Fern River Resort Reviews

My husband and I recently had our wedding at Fern River Resort, and it was an amazing experience from start to finish. From the moment we arrived, we were captivated by the beauty of the Redwood forests and the tranquil atmosphere that enveloped the resort.
First and foremost, we must mention Lisa, the site manager. She was an absolute gem and went above and beyond to ensure that our special day was nothing short of perfect. Her attention to detail and willingness to assist with every aspect of the wedding planning process made a world of difference. We highly recommend hiring her as a day-of coordinator; her expertise and dedication are unmatched.
The resort itself is a hidden gem nestled among the towering Redwoods. The cabins, all remodeled and refurbished, provided a comfortable and cozy home away from home for our families. It was wonderful to have everyone staying on the same grounds, which created a sense of togetherness and convenience throughout the weekend.
The ceremony and reception sites were nothing short of breathtaking. The custom-built Redwood gazebo added a rustic and elegant touch that made our ceremony truly memorable. The amenities at Fern River Resort exceeded our expectations. We spent evenings gathered around the central fire pit, sharing stories, and enjoying the company of our loved ones. The private river beach provided a peaceful escape, and the community campfire ring, ping pong table, and badminton court offered endless entertainment options for our guests.
Being located within proximity to the Bay area and Santa Cruz was a huge advantage for our destination wedding. Our guests were able to easily travel to the resort, escaping the city's hustle and bustle while still having access to the unique beaches, restaurants, and shops that Santa Cruz has to offer.
Overall, our wedding at Fern River Resort was a dream come true. The combination of natural beauty, impeccable service, and attention to detail made it an unforgettable experience for us and our guests. We highly recommend Fern River Resort to couples looking for a magical wedding venue surrounded by the majestic Redwoods. Trust us, you won't be disappointed.

So beautiful. We rented the whole resort for a wedding for 4 days; it’s right in the middle of the redwoods bordering Henry Cowell state park and right on the San Lorenzo River. Nicole and the rest of the staff were all terrific. The cabins are cute and cozy. Nicole also acted as day of coordinator for our wedding and we can’t recommend this highly enough. She asked all the questions we would have never thought of and kept the whole train on the tracks. She is calm and collected and the exact person you want in your corner when dealing with the process of planning a wedding. Fern River Resort truly was the perfect venue for our wedding and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

In August 2018 we began searching for an outdoor, forested wedding venue where friends and family could stay on site. We’re happy it led us to Nicole and her excellent staff at Fern River Resort. Our wedding there in August 2019 was beautiful and all guests left happy.

The venue has different locations which can all serve different purposes. We opted to have our ceremony in front of the river, cocktail hour in the garden in front of Cabin 11, our reception on the lawn, and dance floor in front of the gazebo. It would be easy to change things up and make them feel your own.

Their outdoor kitchen was well equipped for our big burger and hotdog rehearsal dinner and for us to bake 20 pies for our wedding dessert. There were ample spaces throughout the property for teams of our friends and family to do wedding prep activities.

We hired the venue owner Nicole as our day-of coordinator. She was great to work with—communicative and professional. Throughout the night, she kept things running on time and worked with us and our other vendors to improvise and adapt when it was needed. Her help was invaluable—we didn’t have to worry about anything and were able to fully enjoy our wedding. The staff at Fern River Resort were willing and able helpers throughout the weekend. Thanks especially to Joe the handyman. You know someone is dedicated to his job when he drives to the property at 1 AM to make double-check that the sprinklers are turned off so our tables don’t get drenched!

We rented all 15 cabins Thursday-Saturday. Our guests were very pleased with the cabins exclaiming that they were more spacious than they had imagined they would be. Nicole patiently satisfied our requests for certain cabins to be extended on Wednesday and Sunday nights. For a three night stay, it averaged to about $200 per guest. Very reasonable! Nicole made it as easy as possible to reserve and pay for all the cabins.

If you’re looking for a venue where you can live out your summer camp wedding wishes, look no further! We can’t wait to visit Fern River again for a stay at one of the cabins and a chance to relive all our wedding memories.

We were immediately struck by how stunningly beautiful the grounds are (not to mention how accessible it is as a wedding venue and how reasonable the rates are). The fact that we could book the entire resort and have all of our closest friends and relatives stay there with us seemed almost too good to be true! But, it wasn’t too good to be true—it was just that good.

