Barns: A PSA

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

I worked a wedding show today. I would guess 8/10 brides we saw plan on getting married in a barn. Burlap and lace are here to stay. Until 2-3 years from now when all of the people who renovated barns to rent out for event space go bankrupt when the trend dies. But I'm afraid that won't be in 2016 and 2017 my friends.

hellohkb · January 2016

NOOOOOOOOOOO. Thank God I'm almost at the finish line and won't have to wade through any more burlap-infused "rustic chic" wedding inspiration anymore.

thisismynickname2 · January 2016

I'm actually really curious where the trend came from to begin with.
I was born and raised on the fringe of the suburbs/country where barns are either full of cows or full of horses and most are from the early 1900s and barely standing. It would never, ever occur to me that one of those structures could be wedding appropriate. Weddings occurred in a church with a reception at a banquet hall or country club. That was it. If you wanted outdoors you went to a public park.

Is Pinterest solely to blame? Who got married in a barn before cute country-chic pictures were published on Pinterest?

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

thisismynickname said:

I'm actually really curious where the trend came from to begin with.
I was born and raised on the fringe of the suburbs/country where barns are either full of cows or full of horses and most are from the early 1900s and barely standing. It would never, ever occur to me that one of those structures could be wedding appropriate. Weddings occurred in a church with a reception at a banquet hall or country club. That was it. If you wanted outdoors you went to a public park.

Is Pinterest solely to blame? Who got married in a barn before cute country-chic pictures were published on Pinterest?

I blame Taylor Swift. All of the pinterest photos look like they could be still shots from her music videos. Well, I've never actually watched one of her music videos but they look like what I envision her videos to look like.

julieanne912 · January 2016

Barn wedding here. I didn't go out specifically wanting to find a barn, but it was a cool place and a reasonable price so we went with it. I did go into it wanting a more casual rustic type of look, but wasn't dead set on a barn. I didn't spend any time on Pinterest looking at wedding stuff before getting engaged (we booked the venue 4 days after we got engaged).

I DID know I didn't want a wedding in a hotel or anything that resembled a ballroom. We also didn't want a church wedding. I grew up very Christian and while I'm not now, I didn't feel right having a church wedding if we didn't believe what was included in the ceremony. H's family (from Wyoming) are all very blue collar country people and I didn't want them to feel out of place, having to wear suits etc. But, I also didn't want to go completely low end and have it in the VFW hall or something like that. So, this space worked for us.

As for my venue, they've been there about 10 years. The barn was built in the 1880s and moved to the site when the city wanted to tear it down to build affordable housing. So the now-owner paid to have it moved to their property, which they live on in an 1880s house (they've lived there 25 years). There's stables on the property as well, but not next to the barn. The barn itself was retrofitted to be ADA compliant and is a straight up event venue... has a sound system, real bathrooms, a small kitchen, and HVAC (heating/air).

In chatting with the owner (who is an old cowboy looking guy), he said this barn popularity is helping his business out quite a bit, he said in 2015 they had 72 events there (not just weddings).

And, I completely acknowledge it was trendy as fuck to have my wedding in a barn. My dress was super trendy too. And, I pretty much don't care. We had an awesome wedding.

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

@julieanne912 You're down south right? I feel like having a southern barn wedding is the equivalent to having a wedding at a historical car plant here, ya know? Not trendy, but probably the most popular, non-traditional venue.

I live in Metro Detroit. Yes, there are real farms all over the state, but there aren't barns in Detroit! People in the outskirt suburbs are literally building barns just for weddings.

julieanne912 · January 2016

I will say, outside of the wedding planning world, people seemed to be really impressed by our "cool venue". I think around here, we're all into weddings, so we see the trends. But your average person (especially older ones who don't attend a lot of weddings) have no idea.

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

Ha, that's funny. My best friend is an event planner and couldn't believe the barn thing was still in. I said that's because you're in the business so you've been doing it for 4 years. To everyone else they probably haven't attended one in a barn yet!

julieanne912 · January 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

Ha, that's funny. My best friend is an event planner and couldn't believe the barn thing was still in. I said that's because you're in the business so you've been doing it for 4 years. To everyone else they probably haven't attended one in a barn yet!

