Dancing Bear Lodge & Appalachian Bistro Reviews

My new husband and I began our wedding venue search in Oct 2022. We made the decision to stay local in and around Knoxville, TN. We narrowed our search down to three venues, one of which was Dancing Bear Lodge and Bistro. The day we took a tour, we both fell in love with the venue and honestly, Kristy. Our entire experience with the Dancing Bear team was wonderful. We had an entire day to sit down and plan out our ceremony, decor, and food samplings in mid-March. This was such a fun day! Kristy really takes the time to make you feel special, gathers information to help understand exactly what you want your special day to look like, and literally coordinates almost everything for the wedding. The day of the wedding flowed so seamlessly. Kristy ensured that everyone was where they needed to be when they needed to be there, guaranteed my husband and I had enough to eat and drink starting immediately after the ceremony, and dedicated herself to our entire evening. The staff was very attentive to my guest and their needs throughout the evening. The food was absolutely phenomenal. Our friends and family gave so many compliments. Our entire experience with the Dancing Bear team was beyond our expectations and we will continue to return for years to come.

Incredible experience! My guests said it was the best wedding food they’d ever had. Such a beautiful place and the staff truly made our vision come to life. Would do it all over again a million times.

Absolutely wonderful place for our wedding!!

Dancing Bear Lodge is the dreamiest place to have a wedding! We loved everything about our experience. We stayed Thursday- Sunday- with our rehearsal dinner on Friday and wedding on Saturday. I highly recommend going a day early to get settled in and enjoy time with your fiance before the weekend starts! Kristy was an amazing wedding planner- she jumped in to help with anything and everything- from finding me a tent at the last minute to running last minute errands on the day of for me to make sure my day went smoothly. Nicole was an incredible hostess when we did our food tasting- she was so knowledgeable when it came to the menu and Chef Carter's expertise! The food was INCREDIBLE. Also, having our wedding party and close family and friends stay on site made the weekend extra special and fun as well. Anna and the rest of the DBL reservations staff were so patient with me as I changed the cabin assignments multiple times. They made everything perfect for our whole group all weekend. I highly recommend it! We will be coming back to Dancing Bear to celebrate many anniversaries in the future. It is truly magical place!

It was magnificent, I can’t think of anything that was out of place that day. Professional staff, in tune with our needs, amazing service and not to mention the food. Every detailed was in place. My husband and I had a beautiful day, just like we dreamed, and our guests did as well.

The staff at Dancing Bear went above and beyond to make our destination wedding perfect! Kristy is an AMAZING wedding coordinator and our special day was exactly as I envisioned. It was such a stress free experience, even being over 600 miles away in Michigan!! I absolutely recommend them 100x over. The food was delicious and even packed our food up for us so we could enjoy the following day. We ended our evening with a relaxing bonfire as everyone slowly departed back to their cabins or hotels. Absolutely perfect.

The Dancing Bear Team made our day so fun and easy! We did a lot of the décor ourselves and left them instructions on how to set up and they did an amazing job! I can't say enough about their team and the incredible job they did. Also the food alone is worth every single penny! Our family and friends haven't stopped talking about what a fun night it was and how beautiful the venue was.

Thank you for everything! Christy and Anna are amazing!

After moving my daughters wedding 3 times due to Covid and having to change venues from NC to TN due to NC governor we were so fortunate to find Dancing Bear Lodge and Bistro. They really did everything to work with us knowing what we had gone through and having lost part of our budget to NC deposits. Lara was our coordinator who was so efficient and worked so hard the day of the wedding helping me decorate and waited hand and foot on the bride and groom and made sure everything pulled off without a hitch. The food was out of this world and a far cry above most wedding menu’s. We booked the whole place: gazebo, pavilion, event center and restaurant and we can’t say enough on how the excellent staff there provided my daughter the wedding of her dreams. Highly recommend this wedding venue!

We were so fortunate to book Dancing Bear, after replanning our wedding three times and moving it from NC to TN due to Covid restrictions. We booked with DB 40 days out for our wedding. I genuinely cannot imagine our day turning out any more perfect and wouldn’t have changed one thing. I truly thank God for this blessing. Dancing Bear was so accommodating to the plans we already had in place and needed to fit in, and were so helpful in picking up the reins and making a plan come to life quickly. We were so burned out on wedding planning at this point. Lara and Dancing Bear were such a Godsend. We cannot say enough great things about Lara. She was experienced, professional, great communicator, and ultimately wanted me (the bride) to be happy. She bent over backwards to make our day special! So many of our guests say this was the best wedding they had ever been to! and several commented on how things just seemed to flow perfectly. The various spaces made it possible to socially distance, and DB was great about following all the necessary guidelines. Even in a time like this - you can have it all on your special day! Thanks to this wonderful venue. They provided an all inclusive feel, but allowed me and my mom to take over as much as we wanted. The food - wow! Guests said (and we agreee) this is the best food they will ever eat at a wedding. We can’t wait to come back and celebrate our anniversaries at the Bistro. We loved how Chef wanted to get to know us and our preferences. The night of our wedding, one guest told the servers she was vegetarian and they whipped her up a vegetarian option! She felt so taken care of! Another guest couldn’t eat our options for allergy reasons, and requested a steak. To everyone’s amazement, they brought him one no questions asked! Who does that?! This place is first class, and will do anything to make sure the couple and their guests have nothing short of the best experience. We will always recommend Dancing Bear!

