Rustic Barn Wedding
It POURED rain the day before this wedding. Like a tarps are needed torrential downpour that created a virtual mud bath and required pots to catch all of the drainage. It was a water world, and you would never know it. Because the actual day-of? Sun shiny and perfect... an ode to a sweet duo who put a smile on your face, no matter the weather. See it all captured by Red Button Photography right here.
From the Bride... Cole and I met in grade 9 math, he was a new kid at our local high school and I thought he was cute, but that was where it ended for quite some time. In grade 11 we were cast as the leads in our English class' rendition of "Romeo & Juliet" and, finally, in grade 12 we began dating. We travelled through undergrad together and to professional school, finally graduating in June 2013, he as a lawyer and me as a dentist. Did I mention his graduation was 10 days prior to our nuptials, and so was his bar exam? At any rate, we were married on June 29th, 2013 but on June 28th we had much in the way of preparations to do. We drove out to the barn at 10am to start setting up and as luck would have it, the rain had already started. Our groomsmen had packed a horse trailor full of decor I had picked up throughout the year (most of which I had refinished) the night before and we drove it into the mud pit I called my wedding venue that very morning. It rained all morning, all day, all afternoon, it rained so much that water was coming through the roof and puddles were welling up and over the concrete foundation. We literally had pots on tables catching drops and our head table, covered in a beautiful sequin table cloth, had to be kept under a tarp since the rain was running in sideways through the slits in the walls. To boot, my well-designed scale mock-up of the barn was inaccurate and the tables didn't fit. It was all enough to make my eyes well up with tears, but when I looked around and saw how many people had come out to help us, these people had taken a day off from work and instead of resting they were hanging, folding, nailing and arranging all for us. As I drove home from the barn that afternoon, to get cleaned up for our rehearsal, my eyes again welled up with tears again, but happy ones. I felt like I had been given the greatest gift, I really had no idea so many people cared for Cole and I so much.
The chaos and terror that was the day before the wedding made the sunshine that shone down on us all day on the 29th so much brighter. So jump to June 29th, our day was made to be something special between Cole and I. It was important to have family and friends close and to also make the day as easy and enjoyable as possible for everyone. Our dream was to have a relaxed feeling, beautiful, romantic, happy day that celebrated the simple love we share. The day started with Cole and his friends getting photos in our hometown of Strathroy. Petra, one of my bridesmaids, allowed us to use her grandparents home to have the boys morning photos. This house was actually recently sold and has plans to be torn down, gardens and all, so she was happy for us to share one more memory there. Cole and the boys met Eric, our photographer, at the ground at 10am and got shots in and around the 4 acre estate. Eric then met myself, my mother and my bridesmaids at my mum's condo in London, Ontario for our lunch and preparation session. Mum made a beautiful lunch complete with mimosa's while the bridesmaids and I got ourselves ready. We had some extra time and I had the vibrant idea to stroll across the street to a cemetery to get some shots at a beautiful mausoleum I had seen many times on my walks or runs through the grounds. Nobody seemed keen on my thought but everyone seemed surprised by the beauty we captured here. Next the girls and I travelled in our vintage rolls royce to the barn where Cole and I would get to share our first look together in the barn. This was not only the first time I'd see Cole, but also the first time I'd see the flowers and decor all set up for the day. It was a wonderful way to take in our day together, and prepare for what was to come. We had some nice quiet moments between us and then walked hand and hand through the property to the forest behind the barn. We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the our venue and it's grounds, taking in how all of the planning had come together. By 4pm we were off for what was to be the greatest evening of our lives.
We were married in a sweet and simple ceremony by Cole's childhood pastor at the Trinity Chapel in Ailsa Craig which was filled with baby's breath and a homemade backdrop. The chapel was filled to the brim with our guests and as I looked out part way through our ceremony I could feel the love and joy from our crowd of guests as they sat just feet from us saying our vows. Our ceremony incorporated a celtic handfasting ceremony read aloud by our mothers, where we tied our hands together with Cole's late grandmother's apron (on a side note, when Cole's grandmother passed and the estate was being taken care of the family went through her home and called on anything we felt attached to, I had only been dating Cole a year but he constantly talked about his nana's cooking and so the one and only thing I kept was an apron which was conveniently blue-my something blue). We wrote our own vows and read them to each other for the first time (our something new) and exchanged wedding bands (Cole's has my fingerprint along the inside of his ring-my fingerprint was our something borrowed). We cheered and walked down the aisle to the song "Wake Me Up" by Avicii as Petra rang the wedding bells for all to hear.
