From History to Happily Ever After at McCormick Home Ranch with Rebecca McCormick

“Wedding Season” is upon us! Join host Paul Ward as he delves into the captivating story of McCormick Home Ranch with special guest, Rebecca McCormick, of Red Door Events. In this episode of “15 Minutes with Paul Ward,” Rebecca takes us on a journey through time, starting with the origins of the venue and its transformation into a premier wedding destination.

From its humble beginnings in 1918 to its current status as a sought-after outdoor venue, Rebecca shares the fascinating history behind McCormick Home Ranch and the visionary role her mother-in-law and her husband played in recognizing its potential for weddings. Discover how the business expanded over the years, offering in-house rentals and becoming a hub for various events.

Get insights into the wants and needs of modern brides, the evolving trends in the wedding industry, and how McCormick Home Ranch caters to diverse budgets. Learn about the art of improvisation when things don’t go as planned and the meticulous planning involved in hosting multiple events every week.

Watch the full episode on Paul’s YouTube Channel

Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe!

What you’ll learn during this episode:
0:00 Welcome to the show and introduction of guest Rebecca McCormick of Red Door Events and McCormick Home Ranch
0:26 Find out when the venue, McCormick Home Ranch started in the wedding business
1:35 Rebecca McCormick’s husband Jack recognizes the possibilities with the venue and weddings and gets in on the action
2:37 The growth of the business and in-house rentals
3:20 McCormick Home Ranch is an outdoor venue built in 1918
3:43 The story behind where the family came from and who lived in the house since it was built with old pictures of the McCormick family
5:00 McCormick Home Ranch is a Great Venue for Other Events as Well
5:25 The Wants and Needs of Brides, the Changes Over the Years and Popular Things Seen These Days
7:40 You can get married at The McCormick Home Ranch too! A One Stop Shop!
9:15 Improvising when things don’t exactly as planned
11:20 McCormick Home Ranch does multiple events a week
11:50 Where is the wedding industry headed and how does Rebecca accommodate all budgets?
13:50 The cost of the bar making a difference in the cost of the wedding
14:55 Are their current wedding trends that Rebecca and McCormick Home Ranch has not see at their venue yet
15:55 The type of music played at weddings lately and live bands
16:30 Planning for weddings in 2025 already
17:00 The location, website and social media for McCormick Home Ranch
17:35 Come see if the venue is a good fit for your event
17:50 Rebecca McCormick’s direct phone number
18:18 Please subscribe Please subscribe to Farm Talk on YouTube
18:24 Keep watching for more family pics and pictures of McCormick Home Ranch
18:38 A Special Thank You to our sponsor, Opus Escrow

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From Christmas Trees to Pumpkin Dreams

McCormick Home Ranch:
2034 East Fifth Street
Camarillo, California 93012
Telephone: (805) 482-1549
E-mail: events@mccormickhomeranch.com

Website:
www.mccormickhomeranch.com

Instagram:
mccormick.homeranch

Contact Rebecca McCormick:
Call or Text: 805-276-7717
Email: becky.reddoorevents@gmail.com

Contact Paul Ward:
805-479-5004
paul@homeandranchteam.com

Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com

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A special THANK YOU to our sponsor, OPUS ESCROW! Farm Talk with Paul Ward would not be possible without the support of our sponsor Opus Escrow. Supporting our sponsor ensures Farm Talk can provide listeners with the best possible episodes.

Paul Ward (00:04):

Hi everyone, it’s Paul Ward here, and welcome to another 15 minutes. I’m very excited. Today we’re talking everything weddings, and my guest is an expert in the field. Rebecca McCormick with Red Door Events and McCormick Home Ranch. Rebecca, welcome to 15 minutes.

Rebecca McCormick (00:22):

Hi there, Paul. Thank you for having me.

Paul Ward (00:24):

Absolutely. So you’ve been in the wedding business for a while now. Is that, is that correct?

