The Homestead 1835 Reviews

This venue was nothing less than stunning. My husband and I had the greatest experience here and we are so happy we found The Homestead 1835 to celebrate our special day. It was the perfect place for a country/ rustic themed wedding and Lori and Dave (the owners) made us feel right at home and went above and beyond for us the entire time. If youre looking for a barn type wedding and an amazing experience, The Homestead 1835 is definitely the place for you!

The Homestead was the most amazing wedding venue for which we could have ever wished!  We were from out of town and Lori and her team were fabulous to ensure that every detail and vendor we picked was perfect for what we wanted!  She helped us every step along the way and answered all of my million questions.  It was such a relief to not have to worry as I knew they had it under control!  We had considered a wedding planner but with all the assistance Lori and her team provided it wasn't needed.   Everything went smoothly due to the Homestead's experience and professionalism.  They went above and beyond!  When I had an eyelash malfunction she went to the store to buy glue to fix it, so the crisis was immediately adverted! I did not have to worry about anything that day except having fun!  She even helped arrange a surprise wedding gift to my husband of his refurbished high school truck and it went off without a hitch!  I cannot say enough wonderful things about this venue and Lori and her team!   Everyone has said that this was one of the best wedding venues they had ever been too and I have to agree!  I would highly recommend this venue to everyone to make magnificent memories for a lifetime!  

Where do I even begin? The Homestead 1835 is beyond expectations. Lori is a great wedding coordinator (also owner of The Homestead). We just got married in early October this year and I can not stress how beautiful and perfect our day was. Guests couldn't stop raving about the venue and asking "how did you find this place?" Lori is quick at responses and questions. She made is super easy for my husband and I to relax and enjoy the day. Her husband Dave is also the sweetest guy! They make a great team! The food it excellent, the venue is beautiful, Lori and Dave are awesome- what more could you want? I highly recommend checking this place out especially if you are looking for a rustic, outdoor, laid back barn vibe. The Homestead will forever hold a special place in DJ and I's hearts! Thank you sooo much Lori and Dave!

We absolutely loved this venue as it fit our dream of having a beautiful and classy barn wedding. Lori was very responsive, accommodative, and easy to work with. She made herself available at any time for us to reach out for questions regarding more than just her venue. She also served wonderfully in that she took on responsibilities as a wedding planner in coordinating with all the vendors, timelines, and family meetings to prepare for our special day. We woke up on our wedding day with not a worry in the world as Lori had everything prepared and ready to go, flowing seamlessly through out the whole day.

My husband and I got married at the Homestead 1835 on August 25th of this year. I do not have enough good things to say about this venue! Lori and Dave, the owners, are an absolute dream to work with. I was the kind of bride who knew exactly what I wanted my wedding to look like and Lori allowed me to make that vision a reality. I was a DIY bride in all aspects and Lori and Dave accommodated for every (crazy) request I made. My guests had an absolute blast and are still raving about our wedding. We live in Chicago and planning from a (small) distance was no problem at all. The food is amazing through their in-house caterer. Although the Homestead team does many, many weddings throughout the year, they make you feel like yours is the most important which is such a tough thing to come across in the wedding industry! The venue is on the more expensive side but for the amount of space, the quality of service, and the AMAZING photo-ops it is worth every penny! We cannot thank the Homestead team enough!

Absolutely amazing!! My husband and I got married at The Homestead on September 24, 2016. The weather was beautiful, the grounds are magnificent, and the barn is gorgeous. Lori & Dave are wonderful!! They are friendly, professional, and were so helpful throughout the entire process from the very first meeting down to the awesome sparkler send off! My mom and I discovered this venue early on in the wedding planning process and every single venue I saw after that didn't live up to how beautiful The Homestead is. Lori asked me why I wanted my wedding at The Homestead and my reply was I wanted an intimate Hindu/Indian wedding ceremony with a fun, easy-going, outdoor flare to it. What we got was exceptionally more than just that. Getting married here was absolutely my dream wedding- an Indian barn wedding!! My husband's family is from out of state and Lori easily accommodated us with multiple barn visits to show my parents and his parents the grounds. She is knowledgable about the wedding planning process and also served partly as my wedding planner the whole time. She put together a blueprint of my seating chart, a preliminary timeline, and also communicated with several of my other vendors. She is extremely organized and I loved it! She works exclusively with Lasalle Grill in South Bend for catering. All of our guests were impressed with the delicious food and how the chefs were able to add Indian spices to the hors d'oeuvres and the entrees. The two biggest compliments that I still get from our guests about our wedding is how great the venue & the food was. The cocktail hour went smoothly, we had over 200 guests and the one bar inside the barn was more than enough to serve everyone The games like giant Jenga, cornhole, and ring toss were a huge success as well. The fire pit was also a nice place for guests to cozy up to. Choosing The Homestead as our wedding and reception venue was THE BEST decision we made. Just perfect. Thank you so much Lori & Dave!!

