Bodega Ridge

Everyone loved this place. This venue was as close to a one-stop-shop as my wife and I could find when searching. The staff where lovely and the location of the property was the best. We can't say enough good things about Bodega Ridge.

We were married at Bodega Ridge in July 2019 and can’t say enough positive words about how wonderful of an experience it was! The list of wonderful things could go on and on, but below are a few highlights:
• The food! We received SO MANY compliments on how delicious the food was, with many guests even saying it was the best wedding food they’d ever had (I would very much agree!). I could eat the salmon wellington for every meal, and the paella is not only absolutely delicious, but is made in a huge pan in front of you and your guests. The portions of all of the food were very generous – huge kudos to the kitchen team!
• Organisation/planning support – wedding planning support comes with booking the venue, and Angie is the most wonderful, calming, lovely lady you could ever hope for to help you plan your wedding. She is an absolute pro. Being totally clueless to organizing a wedding and very much making things up as we went along, it was so reassuring to have Angie there to guide us with the tasks we needed to be doing, and with great advice and suggestions on anything we asked. On our wedding day we were also supported by Danika who was equally lovely, super organized and ensured the day went without a hitch – I didn’t have one moment of stress the whole time I was at Bodega Ridge :)
• The venue itself – is just out of this world stunning. We hosted 60+ guests from outside Canada, and it was the most perfect setting to show off the true beauty of the BC coast and to help them truly understand why we love living here. We and our guests stayed onsite for 3 nights, and had the most magical time tucked away in the quiet beauty of Galiano Island. As well as the natural beauty that Bodega Ridge has to offer, the lodge, cabins and all of the extras have been restored and designed with such great style and care. Having previously researched other venues where we would have to source all of the extras like tables and chairs ourselves, it was so exciting to come to Bodega and have such good quality and aesthetically pleasing furniture/items there for us to make use of.

Thanks Jesse, Angie, Danika and the whole Bodega Ridge team – you are all so lovely! A totally outstanding venue, I just wish we could do it all again.

We held our wedding at Bodega Ridge last month and can’t speak highly enough about it. We knew we wanted to get married on one of the Gulf Islands and when we began researching, the Bodega website jumped right out at us as exactly what we were looking for, so we went ahead and booked without even visiting! It was 100% the right decision. The whole planning process was made easy with Jesse and Angie’s guidance and advice along the way, despite the added challenges of an island wedding. In fact, all of the staff were amazing, with the most positive, can do attitude. Nothing was too much trouble. The actual event was just magical and our guests (many from the UK) were blown away. The cabins are fantastic, the stunning ceremony site, grounds and lodge, not to mention the views. The food was some of the best I have ever tasted, again something many of our guests agreed with and commented on. Being able to have the wedding over a three-day period made it so special as the guests really got to know each other and were able to completely take in and enjoy the wonderful surroundings of beautiful Galiano Island. Thanks again to the whole team!

Angie and Jesse make dreams come true! We couldn't have planned, plotted or willed a better wedding weekend. As soon as we spoke with Angie we knew she was someone we'd enjoy working with and immediately felt like she got what kind of wedding we wanted. Finding a venue was the most difficult part of wedding planning for us, we spoke to over 50 venues and continuously felt like something was missing. Our priorities were a beautiful setting, being outdoors, taking over a place completely for an entire weekend, food & wine, and most importantly flexibility. Bodega Ridge exceeded our hopes in every category. They worked with us to create an event that felt authentic and represented our preferences in every way, from customizing the menu, to the format of the day, to the decor. Everything was executed flawlessly, we didn't have to worry about a single thing. The staff rolled with last minute changes throughout the event with enthusiasm, we changed the times on almost everything all weekend and every time we requested something the answer was 'no problem'. Jesse was incredibly hands on with the entire weekend, which brought a calm sense of things being handled and a bit of humour. My last bit of praise is for the food, we loved it and more importantly our guests continue to talk about how great it was. We couldn’t have been happier with the experience!

Where to even begin with this incredible venue. From the first meeting I had with the owner, Jesse, and his exceptional event planner, Angie (we’ll get to her later), I knew this special place was the right spot for our wedding.

