Wedding Farm: Wrapping Up a New Series

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Will this series continue? I'm not sure. It partially depends on how many more brides will have their weddings at Roloff Farms, and how many of those will agree to be recorded. It also relies on whether the family will decide to keep up with that new enterprise - it seems to be much tougher than Matt originally anticipated. Still, it was nice to round things out with a nice episode focused on the family. It actually made me hopeful to get more updates on the kids - three out of four are now out of the home, so time's are a-changin'! What did you think of the series - should it continue?

Credit: TLC

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "Matt and Amy's 25th Anniversary" (S01E06): As per their usual, Matt and Amy need to compromise on the size and level of formality for their 25th anniversary celebration. [I was kinda put off that Matt didn't help much with the planning the first time!] While they're arguing and taking pictures and whatnot, Jeremy and Molly come home for a weekend to make a video for their parents. [was it really that short?] Amy tries on her wedding dress and wonders why she chose puffy sleeves. [haha!] We get a review of the couple's courtship: met in March, engaged within a few months, and married in September. [I laughed at how Matt talks about Amy's good cooking won him over.]

Matt comes up with a rap for Amy which Jacob and Zach think is ridiculous, but she finds it funny. Amy attaches tons of photos to some panels. Zach and Jeremy bake a cake but they don't wait for it to cool before frosting it. [I have to worry about people in their twenties who have never baked a cake... that's an easy lesson there.] Jeremy brings his girlfriend, Audrey, to the celebration, which Molly misses. After watching the video, they play the Newlywed Game. The kids give them a branding iron with their initials. [I thought that was expected, just as Zach pointed out they've been giving them to the newlywed couples all summer.] 

Celebration aside, Zach, Tori, Matt, Amy, and Jacob visited Molly for the weekend. [she is crazy fortunate to have a mixer at college, but how often will she really use it??] She shows them around and Matt reminisces. [lol, a baby on a tractor??]

Wedding Farm: Hawaiian Wedding; Zach's Announcement

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I was surprised when I heard that this episode would feature the final wedding of the season for the Roloffs, but I'm sure that not all brides want to be filmed for television, so no big surprise there. I wonder how bookings for the next season are going - if they even decide to continue!  I had mixed feelings when I saw the preview for the next episode, featuring Matt and Amy's 25th wedding anniversary event, because you just know they're going to butt heads! Speaking of which, I thought that their attitudes toward Zach deciding to move out were interesting... it seems that he's kinda been directionless for some time now, especially if he's really stopped taking classes. I hope that this is just the step he needs to make some decisions about what he wants to do and he doesn't come running home before long. Besides, some coverage of how the three oldest Roloffs are doing off the farm could be cool, although I don't see Molly really giving the public much of a view of her life. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

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I didn't see any episode-specific images available for this one so I thought I'd share a map of the farm.

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "Matt Versus the Volcano" (S01E05): Matt has been trying to get Zach or Jacob to help around the farm but neither is really interested, especially Zach, who admits to his father that he's not really planning to make his life the property. [kudos to Zach for being honest.] In fact, Zach takes his parents to lunch to tell them that he wants to move in with some friends. Matt is surprised that Zach is willing to make a one-year commitment and Amy asks if he's planning to re-enroll in school. Privately, both wonder if Zach's ready to move out, with Amy figuring he'll return in six months and Matt thinking Zach's just wasting money. [you know what the family hasn't talked about in a long time now? Those LPA conferences. I wonder if they go and they're not filmed or if they've just been busy with other things. Maybe it could be helpful to Zach to see what other LPs are doing without his parents hovering.] 

Anyway, on with the wedding! A bride named Shannon wants a Hawaiian-themed wedding because her plans to marry in the Aloha State fell apart. The couple has been together for about seven years and have a six-year-old daughter together, though they've only been engaged for about a year. They want to invite 125 but the event is in just ten days so they estimate that only 80 or so will show. [that's crazy short notice!] Matt books a fire dancer and wants to build a beach, though he's thinking bigger than is needed. [as always, LoL!] He also wants to build a volcano, which Amy is okay with until he wants to add napalm to make a "boom." [I can't blame her!] He also wants more than baking soda and water, though the "lava" doesn't really end up working so they stick to fire and a fog machine instead. [I thought it was pretty neat, though I'm not sure it was as impressive in real life as it was on television.]

The big day-of struggles for this wedding includes kicking out a photographer whom wouldn't confirm with the couple in advance and the bride's gown being MIA for a while, causing the ceremony to start late. [I'm not sure how any period of time went by without someone realizing the dress wasn't there... either a bad wedding planner or bad bridesmaids, LoL! and what was with those leafy suspenders??]

Wedding Farm: Chickens, Crashers, Rain...

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I'm not really sold on this show. I love the Roloffs and seeing what they're doing these days, but watching them host weddings on their property isn't that exciting. The formula for the past couple of episodes has basically been the same - a couple books with Roloff Farms, Matt & Co. try to spruce up the grounds to fit the bill, the big day comes and there's some issue, everything works out in the end. If the next episode is exactly the same, I'll probably stop covering it here, though I'll still watch for the family updates. What do you think about this show? Does it have a future? Is it seriously procedural or am I making it out to be harsher than it is?

