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Podcast Summary
Summary:
In this interview with Jennifer Lagusker from Reptacular Animals Ranch, she discusses how the venue came to be and its appeal to couples looking for a unique and rustic outdoor space for their weddings. Jennifer and her husband bought the property in Sylmar, Southern California, after struggling to find an ideal venue for their own wedding. Upon seeing the potential of the property, they decided to open it up for weddings.
The Reptacular Animals Ranch offers a blank canvas for couples to create their dream wedding. The venue is conveniently located close to town yet feels remote, providing a picturesque setting for ceremonies and receptions. Jennifer highlights the flexibility of the venue, allowing couples to personalize their events and make use of the outdoor spaces.
The interview touches on trends in the wedding industry. Jennifer mentions that during the COVID period, there was a surge in outdoor weddings, and Reptacular Animals Ranch received numerous inquiries. However, she notes that rustic spaces have always been popular among couples, and the appeal of the venue has remained consistent throughout the years.
Overall, Reptacular Animals Ranch offers a unique and flexible venue for couples seeking an outdoor, rustic wedding experience. With its picturesque location, spacious grounds, and personalized approach, the venue has become a favorite choice for many couples in Southern California.
This interview was provided by [Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos](https://www.felixandfingers.com).
Podcast Transcript
Shawn Grindle (00:01.307)
All right, we are here again with Eventful Endeavors, another episode, and today I’m really, really excited because we are here with Jennifer, who works at Reptacular Animals Ranch, which is a venue that’s very near and dear to my heart because I got married there last June. It’s one of my favorite venues in Southern California, and there’s a lot of unique properties about it, but we’ll get into that in a little bit. But first, Jennifer, talk to me a little bit about just kind of your history, how you got started with weddings.
and how that all came to be.
Jennifer (00:32.434)
Of course, I’d love to. So when I personally got married, I was looking for a venue, what we do and what we were all about. And I couldn’t find one in Southern California. I also didn’t want to spend like a down payment on a home just for a one-day party. So it was really, really difficult to find, you know, our ideal spot. We ended up, we got married, we ended up buying the property within, you know, in Sylmar.
And Cory’s dad, my husband now, was like, you know, maybe you guys should do weddings here. And I thought, I don’t know, you know, Cory and I are pretty unique. You know, we like the outdoors, we like animals. I don’t really think it’s gonna do that well, but you know what, why not? So we went with it. Fast forward a couple of years, it turns out we’re not as unique.
So there’s a lot of people that like, you know, the outdoors rustic venue that allows you to do, you know, we’re pretty flexible. And here we are.
Shawn Grindle (01:35.395)
Yeah, and I love that was my favorite thing about the venue is that it was so, you know, you were able to kind of, it was like a clean slate. You could pretty much do whatever you wanted there. It was in the middle of nowhere, but like still really close to town. So it was easy to get to and very remote at the same time and just a blank canvas for all kinds of fun. So yeah, I’m glad you guys decided to do that because I know at every wedding we’ve performed at, there has been so much fun as well. So.
Jennifer (01:43.201)
Yeah.
Jennifer (01:48.626)
Exactly.
Jennifer (01:54.996)
Exactly.
Jennifer (02:01.526)
Yay!
Shawn Grindle (02:03.172)
So yeah, basically what I’d like to do is we’re going to go through a couple just kind of generic questions because you’ve worked a lot of weddings, I’ve worked a lot of weddings, we’ve seen some stuff. So I’ve just got some questions that I kind of ask everybody that I’m genuinely fascinated by. So first of all, when was the first wedding you guys did?
Jennifer (02:20.286)
Um, let’s see, 2016, 2016 to be, yeah, I mean, Guy, not, you know, whenever someone asks them relatively recently and then you do the math, I’m like, a couple of years. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (02:21.275)
Like what year, was it relatively recently?
Okay, so it’s been like eight, seven, eight years or so. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (02:35.203)
Sure. Well, let me ask you this. In that time, since you’ve started so now, what have you noticed is different? Like what are people doing different? Is there anything you’ve seen that’s like, Oh, everybody used to kind of do this. And now nobody’s doing that. Anything you can think of that’s just kind of a trend that’s changed a little bit.
