We had our wedding here in 2015 and it was magical. The location and the trees were everything I had dreamed of for our special day. It is not for anyone who cares about upscale furnishings or is fussy. We are pretty easy when it comes to accommodations, we don't mind sleeping on the floor if need be :P for us the most important part was a place that could accommodate 150 for the ceremony and reception and be available for any and all to crash the night. This was it! We had about 90 people crash the night (camping, cabins, and bunkhouses). We had a caterer who brought in their own BBQ rig for the dinner and we danced into the night. We had a campfire and made ample use of the hot tub and sauna. Next morning we used the kitchen and my father-in-law made arepas for all the overnight guests. It was just lovely! They did all clean-up and provided plenty of chairs. It was a little difficult for some the of the older folks to navigate. You cannot accommodate anyone who is not able to climb a minimum of 3 stairs. We've talked about holding another party here in the future because it was so easy to coordinate with Bob and we had such an amazing time. It's about the best deal you can get for such a long period of time to accommodate so many people. We had access to the place for the 30-hr deal and it was cheaper than most of the places I found in SF even though they ranged from 4-8 hours. read more

Laurel Mill Lodge is totally cool. It was exactly what we wanted for our wedding (summer 2007). We got everything we wanted and more: our choice of caterer, our own wine and beer (they didn't allow booze which was okay, we had plenty of wine!), ability to spend more than 4 hours with friends and family, beautiful setting for the ceremony, dance floor, not making your guests drive home drunk after your party...no other venue offered all this. We rented the place for the Fri - Sunday package. We had our rehearsal dinner Friday night (inside the lodge), the wedding and ceremony Saturday (out in the meadow) and a nice big brunch Sunday (up on the deck) before heading out. I loved that friends and family all got to stay on location so we got the spend the whole weekend with them. So many weddings we've been to you go through all the trouble to get there and then you watch the ceremony, have dinner, maybe dance and are lucky if you get a chance to congratulate your friends. Our caterer stayed the whole weekend and did all the food in the kitchen there without issue (we rented a Uhaul and brought all the food, flowers and stuff with us). We also hired 2 extra staff through the lodge for help during the reception. We hired a great driver (need to find his name) to shuttle people from the 2 big hotels on the summit so that parking didn't get too crazy and so anyone intimidated by the mountain road could park at the Inn at Pasatiempo or the Hilton Scotts Valley. He drove a 20 person shuttle (and we brought a uhaul) so the person complaining about the narrow road must have a really huge car. The cushy cabins are rustic and comfortable. They have king sized beds and running water, bathrooms, heat. Nicely tucked into the redwoods. Very quiet and peaceful. They each have a nice deck so you can enjoy the woods. The other cabins are more camp style - bunkbeds, no bathrooms. Fine for easy going people or those who drank too much! Some friends also brought their own tents and camped in the meadow. We had a big camp fire and enjoyed the jacuzzi and gorgeous night (meteor shower and all!) until wee hours of the morning. It isn't the place for everyone, but it was perfect for us and I'm sure many others. It would be really nice for a family reunion or that type of event too. Yay camp! read more

Wow! I had the great pleasure of working with Laurel Mill Lodge in September 2012. I was working as a wedding event coordinator at this very remote site in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Bob, the owner, and his crew were very helpful and were happy to do anything that I asked of them. The site is absolutely beautiful. Whether you are looking to do an event (i.e. wedding) here or just want to come here to rent a cabin for the weekend, it was an incredible experience. The cabins and dormitories were very clean and very rustic. What a great escape this place was! People do need to keep in mind that this isn't some high-class resort in the mountains. It is very much mountain-living. It is what you make of it. Everyone at the wedding had an incredible time and I was very glad that I could count on Bob and his crew to make sure everything was perfect for the event. The bride and groom that I worked with (who are actually friends of mine) wanted a pretty detailed wedding with all the bells and whistles. It was spectacular! Keep in mind though, most of it will be work you will need to put in yourself in this very remote destination. Everything must be catered in (there is a full kitchen onsite), along with décor and linens (tables and chairs were provided). There is electricity available for anything you might need. We had a full dance party on the dance floor, a guitar with amp for the ceremony, and a homemade photo booth built under the lodge. This wedding was not lacking. If you think you want to have a very rustic, mountain wedding in a beautiful setting, this place is worth checking out! My entire group wants to go back just for a weekend getaway in the mountains! Oh and did I mention they have an outdoor 10-person hot tub onsite!? And a fire pit for an amazing after party. One of the best weddings I have ever been to, and so glad that I could be a part of it! read more