A friend of ours' GF is from Michigan. Our wedding was the first one she'd been to that WASN'T in a church/event hall. Ours was also the first one that had the ceremony outside LOL! Whereas he's from Utah and our type of wedding was the only type he had ever been to before he met her.

thisismynickname2 · January 2016

Honestly, I dig anything that's non-traditional. I didn't want a country club or banquet hall either, and then we ended up in a restaurant with amazing city views, so there's that. I had looked at wineries and parks/gardens and museums. There's even a venue in Chicago that is like... an antique shop? Kind of? (Salvage One for people who want to get married among junk?
Something for everyone, right?) A friend of mine got married at an old Southern Plantation which I thought was so cool (she was on the front end of vintage chic trend). I like the concept of a barn so long as it's not one just vacated by cows; just, like I said, no idea who first thought of that.

I laughed at this national paper article about non-traditional wedding venues. It suggested your local library or museum as a way to save money. Um, those are among the most expensive venues in Chicago...

julieanne912 · January 2016

thisismynickname said:

Honestly, I dig anything that's non-traditional. I didn't want a country club or banquet hall either, and then we ended up in a restaurant with amazing city views, so there's that. I had looked at wineries and parks/gardens and museums. There's even a venue in Chicago that is like... an antique shop? Kind of? (Salvage One for people who want to get married among junk?
Something for everyone, right?) A friend of mine got married at an old Southern Plantation which I thought was so cool (she was on the front end of vintage chic trend). I like the concept of a barn so long as it's not one just vacated by cows; just, like I said, no idea who first thought of that.

I laughed at this national paper article about non-traditional wedding venues. It suggested your local library or museum as a way to save money. Um, those are among the most expensive venues in Chicago...

Oh man, when I lived in Chicago I always thought it would be so cool to get married at Architectural Artifacts. I used to go in there and wander around for about an hour or two and imagine my wedding there LOL! http://www.artifacteventschicago.com/

I think I looked it up once and it would be like 15 grand.

And yeah, the cheapest options around here are the traditional "wedding factory" type venues.

flantastic · January 2016

thisismynickname said:

Honestly, I dig anything that's non-traditional. I didn't want a country club or banquet hall either, and then we ended up in a restaurant with amazing city views, so there's that. I had looked at wineries and parks/gardens and museums. There's even a venue in Chicago that is like... an antique shop? Kind of? (Salvage One for people who want to get married among junk?
Something for everyone, right?) A friend of mine got married at an old Southern Plantation which I thought was so cool (she was on the front end of vintage chic trend). I like the concept of a barn so long as it's not one just vacated by cows; just, like I said, no idea who first thought of that.

I laughed at this national paper article about non-traditional wedding venues. It suggested your local library or museum as a way to save money. Um, those are among the most expensive venues in Chicago...

I've been to a wedding reception at Salvage One. During cocktail hour we were down in the junk store area, and people could play on the antique pool/air hockey/skeeball tables. Then we went upstairs where there were just normal tables (of varying sizes). And later, dancing. And still later, pizza. It was pretty cool, IMO.

RlovesR · January 2016

I don't mind barn weddings so long as they're COMFORTABLE barns. It's when I'm expected to sit on hay bales or shiver in the damp because the whole place is a fire hazard to heat or dance on wet grass in my heels that it gets annoying. So many people seem to think a rustic vision trumps comfort.

Our venue is a converted industrial warehouse space, and the manager told me that a lot of the couples booking it say they're trying to depart from the rustic look to do something different. So that may become a thing at some point.

