Ginger, Rachel’s mother, spoke with us at length about her daughter’s wedding.  We asked a lot of questions, with the most important one being: What was the one thing that surprised you the most about how Castleton Farms handled Rachel and Aaron’s wedding ceremony?  Ginger relates the following:

“The exacting attention to the smallest of details was wonderful. Having planned several weddings before this one for Rachel, I was accustomed to taking care of everything. With Castleton Farms and Executive Director Darla Walker handling everything, she and the Preferred Vendors would already have things accomplished before I thought to ask about them.  The thing that was probably the most memorable moment, after the wedding vows themselves, was the fireworks display (Pyro Creations).  This was one of Rachel’s dreams for her wedding.  We were expecting a five minute display at the most, but what we were given was beyond our wildest dreams – the show seemed to go on for the longest time, and it was just breathtaking!”

Ginger went on to relate that the reception at night was beautifully staged and lit, with the floral arrangements of Floral Designs by Samuel Franklin being very cleverly designed and the range of colors chosen providing the perfect accent to the evening.  Another wonderful part of the reception was the food; Ginger shared with us that she heard endless compliments on the buffet selections.  In her own opinion, the food was the best she has ever eaten at a wedding and many of the guests echoed this compliment!  This is the highest praise for any vendor to hear.  The wedding cake, provided by Rosa’s Catering of Knoxville, was a focal point of the reception – a fantasy creation of squared wine barrels decorated with cascading sugar grapes, complimenting the summer vineyard celebration theme.  In Ginger’s words, “The wedding cake looked like something you would see on a Food Network television competition – it was unique and the cake itself was delicious!”

Given that the parents of the bride are always engrossed in the actual day of the wedding, they miss a lot of the vital and enjoyable details.  Ginger shared with us that the photographs, provided by Bill Waldorp Photography of Knoxville, gave her and her husband the opportunity to see all of those missed moments.  “The photographs are incredible!  The quality is so crisp and clear that even the fireworks displays were captured perfectly!”  The photograph to the left of this paragraph is one of Ginger’s favorites and we have to agree with her that it captures a lovely moment for Rachel and Aaron. 

                               When a family is faced with the difficult situation of finding a wedding venue for their child with only five weeks before the wedding date, it can be a recipe for the ultimate disaster.  We are so happy to share the news that Rachel’s experience as a Displaced Bride turned out for the best, because they chose Castleton Farms as their final wedding location.  According to Ginger, working together, we were all able to give Rachel her dream wedding.  “Castleton Farms treated Rachel like a princess and gave her…gave us all…the most wonderful memories of her wedding day!”

Castleton Farms is your premier wedding and event venue.  We strive to achieve absolute perfection for every wedding, charity and corporate event.  Contact our Executive Director, Darla Walker for details about planning your specific event.

Castleton Farms – Nothing Less Than Unforgettable

Rachel Bethmann

Castleton Farms bride Rachel Bethmann’s wedding ceremony is fast approaching on August 8, 2010.  As you can imagine, she and her family are hard at work finalizing all those small, yet important details.  Most of you who follow our blog know that Rachel was a displaced bride with her original wedding ceremony location in Pensacola, Florida.  For weeks, the whole family held out hope that Pensacola Beach wouldn’t be affected by the oil spill.   Rachel’s dad, Bill Bethmann, decided to do some research online with Pensacola news station websites, and also pulled up maps tracking the oil spill.  Going by the activity and encroachment of the oil on Florida beaches, Rachel finally made the decision to relocate the ceremony.  This decision was made with only five short weeks prior to the wedding date.  Castleton Farms literally saved the day and the wedding for Rachel and her fiance’, Aaron Clark.

So, we thought it would be interesting to give you all a parent’s perspective of a Castleton Farms wedding.  We spoke with Mrs. Ginger Bethmann, Rachel’s mom, to ask her how the experience of producing a wedding at Castleton Farms has been.  Ginger told us that they have had four weddings over the past couple of years, with Rachel’s sister being married last year.  This being the second marriage in two years for one family had to be a lot of stress, but Ginger has related that Castleton Farms along with the Executive Director, Darla Walker has made the whole experience a seamless, worry and stress free time. 

