A Bear and Bison Canadian Country Inn is a hotel wedding venue located in Canmore, Alberta. Nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, this venue offers a secluded retreat for couples who are celebrating their love and commitment. From rustic ceremony settings to cozy accommodations, this venue serves as a picturesque destination for memorable weddings.
Facilities and Capacity
Located at the base of Lady MacDonald Mountain, this venue boasts indoor and outdoor event spaces to suit celebrations throughout the seasons. Many locations on the property feature views of the famous Three Sisters peaks which provide a romantic backdrop for weddings. Couples can choose to exchange vows in the gazebo with the rugged landscape as their altar. The festivities can continue in the indoor reception hall which can accommodate celebrations of 46 guests for seated dining or 70 for a cocktail reception. The rustic mountain lodge offers an intimate setting for dining, dancing, and mingling throughout the night.
Services Offered
A Bear and Bison Canadian Country Inn offers all-inclusive packages for couples who hold their wedding here. Their events team has created packages for both traditional wedding festivities as well as elopements. Services range from catering to floral decor and photography. Both basic and comprehensive packages include tastings so the happy couple can customize their dining service. Also included for every wedding here are the services of a marriage commissioner to finalize the details of the ceremony. Soon-to-be newlyweds can personalize their service with added enhancements including skiing and snowboarding trips or helicopter tours and sleigh rides.
Accommodation
Couples who marry at A Bear and Bison Canadian Country Inn will have the opportunity to spend the night in the hotel’s comfortable and romantic overnight accommodations. Many packages include up to five nights in the newlyweds’ choice of one of the most luxurious rooms. Each room offers unique features like views of the Three Sisters, jacuzzis, or fireplaces. Wedding packages also include enhancements including champagne service, breakfast, nightly turndown, and premium bath products.
AMAZING experience with our microwedding - cannot recommend them enough!
Eugenie and Chef Lonny were the absolute best - top notch food, lodging and customer service!
We were looking for a turnkey wedding package including accommodation, photographer, flowers and commissioner - and the Bear Essentials package delivered that and so much more. This review covers the experience with the Bear and Bison Inn, and the photographer, flowers, and commissioner will be reviewed separately.
Food: Chef Lonny's breakfasts are not to be missed. The pancakes are the best pancakes I've had and I frequent brunch places in every city I've travelled to. The granola is second to none - crunchy and flavourful - it brought joy to my morning for sure! After our first breakfast experience, I actually said "I can't wait for tomorrow's breakfast." The charcuterie board we had between the ceremony and reception dinner was absolutely delicious!
Location/lodging: Located outside of downtown Canmore, the 10-room inn provided a quaint setting for our microwedding (6 guests, plus bride and groom). Our room had almost 300 sq ft of space - perfect as a bridal suite the day of, a place for our parents to chill as we got photos done, and a lovely place to gather after the dinner wrapped up. The room featured a king sized bed, a private patio and an in-room jacuzzi. The bed was very comfortable, the private patio a phenomenal place to have breakfast, and the jacuzzi was lovely to use in having a bubble bath the morning of the wedding. There were thoughtful touches - like fudge as a welcome gift, as well as the tasting bottle of prosecco to welcome us back as a married couple - that absolutely made the stay more memorable. The way the log gazebo was decorated was super pretty and made such a cute backdrop to our wedding and they took care of the set up and take down, making it such a stress-free experience.
Customer Service: From the moment I called, to the initial back and forths to the day of, Eugenie was always on the ball and anticipated what we needed. She is an experienced wedding coordinator and an absolute gem to work with! Between her and Lonny, they covered our every need, were absolutely honest about expectations, and super personable. They provided us with a phenomenal wedding experience we will treasure for the rest of our lives.
If you're a couple considering this inn for an elopement / microwedding in the mountains - look no further. Stop looking and book one of their packages. We cannot thank A Bear and Bison Inn enough, and we will definitely be back in the future for a getaway!
Sent on 18/07/2021
Channing J.
· Married on 28/11/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Outstanding Service and Venue for our COVID wedding
We booked A Bear and Bison Inn in June 2020 for our November 28th, 2020 wedding. We did not visit the property in advance but booked based on very many reviews - they did not disappoint.