Every Mother of the Bride wants to ensure that her daughter has the wedding of her dreams. Lori and Dave Kimmel at The Homestead 1835 helped make that dream a reality. From the very first time that we met with Lori and Dave I was extremely impressed. The venue is absolutely beautiful and extraordinarily charming . Lori is friendly, professional and is very knowledgeable about all things wedding related. In additional to booking a venue I felt like we also garnered a wedding planner. Lori gave us sample timelines and seating charts and made suggestions based on her previous experiences. Since I had never planned a wedding and at times felt a bit overwhelmed, I really appreciated her input and guidance. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we had torrential rain the day of the wedding. Lori and Dave discreetly reconfigured the barn to have the wedding inside if needed. Thankfully, it stopped raining 30 minutes before guests arrived. The Homestead 1835 team worked efficiently and effectively and had the outside ceremony sight dried out and ready for our guests. It was important to Lori and Dave to honor my daughters wishes and have the wedding outside if possible even though it was a lot of extra work for them. That's exceptional customer service! I am exceedingly happy with our experience with The Homestead 1835 and would highly recommend it. Not only is the venue picturesque but The Homestead 1835 team is exemplary!

Tammy N.
Mother of the Bride

Oh my goodness! I don't have enough words to praise this venue! My wedding was a dream and I owe most of that to Lori and the Homestead. It is an absolutely beautiful venue! I fell in love my first visit-- I never looked anywhere else! Lori and her husband Dave are wonderful people and she helped me with so many details. She really knows what she is doing. Everyone raved about our venue and loved the options they had during the reception-- so many were dancing, hanging out, playing corn hole, and making s'mores. Your guests will not be bored and will leave so happy! It was so much fun and Lori was very helpful during the planning process as well. Would definitely recommend to anyone to have their wedding here-- but don't forget to invite me :)

This venue made my wedding a dream come true! I had always pictured having a country style wedding with my cowboy boots and all and I can not express how thankful I am to Lori and Dave for making our day one that I will cherish for a lifetime! Thank you so much for being there for me through it all! I was planning my wedding from New York State and from the first time I came to the Homestead to the time when the wedding reception died down, Lori was there for me through it all. She made the planning process so easy with her vendor list. This is where I found ALL of my wedding vendors & I wouldn't have it any other way. The best part was, they had already worked with Lori and her team before which made everything a piece of cake on the day of! Lori and Dave helped us set up the day before, gave great advice and made sure our day was stress free. Lori & Dave, Thank you so much for your amazing support! I wish you the best with your future weddings. Mine was everything I dreamed of...Thank you for bringing it to life! xoxo

I think that we maybe should have had 2 lines for food. Instead of putting all the food in one and the desserts in the bar area we should have had 2 lines that had both or made a way to let the guests go down 2 sides of a table. Some guests waited an hour to eat.
We had a wonderful time with Lori and her husband. The venue was so beautiful and we had everything we needed . Thanks so much for providing a beautiful memory for us all. Thanks.

Our wedding was awesome! Everything went so smooth, and as the bride I felt like I didn't have to worry about anything. Lori and Dave were on top of everything, they were very professional, worked with us on scheduling and we're very friendly and easy to work with. I feel like they have been doing this for years. I highly recommend this venue, it's not only beautiful but original. I wish the day never ended. Thank you Lori & Dave we appreciate everything you guys did! Flawless execution!

I got married on July 12th, 2014. I have nothing but awesome things to say about this venue and the owners of it. We booked almost a year in advance and the owners were extremely helpful in recommending vendors. When it came to my week of, the venue was not booked the night before, so we were allowed in 2 hours prior to our rehearsal to decorate. The owners were gracious in helping us with arranging seats and where to place activities for the day of. They even helped organize my wedding party for the ceremony. We were also able to save on a DJ and utilize their sound system at the venue to play music for my wedding. The sound system is amazing!!