Jennifer (03:56.098)
That’s a really good question. And let me pause and think back on what’s, if there is a trend, I do have to say that when we first started, especially during the COVID period, right? Everyone was looking for an outdoor wedding. So we, I feel like we got bombarded with a lot of inquiries, busy January between January. It was just like crazy insane.
Shawn Grindle (04:12.401)
Yeah.
Jennifer (04:24.77)
So I think that was like the height because everyone was looking for an outdoor space. Since then though, you know, it’s not, I mean, people just want a rustic space. And I think that throughout the time that we’ve been open has been the, what people are attracted to for the wedding era, for our venue. So COVID definitely spiked the outdoor.
Shawn Grindle (04:52.976)
Sure.
Jennifer (04:54.918)
And then it kind of normalized. So yeah, I don’t know if that answers your question, but yeah.
Shawn Grindle (04:57.585)
Right.
No, that’s perfect. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and it’s also Southern California outdoor venues are just great out here. You know.
Jennifer (05:07.518)
Right. Now, from a personal perspective, I guess, you know, we’ve been trying to get as creative as possible, right? So when we first started weddings, yeah, we had the whole outdoor rustic feel to it. And then because I’m really in charge of the animal side of the business, I’m like, how can I incorporate the animals into weddings? How can we be creative? So now, if I look back, animals are being incorporated even more.
We have our beer burro or beer donkey. We just random, you know, requests, like a tortoise ring bearer, a goat ring bearer, a mini horse ring bearer. So I feel those, and it could be just because I’m pushing them more because I’m just doing more with the animals in the weddings. So I don’t think it’s necessarily a trend with weddings. It’s just me personally, but yeah, anyway.
Shawn Grindle (06:01.063)
Sure. Yeah, and that actually transitioned perfectly because we didn’t, I mean, we’re going to have to talk about the animals because that’s half the thing there. So talk about the animals. So, you know, what, the animals were first before you guys decided to do a wedding, right? Become a wedding venue, right? You had the animals. So explain to me how that got started and how you guys incorporated into weddings.
Jennifer:
So just a little backstory. So I started Reptacular 2008 while I was in college and the idea was to take animals to inner city communities and kids and just exposing them to things they’ve maybe only seen in books, TV, movies, things like that, really trying to plant the seed of appreciation to the life science. Fast forward, we’re doing weddings.
When I got married, because both Corey and I studied biology, we were like, well, we need to incorporate how we met into our own wedding. So we had all sorts of things. I mean, kangaroos, we had a capuchin monkey, we had camel rides, and the list goes on and on. So then we turned off. No! I wish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
Shawn Grindle (07:36.807)
Did you guys get married at the ranch? No, okay. I was just curious. I didn’t know. So you incorporated those animals into your wedding, though? Okay. So, you guys got married at the ranch?
Jennifer (07:48.414)
Again, Cory’s dad is like, let’s start, you know, do weddings. We’re like, oh, no. Okay. So rustic is in. People are actually booking. Then as we started booking more weddings, I’m like, well, I guess I’m not that unique and maybe we should start incorporating our animals into other people’s weddings. And that’s taken off. So again, we’re not that unique. And
You name it, we’ve had a monitor in a suit walk around during cocktail hour. We’ve had a cow during cow tail hour. Um, it’s just fun, you know, and a lot of the animals that we use, um, really like the attention, like our, our donkey braise, which is like the, the typical donkey sound, if people are not giving her the love and the attention. So she really likes that job. If that’s what you want to call it. Um, so we just kind of have fun with it, you know, um,
Shawn Grindle (08:19.699)
That’s amazing.
Shawn Grindle (08:38.86)
Yeah, sure.
Jennifer (08:43.742)
A lot of questions, sometimes people ask us like, where did you get the animals from? We did acquire some of the specific species to work around public settings so they won’t get stressed or, and they can deal with that type of interaction. Some of them are rescues, some of them were accidentally born here, and some of them were adoptions. People just realized they couldn’t take care of them anymore. So they all have a different story, they all have different personalities.
But I like to put myself in the bride’s shoes. And I just wanted something that people would just have fun with. I think when you think of wedding, yeah, you’re marrying, you’re connecting officially with a person that you’re gonna spend the rest of your life with. But I’ve just seen so many couples stressing over flowers and the photographer isn’t here and those these honestly insignificant things and the grand scheme of things.
