Joshua Tree and the Best Sunset Venue - Yucca Valley, California

shania H.

Overall everything worked out okay thankfully for my parents stepping in and making sure everything was there, working and running smoothly. It’s was a beautiful night but the overall experience with Venue 19 wasn’t.Poor communication skills. The Venue is nothing like the pictures you see shown on their Instagram or the website. Messed up the date for my wedding day. Very poor lighting for the whole area and it’s very dark. Came out in the middle of my reception dresses inappropriately. The taco truck that was included wasn’t there for the correct times and left 30 minutes after people arrived. But the food was amazing and my guest loved it. Neglected to make things right and for the price that’s been asked of us is extremely inappropriate for the service.

Vicky C.

I just attended my good friend's wedding at this venue and the whole thing was a mess. Nothing was on time or as promised from the planning stages. Celeste, the officiant and point of contact from the venue, was walking around when guests arrived in a sports bra and leggings. The tables, seats, and benches for the wedding ceremony and reception were all unfinished wood and giving people splinters. The dancefloor was unable to be used because it wasn't sturdy enough to hold the weight. They did not have proper lighting throughout the night when it got dark in the middle of the desert. These are things you shouldn't have to think about when you are paying a venue to host a wedding.

During the ceremony the officiant decided to start by asking the wedding guests not to let their lack of timeliness reflect upon them and their venue/business...I found this highly inappropriate and unprofessional and stole away from the couple's ceremony which should have been their first priority. The officiant also couldn't read her script and kept repeating the same lines over again like she was some kind of crackhead. Honestly it was so embarrassing, and a 5 year old could have done a better job.

If you are looking for a place to have your wedding, look somewhere else - this place is not it!

Marissa O.

Do not book, it’s a scam! I attended a friends wedding & this place should be ashamed to advertise with these photos & should be offering a refund!! If you felt you were not ready for this event then that should have been communicated instead of taking our friends money & ruining their special day! The workers if they were but definitely were not wedding guests all looked to be on drugs, the house looked like a trap house can’t believe they offer people to stay there, No cocktail hour, started late, bar tender did not know how to make drinks, no lights everyone had to eat in the dark, the officiant couldn’t read her scripted lines repeated herself & seemed as if she skipped over things didn’t even charge her microphones, had a funeral decoration up, no announcements, & this list can go on! Stay away from this place!

C. R.

Recently attended a wedding here and the venue was a disaster. It clearly seemed like the first wedding they've ever hosted, and nothing was as promised.

The venue photos are clearly fake, and the place looks like a rundown house in the middle of the desert. Not a single thing was on time, the tables and seating were unfinished, people were unable to use the dance floor because it was so rickety.

The weirdest part were all of the random people who lived at the house crashing the event and walking around. The woman running the show was the worst officiant ever and even randomly fell for no reason......the whole thing was totally bizarre. Five star choice if you're looking for an early divorce.

Jacquelene E.

I have a laundry list with multiple sources of evidence to prove that my contract with this venue was not fulfilled in anyway. Nothing but broken promises and chaos.
I hired Celeste with “venue 19” for my wedding on October 12th, 2024 and I was completely disappointed the entire time.

The music was playing ads when I had already told Celeste multiple times I have Spotify premium that she can use.
The sound was going In and out the entire time even though she assured me that her brother was a technical wiz and had a great sound system. (This was also in our contract to have working audio)

The colors I chose and confirmed with her 5 times was also not present at the wedding whatsoever. I had actually reached out to her 4 or 5 times to let her know if she can’t get the colors and theme I was going for them I would pay for the decorations and flowers myself.

The start time was the biggest downfall of the wedding. I had confirmed with celeste more than a handful of times that my guests will arrive at 4pm cocktails and ceremony will start promptly at 5pm. Multiple emails, text messages, agendas, and wedding invitations had the times and she still asked the vendors to come 2 to hours later. (Spoke with each vendor and they confirmed Celeste lied to them about start times) My guests and myself were waiting for hours for everything to get started. Drinks were hot and left in the sun so those that came on time couldn’t enjoy anything.

She also had her two dogs running around the venue the entire time begging my guests for food, running on my dress, and jumping on chairs where people were eating. She also had my guests take their own chairs/benches themselves from the ceremony area to the dinning area. Which might I add was also a complete disaster since she had no lighting. My guests were eating in complete darkness the entire time. I had to pay my camera guy extra money so that he can bring out some lighting of his own. (Didn’t last long since he was not prepared to supply the event lighting) this was also in my contract to have lighting provided by Celeste.

