Meet Don & Joann Neal.
A love story:
Written By Joann Neal
Though we grew up shouting distance from each other, we started dating when we worked together at O’Berry Center. We have both had long term careers in human services, and have been remodeling houses since we were first married — We just celebrated 37 years!
Joann retired as the Chief Operations Officer after 27+ years with Skill Creations, Inc and now manages the NProjectsLLC rentals. Don continues to have a career at Waynesboro Family Clinic and our daughters say he “is the man, myth and the legend behind NProjectsLLC.”
If you aren’t local, or are unfamiliar with our family, it may seem shocking that we just built an Open Air Chapel nestled in the woods, right here in Goldsboro, North Carolina…
That would be because you do not know the MIRACLES we have seen in our lives!
In 1997, our girls were TWO and SEVEN, Don got the news that…
“THE CANCERS GONE”!
In 2017, two weeks before their wedding, our youngest daughter Brooke, and her husband, were with three other young adults, 10 miles offshore fishing when their friend’s boat capsized. Prayers were lifted. The five of them SURVIVED! It was a miracle…We didn’t have a funeral! We have celebrated life since, like never before! Brooke wrote a book about their miracle, It’s available on Amazon.
She has done flowers for many weddings. She dreamed of an all white aesthetic, “clean slate”, wedding venue since she was in college, she believed “The Cornelius Properties” could be a wonderful counterpart to her FLOWER FARM… Sitting by the fire at The Camp (the home that is now our grooms suite) one evening, Don and Joann decided that the long-discussed idea of helping their daughter build a wedding venue would be wonderful on this very property… An OPEN AIR CHAPEL in the woods, to God be the glory, forever and ever… AMEN!
So, in the fall of 2020, we marked a path in the woods and tagged the trees to remove; deciding just how to situate the Chapel back in the woods; construction on Birdsong Chapel was underway!
Brooke, our youngest daughter, is a flower farmer & florist; she had the vision for this place!
This is her dream.
We realize the importance of family and building this venue has been a way for us to spend more time together. This project has brought our immediate and extended family together… It has been and continues to be the project of a lifetime!
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven..."
“Birdsong Chapel stands as a testament to our faith in God” -Joann Neal
We had planned to use a large white tent for receptions. The more we talked about it, the more we talked ourselves out of that. Having saved pictures of white barns for years, ideas spilled out when Don and Joann agreed that a reception hall would be needed. A “Carriage House” style building with a line of square windows over a line of “carriage doors”. A sheltered back porch that backed up to the woods. Carriage Hall was in the works!
So, our family has used The Honeymoon House, the Camp and the pond/nature area for several years. We built The Birdsong Chapel and Carriage Hall on the farm specifically for weddings!
To book a private tour of the venue, click here.
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