Shawn Grindle (09:21.456)
Yeah.
Jennifer (09:41.954)
Um, cause it’s, it’s a party. You’re there to celebrate, you know, the union and, you know, whenever I encounter a couples, that’s what I try and remind them. Remember you’re here to have fun. Uh, so that’s kind of where the animals come into play. You know, it’s just something I want it for me personally. And I think other people want the same thing.
Shawn Grindle (10:00.243)
And I mean, the one thing everybody talked about from our wedding is the beer burrow. I mean, everybody was like, and I kind of spoiled it ahead of time. I wasn’t supposed to tell people, but I was like, yeah, there’s going to be a beer burrow. People were like, what’s that? I was like, don’t worry, it’s a donkey that’s going to bring you beer. You’re fine. And they’re like, what are you doing? What kind of party is this? But yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, everybody talks about it. Everybody talks about it. And it was all of their favorite part of the wedding.
Jennifer (10:05.579)
Yeah!
Jennifer (10:12.142)
I’m sorry.
Jennifer (10:15.79)
YEEE-
Jennifer (10:20.398)
But you see, they’re still talking about it, and it’s just fun. Yay.
Jennifer (10:28.854)
Yep.
Shawn Grindle (10:30.839)
So yeah, I love that. That’s so cool and I’m glad that there’s such a unique venue 25 minutes from my house, which was incredible. So let me ask you this question because you’ve seen weddings quite a bit. So I like to ask people this question just because it’s fun. What is the most, I guess, cringe-worthy thing you’ve seen at a wedding? Like awkward, like, oh, maybe they shouldn’t have added that to their timeline or just did not work and was very uncomfortable.
Jennifer (10:37.266)
Yeah!
Jennifer (11:01.206)
That’s a great question. Now the problem is, oh yeah, the problem is telling you what to tell you about. You know, it’s not so much with the timelines. I mean, all the timelines are pretty straightforward, right? You have the ceremony, you have talk to hour, you have dinner, party. It’s more of like the things that have gone wrong. I think the craziest one that’s gonna
Shawn Grindle (11:02.447)
Anything you can think about?
Shawn Grindle (11:06.984)
Yeah, like two. Right. First one that pops to your head. First one that pops into your head.
Jennifer (11:30.846)
off of the top of my head. And if my staff sees this video, they’re gonna start laughing about it. Because it’s just like I said, the craziest one. There was a girl I think she had just turned of age to drink. So she didn’t know her limits. She ended up wandering into the forest. And staff saw her but she like, exorcist status like went through these like fence lines.
Shawn Grindle (11:37.521)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (11:42.551)
Okay, how to, how, yeah, sure.
Jennifer (11:58.538)
And she got her hair caught. So a chunk of her hair ended up on the fence line. So Stac is like, where is this girl? So we’re, and you know, we, so we started recording it because we were like, we need to, just in case of anything for liability purposes, like we need to kind of catch this on video. And it’s like, it reminded me of the Blair Witch project because they’re all running and like calling her name out. And then you see her like run this way and everyone’s like, hey, come back. It was just so weird. So alcohol definitely.
Shawn Grindle (12:03.375)
Oh
Jennifer (12:27.73)
has like a twist to things. She ended up being caught. It was, it was, um, for her too, you know, it was, no, she just, no. So we tried to like control the situation as much as possible. Right. And like the couple knew and like after the fact, because it was like, we need to, we needed to go into action. Like there’s this young girl on the forest, like,
Shawn Grindle (12:27.839)
Oh man, that’s horrifying.
Okay. Were the guests out there with you? Were the guests helping you?
Shawn Grindle (12:42.127)
Right, without them knowing.
Shawn Grindle (12:52.911)
It is a forest. I mean, there’s, it’s a, it’s, yeah, there’s not much around there. Yeah. You will get lost. And it’s not fun.
