How to start a Barn Wedding Venue (Podcast Episode 1 transcript)

Take one. Here we go. Good afternoon from Cedar Bay farm. We're in a bit of a snow globe today. Yes, we are happy. New Year. Happy. New Year. It's a snow day today. Around here, we have about eight inches of snow outside, which has given us a really good reason to start our podcast today. We can't be outside. We're inside. We gotta do something. Right? Yeah, might as well start our podcast. Might as well start it. We're about three months behind our hopeful schedule, but better late than never, right? That's what I always say. I'm Kelly Woodall and I'm Ben. We are husband and wife many things. We are husband and wife, though, and we own this sweet little venue, cedar Bay farm, and we are coming to you today just to chat about some of the questions that we got from our followers on social media, things you'd like to know about us. So let's start at the beginning. Let's start at the beginning. I Oh, do you remember how we met? I think it was a church volleyball game, or maybe it was before that. Well, I think that's the most recent story. Church volleyball game. That's the one I'm going with. Yeah, that's the one we're gonna stick with. Yep. So yeah, when was that high school? We were in high school, yeah, probably we started dating maybe a year later. I think we met at the church volleyball game, but it wasn't until, I think, on Broadway. So back in the day, we used to be allowed to cruise Broadway in Greenville, Ohio. Oh my goodness. And I think Jeremy and I were probably parked Jeremy's my older brother, we were parked on Broadway, and I don't know our pancake friend Angie, was out cruising with Kelly, and we were cruisers. My gosh, that was like, what? 30 some years ago, that is really aging us and dating us, I guess it's yeah, a long time ago we met in Greenville, Ohio. Goodness, we've traveled many, many miles since then. But yeah, we kind of had a long distance relationship for a while too. Because didn't you join the Navy there? Sometime I did. I was I was 19, joined the Navy, left for the Navy known as 20 Yep, and, and we didn't get married till we were almost 24 so I think we started dating when we were 18. So we had a very long courtship, if you will. And then we got married, moved to Virginia from Ohio. I did. Ben was already there, and we lived there for quite a few years. Our first adulting years, far away from home. Lots of fun, though, yeah, yeah. Lots of fun. Lots of fun. So we got married in Greenville at our church that we grew up going to, and I still remember that day very fondly. We're about to celebrate our 27th year of marriage here in Well, this week, right? Is it Friday? This Friday the 10th? This Friday the 10th will be 27 years. But yeah, the journey of weddings, I think, started a bit before that our we had a few siblings that got married within, I don't know, a year to six months of us. So we had all these weddings, as many people do in their 20s, when all their friends and family are getting married. And that's when I think we started just learning about what weddings were all about, and the work that it took to even have a wedding. There was lots of what I like to call schlepping, lots of schlepping at a lot of weddings, setting up, tearing down, trying to have creative ideas for for weddings. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I guess we have a lot of journey before we started out to start a venue, there was a lot of i. I guess roads way before we started this. What year did we? We bought cedar Bay in 2020 but we'd been dreaming about it for what, probably what, 10 or 12 years before that. So Kelly's stepdad farmed like 2200 acres in Preble County, and he bought a farm over in Indiana, north of Richmond, and it had an old farmhouse on it and an old barn. And we, we started the process of rezoning that property, and we were going to turn that old barn into a wedding venue. Many, many years ago, yeah, many years ago, we started down that path. Yeah, we were talking about this. We had always wanted to own a bed and breakfast. I'm like, ooh, that would be so fun. I think because we stayed in a few as we were early in our marriage, when we were traveling more, and it was such a sweet experience. And I think as we've grown older, we've really come to appreciate like experiences for and being in people's homes, and the experience that we had with, like, just hospitality, and the areas that that we've been in we've lived all over, but we've really been fortunate to have experienced a lot of sweet hospitality over the years. And I think, gosh, we were like, Oh, we could, we could do this. Like, we really like people, and we like taking care of people. Let's, let's do this. But I remember, my mom had just come back from traveling. They had been, I think, out west. They had been out to the vineyard country in California, and then they were up in Michigan, up in the Upper Peninsula, and they had stayed at a few Bed and Breakfast and some vineyards, and they came home and we're like, Hey, you guys could totally do this. And of course, we've been dreaming about it for all these years, right? But we were working for the man, the men, I was in a nurse in hospital systems, and you were, of course, in business. Yep, automotive manufacturing, few different companies, yep. So between what accounting and what else did you do, production, control, shipping and receiving, all the operations, yeah. Operation side, yeah. So we've been doing all these things all these years, and we're like, oh, we could totally do this. You know, I think we were thinking we do it a side hustle for a while, but it became so much more once we got here. But anywho, I don't want this to be all convoluted. We We ended up, gosh, we moved to Georgia, we moved back to Virginia, and then we ended up moving back to Ohio, and when that happened, we're like, oh, shoot, we got to