What really stood out to us about the venue itself was how much work Nicole and her family and crew put into it between the time we visited (early April) and the date of our wedding (late June). Because it wasn’t quite wedding season when we first visited, some parts of the site seemed to be in a transitional stage; however, when we arrived, we were awestruck at the transformations that had taken place. The lawn and reception area were immaculate; the spot where we held our ceremony (in the soft-gravel area by the stand of Redwoods) looked like something from a magazine; there were brand new Adirondack chairs and loveseats that they set up for us to use (chairs built by Nicole’s father, no less, from a Redwood that he was forced to cut down), and every single cabin was clean, neatly decorated, and ready for inhabitation.
Lastly, what will always stick out in our minds in terms of the resort staff is how completely willing they were to accommodate us and lend us a hand. It was remarkable. Nicole regularly checked in with us and helped us solve any issues that we were dealing with, including having her friend, who just happened to be an experienced sound engineer, expertly facilitate our multiple music playlists throughout the day of the wedding (not sure how we forgot to set that up in advance, but boy were we lucky!) Everything went as smoothly as possible, we and all of our guests had the time of our lives, and we are eternally grateful for the kindness, hospitality, and grace that Nicole and company showed us at their beautiful resort.

We had a weekend wedding and were able to have our close family and wedding party stay on site as well as have our reception there as well. It was amazing. The staff at Fern River is amazing and they went above and beyond. I am so thankful to Dan, Lena and Nicole. It was definitely my dream wedding.

I was married at Fern River in August. We rented 7 cabins for family and friends, and it was such a WONDERFUL experience!
(this is just an abbreviated review bc WeddingWire doesn't allow me to write a longer one -- please check out my full review on yelp or tripadvisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32377-d271282-r260721531-Fern_River_Resort_Motel-Felton_California.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

Dan and Nicole were totally awesome! They were so accommodating, working with me to figure out how I could set everything up, giving me ideas from their wealth of experience, and incorporating my own ideas to my complete satisfaction.
We stayed at Fern River 3 days before our wedding and 2 days after and it was the best decision we made! I would have stayed even longer if time allowed! First of all, the cottages at Fern River are so cute! The cottages are clean, comfortable, and were perfect for us. The grounds are beautiful! Every cottage has a bbq grill, picnic table, kitchenette. And there is a beautiful creek that runs right behind the cabins.
i HIGHLY recommend staying for a few days before your wedding so that your families/friends can get to know each other better (if they don't already -- mine were long distance from all over!). It worked out so well, that by wedding day, they were so comfortable with each other and it made their time at the wedding that much more enjoyable!

THE WEDDING:
My husband and i didn't want to spend too much (we'd rather put that money down on a house!) and we looked at several other places in the area in the outdoors/redwoods like we wanted, but Most were more than we wanted to spend and not as accommodating as Fern River. We were SO happy when we found Fern River! It has the perfect mix of rustic, cozy, elegant, and classy.
The area where the wedding and reception took place is very nice. My guests could not stop commenting on how beautiful everything was - …. con't

This space is beautiful with VERY attentive staff. Lodging on site with wedding allows family to relax and spend quality time together. More than half of our guests traveled from out of the state to our wedding so this venue turned out to be very convenient, comfortable, and economically friendly because we cooked, ate, and played on the wedding site which was absolutely wonderful!
這個婚禮場地是北加州國際婚禮的最佳選擇！

Fern River Resort is GORGEOUS and exactly what we wanted for our wedding weekend! We rented out the whole campsite for our friends and family to spend extra time with us. Nicole was super accommodating to us, even during a pandemic and having to postpone our weekend. We wanted to be surrounded by redwoods and Fern River is the perfect place for that! The natural beauty around the campsite is amazing. We took advantage of the entire site, hosting our rehearsal dinner, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and even day after dinner at several locations around the site. We enjoyed campfires, hiking at Henry Cowell State Park next door, and playing in the river. Fern River is the perfect venue to gather loved ones and enjoy nature. We also hired Nicole to coordinate our wedding day. She was perfect to keep us in line and on time with everything. She made sure we were taken care of as the bride and groom and was super accommodating when we made last minute changes to our weekend agenda.

We had an amazing time at our wedding at Fern River. Having friends and family on-site with us for a whole weekend was so special and not actually as logistically challenging as I was afraid of. Such a beautiful location!