Itawamba native converts farm property into wedding venue
Jun. 28—After living in Itawamba County for 63 years — growing up in Fulton, with parents from Mantachie and married to a Tremont man — Susan Harp is as Itawambian as can be.
"I truly bleed Itawamba County through and through," she said.
And it's in Itawamba that Harp has chosen to open a new wedding venue, after 14 years out of the workforce while she helped to raise her two grandchildren. The 8-acre property adjoins the farmland owned by Susan and her husband, Darrell "Buck" Harp, half a mile from the Itawamba-Monroe County line, about four miles north of Smithville High School and 12 miles south of Interstate 22.
Harp said the purchase had been a long time coming.
"We had wanted to buy the property when it sold 15 years ago, but the timing just wasn't right — we had girls in school and too many other projects going on," Harp said. "We simply couldn't afford to buy it then."
When the property came up for sale in the summer of 2022, the Harps jumped at the opportunity. But it turned out that buying the property was the easier part. Figuring out exactly what to do with it proved a tougher task.
"To know my husband is to know that if there's something that's on this farm, it needs to be revenue producing," Harp said. "We never had put any thought into what we'd do with a house and old riding barn. For a week or so we considered a farm-hands' house or rental property, but those ideas didn't suit us."
One Sunday lunch, Susan's daughter Maggie suggested they turned to something Susan knows: weddings. And the idea for a unique wedding venue was born.
"I've helped direct weddings for about 25 years, so I know how to help girls, and hopefully what they want and need," Harp said. "So here we are, not even a year later with a fully functional event center."
After taking possession of the farm at the end of September 2022, outdoor cleanup and landscaping began, and by December renovation of the property's main horse barn and nearby house was underway.
Six months later, Harp and her family have converted the barn into The Stables of Harp Farm LLC — a 6,000-square-foot, climate-controlled venue complete with chandelier lighting, stable seating, a bar area, a covered outdoors patio, a sound system, a screen and projector, ready rooms for the bride and groom, a caterer's kitchen and all the other necessary elements for hosting a wedding. The site also includes The Cottage, a 1,750-square-foot, fully furnished home which most often serves as overnight quarters for the bride and bridesmaids.
The venue has hosted one wedding so far and has been fully booked for the entire fall of 2023, with reservations for the spring of 2024 already being made.
"We haven't owned this a year yet, and I'm already booked up this fall," Harp said. "So it was just meant to be."
Harp takes a hands-off approach to hosting weddings at The Stables, providing wedding parties with what they need and then letting them have their run of the place.
Harp modeled her venue to cater to the needs of the latest wedding trends, aiming to provide the ideal setting for a unique fall or spring wedding.
"The new thing is really fall weddings, but still I'm getting a lot of interest for spring weddings out here," she said. "I've (also) got a couple of Christmas parties booked."
Catering to recent trends has its downsides, the biggest being that trends change. But Harp hopes to keep abreast of the changing wedding planning scene to keep her offerings up to date.
"Hopefully (business) will continue to be good," Harp said. "Trends are trends; things change. We'll just see. Maybe we can change with it when it does change."
Looking to the future, Harp plans to add an open-air chapel a short distance from the barn building to provide an idyllic setting for an outdoor wedding.
"It's gonna be kind of reminiscent of Asbury Methodist Church, or the church my mom grew up at Mantachie," Harp said. "We left all the trees for the shade, and there will be some nice sunsets this fall."
Harp has fallen in love with the business and the relationships she's developed while building it. Keeping up the property is hard work, but she says it's more than worth it to her for the enriching experiences it has given her.
"Every family has a different dynamic," Harp said. "This is gonna be fun."