Rebecca McCormick (00:31):

Yes. Yes. Our venue, McCormick Home Ranch, started in 1998. That was the first year, and then I personally have been involved since the year 2000.

Paul Ward (00:43):

Okay. And did you just say, this is something that I wanna get into? I mean, were you, was that your background? How did you just kind of jump into that?

Rebecca McCormick (00:52):

Well, it was when my mother-in-Law, Sally McCormick, she’s kind of the person who got us all into the, into the wedding business. So she launched the wedding business at McCormick Home Ranch in 1998. That’s after she married her last three sons within an 18 month time period, <laugh>. Oh, wow.

Paul Ward (01:14):

At the, at

Rebecca McCormick (01:15):

The ranch. At the ranch, yeah. She had three weddings and she was looking for another source of income, and she said, you know what? I’m gonna try this. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And she really was one of the first venues in our, in our county. Wow. And

Paul Ward (01:29):

Then Wow. And so she brought you in and or you said, Hey, I could do this as a profession?

Rebecca McCormick (01:33):

Well, it was my husband, actually, Jack, who noticed the first year, everything happening. And he said, you know what? We, we wanna be a part of this. So he went out and he purchased a dance floor to see how, how is this gonna work? So our initial investment was the dance floor. We used that for a year. It came out every weekend. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And then he borrowed actually money from his mom, and I think it was at about an eight or eight and a half percent interest that she charged

Paul Ward (02:03):

<Laugh>

Rebecca McCormick (02:05):

To purchase the tables and chairs. And some very simple linens. Um-Huh? <Affirmative>. And then that’s how we added to inventory. We added to inventory that second year. And then boom, here we are. And then by the year, by the year 2000, I was, I was working, but then I went ahead and came over into the business and by 2003 I had resigned from my profession and just was completely involved in the business that I have been ever since.

Paul Ward (02:36):

Wow. And so I, I imagine it’s grown from what, one dance floor to anything a bride could want?

Rebecca McCormick (02:44):

Yes. Yes. So at the, at the ranch little, little bit different from other venues. We do have in-house rentals, so tables, chairs, linens, heaters vintage bar, trailer, just wine barrels, just a lot of different pieces from your kind of basic piece up to other upgraded pieces. And then at the ranch also we do offer open catering. So we invite any type of food or caterer to kind of come out to, to the ranch as well. So

Paul Ward (03:20):

It’s an, it’s an outdoor venue, right? You’re, you’re, you’re sitting outside in a big lawn with a historic colonial farmhouse is the, is the backdrop.

Rebecca McCormick (03:30):

Exactly. So the the, the McCormick Ranch itself was originally built in 1918. Oh, wow. So that was when my husband’s great-grandfather and great-uncles immigrated from Ireland. And Thomas McCormick he lived there at, at the, at the McCormick Ranch with his wife, Elizabeth Lizzie. Mcgrath was her, was her maiden last name. So then they had three sons. It was Hubert, Jimmy, Joe, Johnny and Mary. So those, those were all of the kids there. And then later my grand, my husband’s grandparents Billy and Jimmy moved into the McCormick Home Ranch there. They lived there for a few years, many years. And then my husband’s mother, him, hi, him, his family, his mom and dad, Sally and Bub moved in in the late seventies.

Paul Ward (04:32):

Okay. So it’s a, it’s a been in the family since it was built back in 1918. That’s amazing.

Rebecca McCormick (04:37):

Yes. Yeah. And it is. It is. Yeah. It is. It is colonial style and the whole purpose is for family to, to keep on living there. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And so to do that we do, you know, also ranch avocados, but we’ve opened up our doors to the community and to other people who wanna come and get mostly weddings. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But we, RAs and retirement parties, corporate events, as you know. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, <laugh> birthday parties, graduations, some schools have come over and they’ll, they’ll do their prom at our, at our ranch as well. And fundraisers we are very supportive of, of local events and fundraisers in the area.

