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Have you booked your venue? Whether with us or any venue you will need to lock your date in with a venue as dates fill up fast! We receive inquires 2-3 years out as a couple is looking for a specific date.
Is the venue available on my target date? If you have a specific date in mind, find out by clicking on the "Contact" page to fill out the information. Hit submit and we will get back to you within 24 hours. If we have your date available, it will require a signed contract with half the monies down to hold the date. If not, you’ll either have to move to one of our friend's venues or be flexible when it comes to selecting a date.
How much does it all cost? Please fill out the required information on the "Contact" tab above and we will email you our current pricing for the year specified.
What is all included? Everything on the amenities sheet that is emailed out to you after we receive your contact information. Plus we offer free Wi-Fi and free parking!
Is the location convenient? Will your guests be able to easily travel to the location? We are in the southeast metro of the Twin Cities with plenty of hotels within 10 miles of our farm.
What is the capacity? The total capacity is 500 with a State Certified sprinkler system. Our average wedding is around 250.
How many guests should you invite? Find out here -->
What does it look like? A gothic arched roof dairy barn built in 1947. It was used to milk 48 head of cattle at a time up to 1971. The stanchions are gone, but the interior wood remains intact.
How much work will we have to put into decorating it? The barn is so beautiful on its own so minimal decorating is required, but it would look amazing with tables draped and decorated to your hearts content.
What is the catering situation? We are exclusive with A'BriTin. These folks have been in the business for over 30 years and have what you need and can work with your budget.
Can I hold the ceremony here? Yes you can! We have two very beautiful spaces for you, our outdoor ceremony site is facing west overlooking the valley and we have the option to move the ceremony indoors if it rains or is too cold. We also have amazing sunsets!
Is there a coordinator on staff? No, you would have to hire someone to do this. Let us know and we'll point you in the right direction.
Who will be my main contact? Angi (owner) will be your primary contact at 651-336-4421.
Is there a list of approved vendors or can I use any vendors I wish? Please review our "Services" page of exclusive and preferred vendors.
What’s the rain plan? Our venue is unique as everything can be accomplished indoors - separate bride and groom suites, bathrooms, silo bars, dance and dining areas. Your ceremony can be indoors too!
Consider guests’ convenience:
What is the bathroom situation? We have main floor bathrooms with handicap accessible stalls to include baby changing stations in the male and female bathrooms.
How’s the parking? We have parking for over 200 cars to include handicap stalls.
Is there climate control? Yes, the entire barn has heating and air conditioning.
Are there a lot of stairs? Only if you want to climb them, otherwise, everything is on the main floor.
We have an attached addition that is heated and air-conditioned. This space includes main floor bathrooms with 3 stalls each, handicap accessible, and baby changing stations in both men’s and women’s. The bridal suite is on the second level with a kitchen area, full refrigerator, full bathroom, 2 large closets for hanging up dresses, a built in vanity area for doing hair and makeup, a sitting area, and 2 very large windows overlooking the ceremony site. The grooms room is a very large room with built in counter tops, a sink and mirror, a closet for hanging clothes, a pinball machine, sofa, mini fridge, and poker table. Both the bride and grooms rooms have a key pad lock so you may lock up your things. Inside of the barn is not air-conditioned but we do have heat for those cooler spring/fall days. We can open up the end doors and we do get a very nice cross breeze for the summer months and we also provide industrial fans we can set around the barn.
Is there anyway we would be able to have the DJ play until midnight and be out by 1230-1? Why does the DJ need to end at 11? Some folks don't understand why it is 11 for us and 12 at Hope Glen when they are both in Cottage Grove. Unfortunately not. City code is 12:30 pm Friday/Saturday and 11:30 pm Sun-Thursday; we state in our contract midnight Friday/Saturday and 11:00 pm Sunday-Thursday to give ourselves, the DJ and you some cushion to exit the property. Our contract states that the music and bar shut down Friday/Saturday at 11:00 pm and Sunday-Thursday 10:00 pm. Everyone has to be off the property Friday/Saturday no later than midnight and Sunday-Thursday no later than 11:00 pm
Would we be able to gather our things and take them Sunday morning instead of Saturday night? No, our cleaning company comes through right after your wedding and they work until about 6am cleaning the barn. They cannot have anything in their way or it won’t get cleaned. The set up crew comes in at 6 am until 9 am the next morning to set up the barn for the next wedding and the next bride/groom/family arrives at 9 am. Your items will be in their way and slow them down so things will not go well and we have to think about the next couple coming through.
Do we need to provide garbage bags? No, we provide the trash liners.
Are there speakers built into the barn or do we have to bring our own? We do not provide a sound system. This is brought in by the exclusive DJ, Adagio Djay Entertainment.
Is there are freezer in the barn at all? Yes, the bridal sweet has a kitchen size fridge/freezer.
Do we have to use Adagio or could we provide our own music? As in, not use a dj at all but have a playlist and hook that up with the sound system. We strongly encourage you to use our DJ! It will make or break a wedding. We do not have a sound system for your portable devices to connect to. If you have ever seen a great DJ in action, they keep the celebration flowing. It is not just playing loud music to motivate folks to the dance floor.
