FAQs

We are located at  275 North 1400 East. Paxton, Illinois

About 100 miles south of Chicago

Yes. While the vast majority of wedding ceremonies are conducted outside, there are indoor options.

Yes, The entire house gets dominated by the girls as they have their own salon, makeup tables, full wall mirror, etc. The guys have their own groomsmen lounge with a changing room and vintage arcade.

Yes, the house has three bedrooms, and a full kitchen and bathroom for overnight guests. Typically the bride and bridesmaids stay in the house on Friday night so that they are together for hair and makeup which typically starts at 7:30am. That Saturday night is typically a mix on who the reserving party designates on who gets to stay.

Yes, we carry general liability insurance. We do not carry insurance that covers others serving alcohol. If you decide to provide your own alcohol for your wedding, you would need to provide your own liability insurance with alcohol endorsement. Bartending and catering services are also required to provide their own liability insurance.

Yep.

All of them. This is a country based upon freedom of religion and personal choice and we very much respect that.

We do not currently offer a shuttle. However, if you choose to have a shuttle service we have some recommendations in our preferred vendors section.

Yes, there will be staff present to assist you through the rehearsal, ceremony and reception. As well as staff to assist you in the planning process. There is also housekeeping and groundskeeping staff. So you do not need to worry about cleaning up after the event.

Yes, it’s absolutely amazing the distances couples have traveled to get married here. The majority are from Chicago and Chicago suburbs. Approximate figures over the past 300 weddings. 80% of the couples that get married here traveled greater than an hour. 50% traveled greater than two hours. 20% traveled greater than three hours. 4% have traveled greater than six hours and .7% traveled greater than 10 hours with both those figures including air transportation.

We do not offer food or drink catering services as we allow couples the freedom to choose whatever caterer or bartender or food type they prefer. We do, however, offer a list of preferred vendors on our Event Planning page.

The maximum capacity is 200 guests. A typical wedding at the farm hosts approximately 170 guests, with the climate-controlled barn and ADA-compliant restrooms accommodating all attendees comfortably.

You get the venue from Friday when you show up to Sunday at noon. Tables and chairs for both the ceremony and reception as well as a lot of other stuff. The best way to see what we offer is to take the tour.

Yes of course, and we highly recommend it.

To secure your date we require half down and a signed agreement.

Yes. And it’s lighted!

Yes. Engelbrecht Farm provides an indoor ceremony backup plan inside the main 1947 barn. While outdoor ceremonies are common, the 30-foot ceilings of the barn offer a rustic, romantic indoor alternative for rain events. It’s also a low probability that during the wedding season May-Mid October there will be a rain event occurring the 30 minutes your ceremony is outside. In the past decade it’s occurred once to where the wedding had to be brought inside. Rain events the day of are easily worked around. The reception is always indoors.

Yes. Cobblestone hotel is a seven minute drive from the farm. Holiday Inn in Rantoul is a 20 minute drive. And there are many hotels in Champaign that are a 30 minute drive.

• Champaign (25 miles) = 30 minutes

• Bloomington & Central Illinois Regional Airport (40 miles) = 47 minutes

• Kankakee (53 miles) = 50 minutes

• Downtown Chicago (114 miles) = about 2 hours

• Bollingbrook (100 miles) = 1 hour and 45 minutes

• Peoria (85 miles) = 1 hour and 34 minutes

You have two options. One is you can provide your own alcohol and have an unpaid friend or family member serve it. If you select that option, you cannot sell the alcohol and you must obtain liability insurance which costs about $200. The second option is hiring a bartending service. We have some great recommendations in our preferred vendor section. You can hire outside the preferred vendor section and they would need to provide us a copy of their liquor license and liability certificate.

Engelbrecht Farm offers a 3-day wedding booking (Friday to Sunday). This allows for Friday decoration and rehearsal, a Saturday ceremony, and a Sunday checkout by noon, providing a “stress-free” weekend experience.

You can show up as early as 9am on Friday, set up, make yourself at home in the farmhouse, rehearse and have the rehearsal dinner on the patio. The wedding day starts with the girls in the farmhouse salon and breakfast in the kitchen. Then the guys show up and get ready in their groomsmen’s lounge. Then the wedding and reception! Sunday morning is spent having a quick brunch and packing up for a checkout at noon.