Wedding DJ at The Magnolia Lou in Pinetops, NC

The Space

Heather and Kevin Myrick built The Magnolia Lou themselves on their family’s farmland just outside Pinetops, North Carolina, with Kevin, who owns Pro Construction, doing the actual building. It grew out of Heather’s own love of hosting rather than a franchise or an inherited property, and the couple raised their seven children alongside the project as it took shape into a modern barn venue.

The reception space carries brick accents, lighting fixtures, and glistening chandeliers over a neutral color palette, a room built specifically for events rather than converted from an older barn or outbuilding. Outdoor ceremony sites sit surrounded by what the venue describes as enchanting woodlands, giving couples a wooded backdrop without traveling to a separate park or forest property.

Capacity & Layout

The venue seats up to 200 guests, and the day moves across three distinct spaces: an outdoor ceremony site in the woodlands, a gathering area for cocktail hour, and the indoor reception room with its brick and chandeliers for dinner and dancing. That three-part layout means guests physically move between phases of the day rather than watching a single room get flipped in front of them.

Tables, chairs, and linens are included in the rental, which covers the basics of a standard floor plan without a separate order to a rental company. A covered outdoor space is also available, giving a couple a middle option between the fully outdoor ceremony site and the indoor reception room if weather is uncertain on the day.

Amenities

Get-ready suites are elegantly appointed with vanity units and comfortable furnishings, giving the wedding party a proper space to prepare rather than a repurposed office or storage room. Wireless internet is available throughout, which matters more than it sounds for a wedding day full of vendors checking timelines and a photographer uploading previews for the couple to see.

The venue is wheelchair accessible and offers on-site accommodations, and Heather and Kevin run it as a woman-owned business, one built by the family that runs it rather than a corporate ownership group. Beyond weddings, The Magnolia Lou also hosts bridal showers, engagement parties, elopements, and rehearsal dinners, so a couple can plan more than just the ceremony and reception at the same property if they want to.

Location & Getting There

Pinetops was founded in 1901 and incorporated in 1903 as a rail station, taking its name from the way only the tops of the pine trees were visible from passing train windows. The venue sits centrally between Rocky Mount, Tarboro, and Wilson, and just over an hour’s drive from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a workable distance for guests flying in from farther away.

Peak season runs March through May and September through October, with January, February, June, July, August, and December considered off-peak, worth knowing for a couple weighing cost against the woodland scenery at its greenest. The indoor reception room’s brick walls and chandeliers make for a warmer, more absorbed sound than an open barn, while the wooded ceremony site outdoors calls for speakers aimed carefully at a seated crowd among the trees rather than left to carry loosely through open woodland.