The Venue at Carley Brook — Kendal Steffen (Coker)

*Photo Credit: Madison Sears Photography*

I took a short detour from the agency track in 2024 to start and run a wedding venue in the Poconos, building both the brand and the physical space from the ground up.

I developed the name, identity, designed a fully custom website, and led the creative decisions for the physical build—setting the vision, working with a 3D rendering team to communicate it to contractors, and overseeing the project through completion. That meant handling everything from hiring woodworkers and choosing finishes to dialing in details like light fixtures and paint colors.

Alongside that, I built the social presence well before opening, generating demand and booking 144 weddings before the first event. I also set up media partnerships with platforms like The Knot, WeddingWire, and Here Comes The Guide so the brand showed up where couples were already looking.

I also hired 18 employees, coordinated weddings (with zero experience), navigated the permitting process, ran payroll and cleaned the toilets.

It was a different kind of creative work—more hands-on, closer to the outcome and fully invested in the results.

Check out our website: carleybrook.com

Or, check out the scroll below.

You can read reviews, see more photos and learn about the project on The Knot, WeddingWire and Here Comes The Guide.

Here’s a snippet from one of my bride’s review:

…I cannot say enough about how beautiful the venue was and how great TVaCB and their staff was; especially our lead coordinator, Kendal…Kendal worked with us months out on our details…On our wedding day, she handled everything with professionalism, composure, and poise…We were blown away by how beautiful the venue looked—it exceeded our expectations...I would highly recommend their venue and would get married here a million times over!
Hannah