# Homestead wedding business?



## fixitguy (Nov 2, 2010)

Turn your unused barn into a wedding hall.

I thought I would share a link to a popular trend that is happening around my area. 
It would work well in areas close to larger metro areas. 

http://stillwaterliving.net/the-barns-of-lost-creek-a-return-to-simpler-times/


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

That is a wonderful idea!

I got married on the steps of a house, and held our reception in a barn that was set up very similar to the link you showed. At the time, people thought we had lost our minds for getting married there....

At any rate, I would check zoning laws of the area before launching an idea to convert a barn into a reception hall. In our area, zoning has gotten so strict that it would be a near impossibility. I sincerely doubt that you could even get the idea heard in front of the zoning commission. All of the surrounding counties are much different. They could almost care less what a person is doing on their land, and one county doesn't even have a building code!


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

There was a recent court case about this. Someone elected not to allow a reception with a theme they thought was improper, and they were taken to court about it, and lost. My impression was it was a homosexual "wedding", but the law is much more generally applicable - if the hirers support ANY theme you don't, tough luck, turkey, it's no longer your choice.


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## fixitguy (Nov 2, 2010)

wogglebug said:


> There was a recent court case about this. Someone elected not to allow a reception with a theme they thought was improper, and they were taken to court about it, and lost. My impression was it was a homosexual "wedding", but the law is much more generally applicable - if the hirers support ANY theme you don't, tough luck, turkey, it's no longer your choice.


I think you a referring to the bakery that did't want to make a cake for a couple of guys.


Anyway, If a couple of couple of dude's want to get married and talk dirty to my sheep, that's fine with me. As long as the check clears the bank.

If I was getting $1800 per night rental on my barn, I would even supply the Velcro glove's for the newlyweds.

The old adage: Money talk's, BS walks


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

fixitguy said:


> I think you a referring to the bakery that did't want to make a cake for a couple of guys.


No, I know about that, of course. Who doesn't? 
However, I was talking about the barn wedding reception business that didn't want to host a homosexual wedding reception, and lost a lawsuit about it.

If I input "barn wedding reception lawsuit" as the search terms in Google, at least the first four or five articles returned are about the situation I meant. 

I gather you could tippy-toe around the situation if you established the business as a _"private club"_, treated the _"membership fee"_ as a non-refundable deposit to be expended against operating costs, and offered the service only to _"members"_, not to the general public. However, you might still have to go through a costly lawsuit first before you were adjudged right.


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## Cash (Apr 24, 2007)

Article in my local Sunday paper about barn weddings:

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/02/15/barn-weddings-on-the-rise-in-maine/


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## Homesteader1 (Oct 19, 2011)

Great Idea. Love it. Wedding on the ole homestead.


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