do this. Things didn't work out the first time that we had tried, even though we did get some green lights with zoning, I would say the zoning process is probably the most important and largest process that we that you go through when you are building any business, probably, but the first time, it just didn't work out it wasn't the right season for us, and that was okay. You know, we had a lot of great experiences after that, and then when we got back to Ohio on the roundabout way via Georgia and Virginia, we really felt like this was our season for this. So here we are. Here we are, yeah, when we moved back, we spent the first year and about a quarter looking and looking and looking, yeah, we I think we toured like, I don't know, 678, different we wanted to do a barn style wedding venue. And we looked at several different properties, and they either had community all around them, or they had power lines through them, or metal siding. And we wanted something really authentic. And you were driving, I think, and you you saw this, this farm, here on Drake road, we contacted the selling agent, and as they say, the rest is history. A lot of history. What in four years? Actually, we're about to roll on to five years, our fifth year of owning the farm. We bought the farm from a really sweet family here and Warren County. They were so kind, and luckily, the owner is very sentimental and grew up in this farm and really cared for it. And we just feel really fortunate that they gave us opportunity to to buy a piece of it. So we did. We bought 10 acres of this property. Property that it was on to preserve the home and the barn. We had, really, we honestly are, I would say, more dreamer kind of people, because I don't think we really knew what we are getting ourselves in. Absolutely not, which is so great, because if we had, we would, we probably wouldn't have done it right? Yeah, the I think so we've done a lot of slow flips, different places that we lived and, yeah, renovations on old homes. We call them slow flips because we live in them. We've lived in, I don't know, five or six houses that we've renovated. And when you live in a renovation then, which has been nuts over the years, but it's been part of our story for sure. We bought what, four or five houses from the 1930s and renovated them, and we've been really fortunate to be able to sell them within what 24 hours or less. It's been, it's been quite an adventure, but we have, we have learned by trial and error that we're like, we can do almost anything. Heck, we can do this right, yeah? Just roll our sleeves up and go for it. Yeah? We thought, I think, because of our background of, like, doing kitchens and bathrooms, you know, this would be that that difficult, but the rehab in a barn was, was a tremendous undertaking. And yeah, we didn't new experience, for sure, didn't know what all it took on the front end. And so yeah, just rolled up our sleeves and went for it, I guess. Yeah, we did. In fact, it's funny. I remember when we came in when we were having our house inspection, and the house inspector, which we had met him on a different property before, and he was walking down the stairs of the house, and we walked in, and he's like, Are you sure y'all know what you're doing? Like, and we're like, oh, yeah, this is, like, this house is built in the 30s. It's solid. Like, this is we got this. We've done this several times. Like, no big deal. And he's like, he's like, I Okay. And he gave us, like, what, 100 page inspection report. He said it's the longest and biggest of his career. So that was pretty hilarious. I mean, hilarious, I guess, in the lunacy hilarious, because it is, like, I said it was best that we didn't really realize how big of an undertaking that this place was going to be. But because we had vision, it was like, Oh, we can do it. Let's go for it. Yeah, let's go for it. So we, I remember, I was thinking about the windows. Even the windows on the house were original from the what, 1936 1937 37 Thank you. And they were so beautiful. There's these gorgeous, like, French iron windows. And I mean, we had them re glaze, thinking, Oh, we're it's going to be fine. And the first year, I think the wind was blowing in through them from the West, like snow was coming in from the window. And I'm like, Yeah, we're going to die. We're going to freeze to death in this house. So yeah, we learned a lot of things and have replaced a lot of things, and have really made this place ours over the last four years, and it's just become this sweet, sweet little property for for us, and It feels so like crazy that people want to come here and celebrate, like, giant life, um, events, events. Yeah, with us, we are so, like, I don't know, I think it's sometimes it's like, these pinch me moments, you know, like, I can't believe this is really happening. Like, this thing that we've dreamt about is, like, it's happening. So we just feel so fortunate to be in the position that we're in here to host y'all and to to be able to take care of you guys and our you know, the our vendors, our couples, anybody that comes to celebrate here, it just feels like such a privilege, yeah, for sure. And just, we just celebrated our our third season, our third full season, we had 42 weddings this last year, and our last wedding of this last year was actually our 100th wedding as well. So, so crazy to me. It's so hard to believe we've done 100 weddings here, that blows my mind. And I just think of all the special moments, you know, between the beginning and now, it's just wild. So we are just so thankful for any, any of our couples that are listening like we're just so grateful for you guys and grateful for your families that you would. And trust us with your dreams. So thank you. I wanted to circle back. We talked about so many things, but we want to talk about our why. I know some people were asking, like, Why? Why are we doing