One thing that was very important to us was the feel of the day, we focussed a lot on the music playing the processional songs. We wanted the chapel to feel warm and full of love and I think our guests can attest that this is exactly the feelings our ceremony emitted. After that, the lot of us travelled down the road to the Century Wedding Barn in Denfield, Ontario for our cocktail hour and reception. We served red and white sangria as well as homemade cookies, chicago mix popcorn and fruit for the mingling guests who were free to meander the grounds. At 6 we entered our reception to hey ho by the lumineers which I belted out as we walked to our seats. We then played a short memorial slideshow for those who had passed in our families and introduced our MC-my cousin Warren. Dinner was served shortly, a BBQ buffet of pulled pork and roast beef which came back with great reviews. Dessert was homemade cakes, pies, tarts and squares from my friends and family and our favors were homemade strawberry jam that I made with the help of my grandmother, aunts and mum. I'm sure you can imagine, the night ended with speeches, some simple, lovely first dances (bride and groom-Can't help falling in love by Ingrid Michaelson and father daughter-Sweet Pea by Amos Lea) and a wild party. Between the dental graduates, the law graduates, our family and our long time friends from Strathroy we had a wicked night on our hands that was dotted with photobooth pictures and a nacho bar. We had the best evening of our lives, it was sweet and lovely, the two best words to describe the relationship Cole and I share.
The chaos and terror that was the day before the wedding made the sunshine that shone down on us all day on the 29th so much brighter. So jump to June 29th, our day was made to be something special between Cole and I. It was important to have family and friends close and to also make the day as easy and enjoyable as possible for everyone. Our dream was to have a relaxed feeling, beautiful, romantic, happy day that celebrated the simple love we share. The day started with Cole and his friends getting photos in our hometown of Strathroy. Petra, one of my bridesmaids, allowed us to use her grandparents home to have the boys morning photos. This house was actually recently sold and has plans to be torn down, gardens and all, so she was happy for us to share one more memory there. Cole and the boys met Eric, our photographer, at the ground at 10am and got shots in and around the 4 acre estate. Eric then met myself, my mother and my bridesmaids at my mum's condo in London, Ontario for our lunch and preparation session. Mum made a beautiful lunch complete with mimosa's while the bridesmaids and I got ourselves ready. We had some extra time and I had the vibrant idea to stroll across the street to a cemetery to get some shots at a beautiful mausoleum I had seen many times on my walks or runs through the grounds. Nobody seemed keen on my thought but everyone seemed surprised by the beauty we captured here. Next the girls and I travelled in our vintage rolls royce to the barn where Cole and I would get to share our first look together in the barn. This was not only the first time I'd see Cole, but also the first time I'd see the flowers and decor all set up for the day. It was a wonderful way to take in our day together, and prepare for what was to come. We had some nice quiet moments between us and then walked hand and hand through the property to the forest behind the barn. We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the our venue and it's grounds, taking in how all of the planning had come together. By 4pm we were off for what was to be the greatest evening of our lives.
We were married in a sweet and simple ceremony by Cole's childhood pastor at the Trinity Chapel in Ailsa Craig which was filled with baby's breath and a homemade backdrop. The chapel was filled to the brim with our guests and as I looked out part way through our ceremony I could feel the love and joy from our crowd of guests as they sat just feet from us saying our vows. Our ceremony incorporated a celtic handfasting ceremony read aloud by our mothers, where we tied our hands together with Cole's late grandmother's apron (on a side note, when Cole's grandmother passed and the estate was being taken care of the family went through her home and called on anything we felt attached to, I had only been dating Cole a year but he constantly talked about his nana's cooking and so the one and only thing I kept was an apron which was conveniently blue-my something blue). We wrote our own vows and read them to each other for the first time (our something new) and exchanged wedding bands (Cole's has my fingerprint along the inside of his ring-my fingerprint was our something borrowed). We cheered and walked down the aisle to the song "Wake Me Up" by Avicii as Petra rang the wedding bells for all to hear.
One thing that was very important to us was the feel of the day, we focussed a lot on the music playing the processional songs. We wanted the chapel to feel warm and full of love and I think our guests can attest that this is exactly the feelings our ceremony emitted. After that, the lot of us travelled down the road to the Century Wedding Barn in Denfield, Ontario for our cocktail hour and reception. We served red and white sangria as well as homemade cookies, chicago mix popcorn and fruit for the mingling guests who were free to meander the grounds. At 6 we entered our reception to hey ho by the lumineers which I belted out as we walked to our seats. We then played a short memorial slideshow for those who had passed in our families and introduced our MC-my cousin Warren. Dinner was served shortly, a BBQ buffet of pulled pork and roast beef which came back with great reviews. Dessert was homemade cakes, pies, tarts and squares from my friends and family and our favors were homemade strawberry jam that I made with the help of my grandmother, aunts and mum. I'm sure you can imagine, the night ended with speeches, some simple, lovely first dances (bride and groom-Can't help falling in love by Ingrid Michaelson and father daughter-Sweet Pea by Amos Lea) and a wild party. Between the dental graduates, the law graduates, our family and our long time friends from Strathroy we had a wicked night on our hands that was dotted with photobooth pictures and a nacho bar. We had the best evening of our lives, it was sweet and lovely, the two best words to describe the relationship Cole and I share.