Paul Ward (05:20):

Okay. Now, I imagine that weddings have changed over time. The, the, the wants and needs of brides is, is kind of, you know, everything changes in life and you know, what a bride wants today is probably not what she wanted 5, 10, 15 years ago. What, what have you seen, what are the changes that you’ve seen in this industry?

Rebecca McCormick (05:40):

A lot of changes in style. So a lot, a lot of couples, and I think it’s just with the, with social media and the fact that you can kind of look and get anything off Etsy. You could order stuff off Amazon and you actually, you’re just open to seeing more with seeing big rights can, couples can see what’s out there. So couples like to kind of put their own little stamp on, on their wedding and make it very and very much themselves. So and that goes hand in hand with the fact that they can bring in any type of food. Hmm.

Paul Ward (06:10):

So

Rebecca McCormick (06:11):

We’re seeing a lot of, they’ll bring in pizza ovens was as they’ve been very popular over the last couple years. He is

Paul Ward (06:18):

Really?

Rebecca McCormick (06:19):

Yeah. Wood, wood, wood fire, pizza ovens or larger trailers. Things like tacos, of course, food trucks. We have the space to, to bring in, you know, a food, a few, few food trucks if you’d like for, for your event. So that’s been very popular as well.

Paul Ward (06:36):

So you’ve seen that for wedding at weddings, pizzas and food trucks?

Rebecca McCormick (06:40):

Yeah. Oh, yeah. In and out habit. Just to name a few. Sometimes couples are from two different cultures, so they’ll bring two different types of, of, of food in into the event. So that’s been very interesting. The other interesting aspect is sometimes they want a little bit more of a casual feel. Like you mentioned, we are an outdoor ranch facility. There, you know, we have beautiful gardens, but they wanna kind of, it kind of, they wanna kind of an outdoor relaxing, you know, sip your cocktails, drink your wine type day. And now we’re seeing cornhole come out giant Jenga you know, lawn games at, at, at weddings. So it’s been great.

Paul Ward (07:27):

And it’s kind of, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s neat too because I mean, you know, there’s still to, to traditional church option, right. But absolutely, you’re getting married and then you literally just turn around and the party starts. It’s not like you have to, you know, leave the venue, leave the church, leave the venue, and then everybody congregates again an hour later at the reception hall. No, no. You’re kind of like a one stop shop

Rebecca McCormick (07:53):

E Exactly. It’s a celebration from the minute everyone parks their car, they walk into the venue. Many times they’re greeted with a, you know, with be able to have a drink before the ceremony, find your seat, you know, have the ceremony in one part, one of our gardens. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And then many times they choose to go to another garden and do a, a, a very lovely cocktail hour. Okay. Where that’s where people get really either, you know, they’re socializing and they’re drinking and they’re eating, and then maybe escorted to the front part of the house, which is the big front lawn area, which is where the guest tables will be and, and dance floor and, and things like that. So that’s, so that’s been, that’s been nice how the way couples have, it’s the same property. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. But even in, in over 20 years, I can just see it redesigned by people in a different way. And then likewise, photographers come out and they have just different eyes. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And they capture, they just captured different shots. And still today I am like, wow, I didn’t, you know, I didn’t see that. I didn’t see that. That’s, that’s lovely. So, right. Yeah. To

Paul Ward (09:02):

Me. Interesting. and I imagine as an event planner, not everything always goes smoothly, right? I mean, you’ve got weather and you maybe you’ve got a caterer that didn’t, you know, got a flat tire and, you know, how do you improvise in in moments like that?