this? What made us want to do it? And I think at every wedding, we have somebody come up to us and they're like, we we want to do this. Like, we've dreamt about doing this, like, oh my gosh, this is like, dream job and, and I'm always like, Hey, give us a call. Like, here. Like, call us and we'd love to sit down and have coffee with you and talk about it with you. Because I feel like, gosh, we had a lot of people that we reached out to in our process over the years, like even what 1012, years ago, when we were we were processing and thinking about it, other venue owners that were so gracious to talk to us and answer questions for us. But especially here in Warren County, where we've landed, we've had some really great venues that have helped us along, and other businesses that have just been so generous to us with their time and their kindness. But I guess the why, the why behind? Why do we, why do we embark on this? I I think I was thinking another day, like, we, we've worked for the what, when they call it the man, for all these years, and we've talked about, like, hey, we have all these ideas, and we're I always thought, like, why not us? Like, why don't we do it, you know? Why? What? What's stopping us from being like these other dreamers and entrepreneurs? And I think that probably for as long as I can remember, I think our hearts have been have leaned towards that entrepreneurial spirit, you know? And I think we just needed to get some years under our belt in life to be brave. We needed to get some some courage just to jump out there and take the risk. Because, of course, anytime you're doing a business, it's a risk. But we also love people. We are gatherers at heart. I think I love, like, loving on people. I've been in the I think, would you call that like the customer service industry? Even since college, I worked for the limited company and for Bath and Body Works inventory secret and the limited back when the Limited was around, and I just learned a lot about customer service back then. And then, of course, I've been in the hospital systems for years, being a nurse, then just really caring for people. Well, is like, like, our goal is just for people to be seen and heard and cared for. And I feel like giving people an experience like that can be so rare. It's like going into a coffee shop, your local coffee shop, and they know your name, and they know what you're going to order. And there's just something special about that, about being known and seen, that I feel like you know we've we've lost a bit in humanity these days, with things always being fast and quick and and impersonal, and we're typically looking at our phones, and people just don't know each other like they used to because of the way we even communicate today. Yeah, so there's something about wanting to care for people in a special way, like that kind of old timey, you know, seeing people and really caring and loving them and and really honestly, just caring about their experience, you know, especially when they come here for a wedding or or any kind of event, really, you want it to be just a really great experience for them, memorable and memorable for their guests. So I feel like that is just about most important to us, you know, yeah, yeah, it's what we're trying to create here. So, yeah, yeah. Do you have a why you want to share? Do I have a why coming from the more business perspective I am the feeler of the two of us this guy is the more logical, practical guy? Yeah, I think, I mean, I've done a lot of, like, you know, budgets and planning and stuff like that, and it's fun to dream on the business side of, you know, numbers and stuff like that. Like, what, what can we do? Can we take care of ourselves? And can we, can we run a small family business and, you know, get to provide for our family. And it has these, these last, what, two and a half years, which has just been, just been amazing. I think in the beginning it was the idea of, like, our kiddos are actually 17. They'll be 18 this year, which is crazy. It is crazy. But we were. Able to, you know, step away from corporate America and do this, and be able to spend, like, well, the last two and a half years, obviously, building a business, which has been a lot of work, but, you know, our kiddos were old enough to help us do that, and and then just be able to spend like, a lot more time with them. Yeah, that's been such a such a gift in this season, I think about, you know, they're at the point where they're about to be launched into like grown up life, right? And we've been able to spend the last few years more with them than ever, although probably the busiest seasons of our lives. It's It was honestly consuming so much of our time that we couldn't do our full time jobs well and do this business, because we knew our whole heart needed to be one place or another, right? And like it was taking all of our, you know, concentration focus was to really just to be on the business. So, yeah. So, yeah, what it's, it'll be three years in April that Ben has been home from his corporate job, yeah, which is so insane to think that we've been able to do that. That was kind of a like a far out, far reaching dream, that we would both be home from our, you know, everyday jobs and be, be home with our kids, be home to take care of the business. Not that it's been super easy, or that, you know, we have a ton of money in the bank. In fact, we laugh sometimes when we like, if people actually knew, like our situation at times, being, you know, really early in the process of owning a business, it's, it's been difficult. I feel like there's been a lot of faith walking out in this season, like, just really trusting God for provision. And it's been hard, but good, right? Yeah, because it's like, every time we're like, Huh? I wonder how this is going to all play out, like, with the, you know, paying bills and different things. And then, you know, then we'll have some bookings, and then we're like, okay, thank you God for providing. But yeah, it's, it's been, it's been a long, arduous process. We cannot lie, it's, but it's been also just, just such a sweet and just encouraging time to see like the hand of God in our lives, and how he is such a good provider and a good father. