Tandale Nature Barn and the owner, Austin, were the best we could’ve asked for! Although on the pricier side, it was VERY worth it. We are still getting numerous compliments and rightfully so! The venue has three (I think) outdoor ceremony site...s to choose from, all of which are spaced out well so that it doesn’t feel awkward. Fortunately we didn’t face this problem, but in the case of inclement weather, the ceremony must be held in the reception area which isn’t ideal.
What you get - It’s important to know that you are paying for the building and the property only. This includes access from Friday at noon to Sunday at noon, pending other reservations and the tree house to sleep in on the night of the event. You are bringing in everything else - the food, the music, the linens, the alcohol, the bartenders, the decorations, the photographer, etc. There are plus sides to this because a minimum isn’t required for services, but it does take more work to research vendors and organize. I highly recommend a wedding planner, we worked with Tricia Finn Events! That said, I always felt confident with the venue because I knew if everything went wrong, we could bring in a Bluetooth speaker & order pizzas, and the wedding would still look gorgeous because the barn and ceremony site in and of themselves are breathtaking.
Location - None of our guests, nor ourselves, are local to Brighton but we had no complaints about the drive even from people flying in. I’d make the trip over and over again for Tandale Nature Barn. The venue is a little bit hidden from the street, so make sure guests know where to go. The city also has a really cute downtown area for people to grab a drink at if that’s their thing. We had room blocks at the Hampton Inn and the Hilton Inn Express which were less than 10 minutes from the venue. After going back and forth, we decided to get a shuttle bus and very glad we did because ride sharing (Uber/Lyft) was very scarce even on a Saturday night.
Owner - Oh my! Austin is the BEST! He made sure to stand by our side with everything throughout the entire process. You can tell that he is willing to be involved as much as you’d like for him to. We let our wedding planner work with him for almost everything, but he still contacted us at times to make sure we were happy with everything and got to see the venue when we wanted. He answered all of my questions and always encouraged me to ask whatever I needed. On the day of the wedding, Austin was like our own day-of coordinator along with Tricia Finn Events. He is familiar with and builds a relationship with the vendors to make sure all runs smoothly. If you can’t tell, he’s just great!
Advertising - Don’t let the lack of self-promotion deceive you. I was hesitant seeing that TNB didn’t have any posts on Instagram at the time and very minimal things on other platforms. In reality, they don’t need it! The venue is booking events constantly and I wouldn’t be surprised if there just isn’t time to brag about themselves. I recommend using the posts that they’re tagged in to do your research. The guests and photographers do the promoting for them!
Text from friend: “The food was amazing, music of course amazing, THE VENUE WAS SOOOOO COOL.“
Said by friend verbally: “I was so obsessed with that venue. I talked to Jared about it the entire car ride back.”
To sum it up, we highly recommend Tandale Nature Barn!
