Spruce Pine Lodge

The lodge was one of the first places my husband and I looked at to get married. We loved the rustic look and feel of the wedding and decided to move forward with it. I LOVED the lodge itself for my wedding but dealing with the city of Durham Parks and Recreation rentals was a pretty rough experience.
First off, it’s a pretty far drive to go one of the two days of the month they are actually open, and a pretty irritating drive back if you were told the wrong day. Then we went back on the next day they were open because we were supposed to get measurements of the tables for our party rental company, and the employee that was scheduled to be onsite wasn’t there when we got there. I had to call the facilities manager and ask her why a city owned facility wasn’t open on one of the only two days of the month it was supposed to be open to the public. I guess there had been a mix-​up with communication after an event had been cancelled that morning and the employee assumed that meant they weren’t needed for the day. The afternoon employee was right on time for his shift but we were pretty irritated. Not exactly stress any bride needs the month before her wedding day.
Second off, I was guaranteed my security deposit back no later than 7 weeks after our event. It’s now a month past that deadline and I have called twice only to discover that the first time I updated my address the check was written and mailed to a house on the same street as my old address. not even the house I used to live at. So hopefully this will be resolved within the next 48 hours.
The third bummer was that there is barely any cell service in the area so don’t expect to be able to receive phone calls for lost family members. Print out directs for guests ahead of time.
The perks of the facility are endless wooded scenery and backdrops for your small family wedding, a reasonable price (if your security deposit ever makes it back to you), a paved driveway and wheelchair access for our grandparents, a complete surround sound speaker system that you can hook an ipod or cell phone up to (we paid someone $ 100 to be our DJ and created our playlist on itunes), indoor AC, an ice machine, indoor plumbing (a rarity for wooded weddings), plenty of tables to use, a balcony for family portraits and a more than enough space for 50 people to come inside if the weather is bad.
We loved our wedding day in the woods. Spruce Pine Lodge will be a great spot to go hiking on our anniversaries but just be forewarned that you need to give yourself plenty of time to visit and map out your wedding on the few trips you can actually make to visit the lodge.