MobKaz · January 2016

thisismynickname said:

Honestly, I dig anything that's non-traditional. I didn't want a country club or banquet hall either, and then we ended up in a restaurant with amazing city views, so there's that. I had looked at wineries and parks/gardens and museums. There's even a venue in Chicago that is like... an antique shop? Kind of? (Salvage One for people who want to get married among junk?
Something for everyone, right?) A friend of mine got married at an old Southern Plantation which I thought was so cool (she was on the front end of vintage chic trend). I like the concept of a barn so long as it's not one just vacated by cows; just, like I said, no idea who first thought of that.

I laughed at this national paper article about non-traditional wedding venues. It suggested your local library or museum as a way to save money. Um, those are among the most expensive venues in Chicago...

My son and his wife had some of their engagement pictures taken at Salvage One. It does not sell "junk".

DarthV8r · January 2016

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

MCmeow · January 2016

I'm also sick of seeing burlap and lace within a barn. Mostly because I think it's an ugly combo, overused and not any better than the mismatching colors or (Colors that match too much) that are used in banquet halls. But I love a barn when it's in contrast of the decorations/theme. Like a barn vs. a more traditional/romantic theme. For example, when there are a lot of greens and romantic colored flowers, like coral and pastels, with plenty of succulents (A trend I actually love), with gold accents. Especially when the couple puts personal touches in the wedding. Plus, as a Queens kid, farms fascinate me. I wish I owned a barn :P

PrettyGirlLost · January 2016

I don't personally get all the hate on barn weddings. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing.

It wasn't my thing, but I still think they can be very pretty

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Maggie0829 · January 2016

I am with PrettyGirlLost. I don't get the hate on barn weddings. The only thing I can think of is that people hate on them because they are trendy and it is cool to hate the trendy things. I also don't get the hate on burlap and lace. Not your style? Okay. But it certainly isn't the ugliest thing I have ever seen and can actually look very pretty when done right.

PamBeesly524 · January 2016

DarthV8r said:

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

??? What? Most of these barns aren't actual working barns, just clean venues. Also ticks live in the woods and in grassy areas not in barns.

julieanne912 · January 2016

I think some of the barn hate comes from brides who see pictures like PGL's and then try to recreate that look in an actual barn that's still used as a barn. I've seen it happen in my area... "budget" brides trying to save money at the expense of their guests' comfort. But that's not solely limited to barn weddings....

julieanne912 · January 2016

kimmiinthemitten said:

@julieanne912 You're down south right? I feel like having a southern barn wedding is the equivalent to having a wedding at a historical car plant here, ya know? Not trendy, but probably the most popular, non-traditional venue.

I live in Metro Detroit. Yes, there are real farms all over the state, but there aren't barns in Detroit! People in the outskirt suburbs are literally building barns just for weddings.

SITB!! Sorry just saw this. Not in the south, live in Colorado in the far far north reaches of Denver (like barely considered metro Denver). Our town has more pickup trucks than cars. Wedding was in Longmont, CO which is north of us.

thisismynickname2 · January 2016

MobKaz said:

thisismynickname said:

Honestly, I dig anything that's non-traditional. I didn't want a country club or banquet hall either, and then we ended up in a restaurant with amazing city views, so there's that. I had looked at wineries and parks/gardens and museums. There's even a venue in Chicago that is like... an antique shop? Kind of? (Salvage One for people who want to get married among junk?
Something for everyone, right?) A friend of mine got married at an old Southern Plantation which I thought was so cool (she was on the front end of vintage chic trend). I like the concept of a barn so long as it's not one just vacated by cows; just, like I said, no idea who first thought of that.

I laughed at this national paper article about non-traditional wedding venues. It suggested your local library or museum as a way to save money. Um, those are among the most expensive venues in Chicago...

My son and his wife had some of their engagement pictures taken at Salvage One. It does not sell "junk".

That's fun! I wasn't being snarky about "junk / something for everyone." My mom wanted me to look there actually but it was too expensive. I used the term junk because I was of the impression it was a place for "one man's trash is another's treasure" and they sold refurbished stuff. I have seen pictures online of engagement photos taken there and I think they're great. Just not what we chose to do, is all. No negativity, just pointing out the very wide variety of interesting options.

