I think we are all reaching the point where we are tired of hearing about cancellations and things that we can’t due becasue of COVID-19. We have that part down and I think there are about a bazillion articles on that. So I thought I would take the time to share things that we CAN do and things that you would be able to do right now at the Cambre House. Yes, even on quarantine lockdown we still have options!

Number One – You have probably seen the posts about the new Elopement package. You can get married at the farm right now. It is a beautiful time of year and the pictures from your wedding will be gorgeous. Your gathering will need to be under ten, however, it is still possible and you can livestream the event for your family and friends to watch all over the world.

Number Two – Rent the cabin on the river, or the house for an overnight stay. I know many of you have had to cancel vacation plans that were made around large events. You can still have a vacation even if you are social distancing. Our secluded location is perfect for the private getaway with your family. I am following AirBNB and VRBO cleaning and disenfecting guidlines between each visit. Message me or check AirBNB for availablity.

Number Three – Paranormal investigations of the house. Again, as long as your team or group is under ten you can still investigate the farm. I have not had to cancel any of the investigations that were already scheduled and I still have openings. The weekends are filling up, but I can do weekdays as well.

Number Four – Livestream security camera. If you really don’t want to leave your home now you don’t have to! We installed a camera for Spirit Ream Network to live stream footage of upstairs at the farm. You can listen for footsteps or watch for movement upstairs. Check it out! https://www.thespiritrealm.net/static-cameras/

Number Five – Support your local businesses. Look for what you can do to support your local businesses during this time. Whether it is picking up a carry out meal or buying a gift certificate for when you will be able to use their services again, there are many options for supporting local businesses. Check out their websites and facebook pages where they are offering details of how to support them. It is vital that we as a community come together to support each other. I have seen amazing examples of this over the last several months and I am sure you have as well. Small communities in particular know that our local businesses are owned by people not faceless coporations. When we come together and support each other we will come out of this stronger than ever before.

I am sure there are more things that we can do than I have thought of here. Share what you are able to do right now. We CAN do things right now and that is what I choose to focus on versus all the things that we can’t do.

Stay well friends, and I hope to see you soon!

-Becca

Wedding booking season is in full swing and I have been busy answering questions about the wedding venue at the farm. Outdoor weddings are so popular right now and the pictures are so beautiful. I can see why brides want that gorgeous outdoor wedding. Since the Cambre House is primarily an outdoor venue the question about rain comes up often. I thought I would share the tips that I share with brides here to help more people. Not every one of these tips are going to work for every bride, but hopefully they will give you some ideas.

1. Rain Delay. Summer storms can often be scattered and fast moving. If it is raining now, it might not be in an hour. If you delay the wedding by an hour you can try to miss the rain. You can have activities for your guests to do while you wait, or they can just relax and chat. This only works if there are short scattered showers.
2. Rain Date. When you send out your invitations give a rain date. If there is rain all day Saturday, the wedding will be moved to Sunday. Make sure you tell guests how you will communicate to them if you are using your rain date.
3. Tents. Rent tents to use at the outdoor location. Tent rentals can be made to any size you need to handle however many guests you have. They provide shelter, not only from rain, but from wind and sun as well. Many tents have walls that will make it practically rain proof. If it does rain on the day, you can just move the service inside the tent, but still have the wedding at the location you picked out.
4. Rain Location. Have the reception at a seperate indoor venue from your outdoor service. In case of rain, you can just move the service to the inside location. Again, make sure to include on your invitations what will happen if it rains and how you will communicate to them the location change.
5. Wing It. Bottom line, you cannot plan for every contingency. Even with indoor venues you are going to have issues that pop up that you cannot plan for. Do your best to plan for the worst, but in the end the wedding will happen and will be all the more memorable for what went wrong.

I listened to a bride and groom tell the story of their wedding where it poured rain on their outdoor wedding all day long, and into the evening. Everything had been moved into the tents they had rented for the wedding, so it wasn’t too disappointing, but it still wasn’t exactly what they had planned. They couldn’t remember how it got started, but some how they ended up doing a mud slip and slide in their gown and tux with the entire bridal party. Talk about a memorable wedding! They couldn’t talk about it with out looking at each other and laughing, and said that their friends still bring it up often even now decades later. To me, that sounded just about perfect.

And just like that ghost tours are over for the year. We had a great turn out for the tours and memorable experiences were had by all. The tours this fall had some amazing activity. We added some great stories to tell during the tours. As always we love seeing the pictures you took during the tour, so be sure to send them to us. The first weekend was cold and wet, but it didn’t stop everyone from having a good time. The barn worked perfectly to start the tours in and we stayed warm with the patio heater. We even had some ghostly activity out in the barn. This was the first time we have had the barn to the point where we could actually investigate inside it. I had one tour where I demonstrated the diving rods and they crossed before I could do it myself. Overall both weekends were very active. Typically we investigate outside as well, but with the weather being cold and drizzly for most of both weekends we stayed mainly inside either the house or the barn.

For me personally one of the most startling experiences happened friday evening last weekend. We had been sitting in the living room getting ready for our first tour and we thought we saw a car pull in. So I put my coat on and was getting ready to go out the front door when there was a knock at the door. I thought the group had made it to the door and knocked while I was in the process of getting my coat on. When I opened the door no one was there. The first group of poeple were still sitting in their car.

The absolute best experience was had by a woman on her very first ghost tour. The group was in the upstairs bedroom and she was looking down at the K2 in her hand. It started lighting up and she turned to the person standing next to her to show them. She thought she was standing next to another person on the tour in a white jacket. She wasn’t. In fact when she looked up, the person she had seen next to her was not there at all. The person in the white jacket was on the other side of the room.

All in all a great couple of weekends. Thank you all for making the ghost tours a successful event. We are looking forward to our summer ghost tours during Summer Soltice on June 19th and 20th.