Unconventional Wedding Venues

Unconventional Wedding Venues

Say “I Do” at One of These Unconventional Northshore Venues

By Mimi Greenwood Knight

Perhaps a traditional wedding venue is your cup of tea. Maybe it’s not. If you want to get a little fun and funky with the site of your nuptials, the Northshore offers a selection of nontraditional wedding venues. You can exchange vows at a brewery or tie the knot in a renovated barn. You can walk the aisle at your favorite art gallery or get hitched at your family hunting camp. Say "I do" at the wild and wacky Abita Mystery House, amid the oaks at Fontainebleau State Park, or on the shore of one of our beloved rivers. And check out this castle, polo farm, vineyard, nonprofit ministry, and hunting preserve we think are pretty darn cool.

Garrett Field Estancia in Slidell

What do you do when you inherit the family home place complete with a private airstrip? If you’re Gran and Billie Semmes, you turn the airstrip into a polo field and the family home into a showstopping event venue. Many a Slidell native grew up driving past the elegant home of Bill and Ruth Garrett. Built in 1960, it was the first all-electric home in the town. The Garretts built a mother-in-law cottage next door for Ruth’s mom, a pool, a large barn, a hangar for Bill’s planes, and an alley of oaks leading to the home. All of it and the 125 acres on which it sits are now available as the perfect setting for a less-thantraditional wedding.

“We turned the airplane hangar into an open-air pavilion, but we have custom sheeting we can drop down to close it in during cooler weather,” said Cher Levis, venue manager and, more importantly, Billie’s beloved niece. That sheeting comes in handy, during the cooler months, because the farm has a lovely breeze that sweeps across it year-round.

Here’s another venue that can accommodate the entire bridal party. “Often the bride and bridesmaids will get ready in the big house while the groomsmen hang around the tack room smoking cigars,” Levis said. “The home is also a B&B where the family can stay while the couple honeymoons right next door in the cottage. In fact, they can rent the entire property and stay the whole weekend. We comfortably sleep ten.”

There’s a lovely loft apartment above the barn the Semmes had constructed of repurposed lumber from a historic home on St. Charles Avenue. Another, smaller apartment in the former equipment shed is modeled after a gypsy caravan.

Weddings can take place inside the home, but most couples choose to marry à l'air frais, perhaps under the kissing oaks or on the chateau patio. Or for a little whimsy, the ceremony can take place on the banks of the Doubloon Bayou, which borders the property complete with a whimsical cast-iron dinosaur. After the ceremony, guests can grab a libation from one of the satellite bars, wander about, make friends with the 13 polo horses, snuggle up by the fireplace, sit by the pool, or on one of the polo-viewing courtyards, or even take a walk through the swamp and across a footbridge to a tiny private island.

The Venue at Covey Rise in Husser

Word is out and brides are flocking to the tiny town of Husser, Louisiana for a wedding that can last all weekend. They can host up to 400 people for a wedding day, as well as some overnight spaces to rent for a weekend experience. Begun in 1999 as an elite hunting preserve, Covey

Rise expanded to include a farm in 2009 providing produce to top New Orleans restaurants. Not long after that, they coaxed popular French Quarter chef Austin Kirzner to join the team, enabling them to open an event and wedding venue where the chef serves up farm-to-table cuisine with a distinctly New Orleans vibe.

A wedding at the 600-acre Covey Rise begins as you meander down a mile of wooded driveway. Once there, you’ll find photo ops around every corner including a beautiful four-acre pond and 50 acres of farm fields. Many brides choose to make an entire weekend of it, beginning with a rehearsal dinner on Friday night, followed by cocktails around the fire pit, stargazing and chatting until the wee hours. The families and bridal party can rent Covey Rise’s private cabins or stay together in the 45-bed lodge.

Saturday, as the bride and bridesmaids see to their hair and nails, the groom and his groomsmen can enjoy clay target shooting, fishing in the stocked ponds, yard games such as cornhole, or during hunting season, schedule a hunt. Many brides plan their wedding at sunset and choose to exchange vows under a century-old oak just behind the venue building.

The Venue and its elegant bar, The Wesley, lend themselves to a reception that flows indoors and out and because the main lodge is included in the venue rental, when the reception is over, the party can simply move next door. It’s no surprise The Venue at Covey Rise was chosen The Knot Best of Weddings by TheKnot.com and 2024 WeddingWire Couple’s Choice at WeddingWire.com.

Milićević Farm & Vineyard Venue in Abita Springs

St. Tammany is now home to a handful of family vineyards, and at least one of them is the perfect spot for a nontraditional wedding. Milićević Farm & Vineyard Venue claims the title of largest private facility in the state of Louisiana, large enough, in fact, to accommodate a wedding of 900 guests. Most are more intimate though, coming in at around 150 friends and family members.

