Rustic Elegant Fall Farm Wedding
This Oscar De La Renta dress caught my attention from the start but I fell even more in love with this wedding, and this beautiful couple, after reading the Bride's story and learning just how much thought, time and care went into creating their celebration with the help of VLD Events. Don't miss both clips by 3rd Street Films and Beale & Wittig's gorgeous gallery so you too can see every beautiful bit of this bash.
From the Bride... Our traditional American wedding was held at Cornman Farms in Dexter, Michigan. I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan which is just 15 minutes outside of Dexter. It was important to me to get married close to where I grew up, surrounded by family and friends. My finance - now - husband's family is mostly from Chicago, IL, so it was only a short four hour drive for them to join us!
When we started planning this wedding, our goal was for everything to be simple! We didn't want to over-theme, or have too much color coordination. We just wanted the day to be a declaration and celebration of our love for each other. The wedding was a combination of neutrals, metallics, and greenery with chic and sophisticated decor in a rustic setting. Even though we were on an actual working farm, we decided to play up the natural beauty of the environment versus adding in haystacks, burlap, etc. We chose our venue because we wanted our guests to have plenty of space to walk around, explore, and enjoy themselves in a casual and beautiful environment. A farm venue allowed us to have a separate ceremony, cocktail, and reception site, yet kept everything within walking distance. We loved the contrast of having a formal event at a non-traditional non-formal space, and the farm venue provided the perfect backdrop for that.
Going with a clear-top tent was the best decision we made. In the tent, we had long, clean, wooden farm tables, with ivory table runners, and a collection of flowers, vases, brass candlestick holders, and green moss balls made by my mother. The chairs were my favorite. Instead of the chiavari chairs, we chose a woven bamboo chair. It gave a new texture and design element to the overall look. We also had absolutely beautiful lighting installed. Rows and rows of tiny twinkle lights set a magical tone to the entire tent, alongside three rustic chandeliers.
One of the most special touches to our wedding were the flowers. My mother is a floral designer, and she designed the entire concept. The flowers were a variety of whites, ivories, and greens - all different shapes and textures, including succulents, hydrangea, bells of ivory, and kale. We didn't have formal arrangements, but kept each vase holding a single variety of flower. For vases, my mother, sister, and I collected both new and vintage (starting a month after I was engaged!), from garage sales, antique stores, and flea markets. We wanted an eclectic assortment. We also used my mother's collection of ivory and white McCoy pottery that she displays at home. It was so special to have such a personal touch at every table!
We did a few DIY projects as well. My mother made a card box covered in beautiful green moss, and we spray painted some mason jars with copper and gold paint. For our favors we gave scratch off lottery tickets, along with pennies (to scratch) that had a heart stamped in them! We added a note that said 'Wishing you love & riches, from the new Mr. & Mrs.'. My sister made a few signs for seating and the flowers. My groom also made the table numbers out of pieces of wood and copper numbers. He was very proud of them!
I added sleeves to my Oscar de la Renta dress, made out of the extra length from my dress. Loved how they turned out. I asked all my bridesmaids and maid of honor to wear a neutral colored dress - ivory, nude, metallics, patterns, anything was fine! I wanted them to feel comfortable, beautiful, and uniquely themselves. My mom wore pants, which was so her style. She's just not a dress person, and we wanted her comfortable, so she wore dressy pants and looked beautiful! All the groomsmen wore black suits. Instead of spending money on renting a bad suit they would never see again, we just asked them to wear any black suit they had in their closet. Craig bought them all different gray/black/white bow ties from The Tie Bar (Chicago company).
The best part was that after all this careful planning... it rained. And it didn't just sprinkle a little bit, it thundered and stormed, and turned the power off on half the lights in the tent. We made our official entrance to the tent under a sea of umbrella's held by the gracious staff of Cornman Farms. They literally had everyone help with this – from Ari Weinzweig (one of the founding partners at Zingerman's), all the servers - anyone that could hold an umbrella was helping out! But it didn't ruin anything, in fact, it was absolutely magical - the sound of the raindrops on that tent, gazing up and not just seeing a dark sky, but seeing thousands of raindrops pouring down at you. We really enjoyed ourselves, and as my father mentioned in his speech, noting the Hindu tradition “We have a very old saying that we believe in, anything important that has to happen, and which is auspicious, it has to rain, and so, this is just like God is smiling up there, and he approves, and he is blessing this couple”.