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Let me think. Let's see. So some of the other questions that people always want to know, um, we can just start this lightly, and then we can wrap that. Because people are always like, well, what, how do we start something like this, right? Yeah, yeah. And we're like, step one, of course. We're like, you know, pray, obviously. Like, is this? Is this what's for us, for our family. But step one, we would say, start at your local zoning and planning office in your county. They're the ones that are going to know you know whether your property or the property you're looking at, if it could be possible to do a gathering place or a venue there. Yeah, there's tons and tons of, I guess, hoops you have to jump through and so anyways, they're the experts. So yeah, we recommend that's, that's the starting spot. Yeah, yeah, we started there. Actually, as soon as we moved here, I'm like, Hey, let's go talk to them like we didn't have a place yet, but we're like, we knew that the county was the first place to go, just from our past experience. So we went in, and they were so, like, kind. They were great. They were really kind. The zoning director then was, like, just very generous with her time and and then she just plugged us in with everybody we needed to meet. But I think for you and I, it was most difficult because we're lay people. We're not builders, we're not we don't know the commercial people, so we don't know the process of this, like we, like a business person would, that's maybe done it. And I feel like there wasn't a lot of allowance for or education, if you will, for like people like us. So we kind of learned by trial, by fire, by fire, which honestly was not fun. So I'm like, I wish I had all those books, notebooks of notes that we took, and all those meetings, because we, oh, my goodness, it was years. It took us years to get our zoning right. When we first went in, they told us one thing, and then we went in again, and it was different as far as zoning and what was allowed on this property. So we, we kind of, I, I. I don't know if you talk to any of our family or close friends for this process that we went through, they would be like, run, run for your lives, because they just saw us going through the process of getting the zoning Correct. Here. We really it was. It was very difficult, I would say. And but I do think that some of that was because of our lack of knowledge of processes. Yeah, for sure, yeah. We're not developers, so we don't, you know there's, there's things that I think everybody in the room knew, except for us, yeah, and I felt like we were kind of always the last to know, but, but thankfully, we got through it all. Yeah, thank God. I think I have a picture of us like, when that, when we finally got our occupancy, I think we were both crying. We were just like, I can't believe it's happening. We would encourage you not to buy an old barn and think that you're going to, you know, shine it up and be able to have weddings there, I think, like between the zoning and then structural engineers, architects. There's so many engineers involved in, like, our barns 170 years old. And of course, it's insanely, like strong, right? I mean, it was built back in the day when they built things so well, but when you want to make it into a commercial building, it is quite the process, and we were really fortunate to meet a lot of great people. We learned a lot through the process with our county, with architects, engineers, oh gosh, soil scientists, you name it. We've met them. I just think about all the people that were part of like this journey for us, and it's a long journey. I do think it's worth it though, don't you? Yeah, it absolutely is worth it. Are you glad we did this? I am glad, I'm glad it's behind us at this point. But no, right? I'm thrilled that that we're where we are, yeah? So, yeah, yeah. It's been, it's been a journey. So, all right, well, Shall we wrap up? I think so. I think so. Yeah, thanks for thanks for joining us and listening. I think the goal with the podcast is to we've heard a lot of great stories from a lot of great couples, and I think we've, we've wanted to, I guess, have a platform to share those and we thought this, this platform, you know, doing a podcast, would be the best way to to, you know, interview and share those stories. Yeah, absolutely. So we want to do that. And as well as interview and talk to some of our our our vendors that we love, yeah, yeah, we loved it. We I think it, I think we'd love to inspire people like to dream like. We want to inspire you to dream. Our story is crazy, just the process of all the things, but it's like, it doesn't mean you stop dreaming like and we have a lot of dreamers that are like all these vendors, who are entrepreneurs that have started their own businesses. It's so sweet to hear their stories. You know, of, you know, overcoming and just doing their the dream jobs that they've always wanted to do. And then, yeah, just the love stories of our couples. It's so fun getting to know couples and their their families, so we'll definitely be sharing those here as well. But yeah, learning the stories behind our couples and our vendors. It just helps as you're going along the process of choosing who you're looking for to care for you guys on your big day, too. It's really fun to know back stories. We really believe that people, everyone has a story, and we really want to tell stories here on our podcast. So, yeah, yeah, thanks for listening in, and we'll see you next time. Bye.