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Jill and Kirk Clemmer are a dangerous match. She has exquisite taste and big ideas. He has a hammer and nails and knows how to use them.
So, when their daughter Amanda wanted to get married in their barn six years ago, the couple got busy pitch-forking several decades of pigeon poo and junk out of the loft of the 1930s Finnish craftsman structure on their farm near Brule, Wisconsin.
While the barn was no doubt a testament to a generation of industrious farmers creating indestructible shelters with few resources, it was by no means ready to host a gala affair.
“It had been many decades since the barn fulfilled its original purpose of housing cows and feed, and it was just kind of sitting there, being a barn, a place to put stuff,” Jill recalls. “Nice to look at on the outside, but a real mess on the inside.”
‘Everything my parents do, is done beautifully.’
But the whimsical dream of their daughter to get married there – and to top the celebration off with a barn dance – hung heavy on the minds of Mom and Dad.
Through the years, Jill had already transformed the grounds into a welcoming, elegant backdrop of flower beds, fixtures and ponds.
But once Amanda’s engagement was announced in December 2011, their work began in earnest.
Kirk, the owner of Brule River Builders, had seven months to transform the utilitarian structure into an enchanting, romantic destination for his daughter’s big day.
When the day came … “my wedding was beautiful,” Amanda confirms. “Everything my parents do is done beautifully.”
Before the first champagne glasses had even clanked a toast to the new bride and groom, guests were already inquiring about opening the barn and the grounds up for other wedding couples.
And so was born the Brule River Barn Wedding and Event Center.
After jumping through all the conditional use permit hoops and meeting the abundance of health and safety regulations, the Clemmers opened the barn for weddings (and eventually for other family events, such as memorial services, graduation parties, reunions and photo opportunities) via a Facebook post. The inquiries poured in.
“Seriously, I had to tell her over and over again that everything was going to be just fine,” Amanda recalls reassuring her mom.
And so it has been.
Last season 22 weddings were booked, stretching from spring well
Continue to read this article in Lake Superior Magazine.
