Rancho Cielito Lindo — Attraction in Bishop

I truly wish I would be writing a good review about this place! It has so much potential. As you can see with the reviews several years back, it has great reviews, but like with any business, people can get lazy and just tired and lose pride in their product. I believe this is sadly what's happened here. The chapel is beautiful. The hall is beautiful. However, it's the details that just resulted in a poor overall experience. I was one of the event coordinators for this wedding. We met with Leslie and our bride. We did a walk through and went over pricing. We asked about the walkway to the chapel. It was barren. There were no flowers that were in the photos on their website. So we asked, and she said, "Oh yes, of course, there will be flowers there. It's just been really hot, and we don't want to plant any until closer to the event." Great! So, two weeks before the event, we met out there and asked again about the flowers. She said, "Of course, yes! There will be flowers there. Keep in mind that if she said we won't be planting flowers, we wouldn't have gone and looked for another venue... we just simply would've prepared for it. This is where the main pictures and memories take place on your wedding day. Fast forward to the day before the wedding. Leslie was out of town, and we were told, "Per their contract, they can make any changes to the venue that they want." The lady standing in for Leslie said she agreed with our concerns and she would go get flowers herself and plant them, and then later came and told us she was not allowed to per Leslie's instruction. So we had to scramble at the last minute to find a solution. Then, the concrete to the chapel was caked with mud. We asked Leslie to communicate throughout the planning process with us the event coordinators, but she simply would not respond to us. She would answer our questions directly to the bride as if she were speaking to us. This caused the bride to be unnecessary stress. She would take ages to get back with the simplest of request....like what the measurements of the walkway were. When we went to look at the seating layout at the venue two weeks before....we pointed out the abundance of wasps all over the property. She again told us they'd be taken care of. The day before the wedding we got there and they were not gone. So we spoke with the people there, and they told us it would be taken care of. On the day of the wedding, we noticed the wasps were still really bad, and we told them about it. They said they don't treat the wasps until the day of, and they "treated" them that day. Due to their lack of caring for these, a bridesmaid was stung on the foot during the ceremony, and one of our workers were stung during setup. When I say they were everywhere, I mean everywhere. They were right above the heads of the bride and groom during the ceremony. All around the hall. Outside the restrooms. We requested to have access to the property to set up the day before. She said she didn't know if that was possible, but she'd let us know. We had a lot of decor to set up. The usual alloted time is 8 am the day of the event. She text us and said we could get in the day before from 1 to 6. At 4 one of her workers came in and told us we had to leave. We showed her the message where Leslie said we could stay. She loudly and angrily said, "This is why we don't let people come in the day before!" Mind you, we rented basically every available room they had, so it's not like we were being cheap. We had the entire package. Now on to the rooms we rented. The wedding suite was soooooo dark our make up and hair people had to bring in lighting and had to work on us near windows. It wasn't from lack of lighting options it was from lack of light bulbs. Every lamp and TV were unplugged. There were no shower curtains in the showers. Tops bunks had no sheets. The door to two rooms that I know of would not shut unless you manually lifted the door and pulled it closed. There is more but I reached...

Before I start complaining about this awful place. The wedding was unforgettable. The actual hall was beautiful. As far as the coordinator Leslie and her family that we worked with.....they were rude and their word means nothing. At our 1st meeting we went over everything and from March to July, we were told that they were going plant flowers down the walk way to the chapel like the photos in the website. The excuse was "oh those are winter flowers"( so don't get married in the summer) and that was very important to the bride. Even up to the Monday before the wedding Leslie promised flowers. The day before during our rehearsal we find out that they made a decision not to have them. Their excuse was that it was too hot. Leslie's sister even said she would go get some flowers and plant them that morning so we could have something else besides ground cover. We were told that per our contract, they had the right to change anything at their bidding, even after we were promised. So that is why Leslie's word means nothing. Not cool!!!!! The wasp and bees were everywhere. We were told they would spray but they were out of wasp spary and they had to get more. I am not sure if they sprayed too the morning of, but one of the brides maids were stung during the ceremony. Also I was stung that evening at reception. The outdoor areas were filthy. A person could go and sweep or use a blower. There was grass clipping all over the dance floor and dirt and dust all over the chapel. It is just not maintained. I just feel like the upkeep on the area is not maintained at all. I have so many complaints about cleaning it's ridiculous. One of the worst things was Leslie would constantly bombard and bully the bride with phone calls. The bride had 2 wedding planners that would try and contact her by email, text and phone calls but she would not return correspondence to them only to the bride. That is so messed up. As for the rental units they lack towel bars, towel ring, shower curtains, lighting in the shower, toiletries. The price we paid per room should at least have these simple things. I just feel like the prices that were paid for accommodation was way to expensive for what you get. The room decor was nice it was just lacking the simple things you would expect at a hotel. A few doors to the rental unit were impossible to close , you would have to pick up at door handle and/or slam it. I think that if the family that owns the property would take time and walk around and see these things from our perspective, they would change things hopefully. If you rent from this place for your special day make them put what they have agreed to in writing so you have the same recourse they have on you. The day you do the walk thru is when they start making promises and then the day of the wedding they say our contract says we have the right to change anything. So for your security make them put what you have talked about in the contract or in writing. We were told we had so many hours before to decorate and they were trying to make us leave 2 hours earlier and because I had a text from Leslie they had to honor it. Also the hall can't adequately cool for more than maybe 150 people. With all those bodies and coming In and out the doors.....it...

I got married here this past weekend, November 16th, and it was the best experience of my life so far. Lesli was great and quick to respond to all of our questions, concerns, or requests. There were 1 or 2 hiccups, including not being allowed to throw artificial flower petals and no outside food or drinks into the reception hall area, but they were still accommodating and their rules were understandable for their ability to continue working as a venue. They still allowed us to bring in pizzas for the kids to eat. It was a bit pricey but not the most expensive venue on the market. We decorated ourselves and probably ended up spending more than if we went through them. The food was pricey as well(about $22.50/plate) but it tasted great, was cooked there on site, and we had multiple compliments on it. To wrap this up, I was definitely not disappointed. Almost every guest we had complimented us on how beautiful the place was. Probably the only major issue we had was the lack of restroom access. We had lines built up on occasion, but everything else went perfectly. Obviously on wedding days, things will occasionally go wrong, but nothing went wrong with RCL. They definitely made the day less stressful for my wife...