The Estate at River Run Reviews

T - What a STUNNING event. HANDS DOWN the perfect way to do a beautiful evening together. When you told us you wanted to run away and get married, this seemed like the perfect place to help you "run away" too! You left all of your worries behind - orchestrated the most incredible dinner in our formal dining room with your closest family and friends. It was absolute perfection in every way. Your vision came to life and we were delighted to play a supporting role in your incredible event! Cheers to Dr & Mr. S!

Robert & Sasha - Our team loved hosting you and your families. We know you considered so many locations and we were delighted you selected us. One of my favorite details from your event was the custom-made wine favors in the gift bags for all of your guests. It was SO thoughtful for you to have those made for each person who attended. Another highlight was the incredible ballerina at your ceremony - WOW! SO beautiful. We miss you both already! [with love, kim and crew]

Jessica, THANK YOU! We really appreciate your kind note. It is always our goal to make ALLLL the wedding dreams come true, and we were delighted to hear about your fantastic experience here with us.

Thank you Nate! It's a true pleasure to serve our mutual clients with you. Thank you for taking the time to review us. We are honored to have you work here and are really looking forward to all of your future films for our clients!

Thank you Kalisha! We appreciate you so much. It is our pleasure to serve our clients and we are honored to do it.

Thank you so much for your kind words! It was a beautiful celebration and we are thrilled to have been a part of it!

Thank you so much for your kind words! We love having Bunn DJ at River Run weddings and events - you all know how to fill a dance floor!!

So kind of you Deirdre! We are grateful you've noticed our client commitment and how serious we take our roles here at the property. We are so grateful for your kind words!

OH BARBARA! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We LOVED having you as a client and look forward to many more fabulous celebrations with your family here over the years.

Awe Alex! What kind words.

These photos are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You two were like a vision from a film! SO stunning. :)

We LOVED working with you all. The property prep was so much fun as our in-house planning team also had the pleasure of being your planners for both events! Your family was absolutely amazing and we enjoyed meeting with and working with everyone to pull off such incredible events that Friday and Saturday for you all. The weather was absolute perfection and we hope the event was even more than you two ever dreamed of! It was fantastic having the opportunity to work together. You both are so special to us. From the day you booked, to the surprise engagement on the brick terrace, to the wedding and rehearsal dinner planning process, through the events themselves. It was absolutely our pleasure!!!

Hey girl heyyyy! :)

You two are so precious, and it was an absolutely amazing weekend. Your families are so wonderful, and we had a blast serving you throughout the entire planning process. Your warm smile and joy were radiating every time you were in the building before, during, and since your wedding! We think of you often and miss you both terribly!

You two cool kids were an absolute blast to work with, and it was such an honor to be your selected venue. Your family was fantastic, and we all had so much fun the weekend of your event. Getting to work with you two at Kim Moody Design on the planning side was also a blast! Thank you for trusting us doubly on the most amazing day of your lives. What a fabulous July 4th it was!!

Merideth, thank you so much for your sweet words! What a stunning and special day! You're wedding was such a celebration and it was such a joy to be a part of it!

What an absolutely incredible weekend of events. It was our pleasure to host and be the backdrop of such incredible details. You two were a vision - everything was absolutely stunning!!! We can’t wait to have you two back for anniversaries!!

Rach - it was so beautiful with you and your family here! We loved preparing it for you and having it be the place you and Shane look back on for decades to come!! Thank you for picking such a beautiful spring day with us for your wedding! I still remember when you toured in the middle of winter when we were running on the generator! haha, Such a juxtaposition! Love and hugs!

Brooke! Thank you!! SO kind of you to say. We loved having your beautiful work here and look forward to many more smiles from you over the years.

K&G - You two are fabulous. BEST dressed, best smile, and so much fun!! It was a pleasure to help you host your friends and family for the most beautiful evening imaginable. 18 months [RIGHT!?] of planning - SUCH a great end result! Our team was so delighted to support you through the process. Thank you entrusting us with such a special day in your lives. You two are going to accomplish big things together. See ya for the 10 year vow renewal!

Katie!! You are two sweet. THANK YOU for such a kind synopsis of what it was like to host your event here. We are all about the JOY and love celebrated by our couples. It was SO much fun getting to know your family and helping prepare the building for you. You had such an amazing celebration and we were DELIGHTED to be part of it!! Thank you for all of your kindness and laughs throughout the planning process.

