Raven Glacier Lodge

"Cathy + crew gave myself and my (now) wife the most perfect evening we could have ever hoped for! Raven Glacier Lodge truly screams “Alaska” from the food to the atmosphere, and was a great way to introduce our guests to our lovely state. Keeping in mind this place is owned by a party of one, the occasional delays in communication are easily forgiven in my mind. Our wedding went off without a hitch, and I have zero complaints. Putting the planning of your happiest day entirely in someone else’s hands can be worrisome, as it was at times for us. But Cathy takes a lot of pride in what she does, holds herself, her crew (all a pleasure to chat with), and her venue to the highest of standards, and will do nothing less than her best. P.S. The food - Specifically the Curried moose meatballs are to DIE for. I wish I could have taken a bucket home with me"

"Run. It’s a tempting venue – beautiful lodge, great food, and lovely scenery. However, it is far outweighed by the shady business practices and controlling management. First of all, she will refuse to use contracts. This allows her to call hours before the event begins and give you the final price. The final price in this case was $2000 more than she had last said. She also informed the bride, again, hours before the rehearsal that there was a mandatory $2000 tip to be paid in cash for her staff. It is unacceptable to treat people this way with no notice. Smaller gripes: • She is terrified of people getting drunk. Cocktails are only allowed for one hour, and the bartender watered down the recipes to the point a 14-year old couldn’t get buzzed on them. Additionally, we were informed if anyone threw up anywhere on the property, the bride and groom would be charged extra. • Cathy lives at the venue and stayed in the room the bride and groom had. When we arrived, the room was not accessible for several hours as she cleaned up. The sink in the room didn’t work. • She gladly told everyone that her mother died in hospice at the venue. Not exactly what you want to hear about during your wedding weekend. • There are no blinds in the bedrooms and the string lights in front of the windows stayed on all night. Not ideal during the summer in Alaska when it never gets dark. Additionally, felt uncomfortable changing in my room given the lack of privacy. • Food was delicious but consistently very late. Like, up to two hours late. • Cathy very much wants your day to be her day too. Constantly soliciting compliments on the food, going against your wishes to make announcements, and talking about how great her property is."

"Future potential bookings, please read: I attended my cousins wedding recently. The place was beautiful and the food was great, we thought we were in for a great night. Unfortunately, that was far from the case. The day of the wedding, the owner of the venue was requesting a hidden cost of $1,500 dollars in gratuity before the wedding ever started. She contacted the bride 3 times before breakfast in regards to the hidden cost. I have no bone to pick in the fight, but this was incredibly unprofessional. Her workers were incredibly unprofessional and rude. If you are thinking about choosing this venue for your wedding, I would highly reconsider."

"We just attended a wedding at this venue and not only was it stunning, the food was also phenomenal - the best catering I’ve had. The owner was personable and the wedding went off without a hitch. We flew in just to attend the wedding and i could not imagine a more fairytale setting for a wedding!"

"I'm giving Raven Glacier Lodge 4 stars only because of the venue itself. The grounds are beautiful, it was just the perfect setting for our wedding. Utterly magical. However. Cathy, the owner, is very hard to communicate with and we couldn't ever nail her down to get specific details hashed out until literal days before the wedding. All the food she makes is homemade, and it was decent, but she did not follow the dietary restrictions we not only told her about on her "Master List", but we told her right before the wedding as well. One of my guests had to leave as they had an allergic reaction because no ingredients were listed with any of her food. Some of my guests couldn't even eat because they couldn't have the food she served, or Cathy took the food away so fast some people didn't get a chance to get anything. She blamed all this on us of course. Second, due to the poor communication and lack of any sort of contract, Cathy could never give us an end price until the day before the wedding. In total we paid $15k, and I really believe this venue was not worth it. She also told us she usually quotes between $10k-30k. She originally quoted us $7k-12k. Cathy does want your day to be the best day and she gives her all, but it's HER all. The staff helping her are fantastic and do what they can to make your experience great but Cathy has strong opinions about how weddings should go and how things should be run. So be prepared to have to fight for what you want, or just roll with the changes as they come. I don't like reading the reviews where people "complain" but I want future brides to be prepared. I wish I had been."