Rancho Las Lomas — Local services in Rancho Santa Margarita

I recently came to Rancho Las Lomas for a wine event, and my first impression was that the property is very beautiful, but as I walked the property I became very upset.

I can see why people want to have weddings at this event but I would advise against that until the owners find new homes for the poor animals on this property. They have a handful of animals that are in VERY small enclosures/cages/pens. The worst of it was the white tiger named Lilly, the zookeeper said that she was limping because of a surgery to fix her paw from being de clawed. Lilly looked so sad and cooped up in such a small cage, and she was limping a bit.

I also felt really bad for the zebras small pen and some of the various other animals. But the tiger's cage really bothered me the most, and on the way home my boyfriend found Rancho's instagram page and there he was led to a instagram page about Lilly and her unfortunate situation.

We did our research on Lilly and found out that she still has this great opportunity to go to a wonderful big cat sanctuary that offers her SO much room and great medical care but the owners at Rancho Las Lomas don't want to give her away because she brings in money for their wedding's.

So with that being said, I hope that whoever is reading this review will have the compassion to not support this venue for their wedding until they find homes for at least Lilly if not ALL the animals on the property. This venue is gorgeous and doesn't need animals being exploited to have beautiful weddings. I hope the owners of Rancho reads this and realizes that Lilly is such a beautiful animal and should have the opportunity to roam free in a sanctuary that focuses solely on Lilly and not to bring in money for their weddings. You would be doing an amazing thing for Lilly and the public would be so grateful to you.

Please don't support this venue until the owners do the honorable thing and release the white tiger to the amazing sanctuary...

I am responding to a post regarding Lily the Tiger that resides on the property. I would be the first to encourage people to stay away IF it seemed they were harming any animals on the property, but that just does not appear to be the case. Further research reveals that Lilly came to them as a youngster that was being used as a photo attraction by a foreign company. Tragically someone getting their picture taken didn't make it out of the experience alive and the foreign company that ran the operation was shut down...leaving a handful of these declawed cats displaced. That is how Lily came to live at the property, as a rescue. The initial de clawing surgery Lily had when under the care of the foreign company was flawed and in order to help Lily, Rancho Los Lomas asked another surgeon to evaluate her to see what could be done to IMPROVE her condition. (Instead of walking on her whole paw pad, she was just using the back of her pad which limited he mobility and caused discomfort to her). Its not exactly fair to demonize Rancho los Lomas for the fact they took in a cat that had received a flawed surgery, while not in their care and are nice enough to attempt to fix it for her. Also very few sanctuaries that are open to big cats are ideal for declawed cats, because in a typical animal social environment there will still be power struggles and a declawed cat obviously cannot defend itself from aggression...

First off, if you are reading this and looking at Rancho Las Lomas as a potential venue congrats on the engagement! If you have been to this venue you know how amazingly magical it is. My husband and I were lucky enough to have our wedding reception here last August and it was more amazing than anything we could have dreamed of. The 24 carrots staff was very responsive and extremely helpful throughout the process. We were married in a church and transferred to the venue for the reception, but by the time we got there the venue looked amazing. The staff at the venue helped to coordinate all of our vendors and made sure we had all items arranged and ready to go prior to the big day. Having all of the space at this venue is fantastic to create different areas for every event you are looking for on your big day. It certainly did not disappoint and we still have so many of our guest complimenting how amazing the venue was. I will say with all the good, there are some things to be aware of before booking with the venue. You are required to use 24 carrots for catering, they require all vendors to have insurance, you are required to have at least a day of wedding coordinator, and they do provide a valet service for the day of your event, but there is only one vendor you can use and you are at the mercy of the company on cost which caught us a little off guard. Hope this helps in making...