Katherine - you are so kind! Your communication skills are amazing and it was an absolute pleasure to work with you through the entire process. Your attention to detail was so appreciated, and we will not forget how beautiful everything was. You two are the CUTEST couple and it's been so fun getting to know you and see your sweet smile around here. We will miss you all and are SO happy for your next adventure as newlyweds!

Holly is an incredible make-up artist. Her attention to detail is absolute perfection. Holly and her team are so incredible to work with! Every client we've ever had who has worked with her has been thrilled. The team are all kind, friendly, talented, and professional. Her artists take the time to really listen to their clients and exceed expectations!

Leah & Co - WHAT a special night you all had! It was our pleasure to help you and your family host an incredible event. You all have been through so much with COVID rescheduling, it was our ABSOLUTE PLEASURE to assist you all and prepare a place for a magical evening.

Lauren - your day was SO special. So many thoughtful touches and such a picture perfect celebration. Your bridal party and family were all so incredible and you are a very blessed and loved lady. We wish you and Tyler ALL the happiness in the world, you two are such a special couple. It was meant to be exactly the way it all happened so that your day could be more intimate and well celebrated. I will never forget seeing you turn coming through the doorway and see Tyler for the first time that day and the well of emotion you felt.

Thank you sweet Tiffany! You are SO talented and incredible. We love it when you are here capturing all of the architectural love that was put into this incredible place.

Amy your light shines SO BRIGHTLY!! Your family took what could have been a heartbreaking situation and made it into the most intimate and special celebration of love for your daughter and son-in-law. It was so special for us to be part of their event. Watching him spin her in the ballroom in her beautiful ballgown was like something out of a Disney movie or a fairytale. The room might as well have been full of family and friends watching - no one even noticed because the two of them were so locked in on each other and so in love.

We are SO grateful for your time with us here! Your event was so thoughtfully planned with every special detail. In all of years as a planner I've never seen a bride walk down the aisle to a song played and written by her groom. What a dream of a lovestory! Thank you for choosing us.

Awe - Alex - it was a dream to have River Run full of guests and watching everyone enjoy themselves so much in celebration of your nuptials. Thank you for bringing your Michigan family here to taste a little bit of the fact that "Virginia is for Lovers!" Cheers to all the leap year anniversaries your life has to offer!! -k

Thank you so much for the very kind words! It was such a pleasure working with your team and we look forward to Catch Motion serving many of our clients in the future. Your artistry with our mutual client was on point and we loved having you all.

And WHAT a weekend it was! You all having the property for the Friday-Sunday experience set the tone for how relaxed everyone was. The catered formal breakfast in the dining room was the cutest! Their enchanting reception dinner overlooking the river was absolutely magical. It was such a pleasure to serve you all and to get to know everyone.

Meghan, It was an absolute pleasure to serve your family. From the first time we all met in person until we sent your gown off for preservation afterward, we just adore you! You are such a breath of fresh are and we are honored to have hosted your friendly guests and all of your wedding fun. We are really accustomed to helping brides from all around the country get married here, but when we've got a Goochland Local Family in the house, we are also so proud! Thank you for taking the time to write this sweet review. We have been so grateful to help you all host both events!

Erin & David - you two are the perfect pair and the most beautiful couple! It was a pleasure to host you both and we were honored that you selected River Run out of all of the venues you could have chosen for your most special day.

Oh Lindsey!! You and Colin are truly the sweetest. It was such a FUN, FUN group. It was such a joy hosting you all and your families. I was just looking at your pictures this week and was reminded about how beautiful your gowns were, how perfect your Hollywood starlet hair was, and how stunning your florals looked. I know we were all surprised by the rain, but the sunset was so magical on the river after the rain - it was worth it for the "fire" in the sky pictures from that night!

You and mom looked like sisters in your incredible gowns. It looked like you both stepped off of a runway show! Thank you for trusting us with hosting your special day.

Courtney, it was such a joy to be a part of your day!! What a perfect and stunning celebration! We loved preparing the property for your and Shyheim - it was such a honor to help you celebrate :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your detailed feedback. We’re truly honored to have been a part of your wedding day and are delighted to hear that you found the property beautiful and well-maintained, and that our team helped make your celebration unforgettable. Your kind words about Kim and the staff mean the world to us.