The property and its beauty speaks for itself. Falling asleep to the sweet sounds of nature and waking up to freshly ground coffee... some of the best sleeps of my life were actually during my wedding weekend!

Jesse, Angie, and their teams worked with us to plan a 3 day weekend for 140 people that involved a lot of customization to turn our vision into a reality. There was not one request to which they said no to, always a “let’s see what we can do”, and did they ever DO!

The staff provided outstanding service all weekend long and the food was some of the best we've had in our life! I actually don’t know where to start with the food...maybe with the lavender honey butter??? The food is next level, and I’ll have to leave it at that for fear of this review extending to another three pages.

Now let’s talk about Angie.

We worked with Angie for a year leading up to our big day. She felt like family since day one and I can whole heatedly say she became family by wedding day.

Angie executed a 3 day weekend full of seamless events. She is calm, communicative, and responsive beyond measure. Working with Angie was a huge enhancement to our wedding year and the planning process. I will gladly provide additional details to any future clients about my experience working with her. Angie - you are a true gem. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for creating the wedding and weekend of our dreams.

It was tough to leave the ridge the morning after our wedding and say goodbye to the Bodega team, but I know it won’t be the last time we step foot on that property (or taste that honey butter).

All the best!
Lauren and Mitch

We found Bodega Ridge on The Venue Report when we were looking for venues for our wedding. We are avid travelers, both wedding industry professionals (photo and video), so we had a certain level of aesthetics and expectations, while also really wanting our wedding to be focused on our marriage and a relaxed gathering for family and friends rather than a perfect Pinterest wedding. It was important to us to find a place where our friends and family (from all over the globe) could come and stay on the property for the weekend (both at the Ridge and the Cove) and explore the area. Bodega Ridge checked all the boxes - BC was a place we had always wanted to go, the location is remote enough to feel private, but easily accessible from Vancouver, and ridiculously stunning! To top it all off, the owner Jesse and our venue contact and coordinator Angie were absolutely gems. They were so patient with us as we planned to bring 50 of our nearest and dearest to an island we had never been to (we only visited the month before!) and we had a million questions. The staff onsite was spectacular and so friendly - the service was on point and handled with so much love and care, the food was AMAZING (I wish I could taste it again), and the weather on our weekend was spectacular! You can tell that Bodega is a labor of immense love by Jesse and his entire team - they actually care about their guests and making sure you have a spectacular wedding. We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better experience for our wedding, it felt like absolute MAGIC and we plan to come back to Galiano and Bodega for years to come.

My then fiance and I visited Bodega Ridge in January to spend the night to see if it was the right place for us to get married. After speaking with Jesse for a few hours and looking at the space we knew we wanted to get married at Bodega Ridge. Everything went amazingly for our wedding, it didn’t hurt that we lucked out on the weather but a huge part of the weekend going so well was everyone at Bodega Ridge. All of the staff at the resort was extremely attentive; the chef and all the food were amazing (the blackened salmon tacos are probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life); the Wedding Director, Angie, was absolutely wonderful during the whole weekend (my bridesmaids who were both recently married were jealous that I had Angie to work with for the weekend and I can see why - I was a part of their weddings too). Everything ran smoothly and on time (and when we were ready early so was everyone at the resort). We were a bit anxious about some of the pre-event communications, there were some slow response times due to power outages and one last minute issue that we were not told about until less that a week away - One of the cabins on site was damaged during a storm so some of our guests had to stay off site. Initially we were disappointed with that but the staff made every accommodation to ensure everyone got where they needed to go and the shuffled guests were able to stay close by. The staff was absolutely amazing on the day of the event! Any anxiety we had based on any communication hiccups was completely unnecessary. We were lucky that we were able to arrive the day before all of our guests did, and stay an extra day after all the guests left which helped us to have an even more relaxed wedding weekend. We have no hesitation to recommend Bodega Ridge to anyone looking for a gulf island wedding.

