Thank you so much Teresa Barron for sharing your Wedding Venue Story, Fountain View Farm!
Fountain View Farm is located in East Texas, not too far from Shreveport Louisiana. Texas is number two in the country for total number of weddings annually. California hosts over 240,000 weddings a year, Texas hosts about 175,000 each year. Imagine those numbers for a moment, now think about how many wedding venues and vendors it takes to accommodate the annual demand for Texas weddings. Fountain View Farms is in a great location for weddings but as you all know, it takes a lot of hard work and business savvy to succeed as a wedding venue owner! Teresa Barron offers us a glimpse inside her life as a Texas wedding venue owner. Wedding Venue Story, Fountain View Farm (scroll down to read the interview and see venue images).
About the Barron family…
“Wesley and Teresa Barron are life-long residents of Splendora, Texas; both graduated from Splendora High School! Wesley and Teresa have 3 children and 3 precious grandchildren; their oldest daughter is a Nurse Manager in the Leukemia unit of MD Anderson; their second daughter got her degree in Physical Therapy Assistant but she is now the venue manager and their son got his degree as an Instrument Technician but he is now a real estate agent for JLA and works part time at the venue. Their son and his wife, Lindsey were one of the first couples to be married at Fountain View Farm. Lindsey has become very involved in helping at the venue. In closing, we want you to know we are passionate about serving you and meeting all your wedding venue and event needs. We welcome you to experience Fountain View Farm through our website, or a personally guided tour, to see for yourself all that Fountain View Farm has to offer!” – from the Fountain View Farm website.
About Fountain View Farm…
“As local residents, we felt our small, picturesque East Texas town of Splendora needed a unique attraction that would meet the wedding and events needs of our local and neighboring communities. Couples in our area have long been in search of an event hall to accommodate weddings of all sizes, without having to drive an hour (or more) to the next big city. When we first discovered this remote piece of property with the ideal-sized pond, we envisioned it with dreamy, flowing fountains that would create a romantic backdrop for the most memorable bridal/wedding scenery. This inspired our name, Fountain View Farm!”
Fountain View Farm is located on 8 acres that are intimately tucked away just 1 mile from a major highway (Hwy 59/I-69). The elegant buildings and property were inspired and built by long-time friends, Wesley & Teresa Barron and TJ & Casey Knox. The Barron and Knox families are well-known in the Splendora and New Caney areas for their ability to independently establish successful businesses that give back to these communities. In 2021, the Barron family became sole owners of Fountain View Farm. The Barron family will forever be grateful to the Knox family in helping establish Fountain View Farm.
Why did you decide to start a wedding venue? (for managers) How did you get into the wedding industry?
“Wesley, my husband and I had talked about doing this for many years after trying to find a place for our daughter’s wedding. We toured many beautiful venues that would contain the capacity we needed but they were a good distance from our house. It was then we realized that our community was in need of a facility of this capacity. As local residents, we felt our small town of Splendora in East Texas needed a unique attraction that would meet the wedding and events needs of our local and neighboring communities. Couples in our area have long been in search of an event hall to accommodate weddings of all sizes, without having to drive an hour (or more) to the next big city. We had the opportunity to go in with a partner (TJ & Casey Knox.) and purchase some land here in Splendora that was a perfect location.”
How long have you been operating a venue?
“We bought the land in September 2019 and started the building process in December 2019. We had our first wedding in September 2020. We have been open and operating for 7 months.”
Please share the story behind your venue name or how you came up with the name
“This was challenging but yet funny how we came up with the name. We came up with so many names but owners could not agree on one for many months. Then our son bought a house about the time we were trying to make this decision. The house was located on a street called Fountain View Dr. I thought this would be a perfect name for our place because our plan was to install fountains in our pond next to the venue. Everyone agreed and that is how we got the name Fountain View Farm. I wish we had a better story, but this is the truth. Lol”
What do you like best about being a venue owner/mgr?