The decor in the barn is amazing. The bar was made from the old wood when they were remodeling. The one thing you have to remember brides, is that this venue (the barn) is not air-conditioned. But it is a well shaded barn. It was so humid, but once we opened the barn for dinner and dancing the breeze that came thru the windows and doors was cooling and refreshing. And they have fans! The bathrooms are tiled and well insulated that it was even cool in there. In the corn crib we set up the photo booth. Out side the corn crib, we had the fire pit, and corn hole. The bridal/groomsmen suite is air-conditioned, and that was great right before the ceremony. I was extremely hot in my dress and overheated from taking photos before the ceremony. It was nice to cool down and refresh before saying I Do.

Overall, the history of this barn is still here and it made the experience all the more memorable! I grew up on a farm and always knew I would get married on one. I have nothing but love for the owners and this venue. I couldn't of asked for a more perfect day.

We were so happy we found The Homstead 1835, and really happy we found Lori and David! We had a mix up with our original venue and found ourselves venueless in February for a May 10th wedding. My husband got on the internet and looked in the region and found The Homestead 1835. Lucky for us, since we had an early season wedding, The Homestead happened to be available for our wedding.

Right from the beginning, Lori and David were so accomodating. Any request they had, they looked into and never stopped until the job was done. They were so on top of everything that we never had to ask the status on any given project, we were kept up to date throughout.

I'm not doing a great job of describing them, but they are the people you want on your side when it comes to your wedding day. I didn't have to question anything and felt comfortable letting the day unfold. I am normally a micromanager, but with them I didn't need to double check and triple check anything. I just got to be the bride instead of the director.

Overall, we were so thrilled with their work ethic and ultimately the work. The wedding went off as planned and we were thrilled to be there. A few of our friends and family thought they wanted to have their weddings there! People could not stop talking about how it was such a beautiful location. We could not have asked for any more!

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Lori Kimmel and the Homestead 1835 venue. It was simply a dream to have our wedding here, and to work with Lori and her team! And I will say - our family, friends, and guests STILL talk about how beautiful our wedding day was. Our photographer even mentioned that the lightening EVERYwhere on the property was absolutely perfect for capturing beautiful photos.
1. The day of the wedding, my husband and I truly did not have to worry about ANYTHING. Lori and her team were on their A+++++ game, and kept the entire day running so beautifully and smoothly. It was amazing.
2. I was in graduate school throughout the entirety of wedding planning, and my husband and I were each hours from the venue throughout the planning process. However, Lori was extremely flexible with our schedules and we were able to flawlessly plan meetings in person, as well as phone calls. Lori was always super available and flexible with phone calls. Emailing wasn't the greatest way to keep in contact with her, but phone calls and texts were excellent. She was also able to give great advice on other vendors in the area.
3. The team at the Homestead truly made our wedding OUR wedding. We were able to customize as much as we wanted, and it was truly everything this Pinterest-obsessed gal could have dreamed of. It was so special to have everything catered to us and our tastes. We were also able to bring in many personalized pieces of our own, and Lori was happy to work with us to make everything perfect and special. It was TRULY our dream day thanks to this venue.
4. We loved that guests had so many options of things to do to enjoy celebrating with us. There was corn hole, giant Jenga, a firepit with smores, plenty of places to stand or sit outside if they just weren't feeling the dance floor. It was truly a full on beautiful celebration, and EVERYone had fun!
Fans and Ubers are at a low here, but those are the only bad things! BEST VENUE EVER.

Look no further for your perfect wedding venue! My husband and I got married here on October 8th, 2016, and our day couldn't have been more perfect! From the day we met Lori and Dave I knew we had found the place we would say I do. Not only do you get a beautiful wedding venue and ceremony site if you choose to use both, but you also get Lori, who's extreme organization skills help immensely in the wedding planning process. By the day of our wedding they felt more like friends then the owners of the venue.

Every detail is taken care of, and Lori has pretty much thought of everything so that way no detail is forgotten! The beauty of the venue speaks for itself, and it can truly be decorated any way to create the perfect look for your special day! Besides just the venue they also will put you in touch with the caterers, and with an amazing design team. It was an amazing experience working with everyone and helped make our day absolutely perfect.

On the day of we didn't have any worries or stress, we got to truly enjoy our moment, which is the most important and I can say our day couldn't have been any better. We had so much fun and the venue was the perfect background to the most important day of our lives thus far! Couldn't say thank you enough to Lori & Dave! If you book this venue you will be so glad you did!

