Wedding DJ at Green Gables Farm in Statesville, NC

The Space

A rehearsal dinner is what convinced Cecil and Susan Stallard to turn Green Gables Farm into an event venue. They bought the 35-acre Statesville property in 2000, and after hosting their own son’s wedding rehearsal dinner there, they realized what they had built and decided to open the farm to other couples. Susan designed the pavilion specifically so guests would feel like they were standing in the middle of North Carolina’s mountains, even this far east.

Christi and Jason Ratcliff bought the farm from the Stallards on April 10, 2021, after celebrating their own son’s wedding on the property, which means the venue has changed hands twice now between families who each fell for it at a wedding held there. The property itself has stood for more than 50 years, and it includes an updated barn, a 4,000 square foot open-air pavilion, and a 3,000 square foot farmhouse.

Capacity & Layout

The pavilion holds 220 guests seated with a DJ, and expands to 300 or more when the surrounding lawn areas are used alongside it, which gives a couple real flexibility on guest count without having to change venues. The barn, used for cocktail hour or smaller events, holds 150 people on its own, so a couple can split cocktail hour and reception between two distinct spaces if they want the evening to have two different feels.

Ceremonies are typically held on the front lawn, backed by 200-year-old oak trees and rolling hills, which puts the ceremony, cocktail hour in the barn, and reception in the pavilion within walking distance of each other but each with its own visual character. Lighted parking for up to 200 cars means a full 300-guest wedding can actually get everyone parked on site rather than relying on shuttles.

Amenities

The farmhouse is where the wedding party gets ready, with three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a living room and family room each with a fireplace, a dining room, and a sunroom with a baby grand piano, totaling roughly 2,800 square feet of finished space. That is a genuinely furnished home rather than a bare-bones bridal suite, which matters for a couple planning to spend the whole morning there before the ceremony.

The 4,000 square foot pavilion provides real rain protection for a reception, since it is fully roofed rather than a tent, and the updated barn adds a second covered option. Between the farmhouse, barn, and pavilion, Green Gables gives a couple three distinct indoor or covered spaces on one property, which is more flexibility than most farm venues offer at this size.

Location & Getting There

Green Gables Farm sits just off I-40 at Exit 150, less than two miles north of the interstate, which makes it an easy stop for out-of-town guests driving in. It is about 40 minutes from downtown Charlotte and 45 minutes from Winston-Salem, close enough for a day trip but far enough out to deliver the rolling-hills, oak-tree setting the Stallards built the pavilion around.

For sound, the pavilion’s open-air design with a full roof behaves like a large covered pole barn: the roof holds music down over the dance floor, but the open sides mean a DJ system has to project out toward the lawn rather than bouncing off enclosed walls, which is a different setup than the barn, where four walls will hold and reflect sound in a tighter, louder way for the same volume level.