Posts Tagged barn weddings

Hello Everyone…  I haven’t forgotten about all of you…  I promise.  Just lots of irons in the fire!

Me being the procrastinator that I am waited until the last minute to get through tons of paper work for the US’s big tax day.  I would so much rather do more fun creative things!  I did have help though…

Nipper was making sure my receipts were in order for the charity that my husband and I run called The Lucky Few.  I sure hope the IRS (for those of you not in the US they are the tax collectors) doesn’t mind a few cat hairs!

Another project I have been working on is a fun photo shoot with coordinator and designer Kelly Oshiro.  I can’t let too much out at this time but here is a bouquet from the shoot.

Just to tease you here is a severely cropped picture that shows you hopefully just enough to wet your curiosity but not enough to tell you what we were up to.  The model and the dog were adorable!…  The dog belongs to Kelly.  He was a rescue dog like all our cats (I knew I loved Kelly and not just because she is super creative and fun!!!).  For more on this very cool lady check out her web site here.

I will post the pics here as soon as I get them (it will be awhile though).  Lots of fun!!

I have also had a couple of weddings.  For anyone questioning my dedication to duty or being a team player…   here I am drying the flower girl’s dress which she had peed on right before the ceremony.  I ran and got my hair dryer from home (just around the corner) and stood behind the barn and did my best to dry it out while the ceremony was waiting.

I am making a funny face for a reason…  hot air travels up…  towards your nose…

Oh well, the show must go on as they say.  Hope you all are having a lovely Spring.  I will be back soon.

Hello all my witchy friends…

Sorry to have flown off on my broom for so long… tis not only the witching season but the wedding season as well!!

Now some might get those two confused and I am sure that there are many that cross the line but alas I am fortunate to have only come across one bad witch-bride in amongst 12 years of wonderful Glenda-the-good-witch brides!  I shall save her story for another time.  Truly a dark and stormy night is needed!

I wanted so much to be a part of Vanessa’s Fanciful Twist Halloween blog party, cooking up lots of magical brews and potions, or creating some mystical witches den.

I so love Vanessa’s magical ways and her beautiful blog… to be a part of her lovely party would have been a joy but alas the ladies in the white dresses come first!

So on that note I want to share with all of you pumpkin-loving-witches and magical-muggles (not a oxymoron I assure you) a supercalifragilisticexpeallidotious wedding that I got to be a part of a few years ago.

This bride LOVED pumpkins, I think even more than Vanessa over at Fanciful Twist!

To get ready for the wedding we met her and her family at a pumpkin patch and between her family’s trucks our delivery vans and trailers we hauled away over 2000 pounds of pumpkins!!!!

My husband still gets shaky when he sees a pumpkin…  he’s afraid I will ask him to haul it somewhere and back again.

There were mini piles all over…

On the tables as name markers…

Tiny glittered ones as party favors…

A larger buff colored one we turned into the ring bearer’s fanciful treasure chest…

They were all over the tables as general decor…

And not only did my fabulistic-fall femme like pumpkins she LOVED halloween candy (is this a woman after our haunted hearts or what!).  So of course I filled tall vases with candy corn and stuck branches in them!

She had a desert buffet laid out with pies and cakes and tons of all the most wonderful childhood-memory-inducing Halloween candy.  It was a spread that would have caused any dentist to retire early!  In addition they had a most beautiful chocolate wedding cake.

Her bouquet was filled with…  but of coarse… CHOCOLATE Cosmos (and Lilly-of-the-Valley).  They really do smell like chocolate!

What with all the Halloween/pumpkin/candy/ and delectable treats blog posts out there I thought I would share one of my all time favorite weddings that so fit the season.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Party on my Pumpkin Pals!

As promised here are the latest barn wedding pictures, please know I am a designer not a photographer so pardon the horrible pictures.  If the photographer gives me some better ones I will post them…

The ceremony was across from the barn at the base of a 300 year old Sycamore tree…

In an earlier post I had shown you a few ideas for hanging windows from the trees and setting the pews outside, the bride liked the ideas so that’s what we did.  We also added straw bales as more seating

The vow site,

We used some old fence gates as the entrance to the aisle.

The welcome beverage table,

Really fun beverage signs,

The check in area with vintage trunks and hang tags with buttons which told the guests where they would sit.

Inside the barn,

Containers were an assortment of vintage boxes, wooden buckets, jars and bottles, old tin, and cast iron.

I made candles covered with copies of old French letters and ledgers as well as some covered with burlap with buttons…  very fun!

they used mason jars as drinking glasses,

At the entrance to the barn we hung up old keys, hang tags with the bride and groom’s names, old door handles, latches, locks, silver ware and all manner of eclectic items.