Ginger shared with us that all the prior weddings she planned were done with help from family and friends, so she was accustomed to being the point of contact for every minute and vital detail of the wedding.  She tells us, “These past five weeks, I have had the continual thought that there must be more I need to do, but anytime I call Darla, or one of the wonderful vendors, I am told that all is under control.”  Ginger admits to going about her day and having a number of details pop into her mind that need attention, only to call Darla or one of the vendors with these concerns and be told that that has already been dealt with.  She says that this has given her the luxury of spending time on the small, yet fun details with her daughter and has made the countdown to the ceremony a stress free, enjoyable time.

“Each vendor area is proving to be of the highest standard and quality work, that it almost feels dreamlike,” Ginger tells us.  “Everything is of the most amazing design; the attention to detail is exacting and I am left to marvel at all that Castleton has been able to accomplish in such a short time frame.  We are so excited for the actual wedding day, and so appreciative of Darla and all the vendors.”

Rachel is the second youngest child of Ginger and Bill Bethmann, and Ginger shared that Rachel has always dreamed of an unusual wedding location for her dream wedding day.  Castleton Farms fit this dream perfectly, and Ginger and her husband Bill feel they have delivered consistently quality work throughout these past five weeks. 

We look forward to Rachel’s wedding day as well, and promise to share photos and details with you in a future blog!

Castleton Farms ~ Nothing Less Than Unforgettable

Photo Courtesy of Rosa's Catering

One of the most vitally important parts of planning a dream wedding is choosing the design and flavor of the wedding cake!  The possibilities are endless.  An equally vital part of the equation is finding a bakery and cake designer with artistic talent and vision to translate your dreams into wedding cake reality.  Allow us to introduce one of our Castleton Farms Preferred Vendors, Rosa’s Catering in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Our Castleton Farm bride, Rachel Bethmann’s wedding is just days away on August 8, 2010, and all the final details are being put into place.  Rachel’s wedding was originally planned to take place in Pensacola, Florida, but due to the BP Oil Spill, she had to regroup and find a new location in Loudon, Tennessee at Castleton Farms premier wedding and event venue.  Her theme is a vineyard summer holiday and her wedding cake is going to be a unique and fun interpretation of square wine barrels draped in cascading sugared grapes.  Can you imagine how lovely this will look, tied into the vineyard and elegant grounds of Castleton Farms? (photo gallery) 

The deliciousness doesn’t stop at the design, though.  Rachel has chosen a Neopolitan cake flavor!  This is one of Rosa’s Catering’s most popular cakes and is composed of layers of orange Grand Marnier flavored cake, then a layer of hazelenut rum mousse, followed by a layer of chocolate cake, then a layer of raspberry mousse, followed by a layer of white vanilla cake.  When the cake is cut, all those gorgeous layers, colors and flavors will be evident to the eye, and let’s face it….we really do enjoy eating pretty food!  A clever and unique design that contains a multi-flavored Neopolitan layer cake is just sinfully elegant and promises to  be delicious. 

As you can see, the wedding cake photo above is not a true depiction of Rachel and Aaron’s design.  It is a lovely design that Rosa’s Catering created for a recent Castleton Farms event.  We thought our readers would enjoy seeing some of the incredible design work that Rosa’s Catering can produce.  Beautiful, isn’t it?!  We will post photos of all the finalized details of the Bethmann-Clark wedding next week, so stay tuned for those exciting, romantic updates!

Castleton Farms – Nothing Less Than Unforgettable

Secondly, most photo booth companies provide the service of creating a guest book for you to keep forever. When the guests get their pictures taken a copy is pasted to a page of the book which the guests can then sign leaving their best wishes!

Another service most photo booth companies usually offer is including a personal monagram or logo on the photo strips, carrying on your personal style and wedding theme.

Pictured below is some photo booth fun had by Castleton Farms Staff, compliments of

The Knoxville Photo Booth Company.