedding party! To make matters worse, on the day before our wedding as our friends starting checking in, my fiance discovered that they had rearranged the rooms and were putting random people in the cottages and had relocated our friends to the (much less attractive) main lodge! It was a total disaster and really stressful and the staff were completely incompetent in dealing with the problem.

As for the rehearsal dinner, the staff was extremely inflexible and unable to accommodate basic requests. They gave incorrect price estimates, and seemed unable to recalculate once we changed options. They were unresponsive and unhelpful throughout the process. Worst of all, on the night of the dinner, my mother-in-law showed up early and discovered that they had set up the entire room wrong, failed to plate the salads and changed the menu without consulting her! In her dress and heels, she and her husband had to move the tables themselves and try to deal with the mess.

The entire experience was a disaster and I would say to anyone considering Bear Mountain for ANY event to stay away and find somewhere else. It may be pretty spot, but it's a terrible place to hold an event.