With our first wedding being June 1st of this year, and having had our last wedding of 2024, I wanted to take a moment to share our place, space by space. Selecting a wedding venue is the biggest and first decision to make in the beginning of wedding planning, and it is such an exciting decision! You finally are able to fully envision how you want your wedding to be and begin selecting your vendors and creating all of the pieces that will make your day uniquely yours. Click here for some important questions to ask your event space. I wanted to give you a more in depth look at the space within Lavender on the Lake so that you can get a feel for LOTL prior to a visit. I do strongly encourage you to come out for a tour; there is a quiet and peaceful stillness about our location. The name Tohopekaliga comes from the Seminole Indians who lived nearby during the 1800s, with the lake’s islands providing a safe space for the Seminole’s during the Second Seminole War. Tohopke means “fenced area or fort” with lika meaning “gathering site.” The name together translates to “we will gather together here.” For Jason and I and our family, this history and naming for the lake speaks directly to our intentions for families and friends to gather here together. When you are here, you can feel it.
As you walk up to the building, there are farm rows on both sides where we have seasonal fresh cut flowers, grasses, and pineapples growing. (Yes, we do have some lavender, but it is not all lavender. For more of that story you can read HERE on my early blog that shares more about that process.) The building has two huge barn doors that Jason and I hand built- THAT is a story to be told in person if you would like to know- with barn lights (24 ) on the building. We added the long LED lights on the front to keep the barn feeling more luxurious and modern.
Stepping into the building, you can see the 35 foot tall ceiling with clean lines due to us having put the duct work for our 8 air conditioned in the side wings. We originally had regular lights in the recessed walls, but Jason had the brilliant idea of putting smart light bulbs in so that they can change colors according to the wedding theme. We have 2 lighting rings that we made with some help: the actual lights from a creator in Ukraine whom we found on Etsy, the steel from Modern Welding Co. , welding in the building by our neighbor Jimmy, sanding and painting from our friends Tim and Jas, and the final installation with the help of our 3 children.
A super fun fact is that the light rings lower so that you can decorate them with floral and other materials!
You will see farmhouse tables that we custom built; Jason carefully selected the Teak wood from Sarasota and created the first model/template table in our garage. The art teacher in me could not believe that he didn’t draw his design out first- when I asked him where his drawing was he had tapped his head and said, “Here.” Despite Jason being the brains and creator behind the tables, we would never have completed them without the help of our brother James who literally worked too many hours to count…cutting, clamping, gluing, making biscuits, sanding, staining and running the wood workshop by organizing friends who came out to help us. The tables were created with a lot of love and are beautiful in and of themselves which is why we offer a choice of table runners and simple decor because it truly is all that you need.
The wall of windows in the back offers a beautiful, lakeside, sunset view. We also installed sun shades that are not opaque so you can still see the beautiful view, but they cut the light from being too bright shortly before sunset.
If you turn around and look back at the front doors, this is the view that you will see. We have a scissor lift, so we are able to place rentals and other decor up on the ledge above the doors.
Off to the right is the catering kitchen which is prep only with plenty of spaces for hookups for our caterers to plug warmers, lots of counter space, and a commercial refrigerator.
Our office -which will be finished, SOMEDAY!- runs off the catering kitchen. It currently is a disaster, but I’m looking forward to the day when we have it finished.
As you are walking towards the lake, the right side of the building has a three stall bathroom for the women guests with an exterior door that allows guests to use the restroom during cocktail without having access to the reception space. The stalls have plenty of room with 1 being ADA compliant.
The bridal suite has 4 makeup stations with both natural and LED lighting for all of your getting ready needs make easy. We also have a full bathroom available to you and your bridal party in case you need the extra space. We have a coffee maker, SONOS speaker, a rack for the dresses, fan, connector for high speed internet, a daybed for that champagne robe shot, a sofa, a loveseat, and a table with chairs to make brunching easier.
The groom suite is the same size as the bridal suite and offers a very different vibe. In addition to the other features that the bridal suite offers such as the rack for handing the garments, SONOS speaker, fan, coffee maker, couch, and barstool seating, it has not only 1 big tv, but also 2 more smaller ones alongside it, a foosball table, and corn hole to take outside.
We do have a great rainy day plan or indoor option for ceremony and reception. Living in FLorida, the rain plan is a must, and because we are a family owned business, your decision does not need to be made hours ahead of time. We are willing to do what we can to provide you with the experience that you have dreamed of. Having said that, if rain is happening, we pull the curtains, move tables behind them, and have a lovely lakeside ceremony. Afterwards, cocktail hour is held inside the front of the building, while LOTL staff- aka Jason, our kids and I- are moving tables and chairs into position for the night of celebration. The photos below are from a November wedding that got rained out at the very last moment and the ceremony was still absolutely stunning!
Outdoor ceremony certainly is dreamy here, and there are many ways to do it. I’m adding some photos from some of 26 weddings so that you can get a better idea of the way that things can look.
Though we are not 100% finished with the outdoor cocktail space, it has been used for 4 weddings and is becoming my favorite spot on the farm. Jason built stairs that lead down to stand under the big Live Oak tree that we will string with lights and hang chandeliers. The tree casts a large shaded area and therefore, it is a perfect place for guests to wait for ceremony out of the direct sun. One of our handbuilt bars sits permanently outside, so we encourage our couples to offer water and lemonade prior to ceremony. After ceremony, guests can linger around the ceremony space, head down to the tree nook, or walk out to the dock for a closer look at the wildlife and sunset. During cocktail hour, the must do photo spot is on the dock.
The men’s bathroom has 2 urinals and 2 stalls with the exterior door for guests entry for the restroom during cocktail hour as well. We found this large piece of granite in the garage that is on our property. The farmer whom we bought the property from had left a lot of junk in there, however, there was a day when Jason was working on the tractor and he looked over and saw the large uncut piece of granite- a treasure. He clamped it with his tractor and delivered it to our neighbor who cut it and then we build the wooden piece for the men’s bathroom.
We have plenty of storage where we keep our lift and therefore we have had a few couples rent Light Up Letters from Event lit to place up on the ledge above the front door. In the storage room we have a variety of ceremonial arches to choose from; if you have something in mind, it’s always worth asking to see if Jason can build it. The worst thing he could say is No.
The final room that I wanted to share with you is the vendor room; your vendors work really hard to make your day extra special. We love having a space for them to put personal belongings as well as to grab a water and/or a snack. During dinner time, Jason and I are usually back there chatting with the vendors which we really like as a way to get to know them when we aren’t running around like crazy people. I will add a photo once we have completed it. We plan to make it super cozy and welcoming for our incredible vendors!
I strongly encourage you to come out to LOTL for a visit so that you can experience the charm of our special place first hand. Jason and I feel so amazingly blessed to have created this space that we can share with families and our community.
Thank you so much for being a part of our journey and for taking time to swing by my blog. If you are new here, you will see that I support locally owned businesses whole heartedly. I believe that we provide one of a kind experiences and therefore, I share 5 locally owned wedding venues with each blog that I post. You can also take a look here to see a wedding venue map with locally owned venues.
Cornerstone Ranch Events Center
XO
Shelley
Featured Vendors from this Post:
Venue | Lavender on the Lake
Photography | Concept Photography || Snapshots by Gabriela || 28 North Photography || Kirnos Photography || The Deans Photography || Mahal Imagery
Floral | Blue Grass Chic || Sarandipity Floral || Robert Anthony Florist || In Bloom Florist ||