Jennifer (12:55.754)
It’s like nowhere, right? So that is like one of the weirdest situations. I’ve also had animals, like people go into the pens when they’re not supposed to. And again, it’s all alcohol related. I’m thinking they’re going to talk to the camel or talk to the cows. And so, you know, it’s, it’s stories like that. It’s just, alcohol definitely adds a little twist to things. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (13:01.971)
That’s…
Shawn Grindle (13:07.335)
Ooh. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (13:14.023)
They don’t usually talk back, so. Yeah, there’s.
Shawn Grindle (13:24.488)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, it does. That it sure does. Similarly to that question, because that’s wild. What is the most unique, fun thing you’ve ever seen? Like have you ever seen something that sticks out that you’re like, I’ve never seen anybody else do this and it was amazing? And you guys have a lot of unique stuff, so I’m sure it’s unique in general, but anything specific you saw?
Jennifer (13:31.776)
Yeah.
Jennifer (13:42.13)
Bye!
Jennifer (13:47.962)
Yeah, I want to say that sometimes like in October, you have like the Halloween themed weddings like you know fall exactly on the 31st. So they make it like a costume deal. The bride and groom. And to be honest with you, they’re my favorites because the people are just having fun. You know, it’s not so like because again, sometimes couples forget it is a party. Just have fun.
Shawn Grindle (13:54.451)
Sure.
Shawn Grindle (13:59.141)
And your guys place would be so cool for Halloween themed weddings. Oh Yeah, yeah Right
Shawn Grindle (14:14.2)
Yeah, yes.
Jennifer (14:15.122)
So with those events, it’s, yeah, just because I see them enjoying it. But yeah, I’ve seen like a couple of them, two in particular that I’m thinking of. Bride totally in black, came in on a camel for her grand entrance. And, you know, some of them are like in costumes and just again, it’s, you know, I like that. I like, I like seeing that kind of, so.
Shawn Grindle (14:31.123)
That’s amazing.
Shawn Grindle (14:38.383)
Yeah, I can imagine that would be very, very cool, especially up there in the fall with that kind of wedding. Oh, it’d be so pretty. Yeah, it would be amazing. Let me ask you this, because this is something I ask all venue people. If you had any advice for somebody who’s just starting to plan a wedding, say they just got engaged, first piece of advice off the top of your head, you’d be like, this is what you need to know. You know, my advice.
Jennifer (14:44.834)
Perfect. Yeah
Jennifer (15:02.042)
I keep saying it. I feel I’ve said it in every single question you’ve asked. It’s a party. I always tell people, like now we have requirements, right? And I tell them these requirements are there. Even if this is not your ideal space, do it. Because from a once upon a time bride, I wish I would have done it. And the one thing is a day of coordinator. There are so many little things that
Shawn Grindle (15:07.036)
Yeah.
Jennifer (15:26.878)
you don’t realize. Like a timeline, right? As the couple, you’re busy, you know, taking pictures, this and that. You shouldn’t be worried about why is the florist doing whatever? Why is the taco man not here? Why is my mom on the completely opposite end of the property when she should be taking pictures next to me? You know, it’s like little things like that. And I didn’t have a coordinator for my wedding. It was very stressful. And it
That’s a game changer. And I know after you see, like budgeting, you have to look for the venue and you have the food and then everything adds up. And I totally get that. But I always tell people, make room for that in your budget for a day of coordinator and don’t make it a friend. Don’t make it a party guest. Because at the end of the day, they’re going to be wanting to party and drink with you. And when things go wrong,
Shawn Grindle (16:18.351)
Yes.
Jennifer (16:23.69)
then it’s still your problem, you know, as the couple, if something’s going wrong. And the idea is drink, have food, hang out with friends, celebrate this day, and pay someone else to worry about everything else that goes, if anything goes wrong. So that’s my biggest, I reckon. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (16:39.505)
Yeah.
And I love that. I’ll be completely honest with you too. Like when we first booked Riptacular, cause we postponed because of COVID, but when we first booked, I had just kind of recently gotten into doing weddings and I was like, oh, we don’t need a coordinator. But when I booked with you guys, you were like, we require a coordinator. And I was like, oh, okay. So we were gonna use my wife’s cousin. And then as we thought about it, we were like, I don’t think we should do this.
Jennifer (16:48.576)
Nah, yeah, yeah.