We set the cake on a glass table top which was placed on a couple of straw bales with a funky old wrought iron chandelier with crystals hanging overhead.

Another old, fun chandelier with crystals, and behind on the wall are a bunch of photos of the bride and groom.

Below is an old wooden grain trough that my husband turned into a couch.  I am having huge overstuffed white denim cushions made for it, they just were not done in time for the wedding so I used foam and an old quilt.

Another view of the barn…   it really is set in the most beautiful glade of Sycamore trees,

There were lots of fun and sweet details, almost a sweet as the couple…   Hope you have enjoyed the pictures!

I have some ideas rummaging around in my head, thought I would share them with you.  As you may know from an earlier post the ranch we live on has a wonderful old barn that my husband just restored for a wedding.  I was poking through some of the ranch’s old buildings looking for salvaged wood to build tables for the barn and my imagination started going off.  I have a couple of scenarios in my mind, both I would like to try, so here goes…

First thought would be to use some of the old doors and windows I found for an unusual ceremony look.   This site exists across from the barn and I have always thought it would make a lovely ceremony tree.   I drew a picture below…  see what you think.

I think hanging several windows from the old Sycamore tree with some flower garlands intertwined would be kind of fun.  I just inherrited two beautiful stained glass windows from my family that would make a beautiful “altar”.  The colors are very muted, not at all strong.  Unfortunately I have not picked them up yet so there are no pictures to show you.  The entrance to the aisle would be an old head board from a vintage bed that I have.  Just before the bride walks down the aisle it could be opened with a flourish.  We have some old church pews that I would use too.  One long Asian carpet would be the aisle runner, with another for the bride and groom to say their vows on. would be a long Asian carpet with another one at the vow site (of course I own lots of carpets too!)  A fairly eclectic look but beautiful I think.

On the left is an example of some of the windows I could use, we would need to replace the panes or knock them out, not a problem.

Here are some of my own windows along with a wagon, table, and bench.

The other variation would be more in keeping with the barn theme.

I would take an old window pane door I have (pictured above) and create a frame for it and set it at the vow site. I would then set next to it a hay bale or two with some beautiful garden urns with flowers.  I would also set next to it my old wagon filled with flowers. I would still use the Asian carpets and pews.   For the entrance to the aisle I would set some old fence gates I found.  Here are some pictures of various props I own and some of the old windows and doors on the ranch.

The large doors behind the gates in the first picture on the left we might be able to take down and use for the vow site.  They are huge and beautiful if a tad worn…   The white gates would be the entrance to the aisle.

My husband and I will be making tables out of these doors, I think they will be wonderful for the barn!

There are 7 doors like the one on the left.  It is hard to tell in the picture but they have a wonderful patina.

The ones on the right will be joined together for one large table.

This old grain bin we are going to turn into a couch.  We will take the front off and then make cushions out of white denim and filled with goose down for the pillows.  To this I would add lots of luxurious throw pillows in the colors of the wedding.

This door on the left has the most wonderful old paint on it.  I will wax all the doors so the color will really stand out and the finish will hopefully be nice and smooth.

I also have a few old benches that would be fun to throw in somewhere, maybe as a coffee table for the grain bin couch?

I also thought it would be whimsical to fill a few odd items with flowers like the top suitcase in a stack of suitcases, or a beautiful old steam trunk.  They could also be filled with blankets for the guests to borrow for a chilly outdoor wedding.

The stack of suitcases would also make a great check in table or cocktail table.

I would also use several of my own vintage wooden tables, may be for check in or gifts or a family photo display…

Pardon the mess but these tables I use as my desk and art table.  I believe the level of messiness directly corresponds to how creative you are…   that’s my story and I am sticking with it!

How fun are these old wagons?

Now lets imagine we go into the old barn for the reception and though the barn itself is very rustic with a dirt floor, the decor is very sophisticated!  I just love the unexpected mix of old and rustic with beautiful elegance.  I would hang from the rafters large crystal chandeliers and then have some of the old wood tables with sheer organza linens on them so you could see through the fabric to the table.  Some of the old tables would have a heavy damask runner or a beautiful old brocade.  I would mix in a few regular tables so I could have a gorgeous heavy linen all the way to the ground.  The centerpieces would be silver bowls filled with flowers and silver candelabras.  I have kept a few pictures from an old Anthropologie catalogue that has a great color story.  I also cut out an old photo that created lots of beautiful possibilities in my mind.  There are definitely some great ideas for table linens and colors in these photos!

Here are some fun fabrics of my own that would make lovely table linens or even curtains for the barn.

Well…   thats the way my imagination has been going, hope you like my ramblings!