Owner Ivan Milićević grew up working in his family vineyards in Hercegovina, a country in the Western Balkan Peninsula of Europe. He relocated to this country in 1989 and, after finding success in business, decided it was time to continue the family tradition. Milićević began searching for the perfect spot for his own vineyard, eventually finding it in Abita Springs. He planted his first grapes there in 2015. The Louisiana climate was kind, and his vineyard thrived. In fact, the Blatina and Zilavka grapes he planted now exist only in Hercegovina and Abita Springs.

The 11 acres of vineyard, elegant grounds, and majestic structures have become a popular spot for weddings that are as sophisticated as they are fun. “Many people choose to be married in our back vineyard, which is only one acre, outside under the pergola, or in front of the fireplace beside the lake,” Milićević said. “And many take their engagement photos among the grapes.” The venue offers an in-house chef with a full kitchen plus 15,000 square feet inside if you’d rather hold festivities there.

During the reception, guests can stroll the property, around the lake, sit by the outdoor fireplace, or commune with the cows, geese, ducks, sheep, and donkeys that call the vineyard home.

Louisiana Castle in Franklinton

Talk about your fairytale wedding. Did you know you can get married at an authentic castle in South Louisiana? This beauty, built in 1983 by Dr. Mark Belcher, is a replica of an English Norman Keep Castle, a type of fortified tower built by European nobility.

Constructed of 85,000 bricks, Louisiana Castle has authentic themed details inside and out including suits of armor, medieval weaponry, and elaborate his and hers thrones for the bride and groom.

Dolly & Steve Illg purchased the castle from Dr. Belcher in 1999 and began hosting weddings and other events there in 1991. Although it can accommodate 350 guests, most of the castle weddings are more intimate, with 50 to 75 guests. The most popular—and dramatic—spot for the ceremony is at an outdoor altar alongside a small brook, with the bride descending 47 steps from the castle to her waiting groom. The castle grounds are meticulously landscaped, adding to the enchantment of the setting, and the venue lends itself to receptions inside or outside—or often a combination of the two.

The castle owns a cottage just down the road for the bride and bridesmaids to get ready. And often the bride and groom will make a “fake exit” from their reception only to return and spend the night upstairs in the honeymoon suite. “Once the guests leave, they have the run of the castle including use of our honeymoon hot tub,” said longtime castle manager Mary Thomas. “The caterer leaves food from the reception upstairs for them and ices down some champagne for them downstairs behind the bar.”

A popular way to get to and from a wedding or other event at the castle is on a party bus. “Bogue Chitto State Park is right down the road with cabins and a lodge that sleeps 52,” Thomas said. “For many of our weddings, guests will hire a party bus to bring them here then back to the park after the reception. Or the entire wedding party and their guests arrive together on a party bus from New Orleans. Then, the bus takes everybody back to the city after the reception, and they don’t have to worry about designated drivers.”

Lynhaven Event Center in Hammond

A truly memorable wedding will cost you a chunk of change. How nice would it be to know that money was doing good long after the “I dos” are uttered? Originally opened as a private women’s retreat center, Lynhaven, Inc. became so much more when it was purchased by the New Orleans Mission. It’s still a beautifully landscaped 18-acre and perfectly appointed site for weddings, corporate events, and more. But now all the profit from those events is poured back into a ministry that houses and trains women in crisis. The venue is managed by husband and wife team David and Emilie Bottner, who open their lives and their hearts to women who come to Lynhaven to live, learn a trade, and eventually leave with a better sense of self-worth and with work and life skills.

The women whose lives have been affected by substance abuse, trafficking, or domestic abuse live for free in tidy, little cottages on the back of the property and spend their days in classes learning parenting, money management, how to obtain a home loan, and more. New Orleans Chef John Proctor teaches the women to cook, and they help him prepare the food that’s served at weddings and other events. They also learn to clean, set tables, make centerpieces, and serve the guests who attend functions, all skills they can use once they leave Lynhaven.

Lynhaven is popular for family reunions, school parties, company picnics, jazz brunches, showers, and birthday parties where guests can play putt-putt, basketball, volleyball, or fish in the stocked pond. As a wedding venue, it’s an elegant location that can accommodate 250 guests indoors and more than 1,500 on the grounds.

A pavilion overlooking the three-acre pond is a popular ceremony spot with chandeliers hung from the trees, their light reflecting on the water. During the reception, guests can stroll around the pond, settling on the benches scattered about the other side. Or they might grab a cocktail and take a ride across on a paddleboat. There’s a large room set aside for the bridal party to get ready, and because they limit the number of weddings they schedule, brides can arrive at 9 a.m. and stay all day.

If you’ve found the one whom your soul loves—and you want to have a little fun with the I-dos—you could do worse than one of these out-of-the-box locations for beginning your happily ever after.