Like a scenic country road, the story of The Wedding Barn at LIKAZOO meanders, taking a few detours until reaching its destination.
It 1987, Lyndon LaFevers, then a music industry executive, bought a farm in Lebanon. An animal enthusiast, Lyndon assembled a menagerie, including zebras, a camel, an emu, llamas, Sicilian donkeys, fainting goats, and chickens. When a co-worker likened it to a zoo, “My mind picked up on ‘like a zoo’ as a potential farm name, but when I wanted it on my truck tag, it could only be seven letters. So LIKAZOO was born.”
In 1988, word of his menagerie reached the organizers of the Wilson County Fair, and Lyndon was recruited to launch the first poultry and rabbit show, which he has chaired for 33 years. Lyndon later pursued his passion for real estate by getting his license. He has spent 21 years at RE/MAX Carriage House in Mt. Juliet. Alongside his daughter Lauren and son John, they are the “LaFevers Team.”
In 2017, the family bought a former campground in Lebanon. “I had dreamed about having a place people could celebrate life's moments,” says Lyndon. An old barn became event space with overnight accommodations. In 2020, they started building the Wedding Barn, but the pandemic hit. “Our family just huddled together,” says Lyndon. “We built out the interior of the barn ourselves and did all of the landscaping.”
Now the family not only had its bustling menagerie but a beautiful venue. While the farm isn't open to the public, Lyndon hosts an Open Farm Day each summer and invites the community.
The Wedding Barn has made so many memories for the LaFavers’ clients. Lyndon remembers a teary new bride who was thankful her newly blended families chance to bond before the wedding, telling him what a joy it was to see the love they all had for each other on her big day.
“My favorite thing about the venue is that it unites all of my favorite things,” says Lyndon. “My faith, family, friends – and the animals.” God blessed Jane and myself with children, who married and blessed us with Wesley and Reanna. Now, each child has a son and daughter and we all choose to live here on the family farm. Logan and Reanna’s children are Levon (6) and Louella (5) and Lauren and Wesley have Elijah Dawson (6) and Liza Jane (3).
