More than a home

Joy and Gregg Bessler open their residence to couples, guests

Posted 1/15/21

When Joy Bessler and her husband Gregg built their home in 2008, they didn’t really have her catering business or hosting in mind.

“We wanted to build a home where we could enjoy the …

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More than a home

Joy and Gregg Bessler open their residence to couples, guests

Posted

When Joy Bessler and her husband Gregg built their home in 2008, they didn’t really have her catering business or hosting in mind.

“We wanted to build a home where we could enjoy the views — and with a great room,” said Bessler, who has long loved to entertain guests.

But the home and its great room made enough of an impression that people soon began asking whether they could enjoy Bessler’s catering at her house. “And it just fell together,” she said.

Now, in addition to regularly hosting rehearsal dinners, bridal luncheons and other parties, Bessler offers her residence — and its striking views of Heart Mountain — for weddings, too.

“It’s kind of a perfect venue as far as views go,” she said.

It’s also a one-stop-shop, with rooms to change in, space for 250-plus guests on the landscaped grounds out front and room indoors for smaller ceremonies and catered meals of up to 70 people. (Couples can also bring their own tents for outdoor weddings.)

Bessler offers a wide variety of menu options through her business, Catering with Joy, and she works to tailor each event to what her customers want. For instance, she isn’t limited to her home, but is available to cater events not just in Powell, but in more remote places like Crandall and the North Fork.

“I think my biggest goal is to make it perfect for their perfect day,” she said, adding, “I want people to be their happiest, no matter what party it is. … I want it to be the best it can be.”

Bessler personally meets with clients to plan out events. And with her home sometimes doubling as the venue, it all makes for a more personal, warmer experience — for both guest and host. Within the Powell community, “the friendships that I have made by doing this is just priceless,” Bessler said.

While some folks might balk at welcoming scores of guests into their house — or wince at each clump of dirt tracked in — it doesn’t bother Bessler.

“You get a lot of mud, and you just clean it up,” she said. But, consistent with the many good relationships she’s built through her hosting, Bessler has overwhelmingly found guests to be very careful.

“I have been very blessed to have very respectful clients,” she said.

Among the events she hosts, weddings are more complicated, but Bessler is a detail-oriented person who enjoys seeing things from start to finish — and she can help coordinate with other vendors on things like flowers or cakes.

“It’s rewarding,” she said.

As one example of the customization that Bessler can offer to couples, a bride and groom were wed in a morning ceremony at her home in August, followed by a breakfast reception.

“It was absolutely a perfect, beautiful wedding,” she said.

As one of the first weddings hosted at the Besslers’ Road 12 property, it continued what’s been an unexpected, but welcome series of events. Before people began asking to use it for their gatherings, Bessler said the idea of her home serving as a venue had never dawned on her.

“I really think it was a God thing,” she said. “I really do.”

For more information, contact Bessler at 307-254-2836 or joybb63@gmail.com.

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