Three words...Big Bad Bob. I'll give these folks credit for making a go of paying for their lifestyle of choice in a creative way, but um, wow. Yes, it is in the Santa Cruz mountains so we expecting a bit of a hippie vibe, but hippie still requires some basics. The road is very narrow and poorly maintained and there is a point so narrowed by trees that I would expect it makes it difficult for a car larger than a sedan to get through. The kitchen is far from heath code and lets just say the whole place isn't handicap accessible. But hey, if you want to truck in your BBQ, and will only have your able bodied friends and family who want to rough it, you might have a grand old time. read more

I got married here last summer and it mostly rocked. We wanted a venue where we could bring lots of family and friends to a beautiful place and have them stay the night, so we rented out all the cabins, bunkrooms and also had people camp in the meadow. If you want to do everything yourself, I'd highly recommend Laurel Mill Lodge. It's not entirely equipped for a real, perfectly choreographed wedding but it's A-OK for a fun wedding. read more

My daughter got married at Laurel Mill Lodge last weekend and everything everyone said about the place good and bad is true - including BIG BAD BOB. - He gets in my book o stars. My daughter loves him and laughs at all his jokes. She is a sweeter, better person than I am. I live abroad and was only in California for the week before the wedding and did not see the place until three hours before guests were to arrive for the rehearsal barbeque we were SHOCKED at meeting BOB and the condition of the lodge - and the lodge itself was very dirty. Since my daughter, the bride, was paying a ton of my money to rent the entire camp - I made them cleanup the lodge before she arrived - which they did and made them air out the cabins and make sure everything was clean. they had some hlepers and they did hustle. If they are selling this place for a - wedding venue they MUST remodel the lodge and and at least have a hook on the wall to hang up the wedding dress. They need to provide a proper bridal dressing room - The cabins are rustic- but the great thing was people could stay the weekend and really have fun. I was put off at first by the uni sex showers - but we had 70 people and no problem. Inside the shower room there are three seperate shower cabins so you can dress and undress in privacy and I never saw anyone else in there. This did not turn out to be a problem There is a special guest room in the lodge that has an attached full bathroom with a shower for the handicapped - my sister stayed there. INDOOR FACILITIES - 2 starsthe younger crowd - I crashed at 2;00 AM and th OUTDOORS Now-the outdoors is spectacular- This is the reason why anyo was a great it with ne would bother. My daughter had the place transformed with outdoor lighting. There is a wonderful band stand and dance floor and a camp fire piit all in different areas, plus the wedding stage. Plus there is a great hot tub area. Everything flows together. They had prepared the outdoors meticuloulsy with loving care - Since the actual wedding was outside, most guests to the wedding did not see the inside. Definitley you need caterors, and lots of imagination and lots of money to transform the place.... but our wedding was in the late afternoon and I have never felt the presence of God more than at the moment when the ceremony was being held. We were in God's sanctuary. The good thing about the camp setting was my daughter;s diverse group of friends and family who all travled a long way really had a chance to visit and get to know each other in a gorgeous and relaxed setting. The bride and groom stayed at the camp to party around the camp fire all night long with their friends. Some people stayed at the nearby hotels. the hot tub was well used. Everyone said it was the best wedding they had every attended and it was truly magical. This is why I give it high marks. It would not take very much money to put a hanger up in the bridal dressing room so the bride could hang up her wedding dress - CLEAN UP THE LODGE- REDECORATE - just new carpet would help. After the wedding we found there was another good, paved road that led into the site that led straight into the highway and into Santa Cruz. Why they give the other directions I don't know- except they really do not want people coming unexpectedly to see the place. It is dilebrate that they do not give the good, straight road to the place- grrrr If it had been up to me - I would never have gotten past the "attitude" of Bob - or the condition of the lodge - but my daughter had a vision of bringing together a diverse group who normally would not spend time together and it worked it's charm. But if she had not had plenty of money to transform the place with outdoor lighting, flowers, music etc -it might not have worked. It is not for everyone - but since I am a sucker for babbling rooks, deers in meadows, cool fresh air in teh middle of summer, TALL trees of every variety I relaxed and enjoyed myself. Still, for the money they charge- they should clean up their lodge and buy a new coffee pot! - it still runs over in the morning which is why they insist on only them using it- plus they are intrusisve - for people who love their own privacy Bob was "everywhere" The florist, lighting specialist and caterors were magical- the caterors brought their own grill to cook on - I will write a review about them next. OUTDOOR VENUE - 5 star - very well prepared for a wedding OVERALL EXPERIENCE 10 stars - read more