“My favorite part about being a venue owner is seeing the excitement and happiness in the brides as they begin to plan their big day. Just knowing we are going to be a part of their special day is truly what makes all of this worth it. Our venue will be a part of their memories and history that they will share with their children and grandchildren.”
Please share your experience about how much effort & cost goes into running a venue.
“Our initial cost was the construction of the venue. My husband Wesley is a general contractor so he had a lot of experience with building but the commercial side was a whole new ballgame and we learned a lot. The major cost was the sprinkler system. The venue is in a county where a sprinkler system is required. “
“As far as running the venue and maintaining our expenses we realized we need to book at least 30-35 weddings a year to break even. Our major expenses are of course the mortgage, property taxes and insurance. Other expenses include, advertisement, electric, water, phone, cleaning, trash service, lawn and landscaping, bookkeeping, staff, etc….”
Do you have any tips on cutting costs on daily operations or any smart solutions you have for saving money (website, venue expenses, staff, adv, etc..)?
“Since we designed and built the building ourselves we were able to insulate well and our electric bills have been a lot lower than we anticipated, especially with the Texas heat. Also, our inside walls are smart siding and that really helps with the upkeep of the walls. A lot of people that know anything about building are surprised and amazed that we used smart siding on the inside of the building. We also designed our irrigation system to pump water from our pond.”
Do you have any time saving tips that are worth the investment, like paying for landscaping crews or investing in someone to manage day of events or cleaning crew to flip the venue.
“We did a lot of the construction ourselves. This in itself ended up being a time saver since we started construction during the COVID. A lot of contractors were shut down so we did a lot ourselves. We kept going with the process even though we had to do it ourselves. Auctions! We bought all of our prep kitchen commercial grade equipment at an auction in Houston. Saved us a tremendous amount of money. Our local school also does auctions periodically so we were able to buy some commercial grade cleaning equipment for very cheap. Best buy was the floor scrubber. “
How many weddings do you host each year? “Our goal is to host 8-12 a month. We just opened 7 months ago. Still working on that goal. :)”
What type of CRM do you use and why (Honeybook, Tripleseat, 17 Hats, etc..)?
“This is something I am still trying to figure out which would be best. We are getting so busy so I need to figure this out soon. Right now I am just keeping up with it on google spreadsheets. I think Honeybook is what we will choose.”
What sets your venue apart from other options?
“Our location. We are in a small town but surrounded by larger towns and there are not a lot of large venues in the area that offer the capacity we offer. What is unique and distinct about your venue? We feel our major attraction is our grand staircase. Why do couples book you over other option? I feel our location and size is our number one feature. We are about a mile from a major highway. Couples love our out ceremony area and our pavilion by the pond. It can be used for a hang out during the day and a cocktail hour.”
Do you host wedding shows, open houses? Open houses If so can you share some tips on how you make this event successful (how many vendors you allow, where do you adv, how many couples come through, how many book) Are these effective marketing events for your venue?
“We just did our 2nd one so this is a learning process still for us. I do feel it helps attract couples and we did book a few from both events. We advertised on FB, Instagram and local online news feeds. We try not to go over 2 types of vendors. Our vendors donated items and discounts for raffles. We also provide goody bags so vendors may drop small free items in the bags as they communicate with each potential client what they offer.”
Please share some tips on providing great venue tours for potential clients? What materials do you provide on tours? How do you avoid or reduce no shows? How do you follow up after a venue tour?
“First of all our website provides answers to just about every question a client would have. We are very transparent and we don’t want to hide any details. So we encourage them to take a look at our website before they tour. It saves a lot of time on tours and they know before they come in if we are fit for them. We don’t pass out pamphlets. We will give them a copy of the contract if they want to review it and vendor business cards. We do not pressure them. If they love us they will book. We have very few cancelations. To prevent no shows we tell them to give us a good phone # to reach them the day of the tour and we will be sending them a confirmation text that day. After the tour if we don’t hear back from them after a week we contact them again to see if they are still interested.”
