Adventures on the Gorge Reviews

I wish I could give a million stars to Adventures on the Gorge (AOTG)! AOTG and the staff are beyond incredible!! Jessica, the wedding venue coordinator, is amazing to work with. The venue is gorgeous, but Jessica is the real reason why booking a wedding here is the smartest move you could possibly make! She and the entire staff are so kind and helpful! Even though she is the venue coordinator, I was able to call her and ask her advice about anything wedding related during our 1.5 year planning process because she has planned so many weddings, she just knows what works and what doesn't. Even though she's so busy, she always finds a way to make time to help. She was indispensable during our planning process & wedding weekend, and we could not have planned the wedding of our dreams without her. We truly trusted Jessica, which made the actual wedding weekend way more fun and stress-free for us than it normally is. The first time we visited AOTG, Jessica gave us a grand tour of the entire property. She showed us all the possible locations we could have various wedding events, she even showed us the inside of some unrented cabins and vacation homes so we could decide where we and our family/friends should stay. She gave this tour to us when various family could join FOUR different times, how above and beyond is that?! We also wanted to have a whole weekend of events for our wedding to spend a lot of quality time with our guests and also be around nature because we are very outdoorsy. However, not all our guests are outdoorsy, and we found that AOTG was the perfect balance between beautiful scenery/nature and resort/luxury amenities. The "cabins" aren't your stereotypical cabins, the are luxury cabins and worth every penny! Having us and guests stay on the resort allowed us to spend even more quality time with guests because it was so easy for guests to come over to our cabin and gather around the firepit and hot tub. Everyone could walk or take the shuttle to all the wedding events, so we didn't have to worry about a thing. The shuttle drive, Dee, is so kind and incredible. She took care of everyone! Plus, AOTG made it so easy for guests to book various adventures. We had a rafting trip for guests, which is offered at discounted price for wedding groups, and it was such a hit! Even some friends and family that normally are NOT adventurous decided to go and everyone had the best time. Everything at AOTG exceeded my expectations. All the staff are so kind and everyone truly wants you to have an amazing wedding. The thing that stands out about AOTG and Jessica, is that they really take care of absolutely everything during your wedding, so you can actually enjoy it! You can be as involved in the details as you choose. We were very involved, and Jessica made sure to understand what we wanted and made it happen. The food is also amazing - blown away by how good the hors d'oeuvres and buffet food was. Bartenders and drinks were awesome as well. We had Meet & Greet at Rendezvous Pavilion, which is such a cool and fun space - we didn't need any decorations. The ceremony was on the deck behind Smokey's and is just gorgeous - surrounded by trees but on a nice decking (best of both worlds). The reception was around the pool, which is gorgeous at night and the view behind the upper deck is beautiful. Everything that you get at AOTG for your wedding and having Jessica as the coordinator makes the price extremely reasonable!! Book this place if you can!!!!

Was by far the party of the year for all of our guests! Jessica and Liz helped out tremendously and really made the day perfect. Only sad part was I thought we were going to have a big rubber duck as our alcohol holder and instead it was a pretty cool boat

We couldn't have picked a better wedding venue during a pandemic. Jessica, from AOTG was absolutely amazing to work with while going in blind. We had to move our wedding from South Florida to West Virginia and plan everything in less than 2 months. We were able to gather 65 of our closest friends and family in a safe location where everyone felt comfortable during COVID to celebrate our big day. We were able to make a whole weekend out of it and Jessica played a huge roll in making sure everything was perfect. We could not have done it without her. I now could never picture my wedding anywhere else but at Adventures on the Gorge. Thank you Jessica and AOTG for making out wedding weekend the most amazing time for all of us.

I recently had my wedding at Adventures on the Gorge and it was the most magical day of my life! Jessica and her staff took care of every detail to make sure my day was stress free. The food was so amazing. The staff was so polite, professional and friendly. The views of the gorge are absolutely breath taking!

