Hello! We are Adam and Monique Wallis, owners of Bloom Lake Barn. Most days you'll find us having kitchen dance parties with our three little girls, exploring outside, or working on some sort of project.
Many people ask us about our story, so here it is... briefly.
One night while on vacation and sitting around a campfire with friends, we starting talking about business ideas that would allow us more time with family and friends. One idea we talked about was starting a wedding barn. Looking back, its seems crazy how such a casual conversation could spark such a huge dream in both of us and alter the course of our lives. Shortly after our trip, with those same friends, we ended up starting a vintage market in the Phoenix area where we lived at the time. All this was taking place while continuing in our careers as a Financial Advisor and Speech-Language Pathologist and our first daughter was on the way.
For years we kept coming back to the idea of restoring a barn for weddings because we felt it would be a perfect blend of our passions and talents. Adam enjoys custom woodworking/building and interacting with people. Monique has a keen eye for design and loves planning parties. Together we share a passion for family and life-long marriage. Originally from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, we knew eventually wanted to get back to our midwest roots. When we were ready to move closer to family, we decided it was also time to pursue this dream we couldn't stop thinking about. Armed with two kids at the time, full-time jobs and a naive vision to completely renovate an old farm to create a venue, we loaded up a Uhaul and hit the road.
It was an exciting and many times painful roller coaster ride, but after looking at around 40 properties within an hour of the twin cities, we found Bloom Lake Barn... well, a run-down, almost falling over version of it. We saw the potential in the barn immediately and fell in love with the Chisago Lakes area. Its natural beauty, numerous lakes and small town charm were exactly what we were looking for to run our business and raise our family. It was nothing short of a miracle to even secure the property, but there it was... our barn!
We purchased the once fully functional historic dairy barn and homestead in October of 2014 and began renovating in March of 2015 not knowing we were embarking on the most difficult and rewarding experience either of us could have imagined. Along the way there were s o m a n y road blocks that seemed like dead ends and plenty of people offering warnings and advice. With our family and some friends, we have put a lot of love and labor into repurposing this enormous and structurally unique 1930's barn. The main phase of the project took an exhausting six months to complete and on September 25th of 2015, we earned our certificate of occupancy permit to operate. We share that seemingly trivial detail only because it happened to be the day before our first scheduled wedding!!
Welcome to our little slice of country paradise!
With all of the highs, lows and every range of emotion we experienced during this adventure, the most gratifying thing for us now comes from seeing people making joyful memories in this space that we created.
We give all the credit and glory to God for blessing and leading our lives and this project. We live in the old farmhouse across the dirt road from the barn with our three daughters, Ivy, Cora, and Amelia., and are extremely grateful for this opportunity to do what we LOVE together!
To all you newly engaged couples who are so excited to plan your dream wedding, we would be thrilled to have you to stop by our little slice of country paradise and tell us YOUR story!