A dance floor and tent was also in my contract. She did not have any tents whatsoever. The dance floor was not strong enough to hold any weight. The boards were not up to code and had holes so we were all stuck in our tables with no lights.

Unfortunately I mistakenly trusted her to be the officiant of the wedding which she also ruined. Could have been such a special moment for me and my husband that she ruined. She was flustered, forgot her place twice and two several minutes to get back on track, as well as forgetting the exchanging of rings part. She started her speech by talking about herself for several minutes and telling the crowd to not be mad at her because none of the mishaps were her fault…

I had reached out to Celeste so many times to offer my help and extra money if needed. I was over the top patient with her and the only thing I received in return was excuses by her playing the victim. She ended everything by sending me threatening emails as text messages that she would sue me if my friends and family did not stop leaving bad reviews (reviews she had taken down by yelp)

Celyne B.

Beautiful location, so many Joshua trees! This property is massive and beautiful everywhere you look, we had a photoshoot here and the images are incredible. Celeste was so accommodating, great experience!

Anthony V.

I truly wish leaving a 1 star review was possible this place was an absolute disaster. I just recently attended the wedding of two of my closest friends and from the cat urination smell in the single 5x6 restroom to having too use our phone lights just to eat. I recently got my 20yr sobriety chip and I felt like I was at a dope house the officiant could barely hold eye contact let alone a conversation. She rushed through the ceremony so fast to scurry away to who knows where. The so called bartenders rolled up without any ice so the drinks were warm for the first half they even had to borrow my key chain bottle opener due to them not having one idk how that works? We were fighting our way through all the giant ant hills due to them having 0 lighting at all, we must have not got the memo too bring our own source of light. The turf we were promised was rolled up in a ball pushed to the side they must have forgot to roll it out, hopefully nobody else has to endure what we all did that day.

Ana P.

I don’t even know where to begin with this review considering I’m forced to give one start when that isn’t even deserved. My brother and now sister in law were married this weekend and it was an absolute horror. Everything you could imagine to go wrong went wrong. First off the weeks leading up to the wedding, the bride and groom tried to get in touch with Celeste to finalize wedding plans with NO RESPONSE. After several attempts she finally reached back out and things got finalized. Fast forward to the day of the wedding which was set to start cocktail hour at 4pm and the ceremony at 5pm. Upon guest arriving hardly anything was ready. And there was a bunch of hill have eyes characters strolling around “setting things up”. The brides brothers had to set up tables and seating. The bartender was no where to be found and no alcohol or drinks ready to serve. Most people were given warm beer and seltzers as we waited two hours for the ceremony to start at 6. Out of respect for the bride and groom everyone patiently waited and tried so hard to assure them that everything was fine, but boy was that a lie. Now time for the bride and groom’s ceremony, this Celeste lady went from yoga pants and sports bra to a black and white romper. She could have at least put something on nicer but honestly that was the least of the worries. She started the ceremony off babbling about how not to blame the lateness of the ceremony to be a reflection on the venue. The audacity of this woman to even say that and take away the moment of the bride and groom. Not to mention following with random rambling no one could understand as if she couldn’t speak. The bride and groom finally got to share their vows and Celeste begins to attempt to read her script from a book (which I saw her frantically reading through just minutes before the ceremony started as if she had never read from it before). The words coming out of this lady “erm.. ugh… do you take him, no, um hold on, the print is so tiny ha ha ha, I’m sorry give me a second”. I was one mistake away from getting up there and marrying them myself it was so bad. We still tried to make the best of everything and kept going along with the show. Immediately following the ceremony immediate family started to take pictures. Even then there was no food and the bartender barely started to serve drinks. The only options for this open bar was nasty bottom shelf vodka and Jameson. The only mixers were Diet Coke, coke and tonic water. While we waited for the food to cook the taco guy at least had ceviche available. As the sun started to go down even more we all wondered where the lights were. One guy came around and put candles ok all the tables but for some reason were not able to be lit or stay lit due to the light breeze. Everyone ended up pulling out their phones and using the flashlight setting in order to see each other and the food we were eating. It was scandalous! And don’t get me started on bathrooms!! Poop stains, no toilet paper and the shower curtain was nailed into the wall. I am honestly too tired to keep going but I think you get the point. My purpose for this review is to make sure that NO one else falls for this scam of a venue. Please please please spend your money elsewhere because even a wedding at Chuck E. Cheese would be better than this. To Celeste, please refund my brother and sister in law. You ruined their special day!