DRUMROLL......And now, the Winniest Winners in the Whole World Are....

We are thrilled to announce the winny winners of our 2 contests.

But first, let's address something we like to call "post-contest hissy fit."

"post-contest hissy fit"The Urban dictionary defines it as:A sudden, but violent outburst of a person shouting, screaming recriminations (possibly) wailing, generally short-lived but shocking when a contest at The Barn is over.

So, if you find yourself experiencing "post-contest hissy fit" never fear little Barn-heads, there will be more contests soon.  Many, many more!

So now, let's get down to brass tacks.

Our Winners from the Instagram Contest:

We don't know your names, so we are going to list your "handles" and you know who you are...

jamiemartin82

ashleylaurab

_jamih

brandicr12

e_licious03

And for the Wedding Weekend Giveaway:

Waverly Brazzell

Emily Hill

To claim your prize, email us at: barnattwinoaksranch@yahoo.com

Let us know which t-shirt you want and what size you need.

We also need to know where to send it.  Or, if you are local, you're welcome to swing on by and pick that little sucker up!

Don't fret...I feel another contest coming soon, so keep a lid on those hissy fits & stay tuned to our Facebook page.  

Oh, and leave us a little message every once in a while, ya hear!

XOXO,

The Barn Team

Why All-Inclusive? Let Us Explain....

Courtney & Chad's Amazing Wedding Extravaganza!  Photo by BnBaughman Photography

Wedding season is in full swing and we are so excited.  Our bodies are not quite back into the swing of all the heavy-lifting, long hours and late nights, but they will quickly re-adapt.  2014 will be our first full wedding season.  We were only opened for half of the season last year and were thrilled to host over 17 weddings/events on the property.  This year we will host a staggering 32+ weddings at The Barn!  That's a lot of CAKE!!

Most of you know this, but we are an all-inclusive venue.  We are pretty flexible when it comes to what we CAN do for our brides, there is one thing however that we will NOT budge on....being all-inclusive.

Hayley & Zach's SWEET Wedding, BnBaughman Photogaphy

Part of what makes The Barn "The Barn" is the fact that we make planning your wedding easy, stress-free and an enjoyable experience.  Each of our brides get to choose her own stylings, colors, flowers, decor, etc.   Our staff handles all the details in making it a reality.  Plus, we are trained to handle all the "little things" that may come up on the day-of the event or anytime in between.  Think of it like this...getting to the bottom of your wedding board on Pinterest and then pressing a "SUBMIT" button.  Yeah, it's kinda like that, but better....because it's your wedding, not someone else's!

Leah & Josh's Laid Back, Country Wedding, Russell Photography

With over 15 years collectively of event/wedding experience, The Barn's planning & design team is ready, and eager to help our brides plan the wedding of their dreams!  

Hearing the mothers of our brides talk about how relaxed & stress-free they are on the day of the wedding, is music to our ears.  Or when a stressed out bride calls me and says, "HELP, I'm so stressed because I have nothing to do!" - Yes, that really happened!!

Patience & Jerimiah's Intimate Ceremony, Shingleur Photography

Ashley & Justin's Fabulous Fete, Kerri & Stefan Photography

The day of your wedding is your day to be pampered, relax and spend some of the greatest moments of your life with your family, not setting up, sweating, stressing and panicking over last minute mishaps.  Leave those worries to the pros! 

So in other words.... KEEP CALM & MARRY ON, YA'LL! 

xoxo,

Lesleigh 

And the Winner is.....

BOOTS! BOOTS!  BOOTS!

There's just something about a new pair of boots.  Its the smell the minute you take them out of the box.  You stick your nose into the boot and just sniff away!  I love it!  

My favorite candle is actually Tyler Candle Company's "COWBOY" candle, because it smells like a new pair of boots!  
Some may call me a boot junkie!
I get my fix on new pair of tooled leather kicks.

Tyler Candle Company "COWBOY"

My closet is intermingled with Corrals, Old Gringos, Laredos and Lamas, just to name a few.  I plan my wardrobe for the day by first determining which pair of boots I will wear.  Yes, I even have rain boots!  