Jennifer (17:01.933)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (17:06.115)
And I was like, you know, and then we ended up booking a coordinator from you guys’s PVL, who now is like somebody I’ve worked with many times. I’m like, I ended up playing the ceremony at her wedding. Like, so we formed a relationship and she’s amazing. But it was like.
Jennifer (17:06.434)
Yeah.
Jennifer (17:16.486)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (17:22.239)
Unreal. Like we had all this crazy decor, all this vision, and I just brought like three boxes with me in the morning. And I left them out and I went and changed and I came back because, you know, I’m a guy changing two seconds. I came back and it was done. And I looked around and I was like, this is amazing. And then my wife texted me and was like, how is it? And she was like, it’s exactly what we want.
Jennifer (17:39.465)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (17:44.175)
like, no, didn’t have to worry about it. So it was so much fun. And yeah, it’s the best advice. It’s what I always tell people to, don’t hire your friends and get a coordinator. You know, so I’m glad you said it. Glad you said it. Okay, and just to wrap things up, so kind of like, because my next question is usually about how, what makes your guys’ venue unique, but I mean, it’s just all unique. It’s, there’s, it’s so unique. I mean, there’s camels and turtle, tortoises, and yeah, it’s…
Jennifer (17:47.728)
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer (17:56.89)
Yep.
Jennifer (18:12.502)
Yes. Yep.
Shawn Grindle (18:13.691)
It’s amazing. But I do want to ask some kind of just rapid fire kind of questions about your generic, like the venue and how it kind of operates, just so people know. And of course, we’ll link to all your social stuff in this so people can find you and book with you and that kind of stuff. So how’s your guys’ kind of availability? Like, do you guys book up far in advance? Do you have some openings even for next year? Like, what’s your kind of availability like?
Jennifer (18:37.742)
You know what, we have like our certain seasons like October and May, I feel like the busiest months, everyone wants those months and they tend to book up the fastest. I think we have no more like Saturdays available in both of those months as of now. Some people book two years ahead of time, like we already have some 2025 bookings. Others might wait a couple of months, like we just booked something from what, like April, I think or March of next year. So it’s kind of all over the place.
people don’t have like a specific date, like I need to get married on May 4th, 2025, whatever. Then we’re pretty flexible because we also, exactly. We also do weddings during the weekday. So, you know, it’s kind of all over. And yeah, yeah. I mean, Sundays, you know, Fridays, we’ve had Mondays, we’ve had Thursdays, Wednesdays, so it’s all over the place.
Shawn Grindle (19:14.447)
Yeah, big Star Wars fans.
Shawn Grindle (19:23.311)
Yeah, I did a Sunday.
Jennifer (19:33.374)
And then, you know, we kind of charge accordingly. So, like on a weekday, Monday through Thursday, it’s like $2,000 off of the regular price. So some people that are like, yeah, you know, and that was me, you know, when we were getting married, like, I don’t want to spend that, that much money. So we have that option available. Yeah, so. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (19:54.931)
I love that. Yeah, that’s perfect. And then what about, and I already know the answer to this one because I got married there, but you guys don’t have any kind of like in-house catering or anything. So it’s a clean slate. You can bring everything with you, right?
Jennifer (20:06.454)
Bingo. So it’s pretty much like camping, you know, it’s like an open space and open. Yeah, an open space and an open canvas, a clear canvas. And you guys can just do whatever you want. You know, we do have a couple of like requirements like the day of coordinator. We were talking about Day of Insurance, which is another thing that I tell people, even if this is not your space, highly recommend getting it. And then, you know, alcohol, but every wedding has like their own alcohol requirements. But it’s just to make sure that
It’s kind of tough love is what I tell people. So it’s just to make sure that your day is perfect. Everything goes according to plan. And then we don’t have any like crazy situations to make the wedding not fun anymore. So yeah, so no caterers, whatever caterers, whatever. I tell people go stock up on alcohol from Costco. And then we just require that a bartender gives it out to the guests in a responsible manner.
Shawn Grindle (21:00.155)
Right. And similarly, you guys have a PBL with all these, a lot of vendors that have worked the venue that know the place, which is always reliable and good to use.