I loved this venue from the moment I saw it. Beautifully renovated and they're added things all the time. We had a beautiful wedding. Lori and her husband were fantastic. They were so helpful. Lori guided me through every step of the process because I honestly knew nothing. I'm so glad we found the Homestead. The ceremony site is beautiful, with crops growing in the back ground. There's also a fire pit (we had a s'mores bar and everyone loved it).

Lori Kimmel is a great person to work with. We had a destination wedding and came back to Indiana to to celebrate with family and extended friends.

Lori worked with me to find an amazing floral/decorator and cake lady. Food was chosen by the venue. The Kimmel's were very helpful when we asked if we could show up on my husbands favorite tractor. We were able to hide it at there home and they coordinated everything so the entrance ran smoothly.

The Homestead 1835 is the perfect place if your looking for a little more rustic look for your event. Everything is super clean and pretty much set to the time period of the barn. The grounds are upkept beautifully. Grass and foliage is all trimmed and not overgrown. Everywhere you look on property is something a little different so unlimited amount of place to take photos. They also have rooms for getting ready as well. Small if you have a large party but very adorable.

Since we were married previously we didn't use the wedding portion of the venue but were able to get gorgeous picture by it.

The 2 things that were a little hard. We weren't on the same time zone so we were pushing people out the door by 10 pm our time and we had to use the cater they had chosen which was pricy.

All in all would recommend for anyone's wedding experience.

I truly only have positive things to say about this venue and the owners! My wedding day was perfect from beginning to end. All of the guests left raving about the awesome venue. My husband and I wanted a laid-back atmosphere where we could have a "family reunion" type of feel. We got exactly that. We had many outdoor games, a campfire, and the barn opened up for an easy flow to the bar and dance floor. Lori and Dave, the owners, were patient, listened to all of our requests, responded to questions timely, were flexible, and encouraged us all along the way. While they are fairly new to the wedding venue world, they are diving in head first and doing a wonderful job! Every time I would talk to Lori or visit in preparation, it seemed like there was a new opportunity or service available. This venue is going places! I cannot think of a better place to have my wedding and, due to their flexibility, I was able to do everything on an awesome budget! As long as you are responsible, follow their very basic venue guidelines and respect their beautiful property, you will get the same in return. If you are looking to have a wedding day where you can relax, kick back, and enjoy a beautiful view... this is the place for you!

We were originally supposed to have our wedding here on June 27,2020 but unfortunately due to COVID-19 we had to postpone. Hoping things would get better by October we postponed to October 17, 2020. Sadly, things were not better and due to health concerns from COVID-19 we decided to cancel our reception on October 17. We have family members and friends that did not feel comfortable traveling, and those who would be unable to attend because of work restrictions. We wanted to make sure we took the cautious approach for ourselves and for our family and friends. With this unprecedented time we were hoping to get our deposit back, or at least half, but sadly that was not the case. We understand that normally deposits are non-refundable, but COVID-19 is something out of our control. We did give plenty of advanced notice of our cancellation.
Very disappointed with how this was handled and how we were not given our deposit back.

It's hard to fully express how disappointed I was with the Homestead. Lori was difficult and rude from the very beginning. We never would have signed a contract with them in the first place but they had a business manager we met with who they later fired. She was also our paid for caterer who they blacklisted and forced us to find a new caterer and bartender. Lori booked the hall for the night before and wouldn't let us in but an hour early to start decorating the day of. She then yelled at my bridesmaids, mother in law and I for decorating in the bathroom because we were in the way! She turned my DJ away when he arrived 15 mins early to set up and wouldn't let him do a sound check and told him not to go over a certain volume and to be out and hr earlier than what we paid for. She made fun of my wedding decorations when she thought I wasn't around and made the seating plan as complicated as possible while insulting me for wanting to put an extra seat at a table by my husbands grandmothers request.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg. We had planned on having my 12 lb terrier be the ring bearer (he's trained perfectly) and had him in the bridal suite with us. As I was putting my dress on, Lori's husband began hammering on the door and screaming he was going to call the cops on us for having a dog. We opted to just have the best man take him home, but not before he ignored us telling him this and did call the cops and call me a crazy bitch. The cops never came, but you can imagine how stressful that is 15 mins before you walk down the aisle. He later cussed out my guests for driving in the grass on the side of the driveway and broke down our wedding earlier than what we paid for.
All in all, don't use them. Terrible people who I would be shocked to hear are still in business for long. Not only is their customer service horrific, but just their human regard for others.