Wedding Week: The Venue

The venue turned out to be one of the most important parts! After we decided not to elope, we thought it would be just perfect to get married in Kelly's side yard, where we would be living. There is a huge, open green lawn next to his house that stretches almost all the way to the field in the back. It was the perfect amount of space for a band, tables and food- also a tent if need be. 

I thank my lucky stars that we found the venue. The day before our wedding was freezing cold and rainy and the day of the wedding itself was even worse. There was sleet in the morning and it poured freezing cold rain all day long. If we had planned it for the side yard, we would have been out of luck. 

We had settled on having the shindig at the house, we had a tent ready to be ordered and a deposit on the bathroom trailer. Then one day out of the blue, my mom called. She said "Ted and I were on the back roads this weekend and saw some people getting married near a pole barn next to a pond, do you know where that is?" 

Ummmm.... No mother I do not and I don't want to hear about it, the party is happening in the yard in less than two months are you trying to give me a heart attack?! 

So the subject of the barn wasn't brought up again. Then one day out of the blue, upon returning to work from my lunch break, I feel someone staring at me. It's my coworker. She's holding a brochure in front of her face with a look that says 'Please don't hurt me...'

"What now?!" I asked. 

"Ummm..." she replied, "I'm really sorry, but one of our clients just dropped this off. He came in to pay and left his checkbook in the truck, and when he came back in he brought this brochure. He said his wife and stepdaughter started it...here, here's the brochure, just look."

I got up from my desk, walked very calmly over to her (staring daggers the whole time) and, very politely, snatched the brochure from her hand.

I sat down at my desk, opened the brochure and my mouth fell open. It was perfect. The barn, the pond, the beautiful flowers, everything was perfect. 

I called my mom right away with the exciting news and can you guess what she told me? It was the barn she saw. What do you call it when something keeps falling right in your lap time after time? I think it was fate. 

It turns out that they were newly opened that year and there had only been a few weddings that had taken place there. They still had a couple openings before they closed for the year, October 4th was it. I called Kelly, he was fine with it so I called the venue back and booked them right away. 

We scheduled to go visit the barn that Saturday, about three days from then. This is where the story gets a bit crazier. The property is actually owned by my husband's stepmom's uncle. 

What's even better than that? Kelly farms the fields that surround this venue. That means that when we were going to be getting married, we'd be surrounded by fields of corn that he planted. I swear, it was just meant to be. 

This lovely little building is the bridal suite where the ladies would be getting ready. 

There's a bucket of fish food on that bench next to the pond. The pond was completely full of fish so that whenever you threw a handful, they'd swarm and jump trying to get their share of food.

Isn't it gorgeous? 

And this is the grooms room where the gents would be getting ready. Little did we know, come the day of the wedding, we would be trading rooms because of the weather! 

We'd be getting married in the little, open air chapel that you can see in the 2nd and 3rd pictures in this post. I had to add this photo of it covered in winter snow. How absolutely stunning would it be to get married in the snow under that chapel? 

This is the veranda where there would be appetizers and drinks being served immediately following the ceremony. 

We had made a few yard games, giant Jenga and bean bags, for people to play in the afternoon sun while the family was taking photos. 

The venue is located on an old family-run apple orchard. It was really neat because they used some of the old apple crates for the wood in the barn and the chapel. Here and there, you would see a faint 'Dendel' stamped into the wood. 

They had a beautiful bar and lounge area, and the bar top was covered in pennies. 

We loved how open it was and all of the old, rustic wood on the inside. Plus, the dance floor was made completely of pennies! 

Stay tuned to see how we turned this place into our own!

{{Photos from The Barn at Monterey Valley}}