Jennifer (21:07.678)
Exactly, because we’re an open space. You know, sometimes we’ve seen vendors that are just used to indoor areas. So that’s a little bit like a little stressful for them because they don’t know what to do. There’s no kitchen, dah, dah. So we have like preferred vendors because they’ve been here before. It could be like, you know, you hired a churro man and we really, really love how, you know, his product was good. He was very professional, we might add them to the list.
So it’s sometimes people that we’ve met at weddings that we really, really like, and then we just add them to the list.
Shawn Grindle (21:41.009)
Cool. And then what’s your guys, because you have a very big space, so do you guys have, like what’s your guest’s capacity? I mean, it’s pretty big, right? Do you even have one?
Jennifer (21:46.702)
That’s a really good question. I think the biggest, no, we’ve had really, we’ve had concerts on the property and I swear like the thousands of people have showed up. But as far as like wedding type of events, Quinceaneras, those are the ones that go big, like a Sweet 16 in the Latin community. 500 was the biggest party, 500 people. Yeah, usually Quinceaneras.
Shawn Grindle (21:51.531)
Yeah, I was like, do you even have a Max?
Shawn Grindle (21:58.245)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (22:10.547)
500? Really? It makes me kind of upset that a 16 year old has that many friends. I don’t have that many friends. I can’t find 500 people I know.
Jennifer (22:24.832)
The thing is, as you get older, you get more selective, but it’s, it’s honestly mom, dad, families tend to run big, you know, but I say typical weddings are like 150 to 300, anywhere in between them.
Shawn Grindle (22:27.331)
Maybe, yeah, sure, yeah.
Shawn Grindle (22:35.311)
Yeah. And then my next question is, since you guys are kind of remote up there, is there any noise ordinances or anything? I mean, you guys can party pretty late if they want to, right? Yeah.
Jennifer (22:45.698)
Bingo. Yeah. We just, if the foxes and the coyotes are digging the music, they might, you know, just like peek out from the distance. We did have a fox at one point who even the music was going like really loud. The DJ was, you know, doing his thing and he would just wait on top of our, we have like this closet kind of to keep our firewood in and he was just hanging out watching, I think waiting for guests to leave so he could go rummage through the trash.
Shawn Grindle (22:55.939)
Really? Oh.
Shawn Grindle (23:02.577)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (23:14.543)
Sure, sure. And then you guys, what’s the parking situation like up there? You guys have valet or good parking or how’s that work?
Jennifer (23:22.07)
Good question. So we have the parking is on the road. So we have our own staff go out an hour before the event starts, whether it’s ceremony or reception, guiding people how to park. We’ve had some couples hire valet on their, you know, on their list or, you know, on their own. So we’ve done that before. And then other couples have hired shuttle services. So if you have a lot of people coming from out of town.
Um, they just do one pickup at like a hotel that we are affiliated with. And then they just bring everyone up, up the mountain, literally. Which is great. Great idea.
Shawn Grindle (23:54.227)
Great. Yep, literally up the mountain. We took a party bus up that mountain. That was fun. Yeah, well actually we didn’t take it up. We came up on our own and my next question was actually gonna be if you guys have.
changing bridal places on site. I’m gonna ask that in a second, because I know the answer. But yeah, we took the shuttle up and then back down, and it was a journey, but it was so much fun. We were just taking these turns and standing up and drinking, it was fun. And yeah, so changing places for bride and groom. Do you guys have bridal suites?
Jennifer (24:16.822)
That’s cool though.
Jennifer (24:25.878)
We do, we do. So we have like a like a star wagon on the opposite end of the property. So then, you know, the bride is getting there they want if the couple wants to do a first look, no one can see the bride. So it’s two rooms, but it’s like what you would find like on a movie lot. So it’s like a white trailer.
Shawn Grindle (24:42.2)
Yeah, like you said, I think you put it best. It’s like camping, but it’s like glamping. Like, you know, yeah. I used those trailers, and I had a couple guys down there in the trailer, or a bottle of whiskey, and just getting ready. It was a lot of fun. You know? And then did the first look down there. Yeah, it was really, really great. And then my last question, because I always like to ask this, especially with a venue like yours with outdoor, that’s all outdoors, is what’s the kind of, what do you guys do when you have weddings and it rains?
Jennifer (24:46.453)
yeah. total. yep, yep.