Oh wow. I don't know where to begin and I am still a bit shell-shocked from our wedding venue tour and overnight cabin stay at Laurel Mill Lodge. Judging from the positive reviews, the dolled-up wedding photos, and the price of holding a wedding here, I expected a lovely rustic venue with perhaps a hippie but professional vibe. What we got was a dilapidated, mold/mildew-reeking, stuff-that-horror-films-are-made-of vibe. Upon entering the property, to your right, you will see a broken down chain link fence and a creepy deserted pool, straight out of the Poltergeist movie that haunted me in my childhood! This place used to be a summer camp I think in the 50s, and I am not sure it has had much upkeep since then. But, if I had liked the place, I could have gotten over the creepy abandoned pool factor... Then we drove on and met Bob. He was kind enough, but he is not a salesman, and not professional. When you are asking up to $8,500 for holding a wedding here, not including food, one might expect that the proprietor would shower and put on a clean shirt. Not so. We smelled him the whole tour, and while, as I said, he is a nice guy, it's just not very professional. I enjoy camping and roughing it in the great outdoors, but the standards here are ridiculous. We wished that we had brought our own sleeping bags and tent, and would have just stayed outside on the ground instead of in the "cushy" cabin (at $120/night) we (barely) slept in. It took me 3 hair washings to get the smell of mildew out after we stayed. Our clothes reeked of it the rest of our trip to the point that we had to drive with our windows down. This place really stays with you, and NOT in a good way. They have a groundskeeper (who gave my fiance the major creeps), but I am not sure that he helps maintain anything... maybe... but you would think they could air out and try to maintain the cabins a lot better, especially since wedding guests are supposed to be staying there. Can you imagine all your guests and yourself reeking of mildew on your special wedding day? I know there are worse things in life, but I am not going to fork over my hard-earned money for that privilege! I felt offended that they were even pitching this to me. I am curious how many weddings they actually have there per year. As one other reviewer said, you've got to hand it to them for trying to help fund their lifestyle this way, but if this is one of your ways to earn money, put some effort into it! I know this is one of those venues not for everyone, but I just felt like it was a joke. Their breakfast the next morning (which they would include for all your guests for the $8,500 package deal) was two gas station-quality packaged pastries; two apples, one rotting down the middle; and two mini-bottles of orange juice, both of which expired in 2012. :( It got to the point where I just felt bad for these folks - I'm sure they enjoy their lifestyle at Laurel Mill, but it's like they've lived there so long, they've lost sight of what a lot of their wedding clients might want for their guests - a nice, non-smelly bed/cabin, some good fresh breakfast food, and at least a touch of professionalism to gain trust. There's just a huge gap here, and it seems they decided to hold weddings as a weird add-on to their property to try to make some money, but they don't put in any true effort to justify the cost. I wouldn't even pay $120 to stay there again. Sorely disappointed. Luckily, we have since found a fresh, professional, and lovely rustic venue and are now happy campers! :) read more