Someone else just mentioned warehouse weddings; my friend got married in the warehouse of a brewery. It was a great atmosphere, if not a little rough on the acoustics for speeches and loud dance music.

DarthV8r · January 2016

PamBeesly524 said:

DarthV8r said:

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

??? What? Most of these barns aren't actual working barns, just clean venues. Also ticks live in the woods and in grassy areas not in barns.

???What? Ticks live in barns with horses.

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

I don't hate barn weddings per say, I think they can be done beautifully as well. My sisters good friend had a beautiful DIY barn wedding. I just think they're overdone. But then again, I work probably 10-15 weddings a year so I see the rustic trend monthly. It's also all I see in the bridal anything it seems. I'm ready for a new thing to be cool.

And I don't understand what it is about that theme that has so many city brides clamoring for event spaces, that people are literally building barns just for weddings.

I really wanted a warehouse for our wedding! I sell industrial equipment so I'm in at least 10 plants a week, and Detroit has 2 really cool historical car plants that are now event spaces that I would have loved to use, but FI didn't love them as much as I did.

justsuzie · January 2016

Same gripe, different day.

PamBeesly524 · January 2016

DarthV8r said:

PamBeesly524 said:

DarthV8r said:

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

??? What? Most of these barns aren't actual working barns, just clean venues. Also ticks live in the woods and in grassy areas not in barns.

???What? Ticks live in barns with horses.

Most barn venues don't actually have HORSES in them, are you kidding me?

Heffalump · January 2016

PamBeesly524 said:

PamBeesly524 said:

DarthV8r said:

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

??? What? Most of these barns aren't actual working barns, just clean venues. Also ticks live in the woods and in grassy areas not in barns.

???What? Ticks live in barns with horses.
Most barn venues don't actually have HORSES in them, are you kidding me?

Seriously. My daughter rides, and that is definitely a working barn, not an event venue. I mean...horses shit in there. Nothing against them, that's how they roll. But it's not like they put the horses out to pasture, shovel the manure out, and set up some tables.

Horses = ticks

Horses =/= event venue (that I've ever seen, or would actually attend)

kimmiinthemitten · January 2016

Heffalump said:

PamBeesly524 said:

PamBeesly524 said:

DarthV8r said:

No barns for me. I don't want to get a tick and possibly get infected with Lyme's disease.

??? What? Most of these barns aren't actual working barns, just clean venues. Also ticks live in the woods and in grassy areas not in barns.

???What? Ticks live in barns with horses.
Most barn venues don't actually have HORSES in them, are you kidding me?

Seriously. My daughter rides, and that is definitely a working barn, not an event venue. I mean...horses shit in there. Nothing against them, that's how they roll. But it's not like they put the horses out to pasture, shovel the manure out, and set up some tables.

Horses = ticks

Horses =/= event venue (that I've ever seen, or would actually attend)

Based on some of the stuff I've seen here I'm sure we have that newb post coming!

DarthV8r · January 2016

Let me clarify, I'm not hating on barn weddings. Barn venues and the one pictured above are beautiful and I would attend any wedding I was invited to at a barn. Yes, I agree barn venues are beautiful.

There are a few Barn Venues in my area that actually are working barns. So for me, I would not have my wedding there, or at a couple of the state parks in my area either, because I hate port-a-pottys, ticks, snakes, coyote poop, etc.

hellohkb · January 2016

I don't hate barn weddings as well, but I'm so sick and tired of opening up a magazine, Pinterest, a wedding website, etc and only being showed barn/rustic options.

YogaSandy · January 2016

I very much dislike barn weddings and "rustic chic". Not because it's trendy. I despise it because I generally hate outside, country inspired things and nature (90% due to horrible horrible, suffering all year allergies). People always tell me I live in the wrong place - northern rural Canada with the closest city being six hours away. If I was invited to a barn wedding, I would most likely decline (unless BFF or sister) because I would be miserable and unable to breathe. Nothing says a fun night like red, gushing eyes and snot. Lots of snot (and no, pills don't really make a difference).

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