When Gary and Cindi Ray’s daughter Breanna became engaged in 2020, they found that the venues in the area were very limited and none were available for her wedding date of Oct. 2, 2021.
They thought at first they would just rent a tent and use a rustic tobacco barn at the end of a large meadow for a background.
“We had rented the barn for 15 years from Pam Howell and Lois Jenkins and used it for tobacco curing until 10 years ago,” Cindi said. “It has been used for equipment storage since then.”
Eventually, the family realized they had the ideal location to host weddings and other events.
“As we were planning the wedding, we realized we had a perfect ‘tent’ in the 40-by-100-foot barn, and decided to just convert the barn instead of renting a tent,” Cindi shared. “The ironic thing was that our youngest daughter, Emily, had joked years ago that Gary should convert the barn so she could get married there, and he had laughed and said there was no way he would do that; it was too much work.”
After they transformed the barn for Breanna’s wedding, they decided that since they had done so much work to it, they should open it for business, naming it The Barn at Hidden Meadow.
“We bought it from Pam and Lois and obtained all of the permits to open it,” Cindi commented. “We are currently having restrooms and a kitchen prep area added.”
They have grooms’ and brides’ houses on site and plenty of seating.
“We have 20 round tables, 200 chairs, seven farmhouse tables, 24 benches, an arbor and several whiskey barrels available that are included in the price,” Cindi said. “We had discovered a lot of venues have a quoted price, then add a lot of the amenities on to the price, and we didn’t want to do that, so ours is all inclusive.”
The venue, at 2170 Lincoln Farm Road, is scheduled to hold its first wedding April 30.
“From April to mid-November, we will offer wedding weekends that run from all day Friday to Sunday, or rent by the hour for other events like reunions, meetings or dinner parties,” Cindi said. “We’re planning an open house as soon as the addition is completed and would even like to have a mini concert in the future.”
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