Nestled in wooded Benton along a winding road sits a country chapel and barn. This isn’t the village farm, though. This is Sainte Terre.

Sainte Terre, meaning “holy ground,” is an event venue, made up of the chapel, barn, terrace and bridal suite. Surrounded by trees, sweeping grounds and a nearby pond, the property is an escape from nearby Shreveport-Bossier City.

“It’s the stuff we like when we go on vacation. We wanted to bring that back to Benton,” Hospitality Director Derek Schreiber said. Schreiber along with Culinary Director Holly Moore Schreiber and Event Coordinator Hillary Moore make up the Sainte Terre team. They’re also family.

Nickel Lane, the road Sainte Terre serves as the dead end to, is populated by the Moore-Schreiber family with parents and grandparents making up the pathway to the holy ground. Hillary and Holly are from Northwest Louisiana.

“I said that I was never coming back,” Holly said. After graduating from Texas Christian University with a degree in nutrition and the French Culinary Institute in New York City, Holly worked in food and media in New York City, where she met husband, Derek. After spending time in New York with Holly working for Bravo TV Network and developing cookbooks and recipes for Country Living magazine and Alain Ducasse, to name a few, and Derek working for groups like Planet Hollywood and Les Halles Restaurant Group, the two decided to move. Though they had both worked in events, food and hospitality, they were never able to create something together. Their dream was to start their own business in their new city. The couple narrowed their next destination to Philadelphia; Boulder, Colo. or Benton.

Derek and Holly chose the nearly 2,000-person town as their new home and the site of their business. But, they didn’t know what that business would be.

They admit they probably had about 15 different business plans, ranging from restaurants to brew houses. The couple seriously considered purchasing water buffalo to enter the cheese-making business. It wasn’t until Hillary, Holly’s sister, was looking for a wedding venue that the idea of Sainte Terre came to mind.

Hillary, who worked at art and antique galleries in New Orleans before moving back to Benton, had difficulty finding a wedding venue in Northwest Louisiana. The three, along with their family, decided to make the dream of a wedding venue a reality. The company that built Sainte Terre is the same company they approached about their previous idea of cheese-making.

With their individual specialties along with family support, Sainte Terre serves an all-encompassing wedding venue.

“We just want everything to be easy,” Hillary said. As soon as a bride books with Sainte Terre, the team takes over, handling décor, theming, food, alcohol and logistics. They work with the bride’s outside vendors, like the photographer and band, so the bride does not have to.

“We’ve been through so many weddings. There are things we really want to experience and avoid. We don’t want you to have to go to 500 different places,” Holly said.

One of their goals for every wedding is to make it completely custom to the couple.

“We basically have no rules,” Holly said, explaining that they love hanging things from the ceiling, putting décor on the walls and trying something new for every bride. Hillary works to have a statement hanging piece, dangling from the barn’s high beams, for every wedding. Past examples include a sparkle-themed New Year’s Eve wedding featuring 175 clear balls filled with glitter and flat-hanging guitars adorned with flowers for a music-loving couple.

“We really try to find out what our brides are like,” Hillary said.

The venue itself lends to customization. The barn, for example, is not a traditional, rustic barn. With its dark wooden bar and futuristic light fixtures, the space can lean more country-style or modern, depending on the bride’s wishes.

“It’s a blank slate,” Derek said. Brides don’t have to use the chapel for their nuptials; tents and chairs are available for outdoor weddings, too.

In addition to weddings, Sainte Terre hosts community events like cooking classes, wine tastings and dinners. Upcoming classes include Bubbles and Truffles: Champagne and Chocolate Class and Pizza and Focaccia Workshop. Using as many local, fresh ingredients as possible, Sainte Terre works to make their menu farm-to-table.

They hope to one day expand the venue to include a Bridal Suite house, separate from the barn. It would serve as a place for the bride and her maids to sleep before the wedding and a suite for the bride and groom on their wedding night. They also hope to open a bed and breakfast on the property, making the location a destination wedding spot.

With wooden tables designed by a cousin and Holly and Hillary’s father acting as minister for the weddings (if that’s who the couple chooses), Sainte Terre is a true family affair. With their in-depth, personal planning process, the group allows their brides to become part of their family. They’ve grown close to several of their bridal parties, joking that the bride’s family sometimes doesn’t want to leave when the wedding is over.

“This is really us. The good and the bad – this is all us. It’s an organic thing that we’ve all created,” Derek said.

Go to sainteterre.com.

–Tara Bullock