Before I begin, let me say that I love camping and I am quite comfortable with rustic accommodations (I've lived in an RV and we currently live in the basement of a dilapidated Victorian). We looked at this as a potential rustic wedding venue. Absolutely gorgeous surroundings. The trees, meadow, and creek are lovely and EXACTLY what we were looking for. Everything else is positively horrifying. I am not exaggerating. A tiny snapshot: the owner told us that the carpets in the "cushy" cabins are from 1991 -- yep, put in there by the nudist colony that also built the chipped hot tub with orange/brown ooze collecting on top of it; There were tarps with piles of junk under them in various places around the property; Every sleeping space reeked of mildew, and the owner was clearly reticent to show us certain unoccupied cabins (and elected instead to show us a currently occupied cabin with burn marks all over the rug, trash in the fireplace and food on the floor -- that is certainly not the best example, it?); I could go on and on and on. The owners are very kind (although Bob, who is the only one we met in person, did not present himself as professional at all -- he was un-showered and unkempt) but clearly need to infuse some serious money into this place to make it acceptable for even overnight lodging. I feel terrible writing this review, as I hate to impact their business, but I do think it's worthwhile to save some newly engaged folks the long trip down to see it and be horrified! read more

From reading the other reviews, I got the impression that Laurel Mill was rustic, but okay for a wedding for someone outdoorsy like myself. My fiance and I were looking for a woodsy, natural wedding space. Bob greeted us when we got there and he is a very sweet guy. We got a tour of the kitchen first; it was very messy and looked to have all the original stuff from the 70's. One side of the house sort of leant over towards the windows. They have a few rooms to stay in, but smelled very much of mildew. The outside is a very beautiful space in its raw form, but the dilapidated sheds and man-made structures really detract from it. We got to see a tour of a couple cabins which weren't bad, although the price seemed a little much (maybe not if you're buying the overnight package in which they're included). In summary, beautiful plants and nature there, but the venue did not seem to be well maintained, and so it was not a good fit for us. read more

My family held my father's memorial service at Laurel Mill Lodge in April 2019, and we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the property and the kindness of the owner Cliff and caretakers Loni and Steve. They helped make the occasion really special and memorable and could not have been more accommodating. I'm looking forward to returning with my college roommates for a reunion -- can't wait to show off this lovely property to them! read more

I should have made this a 3 star, but I'm offsetting the person that put one star. This place is in no way luxurious. It's tiny and in the middle of nowhere. Which is hard to say seeing as it's only 20 minutes from Los Gatos. You have to know what you're getting... A small quiet cabin, communal showers (bring slippers) and did I mention QUIET? I've stayed here twice now. Both while working on editing a film project. They have a poor internet connection that is barely fast enough to check email on. The cell phone service is non existent (at least AT&T is). The good... relatively inexpensive for the area, 10 minute drive to Summit store, great little spa to hang out in at night. If you don't want to burn a bundle of cash, want to take a few days off hiding in the woods and don't mind a little hippy vibe, then this is a nice place to take some time and focus on a project or just enjoy some quiet time to yourself. read more

