At River’s Bend Ranch, wedding weekends share the ground with a working farm

Susan McConnell Corbett’s parents bought the farm that became River’s Bend Ranch in the 1970s. Today she carries on the family’s work at a property where wedding guests, horseback riders and livestock occupy different parts of the same landscape.

The ranch lies along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River near Stanley. Its wedding pavilion looks toward the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a bunkhouse directly across from it and additional lodging elsewhere on the grounds. That arrangement allows a gathering to extend beyond a ceremony and reception into a weekend together.

Couples receive a vendor list to help assemble their plans. Guests can stay in cabins, the ranch house or the bunkhouse, and guided trail rides take both overnight visitors and members of the public down toward the river. Horse boarding is another part of the operation.

The agricultural side has its own connection to nearby communities. The ranch raises Angus-Wagyu cattle and sells beef through the Page Valley Farmers Market, directly at the farm by arrangement and through other local outlets. Its beef also appears on the menu at PORCH+VINE in Luray. Longhorn steers, Navajo Churro sheep and chickens are among the other animals described in the ranch’s introduction to the property.

Corbett links that mix of hospitality and farming to stewardship of the land her parents acquired. For visitors, the result is a venue whose activity continues well beyond the wedding calendar.

River’s Bend Ranch is at 397 Riverbend Road. Wedding and lodging inquiries can be made at 540-652-1836 or office@riversbendranch.com.