But one thing that really chaps my hide is all of these "We're giving away a pair of boots" posts I see on facebook.  Day in, and day out, there's a new pair, a new post.  Some are even a $500+ pair, mind you.  But honestly, does anyone ever REALLY win those boots?  Do they ever REALLY announce the winner?  Do we see a photo of that winner putting those leather lovlies on their pretty little feet?  No....No we don't.  And we're putting our foot BOOT down!

(So...I did this)

I decided that we, THE BARN, were going to do a bonafide, real-deal, boot giveaway.  Not a no-name pair, not a faux-leather wanna be pair, but a genuine, tried & true pair of Tony Llamas!  These bad boys are handmade leather boots with a leather sole.  They can be worn with absolutely anything.  Can be dressed up, or dressed down.  
Dresses or shorts, they look good with it all.

So enough kicking the dirt, let's get down to brass tacks....
We put all of the SHARES in hat and picked one sweet little ole name.  Then....we made sure that person also was a FAN of our page.  And when the crieteria were met, we are so proud to announce the winner of our Fabulous Boot Giveaway.....

She's cuter than a little red wagon of speckled pups......

Aww...aren't they cute!

here name is.....   

but wait.......before you go huffing off, changing your browser window, know this:  We will do this again!  I LOVE BOOTS and I want to share the love!  So pretty please keep up with The Barn.  We love our fans and want you to know that we REALLY do giveaway boots :)

Don't cry if you don't win!  We will do it again....and again....and again.

Ok, without further ado.....
The winner is Rachel Morgan Vandevender!
Rachel.....message us on Facebook with your SIZE purdy please and we'll HOOK A GIRL UP!

Love ya'll,
XOXO-

Lesleigh

Tales of Afro Chicken....

Today it's a snow day!  Actually...and Ice Day!  No school, no work, just boring inside stuff (as my 5 year old says).  

Even the dogs are bored.  I had to go outside and rescue Afro Chicken from the mouth of my blue-heeler mix dog.  Apparently he was showing our toy shi-poodle how to hunt and gather - NOT COOL!  After a thorough examination, we concluded Afro Chicken was not physically harmed, just a little mentally distraught.

Meet Afro Chicken!

So what is this crazy-haired, black, feathery bird that we call Afro Chicken (for self-explanatory reasons)?  I think she's actually some version of a "Silkie" chicken.  I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will comment and let me know....but we really don't care what she is we LOVE her and treat her like family.


Afro Chicken is best friends with one of our ducks.  She came to us as a baby chick accompanied by a duckling.  She looked like any other baby chick.  My mom is a teacher at an elementary school and one of the science classes hatched 2 eggs.  When the school year came to an end, these two baby birds had to have a home, so my mom dumped them off at my house.  Reluctantly, we kept them, fed them, and the duck grew up to be pretty white Aflac duck. The chick grew up to be, well....Afro Chicken.

Afro chicken struts around like she owns that place and has even been featured in some of our photo shoots.  So....keep an eye out for The Barn's "World-Famous" (or so we think) AFRO CHICKEN!  

Liz Chrisman Photography

We hope you enjoyed our "slow news day" blog!

Adios Muchachos!
XOXO
Les

We've been bad, very, very, bad!

Ok, so I've totally neglected our little blog for a very long time!  I am making it a point to update our blog on a regular basis no....scouts honor!

So what's been going on behind the scenes at The Barn?  A Lot!  Which means there's lots to blog about.  I've had the amazing opportunity to speak to college students who are seeking out careers in the event/catering/tourism industry, We'e added a few things out at The Barn, we've got a new crop of interns, we have some amazing new features that we can offer to brides/clients, we have new catering menus that are available....and the list goes on and on.  Needless to say, my fingers are gonna be tarred (that's southern for "tired").

Today, I'm gonna fill you in on what happened to us yesterday....hold on to your bootstraps, it's pretty fabulous!



In case you haven't heard we've been pretty blessed within the last 2 days as far national exposure goes.  The Barn's latest photo shoot was picked up & featured by 6 MAJOR sites yesterday (yes, all in 1 day).
We were featured on these major national sites:

click here

click here

And then, we were featured on these major in-state Arkansas sites:

click here

click here

And also we were on a wedding site in VERMONT, yes VERMONT!  We Love it!

click here

We are still trying to catch our breath from the overwhelming excitement!  So until we are able to do that, we leave you with a photo from that shoot, that lets you see our newest addtion to The Barn....our new bar!  For those of you that have been to the barn, it's out by the firepit.  Because nobody likes to have to walk very far to get another drink....lol!  Love to you all!  

xoxo,

The Barn Team!

