NEW SHOW: Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I sometimes don't 100% understand why the Roloffs left/returned. Things were getting tense in that house, but not all that much has changed. Because of the semi-annual specials, we've been kept up-to-date with Jeremy down in Santa Barbara, Zach's relationship with Tori, Molly's growing up, and Jacob's rebellion. I was content in those hour-long catch-ups, especially since they continued to feature pumpkin season at the farm. I'm not sure how this "wedding farm" venture is going to go for Matt and Amy... it's clear that they don't know what they're doing and have undertaken quite a bit in a very short period of time. Still, because it's being called a "series," I imagine that at least a few brides have decided to set their momentous occasions there. What I really wonder about is how Matt sold the idea that this would work to TLC... but maybe we'll get a glimpse of that as time moves forward...

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "A New Chapter" (S01E01): Matt needs to make the new property (which they first started considering a LONG time ago) work for the farm, so he wants to start a wedding business. A landscape architect comes out and they work with a surveyor to design some plans. [Matt's office is now in a different building?] There's a very old barn that needs renovating, but things get going very quickly (they have to, "wedding season" is only a few months away) and Matt doesn't take budget into consideration. [he never does, I don't know why Amy hasn't just accepted that at this point!] Amy wants some basics to happen now and wait for the rest, but he doesn't think brides will book without seeing a finished product. [isn't Oregon pretty rainy? do that many people have outdoor weddings there?] They level the area where the ceremony will be by moving gravel from one area of the farm to another, and Matt decides to "up" the landscape plan in an all-or-nothing move, which Amy doesn't like. They also move the chapel from Western Town over to this area, and it suffers a stress fracture along the way. They have an open house for local wedding planners and answer various questions. There are no toilets (that type of plumbing isn't available out there), but the planners want to know about tables and chairs (not included) and tent stakes (not yet decided). [perhaps I'd be pretty caught off-guard by those questions... but at the same time you know you'd be faced with some basics... right?] No wedding planners call them back and they have zero brides booked by the close of the episode.

TLC

Other things taking place for the family include shooting a commercial to promote Roloff Farms for pumpkin season, which Jeremy comes up to watch. And, Molly graduated from high school. Matt and Amy buy her watch (arguing about what kind along the way and making Jacob try them on) and Jeremy comes home to be at graduation. She cries when she gives her "thank yous" and tells everyone she'll miss them when she's off at college (in Spokane).