Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Haley Lenderman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Haley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
Venues in the area as well as across the country have created a “norm” that we chose to steer far from.
Transparency, Pricing, and Excessive Fees
Wedding venues in general are known for having websites that are not user friendly and share close to nothing but pictures and an email or phone number that you have to contact if you want any further information.
Having pricing not directly on your website is a huge disservice to couples vetting and researching venues.. They have budgets to stick to and a plan and they hVe to be physically in person at a tour or have to call or email to even get a range of pricing to see if that venue is even in the realm of affordable for the couple.
It wastes the couple’s time and the venue’s time. Imagine getting to the venue and you get the pricing guide and the price is $10,000 over what you budgeted. Now you sit through the tour because you’ve already made the trip out there. Now repeat this 3-7 more times for the average amount of tours couple’s take.
We took an entirely different approach.
When designing the website we decided that transparency, and easy access to pricing and inclusions was our main goal. Our website has absolutely every piece of information a couple would need before they book a tour. That way when they get here they don’t need to bring a notebook with 100 questions and can actually enjoy the tour !
This has helped our tour conversion rate be very successful. We aren’t doing 20 tours just to book 1 couple.
It also instills a level of trust with the couple before they even get here..
This also plays into another industry standard we do not follow.
So many venues tell you a price but it doesn’t include anything. You then have tent tables, chairs, decor as well as being hit by service and venue fees and gratuities.
We decided to price ourselves where that was included. We have no extra charges that pop up or surprise anyone. The price you see is what you’ll pay. We also strive to to be a venue that includes a ton in your package. Table, chairs, a huge decor closet, etc. It adds a ton of value to the package and makes us as a venue look like we are giving them so much compared to the rest of those in the industry.
The House on Barber Mill will always operate transparently, with integrity, and not follow the norm.
Haley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Haley Lenderman and The House on Barber Mill is a family owned Wedding and Event Venue in Clayton , North Carolina. Which is just 20 minutes south of Raleigh.
Our family is from Michigan and I made the move down to NC in 2015 where I attended UNCW for a Tourism and Event Degree. Before we opened the venue I started to fall in love with events by being able to work for some great companies and events.
I started at the largest summertime Hot Air Balloon Festival in NJ,, made my way to an event venue in MD where I did research for a company to start a wedding venue, as well as having background in Meeting and Convention Planning for 3 years.
I got to dip my toes into a lot of different events but kept coming back to weddings.
When Covid hit and I lost my job I came back to NC and we as a family decided to make a crazy decision with the time we had on our hands and find a old home to renovate.
With both parents backgrounds in architecture and my background in events we knew that a venue could be a great route for us.
We searched for the perfect spot until we stumbled on a 1910 gem in Clayton that had been abandoned for 15 years and needed a TON of help. Over Covid we spent the next 16 months renovating, creating a business plans, website and taking courses on Venue Management
The House on Barber Mill m Wedding and Event Venue opened its doors July of 2022 where we started doing tours while renovations and landscaping were being finished..
We are nor 1 1/2 years in and just completed our first fall wedding season where we worked with so many amazing couples to host their dream days.
Along with weddings we also host a plethora of other events! Including baby and bridal showers, birthdays, anniversaries, reunions,. holiday parties, photography sessions and so much more!
We love getting to serve the Clayton Community and give an intimate event space for people to enjoy.
We specialize in intimate events under 100 guests and love being able to provide a curated indoor and outdoor space that fits smaller groups! Rather than people having to go to a venue that’s meant for weddings up to 250/300 and taking up a tiny portion in a huge empty room that they just don’t fit in.
We created a modern space inside of a vintage gem. There is so much character and charm within this home turned venue.
Being able to provide a space to people where they are at some of the happiest moments in their lives and see the joy on people’s faces with their friends and family is what keeps me going every day .
We want to make sure every client feels at home here. That we have created a space and team that is trusting, confident, and aims to put the client first.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
Communication with our clients is key to creating an experience that they dream of in their head that we now bring into reality.
We have a couple of different avenues we use to communicate effectively and create a sense of trust and loyalty between clients and us while also making sure we are making smart decisions as a business.
– Accessibility to the Venue.
A lot of venues after booking don’t allow additional visits to the venue by the couple or client . Usually there is the initial tour and only one meeting a month prior to the scheduled event.
We do something different. We have booked couple open houses about every 6-8 weeks. This is about 2-3 hours of times that couples can opt to come to and bring whoever they would like (family, friends, vendors etc). We find so much value in these. I myself attend each one to answer whatever questions I can. In turn this cuts down on a ton of communication via email back and forth and the chance for miscommunication as well. Being in person person more often allows me to get to know couples more, create more trust and have them get comfortable with us and the space. This has made for smooth wedding days, less questions overall, and creating loyalty and familiarity with us. Most times Venues are just a building, a shell. We want to get to know our couples and create a level of camaraderie and trust. It makes everything so much more relaxed. No bride zillas here!
– The other way we get in touch with clients that has been effective is a online resource called our Online Planner.
It’s a document shared with the couple that was created to ask the long list of small questions that we don’t want to bug you with on your big day! On the day of the only time I want to communicate with my couple is to tell them congratulations and how stunning they looks. The online planner gets all those pesky questions out of the way hut also gives couples reminders , helpful tips, and guidelines. This was a document I created one time that every couple gets. It again mitigates confusion,, and excessive communication where it is taking to much time away from a small business.
– lastly , we have a Facebook page only for booked couples that we add everyone too. It’s a place where we post announcements, reminders, inspiration and events.
But it’s a.way to form a community and have the couples use each other as a resource as well. This again creating a sense of community and that we are more than just a building !
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehouseonbarbermill.com
- Instagram: @thehouseonbarbermill
- Facebook: The House on Barber Mill
Image Credits
Whitney Chase Photography Jessie Peloso Photography Brandie Baird Photography Reg and Kala Photography Betts Photography