Oh, how we love....OUR INTERNS!!!

Oh My Gosh....You're an event planner - you must LOVE your job!  

As a matter of fact, I do love my job.  I get that alot when people ask what I do for a living.  It sounds so glamorous and chic...and it kind of is to an extent, but there is A LOT of hard and stressful work involved.  You have to be OK getting dirty, you have to be able to channel Martha Stewart every now and then, and you have to LOVE (and I mean passionately love) details!

I was thrown into the world of events & weddings not knowing anything other than they took a lot of attention to detail, which I was good at.  Now adays they are degrees for event planning, which is amazing!  Still, the degrees don't prepare you for exactly what goes on behind the scenes, the stress, the clients, the doing a million things all at once, which is why I am a strong advocate of educating our up-and-coming event and wedding designers through internships.  I'm so lucky to have several interns on staff right now.  They are all so eager and green - it's a wonderful opportunity for them to learn, and it's so self gratifying to me to be able to share my passion with future eventistas (yep, I just made that word up)!  


If you are interested in becoming an intern, we do have 1 summer internship open.  Read on down to find out more.  Now, let me take a moment to introduce you to a few future event extraordinaires...

Meet Victoria!              Victoria Villines
Internship Spring/Fall 2012  Victoria is from Harrison, Arkansas and will be graduating in May 2014 with a degree in Hospitality and Event Planning and a minor in Business with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. With her degree, she has high hopes of owning her own business (my kind of gal). The store Kleinfeld’s has given her the dream to own her very own Bridal Boutique or dress venue. Anything bridal, decorating or designing, are things that Victoria is interested in.  Her hobbies are very broad. She loves anything outdoors; hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing, she loves to read, bake and as weird as it sounds she loves to clean (which you have to do a lot of in event planning).  Victoria is a very organized person so everything has to be orderly with her.  Everything has a specific place and note on it to tell what it is and what should be done with it. She has a large family with 3 sisters and 1 brother, 5 of them all together. Family is a very important part of Victoria's life and she attributes the person that she is today to her family. 

Hello Miss Courtney!   Courtney Peachey                         Internship Spring/Fall 2012                                                         Her name is Courtney Peachey. She too is a Student at Arkansas Tech University and plans on graduating with a Bachelors in Marketing and Management in May of 2013.  She enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, running, shopping, and sitting home on a Friday night watching "Say Yes to the Dress" with her mom!  God is Courtney's number one and as far as her plans for the future go, she plans on letting Him lead and seeing where He takes her!  Courtney has always been interested in event planning and absolutely loves weddings, so interning at the barn is a dream for her!  And we're so glad to have her on board! 

Introducing Karly!          Karly Denkhaus                                 Internship Summer 2012                       Karly Denkhaus is a marketing and psychology double major at the University of Notre Dame (yep, she's foreigner...ha, ha but we LOVE you Karly) and will graduate in May 2013.  She works as a research assistant studying the psychology of morality and as a teaching assistant while at school.  Outside interests and hobbies include anything outdoors, especially hiking, fishing, and camping, attending country music concerts, playing or watching various sports, and generally trying to soak up as much sun as possible.  I asked Karly why she wanted to be an event planner when I interviewed her and I absolutely loved her answer.  She said when professionals come to speak to them at school, the event planners are always the happiest of them all.  I think that is a great way to pick a profession!  Be happy in what you do and you'll never work a day in your life!!
And now introducing.....YOU?
We have an opening for a summer 2012 Internship!!!

Our interns do many things in preparations for events/weddings and photoshoots.  They attend meetings, they iron linens, they clean glassware, they get to talk to brides and in the end, they will all get to style a shoot of their very own (under our direction of course).  That is a very important and unique piece of experience our interns will get to walk away with.  We love them all like cute cuddly puppies we want to keep, but know that we will one day have let them go to a new home :o( 
Ok, that's my analogy anyway....don't laugh!!!