When we started planning this wedding, our goal was for everything to be simple! We didn't want to over-theme, or have too much color coordination. We just wanted the day to be a declaration and celebration of our love for each other. The wedding was a combination of neutrals, metallics, and greenery with chic and sophisticated decor in a rustic setting. Even though we were on an actual working farm, we decided to play up the natural beauty of the environment versus adding in haystacks, burlap, etc. We chose our venue because we wanted our guests to have plenty of space to walk around, explore, and enjoy themselves in a casual and beautiful environment. A farm venue allowed us to have a separate ceremony, cocktail, and reception site, yet kept everything within walking distance. We loved the contrast of having a formal event at a non-traditional non-formal space, and the farm venue provided the perfect backdrop for that.
Going with a clear-top tent was the best decision we made. In the tent, we had long, clean, wooden farm tables, with ivory table runners, and a collection of flowers, vases, brass candlestick holders, and green moss balls made by my mother. The chairs were my favorite. Instead of the chiavari chairs, we chose a woven bamboo chair. It gave a new texture and design element to the overall look. We also had absolutely beautiful lighting installed. Rows and rows of tiny twinkle lights set a magical tone to the entire tent, alongside three rustic chandeliers.
One of the most special touches to our wedding were the flowers. My mother is a floral designer, and she designed the entire concept. The flowers were a variety of whites, ivories, and greens - all different shapes and textures, including succulents, hydrangea, bells of ivory, and kale. We didn't have formal arrangements, but kept each vase holding a single variety of flower. For vases, my mother, sister, and I collected both new and vintage (starting a month after I was engaged!), from garage sales, antique stores, and flea markets. We wanted an eclectic assortment. We also used my mother's collection of ivory and white McCoy pottery that she displays at home. It was so special to have such a personal touch at every table!
We did a few DIY projects as well. My mother made a card box covered in beautiful green moss, and we spray painted some mason jars with copper and gold paint. For our favors we gave scratch off lottery tickets, along with pennies (to scratch) that had a heart stamped in them! We added a note that said 'Wishing you love & riches, from the new Mr. & Mrs.'. My sister made a few signs for seating and the flowers. My groom also made the table numbers out of pieces of wood and copper numbers. He was very proud of them!
I added sleeves to my Oscar de la Renta dress, made out of the extra length from my dress. Loved how they turned out. I asked all my bridesmaids and maid of honor to wear a neutral colored dress - ivory, nude, metallics, patterns, anything was fine! I wanted them to feel comfortable, beautiful, and uniquely themselves. My mom wore pants, which was so her style. She's just not a dress person, and we wanted her comfortable, so she wore dressy pants and looked beautiful! All the groomsmen wore black suits. Instead of spending money on renting a bad suit they would never see again, we just asked them to wear any black suit they had in their closet. Craig bought them all different gray/black/white bow ties from The Tie Bar (Chicago company).
The best part was that after all this careful planning... it rained. And it didn't just sprinkle a little bit, it thundered and stormed, and turned the power off on half the lights in the tent. We made our official entrance to the tent under a sea of umbrella's held by the gracious staff of Cornman Farms. They literally had everyone help with this – from Ari Weinzweig (one of the founding partners at Zingerman's), all the servers - anyone that could hold an umbrella was helping out! But it didn't ruin anything, in fact, it was absolutely magical - the sound of the raindrops on that tent, gazing up and not just seeing a dark sky, but seeing thousands of raindrops pouring down at you. We really enjoyed ourselves, and as my father mentioned in his speech, noting the Hindu tradition “We have a very old saying that we believe in, anything important that has to happen, and which is auspicious, it has to rain, and so, this is just like God is smiling up there, and he approves, and he is blessing this couple”.