The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens 22937 1140 North Avenue • Princeton • IL 61356

Your rate at The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton covers both your ceremony and reception, plus an on-site event coordinator. For the ceremony, you get white garden chairs set up and removed, an audio technician and sound system, and an electric golf cart for guests who need a lift. For the reception, you get Chiavari chairs, 60-inch rounds, cocktail and banquet tables, bar and water glassware, full setup and breakdown, an audio system and overhead projection, getting-ready suites, the covered patio and parking. Separately, you'll pay your caterer, an 8% kitchen usage fee and your bar package.

Yes, your rate at The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens includes both, and it comfortably holds 350 guests for each. You can say your vows outdoors on a manicured meadow with a wood arch, or inside the 7,000-square-foot Great Room in front of its grand windows. Guests then move to the large covered patio for drinks and hors d'oeuvres before dinner in the Great Room. If you marry somewhere else, $500 comes off your rate.

You'll choose your caterer from The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens' approved list, which includes Bernardi's Catering, Stone Jug Barbecue, Cracked Pepper, Hy-Vee Catering and Thyme Craft Kitchen, and appetizers have to come through that caterer too. The venue adds an 8% kitchen usage fee. Alcohol is served under The Barn's own liquor license, so you can't bring your own. For everything else, from your DJ and florist to your photographer, you're free to hire who you like. Planning fireworks? There's a $250 brush truck fee payable to the Princeton Fire Department.

At The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, the site fee runs $5,200–10,700 and covers both your ceremony and reception. December through April, every day is $5,200. May through August and November, it's $9,700 on Saturdays, $7,700 on Fridays and $5,700 on Sundays. September and October, it's $10,700 on Saturdays, $8,700 on Fridays and $6,700 on Sundays. Sundays of Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day weekends are priced at the Saturday rate, and $500 comes off if your ceremony is elsewhere. On top of that, budget for your caterer, the 8% kitchen usage fee and bar packages, which run $29–42 per person for six hours. A 50% deposit of the reception amount holds your date.

Your site fee at The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens includes access to the venue from 8am, and all event activities have to wrap up by 11pm. That gives you and your vendors the whole day to set up, get ready in the private suites and celebrate. You also get a one-hour rehearsal on a day before the wedding, scheduled around The Barn's calendar.

The Barn at Hornbaker Gardens is a four-season barn set inside a family-run garden and arboretum near Princeton, with a 2-acre native Illinois prairie that photographers love at golden hour. Both your ceremony and reception happen on site for up to 350 guests: vows on a meadow with a wood arch, then dinner in a 7,000-square-foot Great Room with three custom chandeliers, heating and air conditioning. An on-site event coordinator, two private getting-ready suites and full table and chair setup are part of your rate, and you'll have the venue from 8am to 11pm.