Fall is in the air — but so is love. As the crisp air rolls in, so do the weddings. Wedding season typically lasts from summer to early fall. A couple in Auburn prepared for this wedding season by turning their family farm into a wedding venue.
Legacy is planted on 168 green acres of land at Serenity Farms. The farm belongs to fourth-generation owner Bo Smith and his wife, Cindy.
Bo, a youth pastor at The Cowboy Church of Lee County, and Cindy, a full-time nurse, have been married 35 years. They said how they juggle Legacy, too, is all thanks to “time management and delegation.”
“We have always wanted to do something on the property, and we had dreamed for years about doing a venue,” Cindy said.
It was not until they realized their home church, Church of the Highlands, did not have a wedding venue in Auburn that plans began to be made. Their name, “Legacy,” stems from an annual sermon given by their pastor.
“When we started the building process, we prayed over it a lot,” Cindy said. “Before the foundation was poured, I walked around and prayed over the entire building. Where every beam goes down into a footer, there are crosses underneath.”
Bo said they spent three years visiting different venues and an additional year to designing Legacy.
“We thought if we were going to do something here, we wanted to do something very unique, very different,” he said. “We both like being outside of the box.”
Bo said the architecture of the venue is built with dark wood from an Amish sawmill in Millersburg, Ohio, and all the light wood came from Maine. Cindy had the task of decorating the bridal suite, and she said wanted to make it elegant and charming.
In October 2019, the venue opened for business. The Smiths hosted their first wedding the following March, and their second wedding was for members of their church.
To prepare for a wedding, Bo said they begin by starting at the top of the driveway and working down, “cleaning, cutting grass and get everything prettied up.” Then, they assess how many chairs and tables are needed in the event center.
“Bo and I are very active throughout,” Cindy said. “We are there, and we help in any way we can. And we’re having the time of our life.”
Cindy said the best part is meeting with the bride and groom a month away from the wedding date.
“[I love] seeing how excited they get when there is a plan in place and they can envision what it’s going to be like,” she said.
Bo said the goal is for everything to be in place when the bride and groom arrive so that they can enjoy “one of the greatest gifts God’s put on this earth, which is marriage.”
Legacy has hosted many weddings, receptions and rehearsal dinners, and they offer indoor and outdoor facilities.
They plan to host other special occasions as well and have recently hosted their first quinceañera.
“We always knew this was our legacy build,” Cindy said. “We’ve done a lot of projects together, but this is the legacy we are leaving for our children.”
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Emery Lay, junior in journalism, is a lifestyle writer at The Auburn Plainsman.