Jennifer (24:54.598)
Exactly. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (25:09.499)
What’s the contingency plan there?
Jennifer (25:09.962)
Oh, that’s a really good question. So because we’ve had like a couple right because we’re completely outdoors. So we take down our they’re like patio lights a little twinkly. I don’t know what the right word those lights are. Yeah, like patio lights, right? Like the little bulbs.
Shawn Grindle (25:16.028)
short.
Shawn Grindle (25:22.258)
Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (25:25.743)
I know what you mean, yeah, the long string lights that, yeah.
Jennifer (25:28.774)
Yeah. And it kind of goes with the ambiance that we’re trying to go with, right? It’s like outdoors rustic. So there’s a certain section, I’d say half of the party space or maybe a little less than half, we take down all of those lights and then couples would rent, you know, like a tent over it. And that’s how people tend to still party. We did have a wedding, I want to say it hailed a little bit, but she tended it so beautifully, completely transformed.
Shawn Grindle (25:52.178)
Oh.
Shawn Grindle (25:55.676)
Yeah.
Jennifer (25:57.662)
the ranch. It was just incredible. And it was everything was tented. I mean, she made it work and ended up not really raining like it hailed maybe for 10 minutes and that was it. Oh my god, it went Yeah, it was beautiful. It was beautiful how the company ended up doing that. But um, yeah.
Shawn Grindle (26:07.503)
that was it. But it still worked. Yeah.
Shawn Grindle (26:15.219)
Do you guys have like a tent company you work with a lot or do people just find it on their own?
Jennifer (26:19.086)
Yes and yes. So we really don’t have vendors that you have to use through us except for our bartenders. Just because we’ve gone through bartenders and some of them will drink with the guests, you know, the bartender is drinking, they can’t make that right judgment call. But everything else is kind of bring your own whatever, right? So we do have a company that we work with and we recommend, but they don’t have the couples don’t have to go through them.
Shawn Grindle (26:42.419)
Cool, yeah that’s great. Well I think that’s basically it. I mean is there anything else you wanna let us know about your venue, anything else cool? I mean that before we kinda wrap everything up.
Jennifer (26:49.078)
Yeah, I mean, it’s a family run business. So we burned down 2017 December and the whole property burned. So we were caught in a two path way. It was either, do we just call it quits? Do we just not do it anymore? Or do we rebuild? We of course decided to rebuild. And the whole party space, the whole venue was really built by us.
There’s Corey there, there’s myself, there’s my sister, friends, family, friends. My dad did a lot of it. And we’re not, you know, we don’t, we’re not in that, like, there were certain parts of it where we were like, we don’t know what we’re doing. There’s cement, and that is a skill. We ended up actually having one of our friends come and help us with the cementing. But, you know, if you look at some of like the fence line.
you’re like, oh, that’s not really that straight, but that’s really because we built everything, we put it together. So I always tell people that it really is a place of love, because we just put so much of our heart and soul into creating this space. Because like I kept saying, you know, I, this is what I envisioned when I got married. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it. But I just, I want people to be happy. I want people to party. And I love selling that area because it’s so happy. You know, everyone’s so happy when they come
Shawn Grindle (28:10.875)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, it’s DIY from the ground up. It’s built that way and then you kind of just do what you do there, you know. Yeah, I love that. So listen, Jennifer, thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it. Once again, we’ll link to all of Reptacular Animals Ranch’s stuff so people can check it out. I highly recommend if you’re planning a wedding just to check this spot out because it’s really cool. Like I said, I got married there and I’ve been to hundreds of venues and I don’t…
Jennifer (28:15.111)
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
Jennifer (28:18.99)
Bye bye.
Shawn Grindle (28:40.579)
I just remember when I went, it was the first venue we looked at and they told me about the donkey and I, my wife looked at me and was like, she knew it was over. She was like, he wants this venue right away. I was literally like, all right, where do I sign? I’m in. So yeah, I love it. And you know, thank you for doing this. And yeah, we’ll talk soon. Everybody, Reptacular Animals Ranch and we’ll talk to y’all soon.
Jennifer (28:57.666)
Thank you.
Jennifer (29:04.246)
No!
Jennifer (29:07.49)
Thank you so much.
Shawn Grindle (29:09.019)
Thank you.
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