Julia Robbs always knew she wanted an outdoor wedding. When she searched for a venue for her 2010 nuptials to Aaron Robbs, a place with a lot of open space was a requisite. She just didn’t know her search would end on a farm.
“We pretty much got the barn and the land and we could do whatever we wanted,” said Robbs, 24, of Atlanta, who married in August at Sunrise Farms in Trenton. “There is a lot of charm with barns. It seems more relaxed and laid-back, and you can do a few more elements DIY.”
It also helped that the farm was pretty cheap, a mere $1,500 along with some trade, which fit nicely into Robbs’ $5,000 budget. “For the wedding world, that is a teeny budget,” she said.
Weddings on farms are not new — some local farms have been hosting weddings for decades. But the latest crop of farm-bound brides and grooms are not just seeking a picturesque locale, they also want their entire day to reflect a connection to the land.
“People long for those simpler times when things meant something,” said Margie Gardner, who in May opened her family farm, the Barn at High Point Farms, to weddings. “When you come here, your guests have a better time and the old folks love walking around and seeing blackberry bushes.”
Farm weddings have been growing in popularity in recent years as a result of changes in the wedding industry and in the business of agriculture. About 2.5 percent (52,000) of farms in the country held recreational activities in 2004, including weddings and educational tours, according to a 2007 survey by the Department of Agriculture.
Though the South accounts for more than half of all farms receiving recreational income, experts say agritourism, as it is known, is still relatively new in Georgia. Steve Morgan, an extension agent for Harris County, said in a March interview with Growing Georgia that agritourism is the state’s fastest-growing segment in agriculture or tourism, generating $83 million in 2009. For farms, the benefit of weddings is clear — 62 percent of owners said in a 2005 survey that they opened their farms to visitors to increase profitability.
Robbs, a photographer, said about five years ago, farm weddings accounted for 10 percent of the weddings she photographed. Now that’s up to about 50 percent.
Shooting so many weddings on farms helped her get a few ideas for her own wedding. A friend set up in the kitchen upstairs and catered the food. They created floral arrangements from flowers purchased wholesale. Her mom sewed table runners and covers for haystacks and, of course, made her dress.
“You don’t have to go the traditional route anymore,” Robbs said. “You don’t have to get married in a church and go to the hotel ballroom to have your reception.”
Jim Thrasher, owner of Rock Springs Farm in Buford, caught on to the trend early. More than 20 years ago, he bought the 100-year-old barn and the 2.5-acre pond where he planned to spend his days fishing, but after cleaning the place up and adding cows, donkeys and goats, fate had another plan.
First a friend asked to hold his wedding on the farm, then a radio station held a party for 350 people. Thrasher threw in hayrides and a bonfire and realized he had a niche. Now he gets about three to four calls a day from people wanting to hold events, and he does it all.
For weddings, he has a wooden arch by the lake set in a flower bed that he freshens up a few days before the event. He also supplies tables, chairs and on-site catering. By night, “Farmer Jim,” as he is known, takes to the microphone as a disc jockey. For 80 guests, his price is $3,000, about half what some banquet halls charge, and on the farm, Thrasher said, the party is all day and all night.
Margie Gardner of the Barn at High Point Farms says her goal is to fall somewhere between what Thrasher offers and a stripped-down barn. Her parents bought the late-1800s farmhouse in 1976. “There was no charm about it,” Gardner said. Rather than tear down the historic farmhouse, her parents built around it and years later Gardner moved back to the farm to build the home where she would raise her three children. Now her daughter, who is also her business partner, has a house on the farm.
They’ve raised pigs to have organic meat, some of which they sell. They have chickens, horses, goats and an orphaned cow. And they had an ill-fated foray into horse boarding, Gardner said. But after her daughter married on the farm in 2005, they realized other brides may be seeking the same charm, experience and affordability (rental is $1,000).
They began prepping the farm for weddings, adding special touches such as a bridal prep room, hay bales for seating and a hay wagon to transport guests to the ceremony.
In May, Brian Desmond, 30, and his wife, Janelle, 25, were the first outside the family to marry at the Barn at High Point Farms. They found the farm after their initial venue went bankrupt (and their down payment vanished).
Four days before their wedding, a tornado hit. Fortunately, the Barn at High Point Farms was still standing and the Desmonds were hitched without a hitch.
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