Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Valerie & Kevin Cook. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Valerie & Kevin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My husband and I’s dream was always to own a working cattle ranch. We had small 1 acre home before the ranch and had a couple chickens and some goats, but the desire to have more was always there. So, when my mother in law found this place, it was just a matter of how we needed to make it happen. My mother in law sold her small ranch and we sold our place and together we got the ranch. The ranch is nestled in the mountains of the Lost Sierra which is perfect because summers aren’t too hot and winters are too rough. But the ranch is also surrounded by wedding venues. These other venues each have a different qualities than the others and there wasn’t a ranch vibe one. We knew that cattle won’t pay the bills, but just fill our freezers so we decided to go down the route of a wedding venue since it seemed to be a successful business in the area. The first year all we did was clean up the space we wanted to use for weddings. Then it was on to marketing of bridal fairs and growing our online presence. We opened during Covid, which worked out in our favor since we were a large outdoor venue.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Valerie and my husband’s name is Kevin. We were married in Gardnerville, Nevada where we were living with our dogs, cat, goats and chickens. At that time, Kevin was a deputy for Carson City Sheriff’s Office and I was working for Douglas County’s Fleet services. We ended up quitting our jobs and selling our home and moving to a ranch in a small town called Cromberg, Ca. We started our own small cattle herd, as well as adding pigs, lambs and meat chickens to the ranch. We bought a couple of horses and added another cat or two to our already existing dogs, chickens and goats.

Our business is Silver to Gold Events in which we run weddings on our ranch. We provide the venue, day of coordination, tables and chairs, wedding arches, getting ready rooms and so much more.

What we are most proud about is our customer service. We pride ourselves on being there for our clients from the beginning to end. We are easy to get ahold of, we care about making your dreams come true and during your wedding day, we pride ourselves on making sure your day is the most perfect day.

When it comes to our Instagram and social media, we provide beautiful pictures and reels of our venue and then bring in the humor with every day ranch life fun!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

May 4th, 2024.

Normally, May weather is mild, can be a touch chilly especially when the sun goes down and you could see rain, but light rain. Well, this past May 4th, we had a wedding and that poor couple had 40 degrees as the high, 3″ of rain to start the day off and finished it with 9″ of snow. The day before their wedding was 75 degrees and sunny. Hot sunny. We are an outdoor venue might I add.

That couple did rent a tent so luckily we had projection from some of the elements. The rain started pretty early in the morning and we were able to use shovels to make little trenches to keep the water from running under the tent walls, but then the rain increased and my husband had to use the tractor to dig some series trenches. At the same time, I moved the entire ceremony set up inside the tent. We were able to take some photos outside after the ceremony, but then the snow came. We spent the rest of the wedding shoveling pathways to the bathrooms and to the parking lot as well as removing the snow from the tent’s roof.

Needless to say, it was an exhausting day, but a day I am super proud of because we had a lot of disasters happen at that wedding, but many people don’t even know. We lost power (but have a massive back up generator), the bartenders got stuck on the freeway and were never able to make it (the DJ’s assistant was a bartender and so was the lady who brought appetizers and they stayed to bartend). The original bartenders were suppose to bring coffee and since they never made it, we brought down our Keurig from the house and all the pods we had.

Kevin and I are proud of our business and I feel like it shows with every wedding we put on. From bad weather to vendors unable to make it, we will find a way to make the best day ever!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner is my husband and we met the new aged way – Tinder!

The best part of this story is I wasn’t sure about dating and talking to someone so feeling uncertain, I showed someone I was working with Kevin and I’s tinder conversation which lead her to looking at his profile. She recognized Kevin from a picture of his black lab. This led us in to doing a full FBI search on him and long story short, we came to the conclusion he was a guy worthy of dating and the rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thekinshipranch.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinshipranch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekinshipranch
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kinshipranch7514

Image Credits

The first photo: the one I provide as my solo shot – is @emma.lynne.photos

Kevin with the baby cow, Kevin with the large cow, Val with the goats, Val and Kevin branding , val throwing hay to the cows- @brittenydonneyphotgraphy

Val and kevin portrait – @jessicalillianphotography

Kevin the officiant – @brittenydonneyphotography

Val speaking with the bride @karihenrichsen