The Backdrop of Joy | Events at Green Mountain Farm
In January’s chill, months before our daughter’s wedding, Erica and Jammie Woods dream of a flowering backdrop for a newly dug pond at Events at Green Mountain Farm -- the venue center they own and operate.
When we meet to discuss wedding plans, Erica points just beyond the pond and tells my daughter, come spring, they will plant 15,000 sunflower seeds.
Erica remembers a smile spreading on Annalyse’s face.
“When we had the dream to plant sunflowers, we had no idea at the time that Jose and Annalyse would be one of our beautiful couples to begin their forever at our venue,” Erica remembers. “The look on her face when we told her what would be the backdrop to her wedding was priceless. Little did we know that she envisioned sunflowers in her wedding. We couldn't wait to begin the growing process.”
Erica tells us it is one of the many moments of joy they have shared since they began the dream of converting a farm into a venue a few years ago.
“My husband loves working outside and I love decorating and coordinating,” she says. “It was a perfect business venture for both of us. Our daughter Keely got engaged and we began touring venues. It was during that time that we decided to build Events at Green Mountain Farm.”
Erica tells how her daughter’s wedding two summers ago -- the first at the farm -- reveals both the joy and stress of running a venue. Two weeks before the wedding, only a concrete slab foundation had been laid; construction of the trusses had been postponed because of an endless spell of rain.
“I completely panicked,” Erica remembers. “The venue wasn’t going to be completed. I didn’t want my daughter to get married at a construction site.” She remembers her daughter looking at her and saying, “Mom, at the end of the day, we are going to be married. That’s what is important.”
Erica recalls the flurry of activity after the rain stopped -- a tree service with a crane erecting trusses, her husband taking two weeks of vacation to work nearly 24/7, family and friends painting, cleaning, and laying sod right up to the 4 p.m. ceremony’s start on August 26, the perfect day she stores forever first in her memory.
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Moving forward with Events at Green Mountain Farm, the Woods work hard to create the perfect day, counting it a deep joy to do so.
On July 27, Erica and Jammie watch our daughter and son-in-law marry under a flowering arbor that frames a mountain. In the backdrop, reflecting from the pond, the sunflowers they seed are in full bloom during this magical celebration. The beauty of the venue — the place and the people — graces this perfect day.