If you or someone you know would be a great fit for our summer internship and wants to apply....send your resume and WHY you want to be an event/wedding designer/planner to our email:  barnattwinoaksranch@yahoo.com 
Please put INTERNSHIP in the subject line of your email.

Oh on a totally seperate note.....I built an amazing bed today that will hang from one of our trees out here at The Barn....Thank you very much Melissa McCrotty for the idea and the instructions :o)  Can't wait to share the pics soon.

That's all for now barn heads!!! 

Gates & Siding & T-Shirts...Oh My!

What the heck have we been doing for the past 2 weeks you ask?  Well honey, grab a sweet tea and sit down a spell, and let me fill you in....

Aside from the fact that I've been SOOOO bad about posting the blog, we've been quite busy.  Both working on the barn and also meeting with brides, stalking their Pinterest, designing tablescapes and all the FUN FUN Stuff that comes along with my amazing line of work!  
(Oh yeah, not to mention soccer & tee ball are now happening simultaneously...Good Lawd!  People with more than one "mini-you"...my hats off!!)

We've had a gorgeous several days of sun and we've taken full advantage of that.  I've donned my tank top in hopes of catching some rays while I work - I forget how tired you get when you do manual labor in the hot sun!  Geesh, I've been wiped out!  Alas, I digress...


Gates
Yesterday, we got the gate put up at the entrance to The Barn and worked on getting the road "aired" out and hopefully dried up a bit so we can add some shale or gravel.
I have a lot of refinishing to do on the gate.  As with everything else out here, it's an old piece of fence panel, the i've repurposed as a gate.  I'm going to paint it and sand it down to fit with our look - but that's the fun part :o)  I will post pics as soon as I begin the finish work on the gate...I am looking forward to it!!  Next step on that will be adding the gate opener (yes, because I'm too lazy to get out and open the dang thing every time I pass through it).

This is before we cut the panel and hinged it on....still lots of refinishing to do - it is going to be a great entrance gate once we're done...plus we will be adding "Twin Oaks Ranch" to it.  

& SIDING
Tomorrow, we will be getting the remainder of the siding to finish the back of the barn (that you can see here).  The remainder of the siding will also be what we use to build the big barn doors.  I cannot stress how much my iPhone pictures do NOT do this justice.

This is the back side of The Barn....we will be putting on rest of siding next week.
You can see the opening at the other end of The Barn...that will be the front double doors.

This is a refresher pic of the "other side" of The Barn - this pic is old, but I wanted you to be able to see both the front and back of The Barn.

Also, The Barn will be getting wired (as in electrically) in the next couple of weeks....Woo Hoo I'm Doing the Running Man - that means we can now listen to music while we work!  Not to mention, now that we have siding up, it's getting pretty dark in the barn...so we need a little light so we can see what we're doing.  Electricity = Greatness.
I'll be happy to kick that noisy generator we've been using to the curb.  I may actually go all "Office Space" on that thing now that I think about it!

This is a pic of the patio area getting the tin put on the roof. 

& T-Shirts are Here...T-Shirts are here!
The Keep Calm and Marry On t-shirts arrived this week and they are FaBuLoUs!  We had LOTS of sweet little barn heads pre-order shirts and now that we've accommodated all of them, we have just a handful of shirts left.  If you want one, I urge you to let us know via Facebook or email ASAP.   We may be down to only having around 10 shirts left, seriously!!

If you want one grab it while they last ($15 each)

...OH MY!
A few other things we've been up to:  Putting out bug killer (yes we are in THE NATURAL STATE, thus all things "nature" come with it), burning brush piles, planting seed, consulting with our landscaper  (New Digs = Amazing), prepping for photo shoots, oh yeah and.....
GETTING THE MOST AMAZING BLUE RIBBON EVAH.....

We haven't even had time to get them our profile info to post on their website, but when it's up, we will shout it from the rooftops!  If you don't know Southern Weddings Magazine, you are missing out on the best wedding magazine out there (Sorry Martha!).

That's all for now barn-heads....We've got some fun stuff in the blog for next week (and yeah, yeah, I'll post it on time, I promise).