What do you think your couples love most about your venue?
“The location, the grand staircase and the huge bridal suite with the one way window. The pond with the outdoor pavilion and the outdoor ceremony area. I think they also find we have a very friendly staff.”
Do you do your own advertising & marketing? If so please share any tips on best practices that help you get your business in front of more potential clients, get more leads, etc…
“We do most of our own advertisement through FB and Instagram. We do some free accounts with Wedding Wire, Eventective, Reception Halls and some other local online advertising. We also buy some Google Ads too.”
Please share any costly errors or regrets you may have learned from over the years. “The only regret was the timing of the construction completion…right as COVID hit.”
Do you have a great website? Tips on website design or features that help you attract, book clients?
“I would not say my website is great but I did it myself and I am able to keep it updated myself. Doing this was something I never dreamed I could do. What is different about most of the websites in our area is we are very transparent about what we offer and our pricing. This helps clients answer most questions before they even book a tour. Then we are only attracting our ideal clients.”
Building client relationships – how do you build up your client relationships? Any customer service tips or practices you can share?
“I think our biggest client relationship builder is our private FB that we created for our booked couples only. It is a great resource for communicating and keeping our couples informed. We can give them constant information about what’s going on at the venue or what’s new at the venue. Our couples love this.”
Any hard challenges you would like to share with venue owners and how you overcame that challenge?
“In the building process our biggest challenge was the sprinkler system and getting the fire marshall to approve stages in a timely manner. Our BIGGEST challenge since we have opened and started weddings is outside alcohol being brought in. We have found the bridal suite and groom’s room is an easy route for this to happen. Therefore, we will be doing a clean sweep of all alcohol from these rooms during the ceremony. We are adding locks to all doors and they will be locked after the reception starts. Clients and bridal parties will have to find us to unlock the door if they need access to the room.”
Have you ever had anything unexpected happen during a wedding or event?
“Being a new venue we have not had a lot of weddings yet. I guess the arctic blast in Texas was a little chaotic with having to deal with rolling blackouts and then a main water line if the city burst. We had a wedding scheduled that Friday and 2 days before the wedding we had no electricity and no water. Praise God it all came back on the next day. We don’t have a generator in place yet. We really didn’t think we had to worry about that until hurricane season. So this is another big expense we are about to make. “
Do you have any tips you would like to share with other venue owners?
“Joining the Wedding Venue Owners & Managers Community Facebook group has taught me so much and I feel like I have a support group to go to when things get tough or just need some encouragement. 🙂 Thank you for this group!!”
How did you manage through the disruptions of Covid19?
“When we opened our doors things were starting to open back up here in Texas so we only had one cancel and one reschedule. I do feel like we would have had more bookings during our building process if it weren’t for covid but at the same time I think we avoided a lot of reschedules by opening up when we did.”
Any advice to anyone thinking of starting a venue or wanting to be in the wedding industry?
“I just told a friend that is thinking about it, to join as many venue owners FB pages as he is allowed. I told him he would learn a lot from the discussions in these groups. I would also tell them to be prepared to work a lot and lose a lot of sleep. Lol! It is a lot more time consuming than I ever dreamed.”
What are some wedding trends or traditions in your city, town or state that come up at many weddings?
“There are a lot of barn wedding venues in our area and still seem to be popular. I feel like this trend will fade some so we didn’t want it to be rustic but yet still have the country/vintage appeal. Our venue has enough wood work in it that it still attracts those types of couples. It is also elegant enough that we also attract couples that will say “I’m glad it’s not another barn venue”.
What are your couples top ten Fav parts/characteristics of your venue?
“The number one thing is our grand staircase. I think the location would be next. We are about a mile from a major highway hwy 59/I-69. We are 30 minutes north of Houston. Our outdoor pavilion that is for cocktail/gaming hour or hangout during the day. Our size-we have a capacity of 300. Our outdoor ceremony area. Our pond with fountains. Our bridge that leads to the outdoor ceremony area. We did a survey with our clients and these were the characteristics mentioned.”
