PEABODY — It may only be January, but the folks at the Peabody Historical Society want everyone to know they are hoping to be back to business as usual this spring.
Business, as in the wedding business.
Saturday, the society hosted a wedding open house at the historic Smith Barn, located at the Felton-Smith Historic Site next to Brooksby Farm. While the number of couples was well below last year’s number, the mood was decidedly upbeat and enthusiastic.
“We don’t have a lot of traffic, but everyone is hopeful that we will be able to host all of the 100 weddings booked for 2021,” said Tammy Messina, Smith Barn’s function manager. “With the vaccine, we know we can make it safe. We know the rules. We don’t want to put anyone in danger.
“It seems everybody gets engaged Christmas and New Year’s, but now I see a lot of couples are waiting to see what happens, so I was happy with the people who did come out.”
Peabody resident Lisa Cerretani, daughter Alli, and Alli’s fiance, Tyler Cerullo, of Methuen, liked what they saw.
“We got engaged on New Year’s Eve and I wasn’t expecting he was going to ask me, so it really didn’t hit me until a couple of days later,” said Alli. “We don’t have a set plan yet and are hoping for fall 2022, but it’s just so beautiful here and (it) is definitely in the running.”
“Over the years, we have picked quite a few apples here and have been to a couple of weddings, and it is still stunning even in the dead of winter,” Lisa said.
Stephanie McGrath and fiance, Mike Gillis, of Norton, got engaged on Jan. 3.
“I saw the open house on Facebook and had been looking at barn weddings,” said McGrath. “We decided to have a look, maybe get some prices and get a feel for the location, and it was just gorgeous. It’s a phenomenal place and exactly what we are looking for. We definitely liked what we saw today.”
Messina said the barn hosted only six wedding ceremonies in Woodland Gardens and that 110 weddings booked for 2020 were postponed or canceled.
“After the ceremony, only the bride and groom were allowed into the barn to have their first dance,” Messina said. “All the guests had to stand outside and watch, and then they were on their way.”
Messina said she is hoping to be able to be at 50 percent capacity, but if they are limited to even 25 percent, it’s full speed ahead with the first wedding scheduled for the last Saturday of April. Normally, the barn capacity is 240 people.
“We’ve been doing weddings here since 1989, so it breaks my heart to see the old girl sleeping this long,” said Messina.
Vendors were on hand to assist with the tours, which also included tours of Woodland Gardens — where the wedding ceremonies are held — located behind the historic Nathaniel Felton Jr. House across the street.
Vincent Bianco, owner of Vincent Bianco Catering, located at 145 Summit St. in Peabody, said he has been catering weddings at Smith Barn for a couple of years.
“I doubt we will get to really enjoy weddings until June, July or August, but I hope that by October, there will be far less restrictions. This facility offers a lot of space here for people to space out. We just have to get through the year, that’s all.
“Today is okay. My motto is: the strong survive. We will all get through it. We’ll be good,” Bianco said.
DJ Rick Bellanti, of Methuen-based Bell-Aire Music, said he had 85 weddings booked in 2020 and lost 79 of them.
“Last year was definitely a bust, but we were able to do some ceremonies with 25 people who will hold their receptions when things open up,” Bellanti said. “But it’s been rough.”
Messina said there was a silver lining.
“The positive side of the pandemic was we could take our time to completely redo the Woodland Gardens. It was looking kind of tired, so we were able to make some improvements,” she said. “It’s still day-to-day, but my goal is what it has always been, and that is to provide my clients with a perfect day, and give the bride the wedding of her dreams.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
