Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
Meet The Wedding Pro - Sarah with Cassidy Station
Sarah Hogendorn, the visionary creative director behind Cassidy Station, sits down with us to unveil the captivating story of this unique event venue. With its roots as a family farmstead dating back to 1872, Cassidy Station has blossomed into a multifaceted space that embodies the charm and spirit of Ozark culture. Picture a place where you can wander through a mercantile stocked with American-made treasures, many crafted by women-owned businesses and local artisans. Sarah paints a vivid picture of how this venue, complete with antique trucks and tractors, serves as a living homage to both its agricultural past and the community’s vibrant present.
Put your imagination to work as Sarah guides us through the enchanting flexibility that makes Cassidy Station a dream wedding venue. Couples find themselves immersed in a storybook setting, free to personalize their day across spaces like the patio, courtyard, and hay barn, all set against a backdrop of stunning natural beauty. Beyond the weddings, Sarah shares the venue’s mission to preserve Cassidy’s historical roots while fostering an environment for creating cherished family memories. This episode promises a journey through the heart of Missouri's rich history, emphasizing the importance of green spaces and highlighting the community's efforts to resist commercial encroachment, ensuring Cassidy Station remains a cherished local gem.
Welcome to Metropolitan Weddings. I'm Meg, I'm Dawn, and we are here to educate couples with information from wedding professionals in the industry.
Speaker 2:Our goal is to make the wedding planning process as seamless as possible by providing you with insight from industry professionals.
Speaker 1:Okay, couples, let's get this party started. Okay, so we're here with Sarah from Cassidy Station. Sarah, would you introduce yourself and your role at Cassidy Station and what is Cassidy Station?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I'd love to. So I'm Sarah Hogendorn and I'm the creative director at Cassidy Station, and I have been here since the beginning with our owners, holly and Kyle Estes. And really, cassidy Station is a concept space, and so our owners set out to restore a farmstead that has been in Kyle's family since 1872. And what we did is we took it space by space, building by building, and we turned each of the buildings into a new concept, and so we wanted to create a way to preserve the farm for the next generation, and so we have multiple different things happening at the farm we have a mercantile, we have a flower shop and then we have three separate event spaces, and so all that comes together for the whole of Cassidy Station.
Speaker 1:Okay, so are you guys just open daily for the mercantile and the flower shop?
Speaker 3:So the mercantile and flower shop are open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 to 6, and then on Saturdays 10 to 4. And then we kind of do community events, and so when we have our fall market days events, sometimes we have extended hours, or for holiday shopping et cetera, or anytime we have workshops. You might see us open late for fun things like sipping shops and just extra time to shop the mercantile and flower shops. So yeah, we're open, open every week.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and I know the mercantile doesn't necessarily have to do with the weddings, but I'm just curious is it like local artisans? What is in the mercantile?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we carry a wide variety of things. I always tell everybody that we have something for everyone, but the main things that we try to focus on in the mercantile are lots of made in USA items, so probably around 65% of what we sell is made in USA. We carry a lot of brands from women owned businesses, a lot of small batch goods handmade, and then we have a pretty wide selection of locally made or Missouri made items. So you can find things like big heart tea, local raw honey. We've got some really cool zip code bottle openers for Nixa and Ozark. We have table rock like pillows just some really fun, unique things that are great for gifts or home decor. Pantry staples. We love Kansas City canning. So just a wide variety. It's a true mercantile.
Speaker 2:I love that. That sounds fun. I want to go.
Speaker 3:This is so fun to see, we're right up the road in Nixa and we've seen the Estes Farms sign for ever and ever.
Speaker 2:So it's fun to see this Cassidy Station thing happen. It's really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're excited. You could definitely put together a nice little curated basket for your out-of-town guests of like local favorites and different kinds of things like that from the.
Speaker 2:Mercantile. That's really cool Absolutely. We actually have a kinds of things like that from the mercantile. That's really cool Absolutely.
Speaker 3:We actually have a lot of people do that. They come in and they either, you know, get stuff to send people out of town, or when their friends come to visit from out of town, they bring them in so that they can kind of get some local culture and just have some things to remember their trip to the Ozarks.
