I got to meet the owner, Joy Nelson, at this venue tour!! Welcoming me in was, Mallory, was my tour guide, full of interesting facts, the biggest smile, and a love-being-here attitude as she greeted everyone we cruised by on the golf cart. And I mean everyone. The horses, the guests, the employees, the donkeys, the volunteers. It was a such a joy to get the full tour of Joy Ranch of South Dakota. I can’t wait for you to keep scrolling and see all the photos I took!
This venue is a 126-acre ranch a few miles outside of Watertown, and it is entirely barrier-free, which means there are no stairs and it’s wheelchair-friendly. There is a basketball hoop, paddleboats, fishing, swimming, horses, animals, a huge deck, a playground, and plenty of room to explore. If you host your wedding at Joy Ranch, there is something for every age group. The best part is that they are building a larger wedding venue space!! And we got the sneak peek.
One more thing to mention. Joy Ranch is a nonprofit. Founded by Joy, its mission is to give people of all ages and abilities life-changing experiences through equine companionship — foster children, people living with disabilities, families walking through hard seasons. Weddings, reunions and corporate retreats are how that work gets funded. So when you book your wedding here, your reception is paying for a child to sit on and/or ride a horse for the first time.
They host about 20 weddings a year. Yours should be one of them!
Joy Ranch at a Glance
Location: 16633 448th Ave, Florence, SD 57235 (just outside Watertown, in Codington County)
Website: joyranchofsd.org
Capacity: Dining Room and Multipurpose Center each seat 200 for dinner; the chapel seats 80
Contact: Mallory — mallory@joyranchofsd.org or 605-886-4622
Choose Your Ceremony Site
This is the part that makes Joy Ranch different from almost anywhere else in the region. You have so many ceremony site options!! There’s the historic prairie chapel (It seats 80 comfortably. One note: the chapel is not air conditioned, so just keep that in mind for your hot summer afternoon ceremony. There’s Main Street in the ranch’s 1880s western town. There’s the lakefront at Lake Lyle. There’s the hill with the rocks and the cross. And there’s the barn.
Every ceremony reservation includes Wild Bill’s Game Room and one bunkhouse stall for wedding party preparation — so yes, there are getting-ready spaces, and they’re included rather than an upsell.
Chairs for the ceremony are rented separately. Joy Ranch has 140 white folding chairs at $0.60 each if your crew sets them up, or $2.60 each if Joy Ranch staff sets them up and takes them down. If your guest count runs past 140, you can bring in additional chairs, but those rental arrangements are on you to organize (or that’s exactly what Hitch Studio is for! Choose a package that includes us setting up any chairs!).
And the coolest part — the couple can arrive by horse-drawn carriage (or a sleigh in winter). Ha! That’s a unique selling point for sure.
The Reception: Two Rooms, and Setup Is Included
Every wedding with a catered meal reserves either the Dining Room or the Multipurpose Center. It’s a one-time fee covering the full duration of your wedding experience and it include setup and teardown of the facility, bartending, tables, chairs, china, flatware and glassware, which are all set and cleared by their staff.
Linens are not included, but Joy Ranch rents black tablecloths at $5.00 each and napkins at $0.25 each. (If black isn’t your palette — and it often isn’t — Hitch Studio Rentals has full-length linens and napkins in a lot more colors.)
Rehearsal dinner and extra gathering spaces are available: the Thirsty Boot Saloon, the South/North 40 Meeting Space, and the Bunkhouse Common Room. All of these rooms and options have pricing and it’s all in their wedding guide. Just email Mallory and ask for it!
Joy Ranch has an on-site kitchen and offers catered meal service, with menu pricing quoted per event. You’re also welcome to bring in your own caterer (and that caterer signs a Kitchen Usage Agreement). They don’t make wedding cakes, but you’re free to bring one in. A projector and screen, and wireless microphone are also available.
Lodging: Four Options, All On-Site
This is where Joy Ranch “wins” against some other venues. Nobody has to drive anywhere.
Retreat rooms: hotel-style, western-themed rooms with two queen beds and a full-size accessible bathroom. Linens and towels included. You can block 8 rooms for your guests; unfilled rooms release 30 days out, so remind people early.
Bunkhouse: each stall holds 17 bunks with shared restrooms, showers and laundry. Bring your own twin linens, pillows and towels, or rent linens.
Campground: Electric (30 and 50 amp) and water hookups, dump station on site. Open mid-April through October.
South Ranch Airbnb: Sleeps 18 across four queen bedrooms, a twin room and two bunk rooms, with three bathrooms, a full kitchen, laundry, dining and living rooms. This is your obvious wedding-party house.
Make a Weekend of It
Instead of a wedding DAY, make a family-reunion-style wedding WEEKEND. Your guests can add trail rides, arena rides, a horse-drawn wagon ride or pontoon rides on Lake Lyle.
Beyond that: the 1880s town, Wild Bill’s Game Room, a sport court and playground, kayaking and swimming, an archery range, a one-room schoolhouse, hiking trails, a pumpkin patch, and thirteen fireplaces scattered across the property. Your guests will not be checking their phones between the ceremony and dinner.
How Hitch Studio can help as your wedding planner
The decorating window is narrow at Joy Ranch. It’s from 4pm to 8pm the day before. DJs set up in that same window. It’s the best reason to hire Hitch Studio as your wedding planner and decorator! You should focus on family and guests and your wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We’ll focus on bringing all the decor and setting it all up for you! (Real candles ARE allowed, by the way).
Indoor music ends at 11:00 p.m. and outdoor music needs to end at 9:00 p.m., out of respect for the ranch’s neighbors. The room must be cleared by midnight. Let Hitch Studio clean up your decor for you! That’s our 1 Carat-3 Carat package if you’re looking at our Welcome Kit.
Hitch Studio can decorate, manage vendor load-in, and run the transitions between five possible ceremony sites and two reception rooms. Centerpiece table decor is free when you work with us!
Is Joy Ranch the Right Wedding Venue for You?
If you have people you love who use a wheelchair, a walker, or an oxygen tank — and you’ve been worried about how much of your wedding they’ll actually get to experience, tour this place. If you want a weekend instead of an evening, or a ceremony that looks like nobody else’s, tour this place. It is THE MOST charming venue I’ve been to in a long time. It has the warm, welcome, family-oriented, friendly vibes. You can’t help but smile and relax.
Ready to plan a Joy Ranch wedding? That’s exactly what we’re here for. Reach out to Hitch Studio — we’d love to help. You can also browse more of our Venue Spotlight posts as you compare South Dakota wedding venues.
Check out photos of everything I visited. We’d love to work with you here so you can ENJOY!
A sneak peek into the new wedding venue space they’re building! It will hold more than 200 — and all with beautiful tall ceilings!
