Michael Garcia Staff writer July 21, 2024

Angela and Travis Kovar had always dreamed of running a wedding venue after getting married in 2017 — just a weekend after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. 

They were married in a rustic barn venue in Montgomery. When the Kovars looked at the former owners of Big Sky Barn, they saw themselves in them — a husband and wife with similar backgrounds. 

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The seed for The Blue Magnolia, a premier equestrian inspired farmhouse wedding and event venue, had been planted, Travis Kovar said. 

In 2019, the Kovar’s sold their home in the Heights and moved to The Woodlands in pursuit of looking for land to build their dream venue. And one day while jogging, Travis Kovar noticed a 10 acre equestrian horse farm off FM 1488, between The Woodlands and Magnolia.

He dreamed that maybe one day he could build him and his wife’s dream venue on top of the property, he said. Then shortly after, the property became available. 

“(Me and my wife) looked at each other and destiny seemed to be forming right before our eyes,” Travis Kovar said. “And we went all in. We sat down and talked to each other (and) we realized this is absolutely the gamble that we want to take if we were able to take one.”

A $10 million venue with greenery and space

As of July, the roughly $10 million venture is soon to become a reality for the Kovars, with the opening of the venue planned for May 2025. Angela Kovar said nine weddings and a prom are already in the works ahead of the opening. 

When walking onto the site, the Kovars vision can be seen — a 20,000 square-foot venue with a chapel, interior cocktail area, a grand staircase leading into the reception, a second-story bridal suite and a detached grooms suite.

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The final touch is the planned greenery space that surrounds the venue, including a 32-year-old blue magnolia tree that will face newly weds when they officially say “I do.” 

There are also plans for people to rent out the space for other events, Angela Kovar said. 

It had been a lot of ups and downs to get to this point, she said. While chasing this dream, the Kovars were also raising their two children, who are now ages two and four. 

“It was a lot of emotions going on,” Angela Kovar said. “I think the most…rewarding part for me now seeing where we are at is having people come and tour and say this is the most beautiful land they’ve ever seen…getting that gratification that we’ve always felt towards this land and then having others see the true beauty of it as well.”

A dream realized

There were several obstacles the Kovars had to go through in order to make their dreams come true. First, they had to convince Angela Kovar’s father, Randy Barr, to invest in the dream as well. And then, they had to secure a loan from different banks as well as price increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

And now, seeing a building in place, the land cleared and roughly 30 to 40 workers on a given day is “mind blowing,” Travis Kovar said. 

There were some fears the Kovars shared during and post COVID-19. The couple had been turned down by enough banks that they feared they would be at a significant loss since they threw “absolutely everything we had into it,” Travis Kovar said. The couple was on the verge of leaving their dream behind.

“We said one more year,” he said. “And 10 months after that is when we finally got our yes. So, we were right there on the edge of this dream really ending. And now, to see how far along we are, it’s unreal for sure. We pinch ourselves daily.”

For more information on the wedding venue, visit thebluemagnoliatx.com. 

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