Speaker 2:That's super cute. Yeah, I love that. That's super cute. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:That's super fun. So yeah, like Adam was saying, I used to live like just down the road and so watching it turn from like just a house, exactly, you're like working on these things and like forever driving by and you're like they're really making changes. And then the next thing you know, you're just like holy moly, it's like it's, it's like a whole thing. So you have three different event spaces.
Speaker 3:We do so three events at one time or technically you can, yes, um, that's not necessarily our goal.
Speaker 3:Um, they're designed to where they can be used separately, but they can also be used together and so, for example, we could have, like, a baby shower happening in the hay barn, we could have a birthday party be happening in the depot and then we could be having a luncheon in the lower barn. So small events could be happening potentially in all three spaces, but we really wanted it to be cohesive, no matter what was happening. So, for a wedding, for example, you could have your wedding in the hay barn and then you could have a food service and cake and everything set up in the lower barn and then in the depot you could have, like, your drinks, the bar area, appetizers and then dancing and everything on the 4,000 square foot patio. So it all kind of is interconnected and we have lots of outdoor space. So we have a large amphitheater that our patio overlooks, and so it's just a cool space because they all work together but they can all be used separately.
Speaker 1:I know I was going to say to the listeners, like if you haven't ever seen it, or driven by it it is as adorable as it sounds.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:Just the whole thing has come together Super cute. You've got like a I don't know you don't. You have like an old truck out there. Super cute.
Speaker 3:You've got like a I don't know you don't you have like an old truck out there? Yep, we have an antique truck. Uh, kyle and his family are big lovers of Ford.
Speaker 2:So if you're a Ford, truck lover, come on over.
Speaker 3:Um, we have some antique tractors and then a big um. Part of just our branding and who we are is the windmill, and so a lot of people know us from the windmill, and so fun story about that. Just briefly, he has the original windmill over on the north side of CC. That was installed, I think, in 1935, it was bought at Nixa Hardware and so that just kind of became what he wanted to represent at this farm and also Cassidy Station. But we found a duplicate, like a replica, of the same one that he has on the north side and we brought one over here to Cassidy Station and so when you see the windmill you just know you're in the right place.
Speaker 1:That's cute, okay. So when you have a wedding event going on you don't have other smaller events, they kind of get access to those different spaces Okay.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah, you kind of get exclusivity, and so that's one of the beautiful things about this is, I know that with some other venues you might not necessarily have access or like photo access and different things to just the beauty of what surrounds this, and so if you're not familiar with the area, where basically you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere when you're here, and so it truly is just a beautiful landscape, and when you're hosting a wedding, you get the hay barn, you get the patio, and then, obviously, if you don't want everything, you have that option too. I know that we've been talking a lot about micro weddings and just smaller intimate ceremonies, and so the beauty is is that, no matter what size of wedding you want to have, we can accommodate you because we have such gorgeous outdoor spaces and all the buildings at your disposal, or if you want to have a small intimate wedding, you can do that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so about how many people oh?
Speaker 3:so it depends on the space, and so that is the other thing. So outside, um, if you were to say do our amputee theater, it holds between 150 to 175, and we can also accommodate some pretty large tents um on our property, and so you have sort of full range there. But inside the spaces our hay barn seats and chairs only about 75, and then for both our depot and the lower barn it's about the same. If you were to rent your own chairs you could probably sneak a few more in, but we just have some really gorgeous neutral chairs, um, that are our favorite, just because they're very classic, but they go with any, any stuff yeah, so it sounds like you really do have, uh, accommodations for like a smaller 75 person wedding, or if you've got more people, you just do the amphitheater, maybe set up a tent in the field with the cows and horses and the fun.
Speaker 3:I'm sure they're not exactly roaming with you, right? Yes, exactly not roaming with you, but on the other side of the fence yeah, that's probably for the best.
Speaker 1:It could be fun, but yeah, adventurous adventurous. So what is the? What would you describe the style of the venue?
Speaker 3:You know, I would describe it as cottage elegance, which Kyle would probably not love that description. He would probably say farmhouse chic if he were to describe it. But each space is a little different and I think that that is something that was pretty intentional on our part is we did want to be able to cater to multiple different brides, and so some brides want a very traditional wedding, and so the hay barn is the most traditional space. It's very elegant, it's very simple, it's stunning and you could really do anything you wanted to do in there in terms of style little more rustic chic. So if you like country weddings, if you like simplicity, that would be a great space for you. Anybody who likes a cowboy hat involved in their wedding, they would probably love the lower barn.