Rebecca McCormick (09:17):

Well, experience has helped a lot <laugh>. So yeah. So experience has helped a lot. Yeah. You, you, you, you know, you do your best as a coordinator and a venue and, you know, to to kind of be ready for anything that comes your way. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So you have a lot of padding in that timeline. Working with fantastic vendors really helps. I can’t say enough about the vendors that we have here in Ventura County. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> when, you know, we do a lot of referral vendor referrals and we have some fantastic vendors here in Ventura County. And, you know, even a little, a little bit outside of our county as well. But yeah, things happen. Traffic Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> Flat Tire. It’s, it’s all happened. And so we just, everyone just kind of does, does what we need to do to kind of fix, fix the whole, or, you know, or help a vendor. I’ve had a vendor once they got stuck or lost, I can’t remember, but they needed to get set up quickly for that appetizer hour. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we had the serving staff greet them at the gates. I mean, they had limited time whipped in helped ’em unload. And as a team, they got everything. And the display was gorgeous. They got the display up, they got all ready to go, but just in time for as the crowd started walking in <laugh>.

Paul Ward (10:42):

Wow.

Rebecca McCormick (10:43):

Yeah. The extras and it, and it was all fine. Yeah. So, I mean, things, things do happen. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> weather, mother nature sometimes, you know, is a little difficult.

Paul Ward (10:54):

Right. So

Rebecca McCormick (10:55):

We have a wonderful company that we work with for tenting. And they’ve, they’ve come out and they’ll put a really huge, beautiful tent out on the front lawn and you know, and we just design it the way the whole thing will need to be redesigned underneath the tent, the whole setup. But we do it. And, and there you go.

Paul Ward (11:17):

And, and you do multiple events per week, correct? You’re not just like a Saturday?

Rebecca McCormick (11:24):

No. Yeah, no, Ty typically we are in Operation Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. And then we do offer, you know, rehearsals usually before that. So, you know, kind of the, our week sort of starts on a Thursday. And then during weddings during the week, we do get some requests for those. Not a lot. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> as mostly the Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> working.

Paul Ward (11:49):

And, and where do you see the industry going in the future? I mean, budgets are all over the place. Some folks are on a shoestring budget and some folks wanna, you know, this is their most important day of their life so far, and they wanna, you know, go to town and no expense spared. How do you, how do you accommodate kind of all budgets?

Rebecca McCormick (12:10):

E exactly. So we get, we get a lot of that. I’ve seen so many diverse bbu budgets happening. So what I, what we’re seeing what I’m seeing right now are smaller weddings. Mm. So we’re, they’re, what I mean by smaller is anywhere from a hundred to about 130 folks. Okay. And every once in a while, I, we used to get a lot more lar a lot larger weddings. ’cause Our facility can hold up to 250 people. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we see a lot larger weddings, but we’re seeing more kind of smaller intimate weddings with a hundred and 130 people. Then we’re also seeing, like I said on the, on the food on the catering side, they’ll, they’ll choose something fun like the pizza trucks or the barbecues or tacos or something that’s maybe not a more formal dinner. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

Rebecca McCormick (12:58):

But just as good and filling for their guests. And then we’re also kind of more of a casual feel. Mm. Is, you know, what we’re seeing as well. Some of our clients, they’re already married, so they just come out for the reception part. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it takes out, takes out all of that ceremony aspect. They’re just, they just come out for the celebration. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Then on the other side of the spectrum, we are still getting the large 200, 2 30, 2 50 I got last year. I was towards the end of the year, I had a lot of people that, you know, went all the way up to the, to, to the, to the maximum of 250 guests. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. With that, I’m seeing a lot of you know, parents are kind of more involved in that to help the couples with those bigger budgets and support those, those bigger budgets. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But, you know, having a lot of choices in your vendors and, and, and, and who you bring in really helps.

