We are excited to announce that as of 10 days ago we have all of our utility easements signed off on. If you haven’t ever purchased raw land before just know this is the most excruciating part of building. We were so fresh and naive to buying raw land that we didn’t even know what questions we should have asked before buying and it really kept us on the edge of our seats waiting and waiting for neighbors to decide if they wanted to allow us the run utilities off their current lines. Advice to any raw land purchaser….DO YOUR HOMEWORK so you can avoid the stress that we had. Other than that we have some other updates, the outer shell of the building should be finished in no more than 3 weeks, the water line is being installed this week and next, the electric company has already finished removing trees from their easement area so electric should be starting by next week, the septic system is complete, we have our full view glass garage doors being delivered Monday, we received our German beer garden tables Sunday, and I am in the process of finishing up purchasing the venue decor. We cannot wait to start hosting our venue tours on February 2, 2019. You can sign up for the wedding venue tours on our website.
Woo hoo, I got to do some shopping
I did all of the shopping for the lighting, windows, and doors in the venue and can’t wait to get it installed :) This is my favorite part of the whole build because I get to make my vision come to life. This venue is practically my baby. It is a project that I have wanted to do since high school and we have worked very hard to make it real life. We are at the stage of waiting right now…they are finishing getting the utilities put in, we have the septic company installing this weekend, the water line extension will be starting within the next week, and then last but not least we have the electric lines being finished. My husband and I have learned through this whole process that all of your plans are plans no more, we are on living on grace at this point because there have been multiple huge hurdles to overcome with getting other landowners to agree to utility easements (which we had no clue about because we were informed differently). There have been tears and lots of prayers hoping we made the right decision and so far everything has worked out. My main stress right now is just getting all of the utilities complete so that we have the most important things done. The building process should be complete by the end of January (pending weather) and then we get to start making it all come together with white shiplap walls throughout, lighting installation, stone on the building, and decor throughout. I will definitely be updating this as we start checking things off the list. Remember to book your wedding or event before our GRAND OPENING and receive up to 50% off your reservation. Also we will be doing a giveaway for a free wedding at the grand opening so stay tuned for those details and don’t miss it.
Dirt work completed today
Progress you guys…. we have the building site leveled and completed. We cleared out 12,000+ square feet for our 4,800 sqft building. We finally got all of the utilities squared away and those will start being installed in the next couple of weeks.
We had such an amazing blessing yesterday. We’ve had the water company out about a month ago to tell us how many feet of a line extension we are going to have to do to get water to the property. It’s a large number and we were so bummed about it because it’s money you can’t see so it felt like a waste even though it’s completely necessary so we can have running water and nice restroom facilities for guests. So we went to the rural water company yesterday to get all of the paperwork to get it started and I got to talking with the two sweet ladies in the office. I asked if they offered payment plans (because who want’s to shell out thousands of dollars up front for a water line) and unfortunately she said no. As I was walking out she asked me if either my husband or myself were Native American and I said “no” but my husband is a veteran of the Marine Corps. She said aw darn, unfortunately that doesn’t qualify you guys to get a free water line ran to your property :( sad face. I told the ladies that I hoped they enjoyed their Thanksgiving and we headed home. 30 minutes later my phone rang while we were in the feed store, when we came back out and saw that we had missed a call from the rural water company and listened to the message that said “hi Chandi, this is ___ from the water company and I just wanted to give you some information if you can call me back.” We were super nervous because we were thinking they missed something and it was going to end up costing us more money, but instead this is what she said “ I just wanted to let you know that I talked to my boss and tried to get your charges dropped $2500 dollars and he said no, but INSTEAD HE WANTS TO WAIVE 100% OF THE CHARGES for the water line extension.” Of course I’m crying and my husband is teary eyed and we are in shock. What a huge blessing that someone went out of their way to bless us in such a huge way. We can’t wait to also give back to the community and get some veterans hired out here. Thanks for reading and we will keep you updated.
Dirt work & utilities coming soon
We are excited to announce that we are having the dirt work done for the building site as soon as the ground dries up. We have picked the perfect spot with beautiful sunset views to build the venue and can’t wait for people to enjoy it. The building will start going up in about 4 weeks (pending weather) and should be completed a few weeks later. We are scheduled to host our GRAND OPENING March 3, 2019 and will be open for any event after that.
We have so many ideas to make Still Meadows the perfect venue for any occasion. So the plan for the building is 4800sqft with the bridal & grooms suite to each be 306sqft, a men’s and women’s restroom with outside access for our future a-frame cabins. We will also have a storage area with all of the venue provided decor & a kitchen prep area for the wonderful caterers.
The venue is going to be one of a kind featuring two large full view industrial glass garage doors that can be opened for outdoor patio access or closed for colder weather. Those doors are going to lead out to our large outdoor area where there will be access to plenty of beer garden tables straight from Munich, Germany Oktoberfest and a warm fire pit for your guests to enjoy.
The front of the venue will have 12 foot sliding barn doors and stacked stone. It will make the perfect spot to host an outdoor ceremony or a grand entrance into the venue. The style that we have chose is modern rustic because it will be easy to transform into your own space to make a one of kind event that meets your wants and needs.
Check back to see progress pictures of the prep and building.