Speaker 3:The depot is more industrial, modern. We have some really great studio seats in there. We have tons of antiques up behind the bar. We've got reclaimed wood in the depot, so our bar was actually built out of a lot of things from the farm, so the reclaimed wood. And then we also have old track from the train that used to run through the property and we repurposed that and that's like the bar. Footrest is an old railroad track.
Speaker 3:So lots of industrial elements in there. We've got two big garage doors in the depot, so you've got almost an indoor outdoor space to where, if you want to be out on the patio but then allow people to trickle in and out for, like, a cocktail hour or drinks, it's a great space for that.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cute. That's a good idea.
Speaker 2:I love that. It's super fun.
Speaker 1:So your role over there, do you coordinate weddings or are you just sort of the I am kind of the chief storyteller in a way.
Speaker 3:That's probably the best way to describe my role. I wear a lot of hats. I created a lot of our branding, I created our logos, I designed several of the spaces in collaboration with Holly and Kyle, and it was my job at the beginning to kind of drive the creative vision for the project and to make sure it was going in the direction that Holly and Kyle wanted it to go in. And then my role has kind of morphed. So, now that all the spaces are done and the restoration process is complete, now it's more about marketing and putting ourselves out there into the community, and so I really just try to make sure that, whether you're visiting us in person, online, it's cohesive and you understand who we are and what we stand for and what our brand is all about.
Speaker 1:Right, Okay, Perfect. So what is one of like as you see weddings going on now? What's one of like your favorite things that you've seen for a wedding out there on the property?
Speaker 3:Um, well, I would probably answer that in two parts. So the first thing is is that I love that people come out here for weddings and it's almost like a storybook to me. It's like that feeling that they feel and that look on their face that, wow, this is so incredible maybe even more so than I hoped it would be. I've definitely gotten to see that with the brides and heard that as their experience, which I love. But the other thing that I would say, the other part of that is that they really truly can make it their own, and I know that some wedding venues you might have some restrictions like, oh, you have to work with our caterer or you have to choose this cake person, or you might be limited on the layout. I feel like what we have is so comprehensive you can do so much here and it just has so much potential, and I think that that really gives brides a flexibility that is not possible at other venues.
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that.
Speaker 1:People love flexibility, I know, I was going to say, like give us an example of your flexibility. What have you been able?
Speaker 3:to do that you wouldn't?
Speaker 1:that's out of the box.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I mean, I know that sometimes it's like, okay, let's do the ceremony in this space and then let's have the uh reception and the table settings you know in this space, and so you know you don't necessarily have uh, I guess it's just very black and white, like, okay, this is where the ceremony is, this is where the reception is, and so what I love and what I've seen is that it almost creates a flow that is very natural and very conversational table service for their reception on the patio.
Speaker 3:So the meal was on the patio, but there was plenty of room for dancing in our courtyard area, so that was an entire dance area, but then there was also room to dance on the patio.
Speaker 3:Still, even with dinner set up on the patio, we did drinks for them in the depot, so people were coming in and out of the garage doors, but then they had all of the food and the cake and stuff in the hay barn where they got married, and so it wasn't like a huge turnover or a huge deal to flip it, because there was so much flexibility that they could use the patio and the depot, and so the timing of it all was really beautiful because they had plenty of time for photos and people were having a great time at the reception, like on the patio, and we weren't necessarily interrupting their pictures. And then they even got to have an intimate dinner in our bridal suite, which I thought was a really beautiful idea, because they wanted to eat first and they just had a little table set up in our bridal suite and have their intimate dinner in here before they joined for the reception. So I hope that gives you an idea of the type of progressive wedding.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes yes, exactly that's. That's exactly what we've seen is that people almost want to not be stuck in one place, or oh, this is the only place that we have to kind of roam around, and people are always going out to look at the cows and pet the horses and, you know, give them a little nuzzle on the nose and the stables, and so that's the beauty of it is people do have room to walk around and enjoy the property when they're here for a wedding.
Speaker 1:I also. That was like you're telling the story of the couple eating their wedding dinner, sort of. I mean, I don't know how they found time for that, but I think it's a great idea, because otherwise they're eating in front of every. It's just like a lot to try and even get time to eat. So like ideas kind of cute. I like that it is.
