At first glance, Twin Meadows Farm, 361 Mountain Road, Montoursville, may look like any other large capacity venue, but as owner and operator Melony Hartranft stressed, the space comes with a staff and experience to match its size.

“Before opening Twin Meadows Farm, I had done catering for 25 years through Mel’s Deli and Cafe, which was our main business,” Hartranft said.

“It’s probably been a 20-year dream, but we didn’t have anywhere to do it,” Hartranft said of opening up her own catering and venue space.

Though she had no formal education in food service, Hartranft comes from a strong background in the field, including home economics.

“That was my favorite classes in school, and then I worked at Elby’s and Family Affair in Montoursville, and I knew I loved the restaurant business, the ins and outs of it, the waitressing, making the food, every aspect of it,” she said, adding that both sides of her and her husband’s family love to cook.

“We’re foodies,” she said.

After years of doing food set up in locations that were “less than user friendly,” Hartranft’s dream came true after her father sold her additional property.

On the property stood an old pole barn containing storage and a horse area, which the family gutted and fully refurbished, which included adding a floor and doors to the property.

While the venue predominantly hosts weddings, the space can be utilized for a number of different events, including baby showers, bridal showers, and seasonal events such as their upcoming Mother’s Day Tea and a Christmas Market the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving, which drew nearly 1,000 people its first year.

“It’s not extremely cold yet, and we have local vendors and food vendors in the side yard, and my husband has a fire going, and we stick the benches around it. Our neighbor would say, ‘oh, it’s like a Hallmark movie,’ because we have a kettle corn vendor, so that smell is in the air, and there’s Christmas music playing, and our friend, Tim, always puts his Santa suit on,” Hartranft said.

“It’s a fun use of the space,” she added.

To be as accommodating as possible, renters are given access to the property the day prior to their event in order to give them adequate set up time for decorating and rehearsal.

“They get our undivided attention for sure,” said Aubri Pyles, Hartranft’s daughter who works as a coordinator at Twin Meadows.

“It’s kind of like a one stop shop, as far as the catering and the venue. As the venue coordinator, I’m focused on making sure that everything’s in order for their special day,” Pyles said.

“Our guests go over a seating plan of how they want their tables and chairs and everything set up, and that’s all done for them when they get here,” Pyles said.

“We’re here the whole time too, and it’s definitely a family affair. My husband has a full time job, and he’s typically here helping park cars and directing people and fixing things when they break,” Hartranft said.

For those interested, Twin Meadows also offers a wedding coordinator, who focuses on aspects specific to how the wedding proceeds.

With tables and seating, the venue can comfortably accommodate up to 150 guests, though their standing room only events can easily handle large crowds.

On the catering side, Twin Meadows offers a largely traditional menu, including filled chicken breast, pulled beef with horse radish cream, pulled pork, macaroni and cheese and baked corn, though they have delved into other options such as apricot-stuffed pork.

All food is prepared at Mel’s Diner, and transported to the venue.

Hartranft credits the success of the venture with 25 years of consistent, quality service at Mel’s Diner.

“If we started from the ground up, without these good relationships, I feel like it would have been a lot harder to get a foothold,” she said.

“And, it’s great because we have people that continue to come back to us as customers, that we did their weddings, and now they have three, four, sometimes five kids,” Hartranft said.

“We treat our customers like they’re part of our family, and I feel like that radiates with people too,” Hartranft said.

“We form connections with them because we work with them for so long, so when it comes to their actual wedding day, it’s so bittersweet,” she said, adding that couples that have been married at Twin Meadows have stopped by Mel’s to show off their babies or bring news of pregnancies.

That word of mouth reputation has brought in people not just from the region, but from as far away as Chicago.

“The couple and most of their family lived in the Chicago area with some in southern Pennsylvania, but the grandfather lived in Renovo, so they wanted to get as close as they could,” she said.

“We believe every love story deserves a beautiful beginning,” Pyles said, stressing that Twin Meadows offers highly customizable packages in order to make wedding planning feel as effortless as possible.

“We’re here to make your dream day a reality, with love where memories last a lifetime,” she said.