A Venue Update

Mr. C and I are getting married at Cloverleaf Farm a relatively new venue that has only hosted a few weddings thus far. Actually, its very first wedding was just in November but we booked them in August before they had even finished renovating the property. There was a lot of work to be done--a barn to clean up and repair, painting in the house, a bar to be built. We booked them on good faith that by May most of the major projects would be completed.

Well, our good faith and patience paid off! We visited the property just last week and I was blown away the beauty of the property. We arrived at 6:00 pm, around the time we will be getting married in a few weeks, and the light was absolutely gorgeous. All the rustic, rolling fields and pecan trees behind the property were aglow with the golden hues of the setting sun. I'm not usually a very weepy person, but I actually started to tear up looking out over the field where we are getting married in a few short weeks. The barn has been renovated with cafe lights and rustic chandeliers strung from the ceiling. The coordinator directed me towards their blog with even gorgeous photos from their recent April weddings. You can see them on the property website under their photos section, if you are interested. I am just so excited to be getting married at this venue!

Image via: Cloverleaf Farm / Photography by: ZoomWorks

I took a few photos with my phone that I wanted to share, since I really didn't have many photos of the venue to share when I first posted about it last fall. You can read about how we chose Cloverleaf in the venue entry. I was trying to capture that lovely golden hour just as the sun is setting.

This is the field where we will be getting married (weather permitting). If you look carefully you can see Mr. C way back there sort of in front of the large pecan tree. The plan is to have it underneath that tree with a crystal chandelier hanging from the limbs. We are renting a chandelier from a local antique shop.

This is the chandelier we are renting, but we are going to remove the hurricane glass covers because I think it makes it look a little outside of the time period we are going for (if that makes sense). I think it's beautiful though and it will look perfect hanging from the pecan tree.

This is the left side of the house with a cute little garden which leads into a sun room. We will have our cocktail hour out on the lawn here with highboy tables. The guestbook will be inside the sun room on a table which is conveniently on the way to the bar. One of the April brides decided to actually hold her ceremony in this space and it was really gorgeous. That's one awesome thing about this venue -- there are so many options for the ceremony, the reception, the cocktail hour, the bar, the band--everything! In fact, there were so many options that our meeting lasted over two hours as we hashed out the details and updated layout for the reception. All of our original plans were turned upside down!

This is the main dining room which we were originally going to use as the ballroom area for the DJ and dancing. However, our coordinator suggested that if the weather is nice we should hold it outside under the patio and have cafe lights strung up with the tables leading back into the lawn instead of being throughout the house. The door you see in these photos leads out onto the back patio/porch you see in the photo below. For months and months I have only visualized our wedding reception as being inside the house, but now that it can be held outside under cafe lights I am starting to really get excited. Now we just need to pray there is no rain! You hear me Georgia weather, no rain! Please!! 

The back patio where an April bride had her dance floor with the DJ up on the porch. The cafe lights were strung from the patio back to where I am standing taking the photo with the guests all sitting at tables out on the lawn. It was so beautiful!

Now that our venue has a few weddings under its belt, the coordinator had a much better idea of what would and would not work from our original plan. I'm so excited about the changes we've made, even if it has placed us closer in the hands of the capricious Georgia weather. I guess the good news is that the large house can certainly accommodate all of the guests in case the weather turns sour. The bad news is that our ceremony will have to be in the renovated barn and not out in the field under the trees which is my ultimate vision. Ah, but the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.

Did you have any last minute changes with your wedding reception or ceremony plans?