Light pouring through the windows in a vacant building in a small town. I was a Wedding Photographer, and through that lens, I saw many different aspects of the wedding industry, the good and the bad…and felt like there could be so much more.
My childhood dream was to build a venue. One with large vaulted ceilings, string lights, ambience, and an outdoor space that made others feel like they could sit down and just be.
A venue that supported the Couple through one of the biggest adventures they would encounter at the start of their life together, making the process stress-free, and exceptional all the way through.
I signed the lease and ran the small venue.
I learned every lesson I could possibly learn from the process. Then came the land, the plans, the design, and the bills.
In 2019 we built my dream venue after pouring over designs and visiting venues both nationally and internationally.
I dove into research to create something that wasn’t in our market or the industry at that time. Working alongside an Architect, a Builder, and a whole team of subcontractors, it came to life and it was everything that I dreamt of.
Then I had to run it.
Build the team, book the weddings, make the contracts, and hope it all went the way we had planned.
...In comes Covid.
We were open for a short 8 months, entering into our first full-wedding season, and boy, did we learn a lot that year through trials and tribulations. It was the least optimal time to start a wedding venue. So, we got real thrifty and we fully understood that a successful wedding venue is not built strictly on being the venue. It's the foundation of the kindling that makes the fire burn bright.
Now, entering our 5th season, we are successfully running one of the best venues in Iowa,
with 60+ weddings per year (average of $10,000 a wedding), managing the in-house bar for those weddings (average $6,000 a wedding) and growing our coordination team (now at 50% of our couples adding this additional package $3500-$7000). If we hadn't created these additional streams of revenue for our venue, we would have likely not made it through 2020.
Now alongside our Coach and friend Kristin Binford, we are teaching other venues how to do the same. It feels amazing to be the support to others throughout the building process & to help them build additional streams of revenue while Kristin teaches them how to successfully book and run the venue of their dreams. We go together like kindling & fire.
Are we an Architect team who draws your prints or the Subcontractors that will build your venue with our own two hands? No. Were the crew that fills the cracks through the lessons we have learned along the way because there is no reason that we both need to learn those costly mistakes.
We’re here to help. A friend that walks alongside you on the way.
Let’s Talk About it...
Tell us a little about yourself, your venue, and which services you are interested in. We will get back to you shortly to tell you about all we offer and how we can work together.
Thank You!
We will be in touch Shortly
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