Paul Ward (13:53):

And I would imagine, you know, the bar right. Would, would make a difference if it’s, you know, beer and wine only, or if you’ve got, you know, mixed drinks. That would probably make a, a big difference in cost. It,

Rebecca McCormick (14:05):

It does. And for couples that want to offer that mixed drinker cocktail, great idea. Definitely. You know, your, your beer and wine champagne is nice, but if your crowd doesn’t really drink champagne then, you know, you can just toast with a, with the drink they have in hand. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> that works great. And then you can also do, you don’t have to do a full bar, but you can off offer like a, his, you know, a a a bride and groom cocktail or his hers and theirs or his, his and there, you know, however you wanna label your, your cocktails. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> you know, you just offer a couple or three very specific ones and that helps. So you can just concentrate on the certain type of liquor that you’re buying. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, but you’re not kind of all over the board.

Paul Ward (14:50):

Now. Have you had, had, have you, have you heard of any trends out there or seen anything online that, that you haven’t had come to your venue yet that you thought, oh wow, that would be interesting if somebody requested that, or I might suggest that.

Rebecca McCormick (15:05):

Yeah. Not quite yet, although we are just, I am still just kind of meeting up with my clients for this 2024 season and 2025 and kind of starting to talk about their new ideas. We are actually a lot of bar trailers, people are really loving those cute bar trailers, whether it’s a little horse type trailer or I have, I have a larger vintage trailer that, that we do bring out for our clients for, for their bars. So they’re having a lot of fun with that. Bands I’m seeing, I got like four or five weddings last year. And they did have live music, they did have bands. And that is always a treat. Oh yeah.

Paul Ward (15:48):

For, yeah. Such a, such a difference. I mean, it’s such a

Rebecca McCormick (15:51):

Difference. Yeah.

Paul Ward (15:53):

Yeah. And what kind of, what kind of music does it do run the gamut from Country rock Spanish?

Rebecca McCormick (15:59):

It does. It does. And, and a good band can do that for you, a good like kind of a wedding band where they, where they do play a a lot of covers. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that works. There’s a, there’s a few really great ones out there. And then I’ve actually have, ’cause of, on the planning end on the background, I was able to see their like, just diverse list of music and they sat there with the client and they went through different songs in different styles. So they’re, so they are ready to go with anything

Paul Ward (16:31):

You mentioned, you just mentioned 2025. Are, are, are people really planning for 2025 already?

Rebecca McCormick (16:38):

Oh, I already have weddings booked for 2025. Wow. Oh yeah.

Paul Ward (16:43):

Tells you how naive I am.

Rebecca McCormick (16:44):

Yep. Yep. We already have weddings booked for, for 2025. We meet very actively with clients on the weekends mostly. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> some during the week, but for, for 2025. Oh yeah.

Paul Ward (16:56):

Wow.

Rebecca McCormick (16:57):

We’re ready.

Paul Ward (16:57):

What do I know? I don’t, so how, where, where exactly are you located and do you have a website that folks can check out?

Rebecca McCormick (17:06):

We do McCormick home ranch.com is the website. We also have an Instagram McCormick Home Ranch. And then we are located actually in Camarillo at 2034 East fifth Street. Okay. in Camerio. So it’s in between Los Post Las Posts Road and Pleasant Valley. Right along, there’s, there’s a little bend in the road. And, and so that’s us. We’re open for people to come and visit us. Come take a tour, come take a look, see if the venue works for you. And anything you wanna know, I I love to share my knowledge and experience with events and parties to anyone who wants to listen.

Paul Ward (17:49):

Wonderful. And what, what’s the best number for folks to reach you?

Rebecca McCormick (17:52):

The best number is 8 0 5 2 7 6 7 7 1 7. That’s a nice direct line caller texting works great for me. Yep, that’ll work.

Paul Ward (18:06):

Wonderful. Well, Rebecca McCormick, thank you so much for being our guest on this 15 minutes.

Rebecca McCormick (18:12):

Thank you for asking me.

Paul Ward (18:14):

Absolutely. And folks, if you like this episode, be sure to subscribe below to our YouTube channel and tune in for the next episode.

Rebecca McCormick (18:22):

Thanks, Paul. Have a good day.