How To Start A Wedding Venue, Zoning

Are you hoping to start a wedding venue and want to learn more about zoning, permits and well...everything? Most wedding venue owner hopefuls have never had to deal with their local zoning offices and have no idea what to expect. Greg Engstrom of White Oak Farm Venue in Michigan City Indiana shares his experience working with zoning and permits to get his wedding venue opened in May of 2021. Watch the video below to learn how the owners of White Oak Farm managed the zoning and permits process. What they did to prepare for hearings. What advice they received from their attorney and so much more! Greg Engstrom is somewhat new to the wedding industry but has started other businesses requiring him to go work with permits & zoning. He has a wealth of knowledge to share with you! Greg hosted his first wedding in May of 2021 and has close to 100 weddings booked already! He does not attribute any of this success to big wedding websites! So how did he book so many weddings? How To Start A Wedding Venue, Zoning video below. Scroll down to view images of White Oak Farm Venue.
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[@sundaraaj]

Zoning !!!... so many details! Thanks to Greg and Didi !

[@alvaroromo69]

Awesome points and topics

[@TrishTalkz]

Fantastic interview and information. Thank you!

[@DidiRussellWeddings]

Thanks Trish

[@sundaraaj]

Saved it to watch at leisure time... Thanks for posting

[@DidiRussellWeddings]

It's a good listen during a commute on 95. Thank you for commenting. Please share the video

[@sundaraaj]

@@DidiRussellWeddings lol.. will do.

[@DavidReese-xf9wt]

I will say some of these things will vary tremendously not only from state to state, but county to county, and even township to township in Ohio. For instance, our property was zoned commercial, but the land owned by the airport surrounding was still zoned residential so we had different setbacks than you would have expected. We are on a state route, so a traffic study was required by the state. The state took nine months to finally approve a no left-turn in or out on the state route like we suggested originally after they first insisted on a turn lane being built at our cost. It turns out that the state route already had more traffic than it was built for, so any new business would have exceeded the number. We were fortunate enough to get a real estate tax abatement from the county, the township created a PACE district for a creative way to fund some of the property, the tourism board has reached out to us, and the county commissioners gave us a shout-out already on the radio. The part about getting to know your local politicians is spot on from all levels. Make sure you don't forget about them after you are done getting approvals.

[@Miss_goalgetter]

I know this interview is very old, however you were cutting him off a lot! Great tips and insights, learn a lot about zoning and it’s very scary. My husband and I are currently searching for land to build on and it’s hard trying to figure it out by ourselves. 🤦🏾‍♀️

[@papajoe5331]

nice interview...

[@lovesupremeweddings2262]

Great info! Thanks for sharing!

[@DidiRussellWeddings]

Hope you found this helpful! Wishing you the best in your venue journey.

[@noirdes19]

I’m from Toronto Canada but I still enjoyed this video I’d like to have a venue one day 😊

[@lindamartin6628]

Thank u sooo much!!!❤

[@khuongoikhuong]

Lots of insights. Great interview from both sides

[@larhondah.2793]

This was meat and potatoes for me🥰🥰thanks a million🙏🏿👏🏿👏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿👏🏿

[@DidiRussellWeddings]

Thanks so much!! I hope this helps 💕

[@diongalbreath9441]

Was it dc structures that made your kit?

[@TheEmpressEstateWeddingVenue]

what is the barn kit company name in Oregon?

[@panningbuddy2301]

What about a 420 venue liability? What are repercussions from this?

[@monsanto.official]

what about texas

[@mynameisfrank6519]

You’re ok in Texas. It’s the demtard states you have to worry about.

[@blazesmith3978]

Do most new venues take 5 years to get up and running?

[@DidiRussellWeddings]

In my experience it takes about two years when buying land, getting permits & approval, building, etc… When an investor purchases a residential or agricultural property and wants to turn it into a wedding venue requiring new zoning/use permits,, that is far more tricky and tends to take longer & have more risk & cost. I know of one owner that battled for 6 years to get approval for her residential property to be able to host weddings. This options just has so many unknowns, it’s not uncommon to go through the permit process for years. When an investor purchases an operating wedding venue, the new owner may pay more initially for the property but it comes (usually) with contracts on the books, permits in place, reputation & years of marketing built up. Are you going through the permit process?

[@blazesmith3978]

@@DidiRussellWeddings thank you so much for that wisdom. My wife and I are just in the information gathering phase now. Trying to learn what even to be aware of before we call the county zoning and planning office.

[@thomasfeldman3613]

@@DidiRussellWeddings do you think it would be more difficult if the property had already been used for weddings and then turned into a residential? I'm looking at buying a church that is currently zoned as an r1 residential but since it's been used for weddings and large events I'd imagine I could get it zoned for events