{"id":39040,"date":"2013-05-25T06:38:50","date_gmt":"2013-05-25T11:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=39040"},"modified":"2013-05-27T07:11:20","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T12:11:20","slug":"couple-creates-wedding-magic-in-junior-fair-dairy-barn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/25\/couple-creates-wedding-magic-in-junior-fair-dairy-barn\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple creates wedding magic in barn"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/strong>independent feature writer<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This photo shows some of the ambience of the Haines wedding in the Junior Fair Dairy Barn. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Annette Haines had her doubts, no doubt.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Aaron, was even more perplexed. \u201cHe looked at me like I was absolutely crazy,\u201d Haines said, describing the moment she told her then-fianc\u00e9 that she wanted their wedding reception in a dairy barn.<\/p>\n

Pardon me \u2026 what?<\/p>\n

But Haines had a vision, and her parents, Dan and Janet Bonifas, were 100 percent on board. In fact, it was Haines\u2019s parents, who are both active in the Van Wert County Farm Bureau and the county fair, who eased their daughter\u2019s initial concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad\u2019s a farmer and my mom\u2019s been on the fair board and the county fair was always a big part of our lives growing up,\u201d Haines said.<\/p>\n

Initially, the family considered other venues, but found limited options. \u201cWe didn\u2019t necessarily want a barn at the beginning, but we really wanted to do something non-traditional,\u201d Haines said. \u201cBut our only options were a hall or possibly a golf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haines quickly found that a non-traditional route came with the traditional, astronomical costs normally associated with a wedding reception. \u201cTo rent a tent big enough for my family, not to mention my husband\u2019s family, we were looking at a lot of money,\u201d Haines said, adding, \u201cand we also would have had to worry about the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Determined to find the perfect place, the family kept brainstorming and Haines\u2019s mom noticed an old barn while out driving one day. \u201cWe started thinking about that and how we could have the reception possibly in a barn,\u201d Haines said, adding, though, that her family\u2019s barns were not available, as they were all in use. \u201cThere are a lot of beautiful barns around, but almost all of them are active and used by families,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then we realized the dairy barn at the fairgrounds is quite large, and was empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was exactly the type of blank slate Haines was looking for. Ideas for decorations came flowing in, and Haines quickly formed a picture in her head. Her husband, though, still wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe couldn\u2019t picture it at all and he still thought I was crazy,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Haines admitted that, for a moment, she thought she had gone off the deep end as well. \u201cWhen I first pictured it, I just kept remembering the fair and I could almost smell those animal smells coming back to me,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI was probably more doubtful than my husband at first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless, Haines\u2019s mother went to the fair board office to inquire about the barn rental, and office staff there naturally assumed she was interested in renting the commercial building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she told them that she wanted to rent the dairy barn, they looked at her like she was crazy,\u201d Haines quipped.<\/p>\n

Undeterred, the family began the months-long process of putting together a wedding reception in a livestock barn. \u201cWhen we first went in there, I have to say I was a little worried. I was picturing this old wood floor in a nostalgic barn. But all we had to work with was a dirt floor, and it had that lovely livestock smell in there. So I guess we were still both a little apprehensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

That apprehension stayed with the couple until they actually began the process of decorating. Haines admits, though, it was hard work transforming an animal barn into the beautiful, serene setting she was hoping for. \u201cWhen we decided to have it there I was excited, but there were so many things we didn\u2019t think of initially,\u201d Haines said.<\/p>\n

The couple had to rent a dance floor, and also needed a stage for a live band. They also had to find tables, chairs, kitchen items and all the other incidentals normally included in a hall rental. \u201cEverything literally had to be brought in,\u201d she said, adding that there were also power concerns that had to be dealt with. \u201cThe power to the dairy barn is limited, so my dad actually had an electrician come in and install more power for the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lighting would play a key role in the ambience of the reception and, because the couple became engaged around Christmas, they scored big deals on Christmas lights after the holidays had passed. \u201cMy dad and husband rented a lift and strung the lights through the rafters,\u201d Haines said, adding her mother also scored deals at the Habitat for Humanity rehab store in Lima. \u201cWe spray-painted these old chandeliers my mom had bought and hung those from the rafters as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Mason jars were hung throughout to help create the nostalgic environment Haines was looking for. \u201cA lot of the beauty actually just came from the natural wood inside the barn,\u201d Haines added.<\/p>\n

By the time the big day rolled around, Haines\u2019s fears had been put to rest. \u201cI think I didn\u2019t stop worrying until we actually got done decorating,\u201d Haines said, while also noting that some detours along the way actually worked to the couple\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n

A piece of antique farm equipment could not be moved out of the barn, but the couple made it work. \u201cThere was a thrasher in there that we couldn\u2019t move, so instead of hiding it, we decorated it with lights,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of my grandpa\u2019s friends actually enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because there was no running water in the barn, the couple arranged for a caterer who brought a trailer to the event and catered the meal for the evening. By the end of the evening, the couple\u2019s friends and family were more than impressed with the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got so much positive feedback from people who said it was so interesting,\u201d Haines said. \u201cRandom people were stopping by the night before the reception and were amazed it turned out so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the tremendous amount of work and creative effort involved, Haines said she wouldn\u2019t have changed a thing. \u201cAfter everything was said and done, it was pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my mind,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

After successfully pulling off their non-traditional reception, the couple now lives in Columbus, where Haines works as a registered nurse and her husband is a chemical sales representative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer Annette Haines had her doubts, no doubt. Her husband, Aaron, was even more perplexed. \u201cHe looked at me like I was absolutely crazy,\u201d Haines said, describing the moment she told her then-fianc\u00e9 that she wanted their wedding reception in a dairy barn. Pardon me \u2026 what? But Haines had a vision, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 22:33:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}