Speaker 3:Well, and even yeah, and being able to enjoy it. I mean, it is your wedding and so you should be able to actually enjoy it with your spouse, and I thought it was so intentional and thoughtful that they did that and they were able to have that time before they had to, you know, be mixing and mingling and obviously receiving all the well wishes and having all the fun that they were just able to have a moment. I thought that that was an amazing idea.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I love that, so I can only imagine that there are the photo opportunities out there are massive, with everything from wildlife to farm life, absolutely. Yep, Old, repurposed, and this just. You know all the different barns and depots and tractors. Who knows? Who knows what they want in their pictures. But tell us a little bit about you know all the different vignettes that you guys have available for photo.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that that is something else. That's a little different is that there's a lot of visual interest happening, and so we have a tree line that has a brick running through it, that sort of lines the back of the depot and kind of wraps around down below the lower barn, and so that's a little bit of the backdrop that you see when you're on the patio or down at the amphitheater. So you've got lots of trees, but we also use different elements and so we've got big fireplaces both inside and out that are stone. There's lots of brick work. We did some lap siding, some board and batten siding. We have a beautiful open staircase in the hay barn. That is very elegant. It has a indoor and outdoor balcony, so that's a great photo opportunity.
Speaker 3:Our porches on the farmhouse somehow have the most incredible lighting all day long. Because there's such a deep porches, you get those great shadows, and so we've had so many gorgeous pictures taken on the porches of the farmhouse. We have rocking chairs everywhere, which kind of makes for fun photos. And then, of course, you've probably seen the gorgeous photos of people out there with the farm animals. We have our belted Galloway cows, we've got the horses. It's just a picturesque setting and so you can get some really pretty landscape shots, and you can also just get the fields, and I think that golden hour here is something very, very special. We have twinkle lights over the patio. I'm trying to think of anything else really special. There's lots of blank space, which I know that some people don't love blank space, but I think that there's something to be said for a white wall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, Photographers love a good white wall too. And decorating a white wall yeah, absolutely, Photographers love a good white wall too and decorator people like white wall. Yeah, that's true. That's true, everybody loves a white wall, I agree.
Speaker 1:What about the windmill? Can they get a picture with it? Is it close enough to the okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's basically one of the first things you see when you drive up. So we've got like a circle drive around it and so, yeah, it's right, it's kind of tucked down between the hay barn and the stables.
Speaker 1:So you definitely will get the windmill in a lot of your photos. So locationally you are very, you're very central to Branson Springfield just all of the things, and yet access is very easy. But then, once you're there, I feel like you feel like you're in your own little world.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, I completely agree. It's very easy to get to. We're about two minutes off of 65. And so you basically take 65 to CC and then we're just south on Fremont Road off of CC. Technically we have a Nixa address but we're much closer to Ozark. I know some people get confused because our address is Nixa but we're kind of tucked in the Fremont Hills area if you're familiar with that. But we're kind of tucked in the Fremont Hills area if you're familiar with that. A lot of people don't know that the whole area that we're in, what is Fremont Hills, used to be Cassidy Missouri, so that's part of where our name comes from. This whole area was called Cassidy Missouri and Kyle knew that a lot of people didn't even know that Cassidy existed and so that's part of why he chose the name. Cassidy Station was to keep the history of this community alive and so that people would know that it was established before both Nixa and Ozark and there are so many amazing, incredible people that were from this area.
Speaker 2:That's cool, isn't the church right there called Cassidy too, uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is Cassidy, United Methodist. Okay.
Speaker 2:It's all making sense now. I never knew that. I didn't either. I've always seen that church and I didn't know why it was called Cassidy, but now I do. Yes, yep, now you know An education.
Speaker 1:We're getting a an education historical lesson I know, I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it, I'm. I had a geographical lesson. I am shocked to hear that that's a nixa. I am too. Yeah, yeah, megan, I live in nixa. So we're like, yeah, I really don't know, I'm like I literally lived right up the road and you know I was right. Isn't it like right across the street?
Speaker 1:from an ozark school yes, yes, yeah, it is yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you could throw a stone and hit Ozark. It's literally right across from.
Speaker 1:Fremont Hills.
