From the Bride... Tony and I were high school sweethearts, together seven years prior to getting engaged. The instant we started planning, we knew what kind of wedding we wanted to have: a rustic vintage affair — not too big — in a barn. Our venue, The Windmill Winery, is in the middle of nowhere in Florence, Arizona, and it has a beautiful barn, which was tough to find in Arizona. The little touches of the owners made it so unique and special. So we booked it almost a year and a half in advance and had a date of 11/12/11. Once we got to planning, I was a full-blown DIY bride. My mom and I made burlap table clothes, the men's boutonnieres, tracked down balsa wood flowers for the bouquets, handmade every favor of flower seeds in test tubes and even designed our own invitations. It was a year of endless projects to make things memorable for our guests. We even handmade the grapevine initials for the barn door. Tony was an Eagle Scout and somehow we stuck with a theme of tying the knot. We had more twine and rope around our house than I could keep track of, but it had meaning to us and that's what our special day was all about. I loved working on everything myself because it had all come from my head and my heart. My mother was a saint for keeping me sane and for all of her help. The next thing we knew we wanted was our whole bridal party, including us, to all wear J.Crew. My family, my maid of honor and my best friend, who was a bridesmaid, even took a week's vacation to New York so I could try on and pick my wedding dress in the J.Crew wedding boutique. My necklace, which we had previously purchased a different trip to New York, was my stand-out piece. I fell in love with it instantly. The girls all wore slate gray dresses with a similar neckline to mine and gray wedge TOMS. The men all wore J.Crew Shirts, ties, Levis jeans, Chuck Taylors and orange socks from J.Crew. My husband also wore a J.Crew jacket.

It was so wonderful keeping certain things for the day of the ceremony. We chose to do a first look, and it was wonderful to share that moment with each other,but we both still lost it as he saw me come towards him with my dad. I also saved a secret song to walk down the aisle to. The reception was so much fun — it was just one great big dance party! We served our guests burgers, onion rings and fries, and it was so delicious! We had smore's and smore's cupcakes for dessert for the guests. We had even made a trail mix bar for guests to pack up a little late night snack full of M&M's, nuts, raisins, cereal and marshmallows. It will be a day we never forget, and I am so glad that all of the sweat, tears and time we put it made the day and night enjoyable for our family and friends.

Wedding Photography: About Love Inspired Photography / Wedding Venue: The Windmill Winery in Florence, Arizona / Catering: Creations in Cuisine / Wedding Cake: Designer Cakes by April / Cupcakes: Our Lady of Cupcakes / S'mores: Sweet Lydia's Bakery / Wedding Invitations: Promise Tangeman Creative / All Wedding Attire: J.Crew / Bridesmaids' Shoes: TOMS / Men's Jean's: Levi's / Men's Shoes: Converse / Makeup: Amanda Tzavaras of Makeup by Amanda