The Retreat at Balcones Springs Reviews

The Retreat made our entire weekend incredible. Starting on Friday we hosted a Welcome Dinner & Smores After Party. The food at the Welcome Dinner was delicious and the venue set everything up seamlessly. The Smores After Party was a really fun way to spend time with our loved ones and enjoy those summer camp vibes. On Saturday we had a little bit of weather and the venue quickly adjusted and made our ceremony inside beautiful. Lexie our coordinator went above and beyond on everything and we had no clue when there were mishaps. The crab cakes were incredible - hats to the Chef.

Most importantly, the venue is super dog friendly so our guys were able to be apart of our big day.

If you are thinking about getting married here, don't think any further. Just do it. You won't be disappointed.

When our daughter got engaged we considered several Austin area venues but with so many guests coming from out of town we quickly knew we wanted a whole weekend with our family and friends. The Retreat at Balcones Springs ticked ALL the boxes and more! The entire property has the most beautiful setting options for every need especially for a wedding ceremony, the accommodations were luxurious and comfortable, each meal (and snack) was savory and delicious and the staff was so kind and accommodating. The final ingredient was all the FUN options of things to do! From the lake activities, late night bonfires, scenic hikes, beach, skeet shooting, tennis, pickle ball, basketball, but the highlight was the ZIP LINE across lake Ted! So many of our guests took the plunge! The Retreat worked with us as we navigated scheduling and re-rescheduling a COVID wedding. We were able to hold all our weekend events at the Retreat including the rehearsal dinner which helped minimize transportation and logistics issues. The COVID and safety protocols enabled all our guests to have a healthy enjoyable weekend! The staff saw to our every need and enabled us true quality time with so many friends and loved ones. More importantly, the amazing wedding coordinator Jennifer worked well with our vendors to help our daughter and son in law have the most beautiful, stress free JOY filled wedding celebration! She was on top of every detail! I highly recommend The Retreat at Balcones Springs if you want a special place for any event or wedding. The special memories we made with new and old friends and as families celebrating the love of this incredible bride and groom were truly priceless. The feedback we have received is that this was the most beautiful, enjoyable and fun wedding they have ever been to! Thank you to Christine, Jennifer and all the staff at The Retreat at Balcones Springs for helping create the weekend of a lifetime!

My sister had a beautiful fall wedding weekend here. It took a while to find a venue to host 100+ guests for the weekend but Balcones Springs was the PERFECT place. We stayed Thursday - Sunday and spend time at the lake, shooting range, fire pits, and so many other great spots around the property. I can't even begin to tell you how kind the staff is and how delicious the food was!!!! SO hard to find a venue with great food, staff and amenities. The whole family + all the guests are STILL raving about the weekend.

Amazing staff, stunning venue, incredible food!! You can’t go wrong. This place is unique and charming. It has a certain magic to it that will make your wedding unforgettable to your guests. Look no further!

My wedding at the Retreat at Balcones Springs was everything I could ask for! The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. The weekend was completely customized for our fusion Indian-American wedding, and full of fun activities. The menu was tasty with plenty of thoughtful vegetarian options. The team was very helpful and easy to work with. My only small complaint would be that several of my guest had trouble when calling to book the rooms for the weekend.

We don't have the words to explain how absolutely perfect our wedding weekend at the Retreat was. We wanted a camp weekend feel and the Retreat gave us a wedding beyond our wildest dreams. Guests even commended that they wish they had had their wedding there!

But the real reason the weekend was so perfect was because of the absolutely incredibly hardworking staff. Our coordinators, Caitlyn and Jennifer, went ABOVE AND BEYOND to ensure that the whole weekend was seamless. From making creative chalkboard signs for guests to grab their gifts to bringing us hors d'oeuvres while we took photos during cocktail hour knowing that we would miss it but not wanting to tell us since we wanted to make it, they took SUCH great care of us and every single guest. I'm a fairly type A person but I had total and complete faith in them to execute everything beautifully and perfectly and they did just that. By the end of the weekend, we felt we had made true friends and were so sad to leave.

You can truly feel how much each staff person personally cares about every guest's experience and are always looking out on how they can help someone. Also, the food was absolutely amazing!!! The chef was SO accommodating and not only made every recipe we proposed but added extra details to make the food exceptional. They have so many options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and made sure that there was something for every palate.

I could go on and on but you will not regret having your wedding at the Retreat. Christine and her entire operation have it down to a science and we wouldn't have changed a thing and know we will be back there for one of their own events because it is SUCH a special place!!!

The Retreat has been such a pleasure to work with. They have helped every step of the way and have had great recommendations for our big day. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone!