I attended a wonderful weekend wedding celebration at Adventures on the Gorge in West Virginia over Labor Day weekend... The lodging, food and wedding venue was first rate. The staff didn’t let a little rain spoil the fun and had umbrellas and tents ready to move the festivities under cover. Since the wedding theme was “Let the Adventure begin” AOTG was an ideal choice. Family and friends were able to raft, zip line, hike and enjoy the hot tubs in addition to attending the wedding Saturday night. Thanks to AOTG for making sure the weekend was wonderful.

Absolutely amazing! Dream wedding, Jessica was incredible, 5 steps ahead, considers every detail and delivers. Worth every cent! AOG has the most beautiful views and all our guests had an amazing time! Food was so delicious I wish I could do it all over again! I highly recommend this venue!

Jessica and her staff answered all my questions from start to finish. The entire day went smoothly, and every one that attended raved about the service, the food, the atmosphere.... It was absolutely perfect.

AOTG was amazing. It is a beautiful outdoor venue with a great view, especially for guests not familiar with WV. Jessica, the wedding coordinator, is amazing and pulled everything off without a snag. Smokey's on the Gorge was perfect for the reception, and the good was great. Excellent service and attention to detail all around.

I recently got married at AOTG in October. We had a great wedding on the overlook followed by a reception at Smokeys. I had so many compliments on my wedding having the best view and the best food of any wedding that my guests had ever attended. Jessica was so great in helping me plan out details and offering suggestions for music,cakes, and officiants. (Shout out to the Bake shop of beckley for a great cake and also my awesome wedding DJ Bill Fenton!). We had many people stay on site and off site. Jessica was great in helping us get a bus to shuttle people to the hotel people were staying at off site so we didn't have to worry about people trying to drive after the wedding. We also rented The Paddle House. It was a great central location for the bridal party to congregate and also had some amazing views which we used with our photographers (PhotoEArth photography was terrific). I highly recommend anyone who loves the outdoors or wants a wedding with spectacular views to consider Adventures on the Gorge as your first choice they were great to work with.

I am a veteran, professional wedding photographer who documents regularly at Adventures on the Gorge. To put it bluntly, I see it all, hear it all, and am keen to all of the goings on behind the scenes. This is an excellent, professional venue with some of the most amazing scenery in West Virginia! The food is PHENOMENAL - in all of the weddings that I have photographed there in the past several years, I have heard nothing but raves reviews from guests regarding the cuisine: many are folks with sophisticated palates who compared the AOTG fare favorably to anything they had been served in major metropolitan areas. AOTG is a great choice for destination weddings - there are activities to suit everyone from rafting to zip lining to hiking or just relaxing in the pool. A wedding weekend here is both relaxed and adventurous and a wonderful way to enjoy nature with friends and family. I am always super excited when I know that I have an upcoming wedding at AOTG - the staff and wedding director, Jessica, are like old friends now and I know that they make guests feel very welcome and comfortable. Five stars all around - a venue not to be missed!

An amazing destination for our daughter's wedding. Private vacation homes & modern cabins made it the ideal spot for a gathering of our adventurous guests from across the country. The onsite coordinator and staff went above and beyond to assure the ceremony details, menu and setting were absolutely perfect. Blessed with beautiful Fall weather, our outdoor ceremony and poolside reception were a real hit...I can't count the number of guests who proclaimed it the "best wedding" ever!

Adventures on the Gorge was the Perfect place for our wedding. My husband and I both knew the day we visited the venue for a tour that it was where we wanted to get married. Our Event Coordinator, Jessica, was a joy to work with and helped to make the big day, and the days leading up to it, stress free. All of our guests complimented on the breathtaking beauty of the setting and many of them sincerely said it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever attended. The food which was served buffet style, was Fantastic and also recieved countless praise from our guests! Thanks to Jessica who hand delivered us plates, my husband and I both were able to eat a full meal despite the excitement and many congratulations. AOTG also provided us with a list of recommended florists and bakeries that we chose from and were very happy with. After the wedding, my husband and I stayed in one of the nearby cabins for the night before taking off on our honeymoon the next day, flying out of the Charleston WV airport. All in all we can't wait to go back and revisit the magic of our special day!