Speaker 3:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But somehow you got Nixa over there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know. If it's yeah, I don't know, I'm not sure. I think it's probably because it's such an old century farm and it probably just never got rezoned, or something like into Ozark.
Speaker 2:And maybe that's why.
Speaker 3:I'm honestly not sure they are lucky to have us.
Speaker 1:They should be talking about that more. Yeah, they should. I love it. So on the daily, you know I what I like about you guys being open on like Tuesday to Friday 10 to 6. Somebody can kind of just pop by. Do you have to have an appointment to come see your venue, or can?
Speaker 3:they not at all a little bit okay yeah, yeah, you can wander around, and we encourage people to do so. We have sidewalks all over the property and so you're welcome to walk by, get a brochure, take a quick tour. We're always happy to accommodate that when we can. However, sometimes we do have appointments for tours made, and so there are situations where we may not be able to immediately accommodate you. But the good news is that we have the flower shop in the mercantile so you can shop for a little bit and kind of give us some time if we're ever busy. But, yeah, we encourage people to just drop by anytime during regular business hours.
Speaker 1:I like that, I do too, I had something else I was going to say and now I've forgotten because I went shopping in your mercantile, in my head.
Speaker 2:You're getting ready to say we need to go shopping.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you guys are going to have to head over here as soon as we hang up. Just come on over.
Speaker 1:I know because it's right here in Nixa.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to let that go. Gosh, what was I going to say? I've lost it. What is it that I didn't ask and don't know that I need to know about Cassidy?
Speaker 3:Station. What I love most about this project and this farm is our mission to preserve the farm for the next generation, and so when you're booking an event at Cassidy Station or hosting your wedding here, you are a part of preserving the farm for the next generation and for the community, and so that's the whole entire reason that Kyle wanted to do this was so that the community could enjoy the farm and have the green space and to enjoy it with our families and to build memories here, and so you're just a part of something so much bigger than yourself. When you host an event here, we love having families to the farm. That is our favorite thing is just watching people make memories, take photos, enjoy the property and enjoy the space, and to me it's almost like inviting people and welcoming people home. Everything is very home oriented here, meaning that when you walk in the mercantile, we hope that you feel at home. When you're sitting on the porch in a rocker, we hope you feel at home, and it's just a different feel.
Speaker 1:Once you get out here, you kind of exhale and it's a slower pace, and I think that there's something special about that that cannot be replicated anywhere else that I remembered what I wanted to say and it ties in so well to what you were just describing, and that is wouldn't it be magnificent to have a place like you guys where you can go, you guys host events. It's very family oriented.
Speaker 1:You're you're doing things that are active in the community, that a family like as, after you're married, as you grow and you're creating this family, you get to come back to this place and share this venue with people that aren't even born yet your family, your kiddos and then it becomes a part of their life and their memories as well, and so I love it that the reasoning for like kind of creating this space is to preserve it, so that we don't take it over and turn it into a dollar general. Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:I'm sure they've got their eye on it. It's a Missouri mercantile instead of a dollar general. I like that way better.
Speaker 1:Let's support Cassidy station. I love it. Yes, thank you guys. You're so amazing. We love what you guys have done. Congratulations on all your hard work. I'm sure it's amazing to see it come to fruition. And so we know the couples know they can pop by, but if they want to get ahold of you and ask some questions ahead of time or don't have time to head by during those hours and want to look at it online, where how do they look you up?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. On social media, you can find us at Cassidy Station. Our website is CassidyStationcom and you can give us a call anytime and we're happy to answer any questions. You can message us on social media. We're very responsive and so, yeah, we love talking to people and brainstorming and helping them plan the perfect event at the farm.
Speaker 1:Yay, well, thanks for hanging out with us and sharing all of your vast knowledge of the property.
Speaker 2:So you really have done a good job of painting the picture, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Well, I appreciate you guys. I'm so glad I got to visit with you today and I hope to see you guys at the farm soon. Yeah, you will for sure we're here for sarah oh, you guys are so sweet. Yeah, you guys can come by and I'll just give you a tour and show you all the things we love it excellent.
Speaker 2:well, we'll see you soon. All right, have a great day. Bye, you too. The same. We love it Excellent. Well, we'll see you soon. All right, have a great day, bye, bye.
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