This is an unfortunate review to write, because clearly the Summer Star Ranch is a great venue for almost everyone who chooses to have an event there. It is not a great venue if something goes wrong.
My wedding was scheduled for the 13th of July in 2024, which was when the Horse Gulch fire really started popping off and evacuations were in place. We monitored the progression of the fire that week, and at 4:00 pm on the 12th, we chose to call off the event due to health and safety concerns for our loved ones. Summer Star communicated with us throughout the week and said it was still safe to hold the wedding, despite the only road to the ranch being blocked to the public and the fire being only a few miles away. We strongly disagreed given the unpredictability of forest fires and the air quality data my husband (an air quality specialist for the state of Montana) reviewed. We were unwilling to put the lives of 170 people in harm's way. It's crazy to me that they were willing to take that risk.
During the phone call in which I informed Matt that we were not comfortable proceeding at Summer Star, he assured me they would fairly reimburse us. As it was the evening before my wedding, which I had to switch to a new venue (Shoutout to Great Divide for saving us last minute!), I did not have the time or mental capacity to nail down details. I really wish I had. They offered us a $1000 refund, to which we countered $3500 (still LESS THAN HALF of the $7500 we paid them to do absolutely nothing). After ghosting us for 4 months, they responded to a legal letter with the following: "Should you pursue legal action or in any way disparage Summer Star Ranch, we will not hesitate to seek costs and take action to protect the financial stability and reputation of our Ranch." That sounds an awful lot like a threat to keep us quiet.
Due to other unfortunate life circumstances, we didn't have the energy to pursue anything further. We had signed a contract and would probably spend more on lawyers than it was worth. So, they were paid $7500 for an event that did not take place, ghosted us when we tried to get less than half back, and threatened us. They're not native Montanans and leave the state during the winter, so I guess they have less stake in the community, so maybe I was naive to expect more from a business run by people like that.
Separate from all of that, Starr's communication isn't great. I had to double text/email multiple times to get pictures or information that she said she would send for planning purposes before the wedding. I think it's worth mentioning given it's the only experience I had with their standard operating procedures and it was still subpar service.
I have never felt so small and taken advantage of as I have in this horrible experience. Proceed with caution. read more