A number of destination wedding venues in WV were scouted before this one was chosen. While trying to showcase the beauty of our unique state, there needed to be affordable lodging, exciting activities, outstanding food, and trust in the staff. Our family was proud to host the wedding reception for our daughter at Adventures On The Gorge . The wedding itself was in a lovely church in Fayetteville, which provided additional interesting places to explore. When you are asking friends and family to travel to a location, being able to have the options of enjoying additional fun is important. When showing WV to those who have never been here, having the New River Gorge proves it is "Almost Heaven."

Adventures on the Gorge is a wonderful venue for any wedding, the staff is very hard working and the wedding reception that I covered there was incredible. The attention to detail was phenomenal and the
food services provided were awesome! As a photographer, you could not ask for a more scenic outdoor location.

Brightwell Photography

All of our guests were amazed at the venue and couldn't stop talking about the food. Behind the scenes everything went smoothly when the Manager, Larry, stepped in 5 weeks before the wedding. He personally ensured everything went smoothly and perfectly. It was a wonderful wedding as far as Smokey's is concerned. We did have a lot of problems prior to Larry's help though as the Venue Coordinator, Tonya, never followed through on anything she volunteered to do for us, but Larry made everything better and I would recommend Smokey's to anyone.

The day before the wedding, we went whitewater rafting with Smokey's parent company, Class VI. As always, the guides were amazing, knowledgeable, and fun. They have the best safety record and ensure everyone has a great time while being safe. For our pre-wedding trip, our guides were Squirrel and Eric both of whom are fantastic guides. Honestly, I can't say enough good things about rafting with Class VI.

Jessica Cambell at Adventures of the Gorge is nothing short of incredible. We had our dream wedding there at the end of April 2017. Not only is the venue breathtakingly gorgeous, the food, accommodations, and staff are all top notch. Jessica is a well-seasoned professional and it definitely shows in her work. She took care of everything--every tiny detail she had it all covered.
We had great weather and were able to do the ceremony on the lower deck next to Smokeys.
The indoor/outdoor vibe was perfect for our reception at Smokeys, and having everything handicap accessible meant our entire family was able to make it and enjoy a wonderful evening. I simply cannot recommend Adventures on the Gorge and Jessica enough.

MY husband and I have grown up in WV our whole lives and the thought of having our wedding anywhere outside the state was out of the question. James and I would go up near the New River Gorge Bridge several times a year to get away. We visited Smokey's one weekend and it was breathtaking. They have a deck that overlooks the gorge and the bridge and we vowed then and there that if we ever got married this would be the spot. Luckily, they specialize in weddings so we had no problem booking. Smokey's is part of Class VI river runners so you and your gang can go white whater rafting for your honeymoon, hike the amazing appalachian mountain range, bike along the many trails, or go rip-cording through the trees.
Inside the restaurant Smokey's they have a rustic, all-wood decor which is paired with beautiful china and stemware. The chefs at smokey's are insanely good. I would rate the meals at Smokey's 5 stars - and they have plenty of options to please just about any taste. The meals are full of color and beautifully prepared as well.
The servers and cooks were so kind and patient with us. All the servers were extremely professional and just made our day so special. I don't know what else I could have asked for! Susan was the coordinator for our wedding and she was amazing. She thought of stuff that we would not have thought of and because of that we are so grateful. She was always there for us when we called or emailed. Overall I would reccomend Smokey's as a wedding site and reception area if you want breathtaking views, amazing food, and exceptional service.

We got married here in June of 2021 and I'm so glad we picked this venue! All the guests loved the food and drinks. Jessica Campbell and Liz had everything set up beautifully and helped make sure the event went smoothly.

Gorgeous venue and surrounded by the very best nature has to offer. They are experienced, and make the night flow smoothly with no problems. Jessica is a fantastic coordinator, very responsive and flexible. She works wonders at making my vision become a reality. My guests still comment to me how much fun they had. Would recommend 11/10.

