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River's Bend Retreat Center Reviews

River's Bend Retreat Center

River's Bend Retreat Center

Philo, CA
4.3 out of 5 rating, 2 Reviews
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Reviews

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4.3 out of 5 rating
4.3 out of 5 rating
2 Reviews
86% recommend it
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  • Kai
    Kai M. Sent on 04/30/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
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    Well Supported Beautiful Community and Nature Experience

    We are so so lucky to have found and worked with Laurie and River's Bend. The location was beautiful and spacious. Laurie was fantastic. We had room to create the community-oriented event we wanted where our guests could delight in a series of experiences throughout a residential weekend.

    We were initially cautious about having them cook the food (just because we didn't know how to evaluate something like that) - but wow - we could not have even conceived of how delicious, exciting and healthy the food was. Really. Blown away. And they were able to meet the numerous diet needs of our guests with style! So happy.

    The land allowed for so much. We had poetry and music in one location, a journey to another for the ceremony under incredible old trees, and then space for both relaxing and then dinner. Not only that, we were able to offer indoor morning yoga space and room for late night dancing, talking and games. During the day groups took bicycle tours of the wineries nearby.

    Our guests also had a range of living accommodations: from rustic cabins to spacious modern places. (There was even plenty of forest space for camping.)

    I could go on and on - it was magical. That land was, of course, essential to that, but so was Laurie's making the space work for our needs and responding to our seemingly endless questions and concerns.

    Highly, highly recommended. Would definitely get married there again -- although I'd rather leave that to our nephew! ;-)
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    Chloe Z. Sent on 03/10/2019
    3.6 out of 5 rating
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    Gorgeous, Tons of Housing, Less expensive than most, pretty DIY

    Perfect for a whole-weekend wedding. Gorgeous spot with so many different places to do the ceremony, hike, dance, and swim. The river was a huge draw for us; it just can't be matched. They offered all that for a price lower than most places we found, given the amount of housing on site. The drawbacks were having to use their caterer and most other stuff being DIY (including, like, taking out the trash!); we worked like crazy to pull it off, had a team of 15 friends helping. For what we wanted and because we and our community were able to put in the meticulous planning, it was an excellent decision. Would do it again for sure. (PS: If you have folks coming who can't stay on site for whatever reason, book early; very very few places in Philo!).