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "Big Wedding, Big Problems" (S01E04): Matt wants to draw a big wedding from Craigslist so they can get a bigger profit, figuring they can handle 250 guests. [that's pretty large! I was surprised that Amy thought they could handle 300!] Couple Mike and Bri want a rustic/romantic outdoor wedding and specifically want a barn setting, a field, and a chandelier. They invite 350 people, which is more than the barn will hold, prompting both Matt and Amy to suggest having tents to accommodate the party, but the couple declines. [I don't understand why... Oregon isn't the sunniest state. was it a budget concern??] Their event will be in nine weeks, just after Amy's charity foundation's fourth annual fundraiser at the farm. [[are Matt and Amy considering accepting bookings for NEXT summer? or are they worried this won't work out and they'll be doing something different by then? also, sixty volunteers is a lot!] Mike wants to build a trellis so he goes through Matt's wood collection, asking for some "rare" pieces. [I'm no carpenter so I was lost as to what "rare wood" would be!] Matt would have used those beams differently, but Matt likes his finished product. [I guess that's good. did they take it with them or is it part of the farm's "props" now?]

Amy's event goes well, except that she has to shut down the band early when neighbors complain about the noise. The day of the wedding, however, a lot manages to go wrong. First, the girls lost power in the bridal suite and find several roosters in a closet while looking for the circuit breaker. Fortunately, the girls are willing to help Matt catch the chickens. [um. if this happened at the condo where my bridesmaids and I stayed the night before my wedding, I can guarantee you we would not have been so cooperative!]

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Then, there are issues with the water pump. So, while Zach and Tori help the caterers, Matt figures out what's going on with the plumbing. Then, thanks to a different wedding in the same area, they have crashers at the wrong event. [holy cow! how does this happen?? They didn't put up signs that said "Smith-Jones Wedding"??] PLUS, thunder starts rolling and it ends up raining throughout the ceremony. Of course, this causes a mad dash for the barn, quickly violating fire code. The event planner won't kick people out of there, so Amy announces that they need to leave. Furthermore, Matt and Amy then need to patrol the grounds because people were wandering all over the place. [this has got to be the worst event yet for the Roloffs! Who would have thought that the guests would just find it okay to go gallivanting around the venue's property??]

Wedding Farm: Erica & Kristen

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I'm still a bit confused as to what made Matt decide to use the extra land for a wedding venture. But, I'm glad that the brides have seemed happy with their events. I know that those weddings were not the type of soiree I would have wanted (my wedding was more of a semi-formal affair), and I certainly would have thumbed-down portable toilets for the guests. Still, there's a reasonable amount of "conflict" in the episodes, with something going wrong amongst the staff or with the venue. I did like Amy telling Matt that he should text her if "all hell is breaking loose." I find it a bid odd and off-putting that the couple is talking so much about their children's future weddings. I mean, I understand that they desire for the kids to marry on their estate, but Zach is the only one even close to such a milestone, and I'd hate for him to be pushed into it before he's ready. Am I reading too much into it?

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "A Matrimonial Mess" (S01E02): They're over-budget and behind schedule on making the farm wedding-worthy when the first bride signs on for the venue. Erica's original choice became unavailable five weeks before the date, but her "rustic" theme will fit well on Roloff Farms. [I have a lot of respect for people who have complete DY weddings. the best thing I ever did for my obsessive-compulsive self was hire a wedding planner and only have to make final decisions rather than combing through oodles of information and weed out individual services myself.] Amy offers Jeremy's videographer services, so he brings along a friend to help with that. Matt thought that Zach would help host, but he'd rather do something behind-the-scenes. Jacob will be directing parking for the wedding.

Amy is increasingly paranoid that they won't finish in time as Matt keeps adding personal touches. They get lucky and the grass comes in the morning of the big day, but there are other concerns, like hornets and wind gusts. [the "country chic doors" were a little odd, I thought. hay bales for seating during the reception??] Plus, the couple receives a branding iron made with their initials as a gift from the Roloffs. [interesting, but really more of an ornamental gift than a practical one.]

Little People, Big World: Wedding Farm "Molly Moves Out" (S01E03): The grounds were a little more torn-up after the first wedding than they expected, so Matt creates a loading dock so trucks don't drive all over the lawn again. If you thought that five weeks was a short time to prepare for a wedding, meet Kristen, who has a country-western wedding for 160 people on just two weeks of notice. See, the groom is in the military and barely has time to get married, so Matt wants to make everything extra-special by using the stagecoach to transport the couple to the Western Town to take photos.

TLC

In preparation for the big day, one of Matt's handymen (Sven) points out that Matt is not an ideal manager, but it soon blows over. A big concern is whether the stagecoach will actually be able to be pulled by horses, as it had never been tried in the past. That works out okay, allowing everyone to focus on the bigger problem: the bride-and-groom cake tumbled upon arrival and Zach and Tori rush out to pick up a replacement. [Kristen had some long nails!] But, the 16" is too large, so the couple race to get another one just in time. [I don't understand why so much time elapsed between the incident and when the first cake was picked up...] 

This episode also offered some extra drama, as Molly left for college (I believe she's attending Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington) the same day as the wedding. First, we saw her, Zach, and some friends go to the beach and try a skimboard. Then, Amy takes her golfing. Everyone keeps questioning what she is choosing not to bring with her, but she's got bigger worries, like whether or not to double-major in Accounting and Spanish. 

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).