I got married at AOTG last September. My husband and I both grew up in WV and the New River Gorge was an area I knew I wanted to get married at. We all the had the most wonderful time and Jessica and her team was a large reason for that. We had the ceremony on the large deck over-looking the gorge (the tent was up because it had rained the morning) followed by a reception in Smokey's, and then we had an after party a few hours later by the pool. Jessica was super accommodating. We wanted a roast pig and lumpia (filipino egg rolls) for the after party and we got an amazing roast pig and lumpia for the after party. I wanted an apple cider cocktail as a specialty drink, we got an apple cider cocktail. We wanted to make sure the WVU game was on TV during the reception. It was on the TV (and we won!) She made sure we had food (which was delicious) and drinks during the reception, and even went back to the cabin when we arrived right before the ceremony and realized we left bowties for the ring bearers and the readings! It was a little hard to get ahold of her at times during the planning process, but understandable knowing how many events they hold during the year.
Many of our guests stayed in cabins or at a nearby hotel. My family rented the Paddle House, where me and my bridesmaids got ready, while some of the groomsmen rented Falcon Ridge (private vacation homes). I never got a chance to see Falcon Ridge, but the Paddle House was great! We even hosted our rehearsal dinner there. Everyone seemed to enjoy the accommodations.
Besides starting the ceremony late, the day went off without a hitch. You can't beat the views. The food was awesome. There are so many activities if you want to make a mini-vacation out of it (Jason and I zip-lined the day before the wedding!) So many guests claimed it was the best wedding they had been to. I HIGHLY recommend AOTG, especially if an outdoorsy wedding is what you're looking for.

Having our wedding here was a great decision! The staff was so helpful, we didn't have to worry about anything! The facility is so nice, and the food is the best around.

My husband and I were married at Adventures on the Gorge Sept 14th 2013 and it was truly the most perfect day!! AOTG is the perfect WV venue- scenic and unique- just what we were looking for. Leading up to our wedding day Jessica Campbell, the wedding coordinator was wonderful to work with, she was there for anything I needed and was very organized. She is there to handle any situation that came up, I am a pretty laid back person and I really liked her go with the flow attitude. The week of the wedding my family rented cabins and we enjoyed the area for several days- rafting, hiking and ziplining. We had our ceremony on the deck and reception tented around the pool area- it was so beautiful. The staff along with Jessica decorated everything according to my instruction and handled all details on the Wedding Day- it looked amazing! I was able to relax and enjoy my day stress free. The views are amazing at the venue, our guests were so impressed with the setting along with the food and the service (the salmon was a HUGE hit!!). We have received nothing but wonderful feedback from our guests. Thank you Jessica and Adventures on the Gorge for the most perfect wedding day we could imagine! We will always cherish this special place.

The view was spectacular and the food was amazing. They were transitioning to a new wedding coordinator when I was planning my wedding and it was difficult to get a hold of someone at times. Once the new girl started though it ran very smoothly. I had my rehearsal dinner at Chetty's Pub and stayed in a cabin the night before my wedding. It was so convenient because they had everything there.

So as the title said our wedding was great, to Jessica's credit she made things go pretty smoothly on our wedding day, but everything leading up to that was a pain. I understand there are a lot of weddings there each year, but communication is key and there was little to no communication until a WEEK leading up to our wedding. We were frustrated and had questions that were time sensitive that were not answered for weeks. And when we would finally get a response it would normally be an answer to one question rather than the five we had.

The venue is beautiful, and perfect for a fairly large wedding. They were also able to accommodate our large band that we had for the reception. The food was also pretty good. Our guests really enjoyed the fact that they could walk to where the wedding and reception were being held, and they could schedule whitewater rafting in the same day if they wanted. The staff at AOTG are great as well, I have no complaints on that end.


