Riverview Bed & Breakfast

This review is written as a wedding photographer hired to cover a wedding at the Riverside in July, 2013. Unfortunately, I was witness some questionable customer service / business at the Riverview Bed and Breakfast, near Okotoks. It's a pretty great location (and the photos look fantastic) but how a staff member (I was told the owner) dealt with the bride and groom (and my team) was really disappointing; enough to write this review. The most significant was presenting them with last minute unexpected, yet unauthorized/unapproved expense for additional chairs; and handling it very poorly. Basically, the venue put out extra chairs without the knowledge or getting authorization from the clients and then pretty abrasively tried to have them pay up there and then -- done in front of a lot of people. It was, to say the least, very awkward and the bride and groom where quite embarrassed. So, just a heads up if you're looking to book the Riverview for your wedding: It's a really pretty venue, but read through the contract and have it on hand at your event.

Beautiful place BUT...the owners/caretakers were terribly unprofessional. So much so that it stressed the bride and groom who were trying to make everything perfect for their day. The second the ceremony was finished outside they wanted everyone to leave the premises even though there was time alotted in the price for pictures.

As I understand, there have been new owners since the slew of poor reviews in the last year or so. The wedding I attended was lovely, and the venue was absolutely breathtaking in the fall. The signage to turn off of the highway may be a little lacking, but all other signage was perfect. Washrooms were well labeled, and there's lots of well-labeled parking as well. I would definitely consider visiting this venue again if I had need for such an event or overnight stay.

I came when the new owners started to the bed and breakfast and they are amazing. It is more like a boutique hotel. The location is marvelous and it has an indoor swimming pool. It is family run and the family is adorable. I was here in 2019 and now in 2022.

The property is beautiful and made for a nautical ceremony. However, the owners were incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional! They tried showing the place to people the morning of the wedding, they kicked us out of the main rooms that we had paid for because they booked in two bridal showers and did not run it by any of us. We had the entire place rented out until after the ceremony. As soon as the ceremony finished we had to get everything out of their place before the bridal party was able to take any photos. They ended up locking us out shortly after, and they were charging for an extra room because they failed to make one of the beds prior to us renting it out and they are claiming we used that additional room. They are extremely unprofessional and ignorant, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.. Especially for a wedding!! In my personal opinion, they should be out of business! They caused so much stress and unnecessary hassles on what should have been the best and happiest day of my sisters life. Save yourself from this headache and DO NOT GO HERE!!!!Unfortunately I can't rate them a zero, otherwise I would!

I haven't even gone here yet and they already stressed me out! The phone number they give for *contact* is a direct voicemail line and no one EVER called me back after 2 messages of trying get wedding info. It says on their website they prefer e-mail.. I sent 3 e-mails to which I got no response for 2 months!!! I finally sent another e-mail saying how unfortunate that they may lose a Wedding at their venue because no one could be bothered to call me back.. no response... I finally decided maybe they are just really busy and I will give it another chance... still no phone call.. Just curious.., HOW DO YOU GET ANY BOOKINGS!!!! Glad I came on here and avoided booking my wedding as they sound extremely unprofessional and would RUIN someone's wedding day. Guess I was blessed they did not EVER get back to me.

You know that saying don't judge a book by its cover?" Well Riverviews "book cover" looked fantastic and gorgeous. It really is a beautiful place but the people who we're running the Bed and Breakfast were unprofessional and disrespectful. My best friends family rented out the place to have her wedding ceremony. They first got upset about the makeup artist and hairstylist arriving there at 7:30 in the morning to do all of us bridesmaids and of course the brides hair and makeup. When you have only two people for 6 brides maids and the bride