I would not recommend this venue to anyone. Not until there are new owners! I agree with the where do I begin... We had our wedding at Laurel Mill Lodge in August of 2014. The venue itself is beautiful. It's exactly what we were looking for. The owners and staff ended up being our worst nightmare. Big. Bad. Bob. We visited the venue twice before the big day and had no problems. Mostly, I think, because Bob just let us wander and take notes on what needed to be done. We didn't interact with him much. The problems began the night of the rehearsal. I had emailed Bob in June about our concerns regarding our rental time. I didn't think we'd have enough time to set up the morning of the wedding. He told me we could bump the rental window up two hours. Perfect! Well, unfortunately Bob didn't remember having that conversation. He often lost my emails, so that was his excuse for this one. He got very angry with me when I insisted on starting at 8 instead of 10(since that was what I had already told people). He told me we could come at 8 just don't expect anything to be ready. My coordinator arrived at 8, and Bob was true to his word. Nothing was ready. The only service Laurel Mill Lodge offers in setting up the chairs, and stage, and they bring the tables out of storage. They were still trying to clean and find all the chairs well after ten a.m. They had to ask Bob three times to put the arch up so they could finish decorating. The arch wasn't up until 230p.m. By 3p.m. half of the chairs set up, and apparently Bob thought that was enough because that's where he stopped. The rest of his time was spent at the bar. My photographer and bartender are the ones who had to finish setting up the chairs. We never invited Bob to drink from our bar. Soon as the keg was ready that afternoon he started drinking. He didn't stop drinking until we had our bartender ask him to leave the reception. Had to ask him twice. The fact that my guests began to notice and question who the man with the dirty shirt was really upset me. That's the owner of the venue. If you're going to be constantly present at someone's wedding maybe you should dress the part. If you prefer t-shirts, maybe it should at least be a clean one. Perhaps take a shower if you got sweaty enough to remove your shirt multiple times that day. (Hey, at least my guests didn't see that!) When he wasn't getting drunk at the bar he was making my female family members extremely uncomfortable, insulting the groom, insulting my helpers, and making way too many inappropriate comments. Please please please someone buy this beautiful venue and save this place! read more

Laurel Mill is amazing! It was exactly what we wanted for our wedding (September 2012). If you are looking for a place to have a perfectly choreographed, cookie cutter wedding, than this is not the place. However, if you are looking for a beautiful (think woods, a gorgeous valley, saying your vows under a tree, a gurgling creek with a quaint bridge, dancing under the stars), quiet place to have a fun and romantic wedding, than this is it! It is a truly beautiful backdrop that you can turn into whatever you like. You do have to bring in everything yourself but this makes it super easy to get exactly what you want. (It also ended up being cheaper for us.) What really sealed the deal for us was the ability to host all our friends onsite (no one had to drink and drive) and have a great after party. We had a big campfire complete with smores and all our friends really enjoyed having the big hot tub onsite. My only hesitation for this place is that the road in is a bit narrow and curvy. We ended up getting a small shuttle for those drivers who were nervous, (do not get a big bus, it won't fit very well), and shuttling people which definitely worked out well. All in all, I highly recommend this venue! read more

The fact that we could get a cabin just a few days before Memorial Day weekend should have been a clue that this place was a dump-and it was! Although we rented one of their "cushy cabins" it was anything but cushy. I would say that it was just a slight step above camping, which I hate. The cabin along with all the other facilities(kitchen, showers)were dirty and the cabin had the stench of mildew. The showers seem to be coed as there is just one shower room, no separate mens and womens sections. Luckily, there were no other guests when I stayed so I didn't have to shower with strangers. You had better be fairly fit to get around the grounds as it is a good climb up and down to the cabins and the kitchen, no handicap accessible ramps or anything like that.Think twice about a family event where there might be older folks. I got thorough ly chewed out the first morning for trying to make myself a cup of coffee. The owner, Esther said that no one was allowed to touch her coffee pot!!! This is in a communal kitchen and I had asked and gotten permission from Bob, the other owner. The only good thing was the hot tub. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. And by the way, this place is not cheap-we paid $120 a night for the cabin, a total rip off. Should have been closer to $50. read more

I just back from staying in one of the cabins for a couple days and I had a great time :) I needed a couple days to just get away from the city and be able to relax and rest and I got all that while I was there. I loved the scenery as well, very beautiful! But the best part was how nice everyone was. All the staff were really welcoming and I felt at home with everyone, which was really nice :) By the time I had to leave, I didn't want to because I was having such a geat time. This is definitely the place to go if you want to be able to escape the city for a couple days and not have to pay a whole lot :) read more