Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Jordan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Stephanie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The property was originally purchased in 2000 as a possible homestead for my in-laws, Jana and Carey Jordan. They decided instead to build in the neighborhood directly south of the property and TownHall became their backyard. Our white storage barn is the only original building left on the property, everything else has been added since, and nearly all of them built by Carey. Around 2005, Carey had some friends that had a band and wanted to use the porch of the white barn as their practice space.
Then they wanted to bring some friends with them, then friends of friends started showing up and it turned into open mic nights and small concerts. The front part of what is now our reception/party barn (the original TownHall) was built to accommodate the growing numbers and as a man cave/tractor storage. As more people started coming out for the music, they started asking if they could get married and host birthday parties at TownHall. We’ve added buildings and expanded along the way as necessary to accommodate the growing numbers and events. Around 2011 we decided to move away from music and start focusing on turning the property into a wedding and event venue.
In 2014, I took over and we started doing more advertising, bridal shows and networking to get our name out there even more. Since then, we’ve added a new bridal cabin (and turned the old bride’s cabin in the groom’s cabin), outdoor bar pavilion, built out our Old Western Town (which used to just be a facade), redone the palapa, expanded the barn, and, our newest addition, our Open-Air Chapel, was just built this year.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been relatively smooth, but there’s always struggles when you’re getting into any new business. For me, I had no idea what I was getting into when I took over running the venue in 2014. I planned our wedding in 2011, but other than that, I knew nothing about the events industry, so it’s definitely been a learning curve.
I’m a people-pleaser and want to be able to say “yes” to everything that’s asked of me, but I’ve definitely had to learn to say no in certain situations! It can also be a challenge working with large groups of people, especially weddings where emotions (and tensions) can run high. I’ve always been a pretty take-charge person (some may argue bossy ;-)), but it’s definitely come in handy sometimes!
Everyone seems to think they know best, but when the bride/groom wants things a specific way, I’ve had to step in when someone wants to change things. I like to tell my couples that it’s a lot easier for me to step in and be the bad guy instead of them. I may never see their guests again, but if they make their family mad on their wedding day, they have to deal with that for the rest of their lives!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the TownHall Texas story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a very rustic wedding and event venue on 10-acres with an incredibly convenient location (just 5 miles East of The Woodlands Mall), and flexible rental options. About 80% of our business is weddings, but we will host just about any event.
Our look is not for everyone with antique signs decorating the walls, giving it a dance hall feel, but our clients absolutely love that it doesn’t take much to decorate our venue since the walls are already decorated and we have beautiful landscaping throughout the property. That’s not to say we haven’t had people bring in draping for the ceiling, uplighting, and sequin tablecloths to add to the room, but we aren’t just a barn with wood on the walls and chandeliers. Our entire property has character.
Guests love to come in and look at all of the old signs, tins, and decanters and tell stories about, for example, the power company they worked for when they were younger that’s been out of business for decades, but we have one of their signs. I absolutely love hearing stories as they look around at everything we have displayed.
Since we are a family business who started organically, we are able to keep our prices reasonable and be really flexible with what we allow. We’ve had people bring out bounce houses on wedding days, a petting zoo for a kid’s birthday party, and a fire dancer for a luau dinner party.
For our weddings, we offer 4 unique ceremony locations, 2 of which are covered in case of inclement weather: Open-Air Chapel (covered), Palapa on the island of our 2-acre pond (covered), gazebo, and Old Western Town (shaded by mid-afternoon). We can also do indoor or outdoor receptions. All of our rentals include access to the entire property, so we encourage people to utilize all of the different areas. We hosted a fundraiser earlier this year that started with check-in in front of the gazebo, cocktail hour in the saloon with games in front of the Old Western Town, moved inside the barn for dinner and a live auction, then to the outdoor bar pavilion and palapa for more drinks and a live band.
We are very hands-on throughout the entire process and take great pride in our customer service. I am always available to answer questions from the time they book through their event and encourage them to come out multiple times during their planning process to try out centerpieces, bring the bridal party to see, or just look around again to refresh their memories.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t really feel like luck has played much of an impact at all. I think our success has come from hard work and good planning rather than luck. I guess you could say it was lucky that my husband and I had just moved back from Colorado when my in-laws needed someone new to run the venue, but I think that was more God’s plans than luck.
Pricing:
- Saturday Wedding Rentals range from $5,250-$11,900 depending on package choice
- Friday and Sunday Wedding Rentals range from $4,250-$10,900 depending on package choice
- Party Rentals range from $1,750-$3,250; Parties booked less than 3 months in advance are offered discounted hourly rate
Contact Info:
- Address: 12194 Sleepy Hollow Road Conroe, TX 77385
- Website: www.townhalltexas.com
- Phone: 281-943-4244
- Email: info@townhalltexas.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/townhalltexas
- Facebook: facebook.com/townhalltexas
- Twitter: twitter.com/townhalltexas
- Other: pinterest.com/townhalltexas
Image Credit:
Photography by Niki, Stefanie Keeland Photography, dV Photography, Melonhead Photo
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