If we do book the venue would it be possible to come back to see the venue to get finalize on details for the wedding, such as planning for our own decorations and such? Yes! We will hold bi-monthly open houses for you to visit with your family friends to take care of these details. No need to schedule with us, we'll publish them on Facebook.
Is there a day that we could do a rehearsal on site? Rehearsals are done the day of your wedding on site and all of our weddings thus far have been very successful in doing so. The best suggestion we can give you is to go to a local park and make a picnic out of it.
Do you know if the cars would be visible in pictures from the ceremony site? A professional photographer will not capture the autos in your wedding. These are behind the audience and can be edited out if caught.
Dimensions of some things:
Dimensions of the wood beams 24 ft long (4 beams) and 18 ft between beams
Harvest Table - 5 feet wide x 20 feet 7.5 inches long and seats up to 30 (Comfortable 10 per side 2 on the ends. Maximum - 12 per side and 3 on the ends)
Dessert Table - 3 feet wide x 9.5 feet long by 34 inches high
Bar rail on second floor mezzanine is 90 ft x 24 ft x 24 ft
60 inch round tables seat 8/table
8 banquet tables 8 feet long x 34 inches wide
13 high top bar tables - 24" round by 43" tall
Ceremony Site:
- electrical hookup for DJay
- 19 rows of benches on each side of the aisle of the outdoor ceremony site
- the aisle is 68ft long by 6ft wide
- 37 benches on the left facing the alter and 39 benches on the right facing the alter
The door behind the head table is 80 inches high x 6.5 feet wide (This size will cover the entire door, not the "exit" sign.)
Are candles allowed? No! We're doing everything we can to preserve this old barn. LED candles are allowed to your heart's content. Sparklers are allowed outside a safe distance from the barn.
Is smoking allowed? No! We are doing everything we can to protect the barn. Smoking is not allowed in or near the barn, but there is a smoking lounge 50 feet away from the main entrance on the north end of the barn. We've provided "butt cans" to capture them at all the doors to prevent flicking them about the property.
Which hotels are nearby and do they offer free shuttles to your venue? We have Country Inn & Suites here in Cottage Grove and the same distance to a string of hotels on Interstate 94 in Woodbury. The City has realized the need for more hotel space and are working to resolve. Have you tried a B&B? We highly recommend the Inn on Ramsey just south of us in Historic Hastings. Country Inn and Suites is located in Cottage Grove. They are offering a free shuttle if you book a block of 15 rooms. The Historic Inn on Ramsey is a BnB located in Hastings and they will shuttle your guests there as well. There are also many hotels in I94 in Woodbury such as the Sheraton as well as Holiday Inn and Suites in Lake Elmo.
Is it required that your catering companies provide all liquor and bar service, or can we bring in our own liquor? You have to go through our caterer as they hold our State liquor license for this property, which is a full liquor license.
Do you have to go through the caterer for desert? No, you can use any licensed and insured baker. It cannot be homemade.
Do you have an average range for catering costs at your venue for a guest count of around 200? No, you will have to contact the caterer for a quote as it depends on what food and beverages you order.
Is there any way you can come before 9 the day of your wedding? Not even earlier than 9 to do a rehearsal? No. Our setup crew is already here at 6:00 am staging for the day and finish by 9:00am. We've been very successful with all of our weddings starting at this time.
When decorating what can't we do? What about having candy/popcorn bars? We do not allow things that are going to leave a permanent mark on the interior or exterior of the barn such as nails, glue, etc.... A candy or popcorn bar would be just fine!
Can we move the head table? Yes, we've installed wheels to make it possible to move easily. Some don't like that it is in front of the exit sign. The head table is very heavy and takes up a lot of space. We would be open for discussion on possibly moving it, but the EXIT sign cannot be covered up.
What time do the cars need to be out of the parking lot by the next morning? We totally understand the need to leave cars on the property and do not want anyone to drink & drive. Cars will be allowed to stay on the property no later than 8 am the following morning as we have the next family coming in and need to be respectful of the fact that they have rented the space starting at 9 am.
Is there anything you are going to put on the gravel parking lot so dresses don't get dirty from the gravel? We wish, but putting down a surface would require a larger pond and loss of more parking spots.
Some have heard that guests can't see the bride and groom during the ceremony because of the slant in the hill. Wondering if the benches can be moved to the front? No, we do not allow the benches to be moved. We have seating for 500 guests and most weddings are 250-300, so the back seats most likely will not even get used.
If you wanted to have a late night snack does it have to be something from This Little Piggy or can you order something else like pizza? Please coordinate with A’BriTin first as they have great snacks. You can contact Carbone's Pizza or Subway for a delivery before they close the evening of.
When it comes to vendors (hair/makeup/etc) do they need to provide a copy of insurance? Yes, anyone running a business or licensed in Minnesota is required to have insurance. We are just requiring our business to be placed on a Certificate of Liability to enforce.