We rented the entire inn for the weekend and with the evolving COVID restrictions so close to our wedding day, we were happy we did so at least we knew everyone staying at the Inn. We couldn’t have a welcome dinner on the Friday or a formal reception following our wedding because of restrictions but we ended up serving the same menu’s we had chosen to each room for our guests. The food was AMAZING and it was a very unique twist during such a crazy time.
The gazebo was gorgeous for our ceremony and we were able to have our first dance in the gazebo when it was all lit up.
Breakfast every day was different and very yummy!
The service from Lonny and Megan from the initial booking up to our wedding weekend was outstanding. Any stress we had with new restrictions being implemented was eased as soon as we checked in with the Inn. They truly went above and beyond and even though our weekend didn’t turn out exactly how we had planned it - we could not be happier.
Sent on 20/12/2020
Ayla
· Married on 17/10/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
The most beautiful wedding venue
We recently had our wedding at A Bear and Bison Inn and it was everything I wanted and more! The venue is GORGEOUS and the food and service was so amazing. Megan was so incredibly helpful in ensuring our special day went off with no hiccups. Both Megan and Lonny were so great about responding to all of my questions during the planning process. I would highly recommend them not only for staying at the inn, but planning any special events!
Sent on 20/10/2020
Adrienne M.
· Married on 21/09/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Perfect in every way!!
We can not say enough good things about our experience at A Bear & Bison Inn!! We knew we wanted to go with an elopement package because we didn't want the stress of planning a huge wedding, and our day ended up being completely stress-free. All of the vendors Lonny used for the day (Michael for photos, Sam for hair, Marilyn as the officient, our gorgeous flowers) were lovely and it was honestly a joy meeting them all. The gazebo used for the ceremony was decorated beautifully for our day, and Lonny and Megan really went above and beyond to make our day feel intimate and special, just as we wanted! The 3 course breakfasts were different every day and beyond delicious (the groom is still dreaming of those eggs). The wedding cake and prosecco and locally made soaps were all awesome little additions that just added to the magic. The location benefits from the obviously stunning mountains surrounding, but the grounds of the Inn are SO SO CUTE and well-maintained. There are spacious and cozy seating areas inside for guests to mingle and enjoy the views. The whole place feels like this warm little cabin nestled between mountains..but you're still 5 minutes from a Starbucks- best of both worlds! We were truly blown away by the hospitality, kindness, service, warmth and professionalism of Lonny, Megan, all the other staff at the Inn, all the vendors and really..every single person we met in Canmore! Our wedding day was more perfect than we could've hoped and we totally left it all in the Inn's hands. If you want a stress-free wedding day in the most beautiful place in the world..seriously, look no further. I cried when it was time for us to leave and I'm already counting down the days until we can return for our anniversary.
Sent on 02/10/2020
Ashleigh V.
· Married on 20/08/2020
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Our Dream Mountain Wedding
We got married this summer at A Bear and Bison Inn and it was truly the best mountain destination we could have ever hoped for. This place was a dream come true. The outdoor gazebo with mountain backdrop was spectacular. They decorated it so beautifully for us, every detail was taken care of so we just got to enjoy our special day. Even though we decided to keep our date even through COVID and have a smaller wedding, they took all the precautions very seriously and constantly updated us about them which made us feel confident that all safety measures were in place and our guests safely was a priority. Honestly they made us feel like family from the moment we arrived. Everything was perfect, from the perfect room to the AMAZING breakfasts we got to enjoy in bed to the beautifully decorated outside ceremony space surrounded by mountains. They are the full package deal. If you want the perfect mountain wedding I highly recommend booking with them. Lonnie is so great, he took care of everything and is wonderful to be in correspondence with, always ahead of the game. He really tailored the experience to be perfect for us, letting us personalize the package we chose to be exactly what we wanted to the very last detail. Meagan was the one who looked after everything on our wedding day, getting everything together so the magic could happen! I can not say enough good things about her. She was like our fairy godmother. I didn’t worry about a single thing, she took care of all of it. It was like magic. I know that if you trust your special day to them and have your wedding at A Bear and Bison Inn you will be in the best of hands. We sure are glad we did!
Lonny built A Bear and Bison Inn in 2002 with his father. He has remained passionate and hands on through out the 18 years of buisness. Lonny writes the menus and continues to uphold the high stardard of cooking he has done throughout his career.
Learn more about Lonny's culinary story on our website.
