Lone Oak RV Ranch & Retreat — Hotel in Gainesville

A year before my wedding I reserved my date with Lone Oak Ranch and Retreat. Around January (6 months before the wedding) we asked if the chef could get in touch with us, no response, we assumed that they were busy, and told my now husband we shouldn't worry yet. 4 months to the wedding we called and asked why nobody was returning our emails and that we would like to set up the tasting. That's when we were told that the entire staff had left. The coordinator, the camp leaders, and the chef. I was appalled that they never thought it relevant to call and let us know. So now 3 months until the wedding we were able to meet the coordinator. She was nice, but told us she had no experience. She had never worked with weddings before and also had no record of our wedding. She had a date and names along with an invoice. No notes, no details, no nothing, so we had to go over the entire wedding again. We set up a date to go meet and have another tasting for the reception with the new chef. We showed up, the entire venue was dark, nobody was on the property. We attempted to call and email the chef but there was no response. We were furious, and set up a meeting with the owner Brian. He apologized and sweet talked us into staying with them as a venue. Come time for the wedding, we had everything set up. The rehearsal was set for 5 and dinner at 6. After we finished the rehearsal around 5:45 we went to the pool house where nothing was set up. The coordinator told the chef that our dinner was at 7. So they were rushing to get things ready, while we sat and waited. Oh did I mention that we couldn't have the rehearsal in the chapel because nobody turned on the air? And that my aunt was stung by a wasp trying to open a window. So when we went to the ballroom to have it there, we noticed how stained and filthy the tablecloths were. So we had to tell maintenance to make sure those were cleaned. The day of the wedding ( I never saw the coordinator until moments before the ceremony, and that includes the rehearsal ) I was getting ready, and I received an email from the coordinator with a timeline for the day. Everything was off by 15 minutes, and out of order. My florist and family friend had been handling the wedding coordinating for me since the one at lone oak was never present. Come time for dinner, everyone was served, and we were introduced. We had a plate and drink set up on our table for us. We mingled with some guests only to come back with no food. I thought well that's alright because they said they would box up food for us to eat that night after the wedding because the bride and groom rarely get to eat. That never happened. Well when guests went up for seconds, there was no food to be found. They had already taken everything out and what they did with the food we paid for, we may never know. Our best man ( of legal age ) wanted to bring a few beers to toast with, we were never told that alcohol was never allowed. We originally had a bar set up, but when the staff situation occurred we decided to get rid of it. After our best man brought this in, the coordinator ( who I hadn't seen since directly before the ceremony ) came up to ME, just me, and told me that if the alcohol wasn't removed from the property "actions would be taken". Her reasoning was that there was no security guard. Little did she know a state trooper was one of the guests at the wedding, so security of the alcohol was not an issue. I agreed though and told our best man to just remove it, so that we wouldn't be thrown out of our own wedding. The coordinator then disappeared for the rest of the evening. I learned that this was the wedding coordinators last week at lone oak, reasons are still unknown to me.I rate this "venue" 2 out of 5, due only to the beautiful land. I have no bad words to say about Randy the chef, or April the first coordinator, or Ben one of the kind workers there. I hope for people to avoid this place as a wedding venue, I'm sure the camps are fun, but as a wedding venue it is a...

The two stars are simply for the chapel and scenery. That is the only thing this place has going for them as a wedding venue! This is by far the most poorly mismanaged venue I've ever seen. After securing the date for this venue, my daughter was never informed that the entire staff quit, all around the same time frame, less than three months before the wedding. It took me contacting the former planner on facebook, after no communication to find out.(Their website is also outdated with information about the previous employers.) Once finally reaching the owner, he assured us he had new staff, and things would be taken care of. My daughter planned another food tasting with the new "chef" a former WinStar COOK. We drove out, and he never showed, and never bothered to call or email. It was at this point we arranged a meeting with the owner/manager Brian Manhart. We were planning to get the deposit returned and searching for another venue. (Even though we had less than three months to do so.) He assured us that the cook was on his way out and described him having affairs with the staff and others as a reason to terminate him. He assured my daughter that the previous chef Randy would be returning even if he had to cut pay somewhere. Randy is the only saving grace as his food is superb! He then told us about the "wedding planner/coordinator" he hired. We found out she had ZERO experience, but he hired her, and hired her family to be housekeeping and grounds maintenance. She never communicated with my daughter. Each time my daughter had to call her, and she never returned calls. When my daughter tried to arrange a time to meet with her she couldn't. The day of the rehearsal, the air conditioner in the chapel was "supposed" to be turned on at 7am, but never was. It was 97 degrees! One of the guests was stung by a wasp when trying to open a window. When one of the bridesmaids walked up the hill and asked the owner to come down and answer some questions about it and help get it cool, he said No, and handed her his business card telling them to call him if they needed anything. ( Yeah, we need ypi to get your ass down here and fix this!) Then sent a newly hired 16 year old kid to handle it. The rehearsal location had to be moved to the ballroom where the reception was being held. Then we noticed the stained table linens. The grooms guest house wasn't cleaned until late in the evening because the "planner" thought her mother had already cleaned it. There was trash overflowing, globs of jelly on the floor, just slept in unmade beds, and the floors throughout were disgusting. In the brides guest house the fridge had long expired milk and beer in the fridge, and only three towels. The maid of honor had to drive to get towels and washcloths for everyone. The timeline was completely wrong three different times, the layout for the reception was wrong the day of the wedding, even though the "planner" was given specifics on the layout. The day we met her was right after she was hired, she gave my daughter a layout of someone else's wedding because she didn't have their file, it didn’t exist. She was corrected then. When my daughter called her the week before the wedding she went down the list of the timeline, layout, etc. She assured her that she had everything in order. She didn't! The morning of the wedding she told me that she set up the head table for the bridal party, and I had to tell her it was NEVER supposed to be a bridal party table, but a sweetheart table. I asked her to change it, but she said she could remove the extra chairs and that was it, because even though they had a smaller table they didn't have linens for it. So my daughter and her husband had the two person bench that was special made for this occasion, at a long table for 20. Brian never once showed his face throughout the entire wedding weekend. The "planner" drove my daughter and I into a ditch driving to the chapel when the wedding began causing us to violently...

Pros: Great location away from busy roads. Beautiful view from the cabin. Private residence attached to room had a great table outside and cute hanging lights. We had a small table and dirty plastic chairs. Great porch size.||Cons: Parking signs were confusing and in the end we couldn't park close to the cabin. I don't know why, looked like there was room. Stayed in the Cowboy room. Movie set theme contributed to confusion. Since there was not a place to eat on the property if you are just there for a hotel room, the kitchenette was important. (Also far from town on a twisty road, not good in the pitch black at night.) We were told everything you will need is in the room. Beds for four people, but ONE plate, bowl, coffee cup. NO utensils and one small sauce pot. Small fridge that didn't work and big fridge that was cold but leaked. Inadequate curtains on french door let sunrise in, so up early every morning. Coffee pot very questionable, I refused to use it. I could have brought items if I had known. Girl booking my room asked another employee what was in the room. I could hear her say "Everything you need". NOT! Horses were not available to ride, although we did fish (catch and release). Dresser smelled funny, left my clothes in the suitcase. No chairs in the cabin or table, but plenty of room for one. Would have added greatly to my family's comfort. Choose...