I celebrated my wedding at Balcones almost exactly a month ago and all I can say is that I would repeat the entire experience in a heartbeat. I have actually received multiple emails from guests saying they've never experienced a wedding like it and that they had an amazing time.

I understand a bit of the negative nature of previous reviews because the planner that we originally worked with did drop the ball on several details. If you are considering this place for your wedding though please know that that will not be the case now. Eric, the planner who took over our wedding when there were issues, was incredible. He was calling myself, my mother and my mother in law at all hours of the day (in a good way) to make sure he fixed any issues we were having and confirmed every detail of the weekend. The night of the wedding he would magically appear next to me to make sure everything happened that I had said I wanted, when I wanted.

We had a lot of custom decorations which required that almost a room of boxes be stored at the Retreat and they didn't blink an eye. They helped us to set everything up and made sure we were never stressed throughout the weekend.

Finally, in terms of the property and lodging, I think if you are considering this venue then you are looking for a specific type of wedding - one that is close knit and relaxed (although the party can definitely be formal). I was very surprised to read complaints about the lodging because we could not have been happier with it. The beds have memory foam toppers and the decor couldn't be cuter. I had people of all ages and my grandmother even said she slept wonderfully.

Balcones is a wonderful place to have a wedding and it gives you a chance to enjoy en entire weekend with your guests which very few other venues can say. The owner and current staff are wonderful and I 100% recommend this location for your special weekend.

I cannot say enough great things about The Retreat at Balcones Springs. Samantha, our onsite wedding coordinator is a true gem. She has such a calming, confident demeanor. She & her staff provided a truly memorable weekend for our guests. Our group filled all 42 cabins both nights and had a fabulous time. Great food all weekend & everyone loved skeet shooting, zip lining, fishing & volleyball as well as attending a fun rehearsal dinner, beautiful wedding ceremony & reception. The food was great & the staff is so accommodating. We were truly fortunate to find this unique venue.

Exceeded expectations for out daughters wedding. We visited during camp session so it was hard to visualize, but a gorgeous November wedding venue. The staff just magically make things happen. Very sweet and detailed wedding coordinator. Lots of options and places to host rehearsal dinner, meals, wedding and reception. Our guest loved staying there and enjoyed the great food. A must see for brides considering a Hillcountry wedding.

If I could give 10 stars for each category, I would! It's a hidden gem in the Texas Hill Country. I can't tell you how many guests have told us it was, "the best wedding they've ever been too!" What a complement! The staff was amazing, the owner was hands on and our wedding coordinator was a DREAM! I'm an event planner for a living, so I had high expectations and every request I had was answered with "no problem" and a smile! They made our wedding WEEKEND a dream come true! This place had endless options - use your imagination and create you very own special wedding memory!

My wedding experience with the Retreat at Balcones Springs was absolutely amazing!!! I had the wedding of my dreams. There was not one thing that they missed. I don't think they ever told me no to any of the requests I made. What a joy it was working with the staff.

Balcones Springs was a FANTASTIC place to have my wedding. I was incredibly pleased with everything from the food to the service.

Balcones Springs was the ideal place for us to have our wedding. We had a pretty young crew, coming from all over the country. We currently live in Houston, and we'd debated about having the event in one of our home towns (Kentucky or Colorado) - but for ease of planning, we opted to get married near Austin, and we stumbled upon Balcones in a google search.

From our initial emails with Courtney (their wedding coordinator), all the way through the actual event - Balcones Springs was an incredible location! Our event was in early March, and the grounds looked great. The staff was out planting flowers by the stairs where I'd walk down the aisle... on the morning of the wedding! It was that type of attention to detail that was carried out for the entire wedding weekend.

The accomodations, etc were great -- the cabins for the guests were adorable, clean, and well-maintained. Chef Marko was awesome! I'm a vegetarian, and he went above-and-beyond to make sure the food was great for ALL the guests (including one special gluten-free plate at every meal for one of our folks).

I would absolutely recommend Balcones to anyone! They're great!

The retreat at Balcones Springs gave us everything we were looking for. The site was beautiful, fun, and relaxing. The service was excellent. The staff, especially Courtney Rhode, made all of the events at our wedding and reception appear effortless. Our out-of-state guests fell in love with Texas, and our just-in-from-Austin guests felt like they had a vacation. I recommend this place HIGHLY.

We loved this Balcones Springs because all of our guests could spend the weekend so we had more time to spend with all of them. We heard many people say it was the best wedding they had been to and we felt that way too. It was absolutely beautiful and the staff is incredible.

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