Sparks Ranch Resort Reviews

This wedding venue is amazing. My friend got married here and it was magical. Valerie was very attentive and was there to meet all of our needs. Everyone was impressed! We will be back and book a mini getaway soon! I can’t imagine why someone would give this place a bad review.

We had our Reception @ Sparks Ranch resort on June 13th 2017 and stayed overnight in the guest house. Valerie was a true blessing on our special day and will forever be considered a part of the family now! My husband and I spent our evening gazing at the stars, listening to the waterfall, relaxing in the pool and hot tub, shooting pool into the wee hours of the morning and reflecting on the beautiful day we shared with family and friends. All of which would not have been possible without the beauty that is Sparks Ranch Resort. Valerie was consistent and helpful with all of her suggestions and expertise on how to best utilize the many resources the ranch has to offer as well as her knowledge on local vendors for all of the tiny details. Her genuine and generous spirit brought the whole experience full circle. We felt completely at home. In the morning we reluctantly said our goodbyes wishing we could just continue living in that moment again and again. I cannot express enough how truly blessed we feel to have been able to begin our marriage journey in the comforts if a cozy but luxurious private getaway that resonated such peaceful surroundings and the amount of stress relief we felt in the hands of its owner. Thank you Valerie Sparks from the bottom of our hearts -Mr. And Mrs. Matthew Owens

DO NOT HIRE THIS VENUE!!.. What a Beautiful property!! But WOW, what a snake of an owner! I will not write down EVERY problem we had with her. I will just say despite her actions we had an AMAZING wedding! Thank God for AMAZING vendors!!

STAY AWAY FROM THIS VENUE!!! I would give negative stars if I could. I could write a book about my poor experience here for the weekend, but I’ll hit the important topics. My wife and I got married here in August and we had a TERRIBLE experience. Thankfully every other vendor was fantastic, but the owner of this venue, Valerie, is the WORST. She’ll promise you the world building up to the day of, but come the big day you’ll learn every one of her promises are empty. She will also linger throughout the entire weekend, chipping in her two cents when it’s not needed or wanted. Seriously, you’re going to spend a ton of money here and Val will act like she could wipe her ass with it. You do not deserve to put up with this type of behavior on your wedding day. Her dog will also wander, do it’s “business” in the middle of the lawn on your wedding day, and is aggressive and territorial. She didn’t return my deposit due to us “not being grateful for the day she created for us”, in her eyes she deserved the money more. We have photos of every inch of her property showing we left it in arguably better shape than when we arrived - myself and my groomsmen had to clean up the front yard the morning of my wedding as she clearly does not have a landscaper. Valerie is in no way fit to be running a business, go literally anywhere else for whatever event you’re planning.

We initially decided to have our wedding at SRR because the owner, Valerie, claimed she was flexible ("that day is yours, honey, you do as you want!"), promised many connections to local vendors, and promised we could have people camping and staying onsite for the whole weekend, which was the most important part of the weekend for us.

These things could not be farther from the truth. She was not at all flexible when we wanted to deviate from any of HER plans. When we asked if we could have the ceremony in the back, "Absolutely not". When we told her we envisioned a more casual Friday dinner with ~100 people vs. a more traditional rehearsal dinner for ~20, she grudgingly obliged, not without first opining in a demeaning and disrespectful manner. She stated that we were over the allotted "person-hours" on the property, though there is no mention of that in the contract (and we were under the 150 person limit).

She is full of empty promises; she made no introductions to local vendors; in fact, vendors often warned us against Valerie. Once, I asked for details about the "complementary" brunch that was in the contract we signed, and she asked me if I knew what complementary meant and then proceeded to tell me it meant she was giving something to me for free, and could therefore also take it away, which she was doing. Though the contract states there is "plenty of 5th wheel parking" and we discussed tent camping ad nauseum with her (and have proof of discussing it with her 6 months prior to the wedding...though she will claim otherwise), she eventually restricted all camping, breaching the contract. In one of our conversations, she mentioned SRR was no place for "dirty Santa Cruz hippies, though you know how I love them", which left me in tears. She has refused to return our deposit, so we are in the process of taking our time-stamped notes from calls with her, voice recordings (that we ensured she was aware of), and our signed contract to sue her for breach of contract.

Where to even start… the owner is extremely rude and disrespectful. I called to simply ask her pricing, since none was listed on the website, and instead of telling me she starts on this 20 minute talk about amenities, rooms, how much she parties etc. I indulge in the conversation, as to not be rude. Finally she asks me my budget and I tell her I only want a ceremony no reception and less than 2k. (We are spending over 15k on our honeymoon and want a simple wedding) so as I say this she laughs and tells me how that won’t get me nothing but a barn and a parking lot then continues to laugh. I didn’t want to be confrontational so I explained how I have called 3 different beautiful venues that do ceremonies for less than 2k. She proceeded to laugh and say how she is sure they can not keep their lights on with that price. I was shocked and honestly didn’t have any words to say at that point. I’ve never been so disrespected in my life. She then tells me her ‘people’ would never go somewhere like that and that 15k was a great price for a wedding in this little town. I just hung up.
Needless to say only go here if you are super wealthy l, otherwise you will be treated like a peasant.

Garbage garbage garbage. I am still emotionally distraught over my wedding that took place here 9 months ago. I can’t speak loudly enough when I say steer clear. I am heartbroken that I was taken advantage of on what was supposed to be the best day of my life. Please read the reviews and look in to them. A wedding here is the WORST decision you could make.

She will take your money and not deliver. Avoid