Farm Kitchen Weddings: Behind the Scenes
Weddings at Farm Kitchen make an interesting work mixture. We had such a streak this summer, including every weekend in August. With this frequency, the wedding preparation process became familiar, and easier with every wedding. For me, Phil, the summer of weddings at Farm Kitchen broke down into the rhythm of Wedding Week and Wedding Day.
WEDDING WEEK AT FARM KITCHEN
We have a small staff at FK, but my goal for weddings is to make it look as if a huge team of landscapers (or perhaps an army of elves) prepared the grounds. We try to plan well ahead, looking at which plants need pruning, or whether any parts of the building might be tougher to clean than others.
For Saturday weddings, Wednesday is always weedwacker day. I scope out every corner and edge of the lawns as well as the perimeter of all of the buildings, giving everything a quick trim with the electric weedwacker. Thursday is mowing day, so I ride all over the grass on the zero-turn mower and clip the lawns to two-and-a-half inches. Even when the weather is dry and the grass barely grows, the mower makes everything around here look a little tighter. Then on Friday I go around with the weedwacker again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. We also use the electric push mower on the grassy rows between vegetables and peonies, and on any other tight spots where a riding mower won’t fit.
The property then gets blown with the electric blower, so the cut grass and leaves aren’t visible. The exterior of our white event barn receives a good scrubbing where it’s dirty. The white outdoor furniture gets cleaned up, too. While we are a casual outdoor PNW wedding venue, we pride ourselves on keeping the property looking its very best.
Oh, and let’s not forget the interior of the event spaces. Everything inside needs to be vacuumed, swept, cleaned, mopped and polished. We can’t forget the windows!
Come Saturday, we love when all of our clients and guests exclaim “Wow, this place looks great!” Only we know all the hours of hard work that went into making that happen.
WEDDING DAY AT FARM KITCHEN
Wedding days at Farm Kitchen are fun. FK team members show up bright and early to ensure all reception tables and chairs are wiped clean and dry, that ceremony chairs are aligned just so, and that the grounds look tidy and inviting. We are onsite to greet the wedding party, planner and vendors, and assist caterers with understanding our kitchen policies. Some of our most important roles include parking cars and stacking & moving chairs. We have plenty of space for parking; it’s really just a matter of helping people find their spots quickly so the whole operation runs smoothly. We also try to make sure no one backs into a rock, blocks the fire lane, or leaves their lights on. As for chair moving, we have it down to an orchestrated dance, fold, stack, move, fold, stack, move. While guests are enjoying the cocktail hour, the FK team seamlessly moves chairs from ceremony to reception. On wedding days, we wear our black Farm Kitchen shirts and jeans that are a little nicer than the jeans we get dirty during the work week.
Farm Kitchen wedding guests dress so nicely, including little kids in bowties or dresses, and the atmosphere is super friendly and happy. We love to help out by welcoming the arriving guests, assisting them with where to go, and of course we can’t resist spying on the ceremony.
During the reception there’s always someone in a Farm Kitchen shirt quietly strolling around in the background, making sure there aren’t any problems with the building, tidying the restrooms, answering questions, and checking in on vendors. Sometimes we even sneak a piece of cake.
Our favorite part of Farm Kitchen weddings is watching the joy and love shared by our couples, their families and their guests. Being able to be a part of the behind the scenes effort that makes these weddings so fabulous is why we do what we do.