Love/Give: Celebrating With Purpose at The Maine Barns
Many of the couples who celebrate at The Maine Barns share a particular relationship with this state. Some grew up here, shaped by its landscape and its quieter pace. Others discovered Maine at summer camp, or college, or on a trip that turned into a ritual — returning each summer to the same stretch of coast, the same set of pines, the same feeling of arriving somewhere that asks nothing of you except to be present.
For these couples, choosing Maine for a wedding is rarely just a venue decision. It is a homecoming of sorts. A way of bringing the people they love most into a place that has always felt like a refuge, across its farms, forests, coastline, and communities. Maine has given them something over the years, and a wedding here is an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge that.
Emily Delamater
Love/Give is The Maine Barns' way of making that possible. Introduced by owners Mike and Essie Haimes in 2020, the program donates a percentage of proceeds from every event hosted at Flanagan Farm or Walnut Hill to nonprofit organizations that are making a difference for Maine’s people and places across five key issue areas.
The Love/Give program grew naturally from Mike and Essie’s backgrounds in social impact work, as well as their belief that businesses can and should be rooted in generosity and connection with the communities around them.
After their celebration, couples can choose the cause that resonates most with them and a donation is made in their honor. For many, it becomes one of the more quietly meaningful decisions of the entire weekend: a way for the celebration to leave a small but lasting imprint on a place that has given them so much.
The Leighton Co.
The Five Impact Areas
Each year, Love/Give supports organizations doing exceptional work across five issue areas that are core to the wellbeing of Maine's people and places.
Social Justice & Equity: Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP)
The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project is Maine's only statewide immigration legal services organization. ILAP advances justice and equity for immigrants and their families through legal services, community education, and advocacy.
LGBTQIA+ Rights: EqualityMaine
EqualityMaine has led the work of LGBTQ equality in Maine since 1984. Through education, advocacy, and community-building, the organization works to create safer and more inclusive communities across the state.
The Environment: Natural Resources Council of Maine
Maine's forests, rivers, farmland, and coastline shape the character of the state and the experience of gathering here. The Natural Resources Council of Maine works to protect those resources through environmental advocacy, conservation, and climate initiatives.
Wellbeing of Children & Families: Spurwink Services
Spurwink provides mental health care, education, and residential support for children, adolescents, adults, and families throughout Maine.
Food Insecurity: Good Shepherd Food Bank
Good Shepherd Food Bank leads Maine's statewide effort to address hunger, distributing nutritious food through a network of more than 500 partner agencies including food pantries, schools, senior programs, and healthcare providers.
Sarah Morrill
A Celebration That Reflects Your Values
Weddings are one of the most meaningful gatherings many couples will ever host. The choices surrounding that celebration — where it takes place, the people involved, the values it reflects — can carry lasting significance well beyond the weekend itself.
Love/Give offers couples celebrating at Flanagan Farm or Walnut Hill a simple and genuine way to align their celebration with the values they share. The contribution comes entirely from The Maine Barns, directed to whichever cause feels most resonant, made in honor of the couple and their weekend together.
It is, at its heart, a simple idea: that a celebration rooted in a place should give something back to it. And that the most meaningful weddings are often the ones that carry something forward — into the communities, the landscapes, and the shared life that follows.