Dancing Bear went above and beyond for us each step of the way! They were always willing to meet and answer any questions we had. The venue was perfect for our wedding with 30 guests. The food, including wedding cake, was beyond amazing! We, as well as many of our guests, stayed at the cabins on the property and had wonderful experiences! The main reason I like Dancing Bear was how easy they made planning. They had great recommendations for other vendors, such as photographer and flowers, and offered great ideas for how things for look for both the ceremony and reception. I highly recommend this Dancing Bear for anyone wanting to get married on the "Peaceful Side of the Smokies!"

I got married at Dancing Bear on October 20, 2018 and it was everything I could of ever dreamed of. The staff is beyond awesome. The cabins are absolutely beautiful, rustic but cozy and luxurious! My wedding coordinators Amie and Anna were outstanding. They made sure everything was absolutely perfect and eased any worry I had. (Including Anna coming to the rescue with sparklers for our sparkler exit that I forgot and her remembering my husbands boutineer that he forgot, life saver!) Amie recommend all of our vendors and Dancing Bear Bistro made all of our food and desserts, including for the rehearsal dinner. Every vendor our florist (Lisa Foster Design) was awesome they knew exactly what I needed and knew exactly where to put everything (no stress needed), Kimz Entertainment was our DJ and he made my reception, he was organized and so much fun! Our officiant was so sweet and I was desperate for someone to marry us and Amie called in a favor for me and I’m so glad she did because Sandra Tracey made everything so easy and the ceremony was perfect! What is really going to win you over with this place is the food, even if you’re not getting married, go eat here!!! Every single person from our wedding just raved about the food and it is THAT good. All food is fresh, in season, and so creative. I have had so many people ask me how I found our wedding venue, we needed somewhere half way between PA and Memphis, TN and something rustic, with lodging onsite. This was the first place I called and booked our wedding in that first phone call (had never even seen it because I live in PA) but Amie was so comfortable to talk to and it seemed like she knew exactly what I was wanting and had just spoken to me for the first time. When I arrived for the first time I knew it was exactly where I wanted to be, to marry my best friend. I can’t wait to go back and spend our anniversaries there in the future! Go Vols!

I can’t even being to describe how mangical The Dancing Bear Lodge is and how truly special they made me feel on my wedding day! I worked with Amie from the very beginning. I got engaged in January 1st, contacted the Dancing Bear on the 3rd and booked on the 8th. Amie answered all my emails and text messages. She arranged for a food tasting that we traveled from Central Florida for. Anna joined our team over summer when I was having a floral heart attack and she made the whole situation better. The week we arrived both ladies had everything under control . Every guest raved about the property and Chef’s food! It was the best expierence of our lives! We couldn’t have picked a better location or team! We love everything about Dnacing Bear. We can’t wait to return for our 1 year anniversary.

Our August, 2018 can be summed up in one simple phrase......a most memorable and wonderful event!

Our guests are still raving about the food served throughout the weekend! Chef was amazing! The staff at the lodge was superb, and both Amie and Anna were so reliable and innovative. Each detail was meticulously handled!

Wedding of my daughter’s dreams. Staff was amazing. Food delicious. Christi Silliman is now a part of our family!! Venue, food and accommodations were exactly what we were looking for.

We worked with Christi and her team for nearly a year on planning our wedding. Everyone was patient and responsive as we changed our wedding itinerary and budget countless times. The venue was beautiful, the food was great, and Christi made sure everything happened on time. What really sold us on the Dancing Bear was their customer service, their genuine desire to give us exactly the wedding we dreamed of. They promised and they delivered! We could not be happier.

Jayden has been SO helpful! My fiancé and I have been so relaxed with the planning because of how helpful she's been!

Visit the website. Speak with the event coordinator. GO AND VISIT THE PHYSICAL LOCATION! The setting is beautiful, the food is fabulous, and the staff is wonderful to work with. They all went above and beyond to work with the outside vendors my daughter chose and to meet all our unique needs. Guest accommodations on site are comfortable and provide easy access to the event site. We highly recommend Dancing Bear Lodge. The amount we spent included use of the venue all day into the late evening, sit down meal including s'mores at the fire pit in the evening, two cabins for three nights and four cabins for two nights.

This is absolutely one of our favorite places to go in the Eastern Tennessee area! Great food, great atmosphere and a beautiful location to get married at!

I had a small engagement party at Dancing Bear in September 2015. The food is excellent and the service was great. The staff went above and beyond to make the evening special.

