Picking just the right spot to host the Big Day is no easy task. But when you’ve got grandparents with a walnut orchard that’s straight out of a storybook, the tough decision instantly becomes simple. Add in a sister-of-the-bride slash pro wedding designer and the amazing Abi Q behind the lens, and you’ve got a wedding that’s worth a nice, long look. Get started right here!
From Ali of Kindred… Being in the event business, we are honored every day to take the stories of our sweet clients and translate them into something visual, something visceral, something that will end up being lasting memories for the couple.
But this really isn’t like that. It’s not every day your little sister asks you to help design the wedding you guys spent your childhood imagining together in your mother’s flowy white bathrobes with flower crowns and heels you’d maybe one day grow into. Let me tell you simply, that is an entirely different kind of wedding design. (For one, you cry. so. much. more.)
When Jenna first started talking about Bryan Cox, she used his twitter handle, @SirCoxalot, and honestly, I think we were all a little taken aback that my golden, demure, sweet spirited sister was captured so intensely by this brazenly goofy tennis-playing, business-and-history guy. But then we met him. And his entire extended family, embraced by cousins and Aunt Debbie, Grammie and all. And we celebrated. Oh how we celebrated.
Jenna and Bryan chose a venue steeped in rich memories and nostalgia for us, our grandparent’s walnut orchard. As far back as we can remember, we have spent our Christmases in the home Gram was born in, playing under the canopy of the walnut trees our father planted as a teen. While this lent us the rich colors and the stunning simplicity of soil, sapling and sky, we had to face the facts that this was a working farm… not an event space. Every aspect was a labor of love. Our father took an open area of the orchard used for storage, moved the decades-old, rusty old equipment, leveled the ground, seeded grass, and put in sprinklers so there would be some straight, solid green ground for the merriment to happen on.
Jenna and Bryan selected every one of their vendors with this sort of significance. Mornings with the family at the farmer’s market turned into asking the delicious woodfire pizza vendor to provide the food for the evening. Their former campus pastor and mentor was asked to officiate their union. We were so honored to create many of the details for their wedding. Talented friends were called up and asked if they would share their skills to make the night more beautiful, more delicious, more memorable. Something stunning happens when we get to celebrate the love of the right two people beginning a life together; it’s a story we all want to share in. So the celebration week was a whirlwind making stunning florals, skilled friends arranging seating charts, the laughter of family surrounding Jenna getting ready, songs by former schoolmates, and the dancing, singing, crowd-surfing celebration of hundreds and family and friends for Jenna and Bryan as they decided to start their lives together.
Photography: Abi Q Photography | Flowers: Alysa Johnson | Dress:: La Soie Bridal | Make-up: Michelle Brown | Hair: Allie Devitt | Lighting: Brandon Storz | DJ: Justin Prahar, Sounds to Go | Officiant: Ben Patterson | Venue: Nelson Walnut Orchard | Dance Floor/Rentals: America's Party Rentals | Day of Planner: Blissed Out Bride | Dessert: Whistle Stop Cafe | Farm Tables Rental:: Forever Vintage Rentals | Flowers, Details, Installations, Design:: Kindred | Pizza: Bella Familia Pizza | Salads/Appetizers: Linda And Jeff Miller