42: Inside the Barn of Chapel Hill with Kara Brewer and Jennifer Wood

Jan 2, 2019

The Barn of Chapel Hill on Wild Flora Farm is one of the hottest new venues in the Triangle area of North Carolina, opening up in 2017. Kara Brewer, the owner, and Jennifer Wood, the creative director opened up to Megan about how it hasn't been the easiest process to start weddings up at the Barn. In fact, there was (and still is) a very active protest group, and the media once portrayed the new venue as "The Party Barn".  Kara and Jennifer tell us all about that saga, plus how they run the business together, and what's next to the barn.  If you've ever wondered what it's like to start a new venue when there's opposition, you won't want to miss this one!

 

 

The Barn of Chapel Hill (image by Bow Tie Collaborative)

 

The Barn before they moved it from upstate New York

 

Inside the Barn of Chapel Hill (image by Krystal Kast)

 

Kara Brewer and Jennifer Wood, Barn at Chapel Hill (image by Danell Beede Photography)

 

Barn of Chapel Hill at Wild Flora Farm on Social Media:

Instagram: @barnofchapelhill

Facebook: @barnofchapelhill

 

Weddings for Real on Social Media:

Instagram: @weddingsforreal

Facebook: @weddingsforreal

twitter: @weddingsforreal

 

Wedding Education Seminar February 4th from 9:30am-12pm at The Umstead Hotel in Cary NC. Purchase tickets by following this link.

In this intimate and educational seminar, we will cover two distinct topics relevant to purposefully growing your event business! Jason Gillikin will cover digital marketing and SEO tips for helping your ideal client find YOU,and Megan Gillikin will cover the client experience from start to finish.

This seminar is ideal for wedding vendors that have a high touch relationship (multiple interactions) with their clients such as: planners, venues, caterers, photographers, videographers, DJs, bakeries, florists, hair and makeup artists, and stationers.

Whether you're an up and coming vendor or a veteran member of the event industry, you are certain to walk away with an increased knowledge on digital marketing and gain invaluable insight from this seminar on how to best serve your client.

Get your tickets at Eventbrite!

 

If you're a wedding vendor, go get Honeybook! At A Southern Soiree, we’ve been using Honeybook since February 2015. I think we were one of their very first clients, and it has truly been a life changer. They make proposals and contracts super easy to use on both our side and the client side. I think before Honeybook I would send proposals and contracts by email, and the client would have to mail the contract to us or fax it by efax. Proposals were in no way streamlined either, so this has made our lives so much better. As a consultant, whenever I sign up a vendor client, one of the very first recommendations I make is Honeybook. No need to complicate things – it works, it’s great…just get it. And if you follow this link, you get 50% off your first year of Honeybook, which is nice, but not nearly as nice as all the time you’re going to save. And if you have any questions about my experience, feel free to send me an email to [e-mail]. 

Music for this episode by https://www.bensound.com.

The host of the show is Megan Gillikin, owner and lead consultant at A Southern Soiree Wedding and Event Planning.  She's also available for wedding and hospitality business consulting and can be reached at [e-mail].

Weddings for Real is edited and produced by Jason Gillikin for Earfluence.