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Questions About Getting Married at Bates Barn
We’ve been answering these on tours and over the phone since 2011.
Here they are in one place so you can plan without waiting on an email.
Booking and Money
Rentals start at $1,950 plus HST for a single day, Monday to Thursday. A single Friday, Saturday or Sunday is $4,950 plus HST, and the full Friday to Sunday package is $5,950 plus HST. Every option includes the bar, the bartenders, the tables and the chairs. There’s also a $500 damage deposit, returned within 21 days of your wedding. Prices are the same in every season and are held through 2028.
The bar is the big one. A full bar, all the bar supplies and our bartenders from 4 pm to 1 am are part of the rental price, which is not how most venues do it. You also get the tables and chairs, access to the main floor and the mezzanine, the private wedding party room on the lower level, and the prep kitchen with its own caterer’s entrance. Take a look inside the barn to see all of it.
Linens, dishes, glassware and cutlery. Your caterer or a rental company brings those. Set-up and take-down are yours as well, though you can add our clean-up service if you’d rather not sweep at one in the morning.
A 25% retainer holds your date, and it’s non-refundable. The balance is due six months before the wedding, or right away if you book inside six months. Payment plans are welcome, so let us know if spreading it out would help.
We don’t. We take cash or e-transfer, and that’s part of how we keep the price where it is.
If you cancel more than 60 days before your date, you get everything back except the retainer. Inside 60 days there’s no refund. If you need to move your date instead, a second retainer holds the new one, and the first is returned once your original date rebooks.
We’ll pencil you in. If another couple asks about the same date, you get the first call to confirm. The date is only truly yours once the retainer is paid.
Most book about two years out, and a few 2028 dates are already gone. There’s no cap on how far ahead you can reserve, so if you know your year, ask.
Neither. Forty guests are as welcome as two hundred, and the bar has no minimum.
Yes to both. The standard booking is Friday to Sunday, but you can book a single Friday, Saturday or Sunday, or a single day from Monday to Thursday at a lower rate. Our page on weddings at Bates Barn walks through all three options.
Food and Drink
Absolutely. Any caterer is welcome as long as they carry $1,000,000 in general liability insurance and give us a copy. They get their own entrance to the kitchen.
You can. The same $1,000,000 liability insurance applies, and at least one person preparing food needs a valid Food Handler Certificate.
It’s a prep and clean-up kitchen, not a cooking kitchen. You’ll find a residential electric stove, a cooler, a microwave, stainless steel tables, a triple sink and a hand wash sink. Caterers bring food ready to serve and finish it here. There are no dishes, glassware or cutlery.
No, and it’s a licensing rule rather than a preference. Bates Barn is the only party licensed to serve alcohol on the property, so every drink comes through our bar. The one exception is the campsites, where guests can have their own drinks as long as nothing gets carried back to the barn.
We can serve it. Corkage is double the bottle cost, paid 14 days before the wedding.
It’s 11:45 pm on a one-day booking and 12:45 am on the Friday to Sunday package.
No. We send you our preferred vendors once your retainer is in, because most couples planning their first wedding find it a helpful place to start. Hire anyone you like.
The Day Itself
Access starts at 10 am. If nothing is booked the day before, we’ll usually open the doors earlier, so ask when the time comes.
On the Friday to Sunday package, the event ends at 1 am and everyone is out by 2 am. On a one-day booking, the event ends at midnight and the barn is clear by 1 am.
The ceremony moves insiYou do, with your family and friends or your planner. If you’d rather not deal with the clean-up afterward, our clean-up service is $400 plus HST, paid 14 days ahead.de, and the barn holds your full guest list either way. You don’t have to decide until the day.
The PA system is for speeches and the ceremony, not the dance. Your DJ or band brings their own gear.
Yes. An extra day for the rehearsal, set-up or take-down is $500 plus HST. A rehearsal party at the log house is $100 plus HST.
The ceremony moves inside, and the barn holds your full guest list either way. You don’t have to decide until the day.
Guests and Staying Over
The log house is 6 km from the barn, with four bedrooms, two and a half baths and room for up to 12. It’s reserved for Bates Barn couples and their guests only, so you won’t find it on Airbnb. Rates start at $400 a night plus HST for up to four people, with $50 for each extra person to a maximum of 12.
There are six campsites with water and power, booked directly with us at $57.50 a night. Tent sites are free for now. The campsites are for event guests only, and they’re a good answer for anyone who shouldn’t be driving home.
Baysands Vacation Rental is within walking distance. The Pleasantview Inn is about 20 minutes away and the Amsterdam Inn in Sussex is about 30. We keep a longer list of rentals and B&Bs, and our guide to where guests can eat and explore covers the rest of the weekend.
The main level is, including the washroom. The lower level and the mezzanine are not. We suggest dropping guests at the front door and parking in the smaller lot nearby, which also keeps cars out of your photos.
They can. We own the beach across from the barn, there’s a dock near the ferry landing and mooring across from the barn. Boat owners should contact us ahead of time.
Rules
Battery candles only. Real flame isn’t allowed inside the barn.
We don’t promote them, but they’re allowed well away from the buildings and neighbours. They’re off the table during any fire ban or when the grain fields are planted, so plan a backup.
No confetti, glitter, scattered silk flowers or glitter-filled balloons. Biodegradable rose petals are fine as long as they’re cleaned up afterward.
Zip ties and clear command hooks are fine, and they come down at clean-up. Please don’t use staples or nails.
Not inside, near the doors or on the patio. That covers vaping and cannabis too.
Pets aren’t allowed at the log house or the campsites, so plan for them to stay home or with a sitter for the weekend.
The Basics
Bates Barn918 Route 850, Long Point, NB E5N 7W7(506) 647-6781We sit on 15 acres of farmland above Belleisle Bay, right where the Belleisle Belle cable ferry crosses.
Every month of the year. The barn is heated and air conditioned, so a January wedding is as comfortable as a July one.
The barn seats 175+ guests with tables and chairs, and we host larger standing receptions too. Tables and chairs for your full count are included in every rental.
We’re about 40 minutes from Saint John, an hour and 20 minutes from Fredericton, and 3 hours and 45 minutes from Halifax. Belleisle Bay is a pretty drive from any direction, and you can get directions here.
Beyond Weddings
Bates Barn918 Route 850, Long Point, NB E5N 7W7(506) 647-6781We sit on 15 acres of farmland above Belleisle Bay, right where the Belleisle Belle cable ferry crosses.
Every month of the year. The barn is heated and air conditioned, so a January wedding is as comfortable as a July one.
The barn seats 175+ guests with tables and chairs, and we host larger standing receptions too. Tables and chairs for your full count are included in every rental.
We’re about 40 minutes from Saint John, an hour and 20 minutes from Fredericton, and 3 hours and 45 minutes from Halifax. Belleisle Bay is a pretty drive from any direction, and you can get directions here.
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