How often do you have contract issues come up from a client? “We have not had this happen yet. Our contract is very thorough.”
Contact didi@weddingvenueowners.com to sign up
How do you handle children at your venue, do you discourage/encourage children? Please share some insight.
“I would never discourage children. Prior to building this venue I was a 2nd grade teacher for 14 years so I have a huge heart for children. We do have a vendor that does offer childcare, but it is not just babysitting. She has a lot of fun activities for them to do. They have fun too. Genius idea! We do ask our security to monitor the pavilion by the pond because we do have issues where children will end up there unattended during the reception. Even though we have in our contract that children must be supervised during the event we have found this is a rule we must remind our clients during tours and when booking. “
Do you host styled shoots? If so please provide some tips on setting these up, or how you use these for promotion.
“We just had our first one a few weeks ago and I learned a lot and met some fabulous people. I was so grateful I did not have to do any of the planning. That is the way to do it. I just showed up and opened my doors. I was a little surprised how many photographers came. We are already getting the photos and they are amazing. I was also surprised how quickly we got the photos compared to when we get photos after a wedding.”
What are the couples who come to your venue looking for in their wedding? What seems to be the priorities that come up most often?
“I think they are looking for a place that has lots of photo opportunities for everlasting memories. Priorities with most couples are, can they afford it? We have several payment plan options that we have found to be helpful.”
How do you handle alcohol at your venue and how do you reduce liability?
“This is a question I wish I knew all the answers to. Lol! We currently have an outside bar vendor service that does all of the alcohol. They are awesome but sometimes our smaller weddings or the small drinking crowds only want a small amount of alcohol and they get discouraged with the minimum charge this vendor offers. I totally understand why our vendor has to have a minimum but it has discouraged many clients. We are currently doing the research now in starting our own bar service and researching the liability side of it.”
Broken Items, what are some of the damage issues you have most often and have you ever had something really unusual break at or before a wedding?
“We have not had any major damage. We have had some small nicks, bumps and scrapes on door frames and the floor from things being brought in and out. We added door props to every door. This helps with items being transported in and out.”
Are there any requests you dread or things you ban at your venue? “Confetti”
How do you handle clean up at your venue?
“When the event is over we do require all clients to remove all personal things and or any any items brought in. We have a cleaning crew that comes in to clean at the end of the event if it is a back to back event. If not we do the cleaning ourselves.”
What time to does your day begin and end on a wedding day?
“It depends what day of the week it is. M-Th 10 hours. This time frame is flexible. Friday & Saturday are 14 hour days. 10am – 12:00am. Sunday 10 hours 10am-10pm.”
How exhausting is the average wedding? “When you have back to back events it is very exhausting.”
What has changed at your venue since you hosted the first wedding to the weddings you host today?
We have added all-inclusive packages to our choices and we are currently in the process of obtaining our TABC license so we can manage our own bar service. We are adding locks to the dressing rooms so we can lock them once the reception starts.
How have you changed as a venue owner from the time you hosted your first wedding?
“I definitely feel more educated about the wedding venue business. It is a learning process and we learn something new every week. We have found we need to repeat many rules that are in our contract and not just assume the clients have read them and understand them. We have also found it is important to book ideal clients and not just book clients for a booking. “
Thank you so much Teresa Barron for sharing so much information about Fountain View Farm and your life as a wedding venue owner! My best advise to all wedding venue owners is to connect with your fellow venue owners! Wedding venue owners are getting together to change the way the wedding industry works! Please join us on an upcoming Wedding Venue Owners Working Vacation where we tour wedding venues, connect with colleagues and share the best wedding venue strategies for success!
Take a moment to visit the Fountain View Farm website, they have lots of great features on their site to enjoy and take note of. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram, please like, follow, comment and share.