When it comes down to it we would chose that venue again many times over, but the process we had dealing with Jessica leading up to our wedding was painful, if it wasn't for that this would be a 5 star rating.

We worked with adventure on the gorge for a year planning our wedding. My wife and I are from Michigan and I would like to share my opinion of the experience. Jessica Campbell was horrible to work with. I would rate her 1 out of 5 stars and here is why. She is Impossible to get a hold of and terrible at attention to detail. What kind of professional wedding planner states that she doesn’t return voicemails? I would ask her numerous times to call me back and she would continuously reply with texts or emails. From the first time my wife and I met Jessica she was too busy to spend any time with us. I had to send her our itinerary 3 different times. She didn’t know the colors of our wedding a week out. A half hour before our ceremony, the groom and groomsmen were moving chairs, wooden logs, and decorations from one deck to another in their suits because of a failure on Jessica’s part. Jessica stood between my wife and her father during their first look and was in all of their pictures. My wife had to ask her to get out of the way... I had to correct the invoice at least a half of dozen times over the course of the year because of incompetence. We asked her for a decoration list so we could plan for what we needed to purchase and she would not provide one. The night before our wedding we had to explain how we wanted the entire reception set up, where the food goes, where we wanted the tables and chairs, DJ, etc.… We tried to finalize those details for months leading up to the wedding and we felt like we should not have had to do that the night before our wedding. Jessica also promised to have 2 restaurant/ bars available to us during our stay and both places (smokeys and chetty’s) were closed during the week we were there. (October 23-October27th 2018). The point of staying on site was for the convenience of not having to leave for food and drinks.
Cabins- We brought 45 people from Michigan to stay in cabins for 3-5 days. We rented 2- kaymoor cabins, 1- one bedroom outback cabin, 4- 2 bedroom outback cabins, martha’s place (vacation home) and paddle house (vacation home). All of the cabins were in great shape and full working order. All of our hot tubs worked, and we had everything we needed. The freezer in Martha’s place was not functioning, I called to inform the staff and they said they would send a technician out and the never did. The handle on the freezer was not operable in paddle house and someone before us tried to repair it with ductape. Besides these two things everything else was great. Both of the vacation homes were absolutely beautiful!
During the process of booking all the cabins the staff did a very poor job at communication and I had to correct the lodging invoice many, many times. Every time I made a payment, or changed a cabin reservation I would ask for an updated invoice to be emailed to me. Almost every invoice I received was incorrect. I labeled were everyone in my group was staying on a map and then mailed that out to our guests. I booked our grandparents in kaymoor cabin #1 from the very beginning. One of my groomsmen called to book a kaymoor cabin and they put him in kaymoor cabin #1. So I called to fix the problem and they changed it back to how it was supposed to be. When we arrived they had once again moved our grandparents to a different cabin without our approval or notification. When I asked why this was done and explained how it created confusion and caused everyone’s map to be incorrect they could not provide an answer. I’m sure it seems like I’m fussing over nothing but just do your job the right way, the first time and all of these problems could have been avoided.
Excursions: AWESOME! Our group went repelling (4 People), white water rafting on the new river (18 people), and gravity zip lining (12 people). We had a blast on every trip and all of our guides were great. We tipped all of our guides and really enjoyed them.
Smokeys (Reception) this building is beautiful, the food was great, the bar was great.
The scenery was perfect and we had some great fall colors. We loved the cliffs and giant rocks and of course the river valley.
Other Vendors we hired:
Officiant- Todd A. Gray. Todd was first class from start to finish and we would absolutely hire him again.
Photographer: Emily Ferguson. Did a great job and gorgeous pictures! We are very happy with our decision to hire Emily.
Lil Bit of Heaven Cupcakes: did cupcakes for our reception and a cheesecake for the bride and groom. They were off the charts phenomenal. First class business from start to finish and very reasonably priced.
Party time DJ: Jeremy was a pleasure to work with and we enjoyed having him DJ.
This is my honest feedback of the last year of my life. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. (734) 735-2894.
Kelly Poupard