The only good thing about this bed and breakfast is that the views are truly stunning. We were there for a wedding and it made for some gorgeous photos. That being said it is definitely not worth the hassle. There are plenty of other places out there to have a wedding. Trust me when I say to avoid this place.We were there for my Sister's wedding. My sister, her fiance, and most of the wedding party rented out the rooms the night before so they could be at the location and not have to rush around the next morning. They wanted to enjoy the pool and relax but the pool was 'out of order' and couldn't be used. The next day (the day of the wedding) my Sister had the entire place rented out. That way her hair and make up people could come there and get everyone in the bridal party ready for the big day. I was not one of the ones who stayed the night before but instead showed up the next morning to get ready. I was immediately made to feel like I shouldn't be there. They huffed at the fact that we were coming to get ready there even though we were in the wedding party and my Sister paid for the entire place for her wedding. Reluctantly they let us in.We went down to their games room (if you can even call it that). It had an air hockey table and a pool table. The pool table couldn't be used because the owners had wedding photos displayed on the table. When my sons started using the air hockey table the owners chased them away and told them they weren't allowed to use it as we weren't paying guests. Keep in mind that my Sister had actually paid for the entire place. The hair and make up people were getting us all ready and the owners were not at all happy with the fact that we were getting ready there. They actually ended up making us move everything out of that room and they put us down in a small room in the basement. Turns out they were showing the place to future potential customers. Extremely disrespectful considering the place was paid for and occupied by people getting ready for a wedding.The owner was responsible for the music but when the time came he claimed he had no idea how to work the music. Instead my cousin who was visiting from Nova Scotia had to do it since he wouldn't. So instead of enjoying the event she had to work the music instead.Once the wedding ceremony was done the photographer was going to take bridal party photos on the property. We were mid-photos when the owners had to leave and told us we had to get everything out immediately. While people stopped photos and ran to gather their things, the owners then went ahead and started tossing everyone's shoes outside the door. Very professional. My Sister still does not have her shoes as they didn't give people enough time to get their stuff and hers were still inside somewhere.This should have been the happiest day of my Sister's life but instead it was tarnished by all of the stresses and hassles caused by the owners. While this is a beautiful location and property, the issues with the owners should not have happened. Please make sure to AVOID this location for weddings. You will have nothing but hassles. They will never receive our business again nor would I ever recommend them to anyone. If I had the option to rate this lower than one star I would.

Awesome view, delicious breakfast and fab customer serviceThe views are truly amazing, my husband just wanted to hang out by the dining room (that's where the best views are in our opinion). We saw three deers in the field while waiting for our breakfast! I bet the views are even more amazing in the summer! The house itself is pretty awesome, nicely decorated (my fav was the tapestries hanging on the bannisters), lots of space (theatre, games room, two sitting area/living rooms, dining table, etc.). The best part, the bed at the Riverview Room, its like sleeping on a cloud. My husband and I are night owls (our normal bedtime is midnight or so) but we fell asleep at 9 pm! That's how awesome that bed was! Also, I forgot to mention, you will love the road from the turnoff all the way to the house/B&B part. It is lined with beautiful trees on each side! I took a picture with DLSR camera so will post that soon.Speaking of breakfast, it was typical bed and breakfast food (i.e. eggs, bacon, toast, waffles); they were delicious, of course but wasn't expecting the fresh fruits so that was a nice surprise!Tiffany made us feel very welcome (even though my husband found it weird that were staying, basically at someone's house, as he's never stayed at a B&B before lol) and we had a good chat with Chad on our last day during breakfast (he even suggested good fishing spots that my husband can check out later on). Tiffany even sent us an email a couple days before our stay to let us know about the pool (currently out of service) and if we had any allergies!Only two things that we think they could improve or comment on (the reason for the 3 star and not 4 or 5): First, we think the place could use a thorough cleaning before guests arrive. I mean the place was clean enough at first look but once you're roaming around the place, you see things. I'm not sure if its because its winter and not many people book them during this time (we were the only guests there that weekend) or if it was because we booked it like 4 days before and they didn't get a chance to do a thorough cleaning. The reason I'm saying this is, when we were in the theatre room (which is awesome btw), I lost a book in one of the chairs and I went to lift the chair to check if it was there, there were chips, crumbs and other things under the chair. We also noticed cobwebs everywhere. Second, they had some kind of get together while we were there, which I found weird and a little bit uncomfortable. I've stayed at many B&B all over the world (UK, Spain, Italy, etc.) and haven't had this happened to me. I mean it was fine (and it is their house after all) but was just weird lolOverall was a great B&B and would probably stay again if we needed another short getaway.