Bodega Ridge:
If we could give a better rating we definitely would. The entire venue, weekend, food, staff were beyond exceptional. The Venue is beautiful, and in a remote location which was exactly what we wanted. It is a beautiful piece of property that is wild and natural with amazing architecture, all the buildings and venues spots have been well thought out to allow for the beauty of Galiano Island to show. We chose Bodega as it was important to us to get to spend an intimate weekend with our favorite people. They also handle absolutely everything on the property (accommodation, food, alcohol, wedding site, etc.) so you have minimal other vendors to work with other than photograph, videography, floral, DJ and furniture rentals which are not necessary since their décor is amazing. We were a COVID weeding that was postponed from 2020 and Bodega Ridge was amazing with how they handled navigating a new date. We were always planning to have a smaller wedding when we picked Bodega (70 People) after moving our date to the same weekend in 2021 we chose to pair it down even more to 48 people which was a great number for us. One thing we loved with having a smaller number of people was everyone could stay between the two properties (Bodega Ridge + Bodega Cove) which allowed for us all to hang out together all weekend. We chose to stay up at Bodega Ridge with most of the guests which was amazing and convenient to be able to run back to your cabin if you needed anything. The island does not have cabs and only a couple transportation options so having people stay off the properties will require more around planning and logistic since many cabin rental are 20+ minutes away. The weekend was the type of weekend we wanted; laid back, easy going, and fun. We did a small hangout on the property with anyone who arrived Thursday, welcome BBQ on Friday, Wedding on Saturday, and Brunch prior to departure on Sunday. During the days we would go to a near beach, kayaking or out for a bike ride. The food was hands down unreal, we have travelled the world and love eating out – the food at each event over the weekend was some of the best food we have ever had in our lives, which is rare to hear for food at a wedding. Chef Elmark is an amazing chef and genius with his food pairings. The Wine selection was also amazing, and the bartenders signature cocktails were outstanding. Our group of guests like to have a good time and indulged in the cocktails. One thing we would have changed was not having a rose, white and red bottle of wine on each table for the dinners since the cocktails were such a hit – we had a full open bar with all the cocktails. James, the GM is amazing and was beyond accommodating to last minute requests we had. Jesse the owner of the property was also great – we feel as though we have gained a new friends and area excited to keep in touch with them. The staff at Bodega were absolutely amazing, you can tell that they loved their jobs and were beyond friendly and made us feel extremely welcome all weekend. We and our guests did not have one bad experience during our time at Bodega Ridge. Working with Angie (Angie Allen Weddings + Events) is a no brainer and well worth the money, she was instrumental to how our wedding turned out at Bodega. Her calm demeanor, energy and guidance was amazing. She knows the island, knows Bodega and is full of great suggestions and recommendations. Bodega Ridge made it easy to plan, re-plan and navigate a wedding during COVID times. We cant wait to go back and visit Bodega and stay at the Cove. We would be beyond excited to have friends get married at Bodega so that we could attend again as guests!

After getting engaged and deciding that we wanted to host our wedding on Vancouver Island, we came across ‘Bodega Ridge’ and set up a tour of the venue. From the time we arrived on Galiano Island, there was a sense that we had found a very special place that would carry with it a number of memories and return visits! This was further confirmed by our experience on the property, where a vision of what our wedding day would look like was described.

From the ceremony site overlooking the Trincomali Channel, to the spaces allocated for dining and celebrating, and the cozy cabins in a tranquil setting surrounded by nature, we had discovered a spot that suited us perfectly! As the excitement towards our day built and plans came together, we couldn’t have asked for a more relaxed setting for the most enjoyable wedding experience.

Following our rehearsal, we were met with the most incredible mai tai cocktails, and a room so beautifully set for a family-style meal. The variety and flavours were incredible, as were the staff involved in catering our evening. The accessibility of the property is also a bonus, allowing family and friends to come together for events such as ours, settle into their cabins, and enjoy the food and festivities without needing to travel too far once you’ve arrived.

We would highly recommend Bodega Ridge as both a wedding venue, and a spot to escape for a quiet weekend to reset. We thoroughly enjoyed the property, and the hospitality offered here!