In fact, I decided to have my wedding ceremony and reception at Dancing Bear because of how great the engagement dinner was. We will be getting married at this venue in October. The location has all the charm of the Smoky Mountains and East Tennessee with such elegance and sophistication. Planning with the team there has been great, and I can rest easy knowing our wedding with be great.

Words cannot express how much we LOVE Dancing Bear! While visiting for a venue tour for our wedding we realized we had discovered the diamond of the smoky mountains! We have stayed and worked for a lot of luxury resorts so it was greatly appreciated to see that customer service and attention to detail was reflected here at Dancing Bear! The entire staff is friendly and makes you feel like you are never without! Our stay would not have been complete without visiting with Christi Silliman, Director of Sales! She is the reason we feel like Dancing Bear was the only place for our wedding and we knew with her by our side it was going to be flawless! Dancing Bear is perfect for a romantic getaway, family vacation, and destination wedding. We cannot wait to return and have already booked our next visit!

We love the Townsend area and make several trips to Cades Cove each year. We passed by Dancing Bear several times and thought that one day we would like to get married there. We finally got the courage to stop and from the day we first asked some of staff about having a wedding at Dancing Bear until the day after the wedding when the owner introduced herself to us, everyone we talked to and worked with went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and to ensure that our special day was perfect. I’m not going to lie. As to be expected, there were a few hiccups along the way and at times we worried if all the pieces were going to fall into place. But then the big day came and it could not have gone better rain and all! The venue was absolutely beautiful and the wedding coordinators and the staff involved in every aspect ensured that the day went smoothly and that we were able to enjoy the moment with as few worries as possible. A special thank you to Anna and also to Christi and Amie for all the planning and coordinating that took place the months before the wedding and throughout the wedding weekend and for making sure everything fell into place. It was an absolutely beautiful and memorable experience.

As wedding day approached we still had not decided on a place to hold the rehearsal dinner. We were sitting at the bar in the Appalachian Bistro discussing this and Chef Shelley brought us a burger, not just any burger. A perfectly cooked and delicious gourmet burger topped with her special tomato jam. Our decision was made. A burger bar it was! Chef Shelley even made an appearance after the dinner and introduced herself to our guests which was truly appreciated by us! We made a choice to make a change to how the burger was cooked trying to accommodate a few guests. I recommend you stick with the Chef’s recommendation, she knows what she is talking about! We had a tasting a few months prior to the wedding to give us an opportunity to select a menu for dinner. With Chef Shelley’s help, we were able to come up with a selection that would allow our guests to appreciate some of the many flavors we have come to love in our previous trips to the Bistro. My only regret is that Kim and I didn’t really get to enjoy the food because of nerves and because everything went so quick, but that just gives us an excuse to go back soon for a meal at the Bistro! And last but not least, the beautiful and delicious cake and cupcakes provided by Lillian were quite the hit.

We already know where we will be celebrating our anniversaries for years to come!

Choosing Dancing Bear as my venue was the best choice I could've made for my wedding. Everyone on the team was fantastic to work with and really worked together to make our wedding dreams come true. The staff was very available to answer questions and offer suggestions and each individual was very knowledgeable about their field. At the wedding many of our guests commented that it was the best wedding they attended and that's all thanks to the staff at Dancing Bear. Not to mention the property is gorgeous and the guests that stayed on site were well taken care of and loved the fire places, hot tubs, and grounds.

Amie and Dancing Bear Lodge were a fantastic venue for our wedding. Amie worked with us for a year, keeping in touch, checking in, and following up when necessary. I felt very confident in both the wedding planning and the restaurant to produce a fabulous dinner. We went with family style dinner and gave Chef Shelly very little direction other than the proteins and she produced a delicious and seasonal meal that our guests loved! We have had a number of guests tell us that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding. It was important to me that our wedding be low-stress for everyone and Amie made it so. The week of, and more importantly day of, she took care of every detail, didn't bother us about any problems or details, and everything was beautifully set up when the guests began to arrive. The service during the dinner and cocktail hour was fabulous and everyone had a great time.

My wedding party and family arrived at The Dancing Bear venue on April 7th - 10th 2016. We had rented the whole property to accommodate everyone. In the beginning of planning Christi was very helpful steering my husband and I in the direction of a wonderful pastor, florist/decorations, DJ and wedding cake. Despite some slow moving communication at the start they really stepped up by the time we arrived. Once we arrived everyone was on there feet and willing to help my self or the entire group with anything needed.

Chef Shelley prepared a rehearsal dinner, reception dinner and a fairwell breakfast. The food was so amazing!

The wedding itself was so magical. There was unseasonably cold weather they did everything they could to keep it outside. They provided extra heaters and blankets for grandparents. If something went wrong I never knew about it. Nick and Christi had all areas covered and it was more than I could've ever imagined.

The facility and employees are amazing and over do it with kindness and attention. I would recommend to anyone and we plan on visiting on future anniversaries.