We also appreciate your thoughtful insights on areas where we can continue to improve. For couples seeking extended time on-site, we do offer, and have always had the option available for Early Access packages that allow for additional hours the day before the wedding. These are commonly used for for drop-offs, setups, rehearsals that need to happen during a specific timeframe, rehearsal dinners, or even a photo session. These options are designed to provide more flexibility for those who want a bit of extra time to settle in or rehearse without overlapping with another event.

To clarify, in the same way we avoid scheduling rehearsals during another couple’s event time, we did not have another event on-site on your wedding day. We understand the importance of feeling fully present and comfortable, and we always strive to create a smooth and personal experience for every couple.

Your comments regarding vendor flexibility are also noted. We are actively expanding our Preferred Vendor List to offer more variety while maintaining the quality and standards that ensure a seamless event for all our couples. We feel it's expressly important to have vendors with flawless success in the industry for many years, with hundreds of weddings under their belts, so clients can be assured they receive the best service. In addition to that, we want them to work at our property multiple times flawlessly before inviting them to join the preferred vendor list.

We’re grateful you chose The Estate at River Run and that the venue supported your vision so beautifully. Your wedding was magical, and we’re so glad we could help bring it to life. We loved working with you and your fabulous parents! The academia theme was beautiful and perfect. Thank you again for your feedback and for sharing your story with us.

Thank you Alisha for sharing your feedback, I know that we also wish things had gone differently leading up to your event to ensure your complete happiness. The shortfall still ultimately falls on the fact that early access for The Estate at River Run was not booked by you all in order to ensure that your tenting dreams could be brought to life for the price point you were willing to spend on the labor that it takes to do so. All of our client’s events are important to us and therefore the opinion of the Friday client not wanting your tent up the day prior to your rental period, during their wedding, also matters. Additionally, our property was booked by that client prior to your initial tour here, and their rental was one of only two dates sold in the month of June at that time. You still made the decision to move forward with the date that paired up to the pre-sold Friday instead of the multiple completely clear June weekend dates that were still available to select from at that time.


Until this specific client, there had never been a concern from anyone else about allowing the occasional Saturday bride’s tents up early on the Summer Court based on the rental delivery company’s schedule. Unfortunately, in this scenario, that was their decision and it was her right to have that opinion. It was still early in your planning process when we determined this would be a potential hiccup to your plan and we are the team that brought it to your attention to begin with. I recall fielding questions about this from you all when I was out of town with my family for Thanksgiving. In order to support you in the best possible ways, I worked to try to help you through the process at the moment you were ready to discuss it. I spoke with the groom, the coordinator you’d hired, the coordinator the Friday client hired, and the Friday client themselves, and then I reached back out again to the groom.


At that time, we even offered to allow you to rebook your date with no penalty to ensure your dreams could become a reality for a timeframe when the rental company was not as busy and you declined.


We did everything in our power to appropriately address this for you all. As the venue, we shouldn’t even have been the one who realized the potential for the hiccup in the first place. Typically, this would be the planner’s responsibility for the client, but since they were only brought in at the end of your process, that wasn’t the case. Once the planner got wind of the situation, she also went above and beyond to serve you because of her relationship with our property.


Additionally, you were given access to our property for 42 additional hours that you did not pay for as a courtesy, to allow us to support you in keeping your rental company pickup costs as low as possible. We turned down two different Sunday events the weekend of your wedding because we didn’t feel we could adequately serve those clients after having your event booked here and you had so many moving parts regarding your rental pickups. Furthermore, despite the way you treated members of our staff and your repeated expressions of frustrations about our property, you were welcomed back after your wedding when you reached out to let us know that your off-list photography vendor didn’t accomplish the list of pictures you’d hoped for.


Again, all of our clients are important to us and we do wish you the best, but I think a number of mistakes were made in the process of planning this event and I’m so saddened that after we answered many, many dozens of emails, and dozens of text messages during the time that you were booked with us that the takeaway you had was negative. Reading your feedback is heartbreaking after all that our entire staff did to serve you and your families during our entire business to client relationship. We wish you two all the best and hope that you find complete happiness.


-Kim Moody (Co-Owner/Director of Events)