As a wedding planner, it’s hard not to think about your own wedding as you’re planning others! Ever since I started planning weddings in 2018, I’ve been dreaming about what my special day would look like. Despite my job and general personality, I wanted our wedding to be casual, chill, and welcoming. Sam and I are not fancy people, and we just wanted a day to celebrate and hang out with our closest family and friends.
Of course, the design was the first thing I did. I wanted it to be unique to my and Sam’s personalities and different from the current trends. I planned the decor to be organic and free-flowing to complement the rustic farm backdrop. I wanted it to feel like you were running through a field of wildflowers during sunset. We chose to have greenery and florals intertwined throughout the venue with vintage brass candlesticks and gold geometric lanterns. Instead of the traditional white and pink flowers, we added in some darker elements and rust-colored ribbons to pair with the dusty blue color the wedding party wore.
The wedding day itself was the hottest day of the year (the high was 105 degrees!). After spending the morning getting ready with our friends, Sam and I exchanged handwritten vows by the river and took our first look photos in the shade. We kept our ceremony short and sweet so we could have more time to party with our guests! For cocktail hour, my mom made handheld charcuterie cups for guests to enjoy alongside beer, wine, and cider from our favorite local breweries and wineries. We then made our way into the barn for a BBQ dinner that our caterer had been cooking onsite all day (it smelled amazing). We had our sisters and two best friends give toasts that were surprisingly emotional. Sam and I have been together since high school and these people have been by our side every step of the way, so it was so sweet to hear their stories.
We cut our “wedding pie” (we’re not cake people) and made our way to the dance floor for our first dance and parent dances. We’re not about gendered traditions so I threw the garter to the girls and Sam threw the bouquet to the guys - it was so much fun! We took a quick break to take some golden hour photos in the field with the highland cows (so cute) and then partied the night away on the dance floor. We ended the night with a sparkler sendoff and because I couldn’t help myself, we stayed behind and helped clean up before taking off to our hotel.
I couldn’t dream of a better wedding for Sam and me. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in trends and compare your weddings to others with bigger budgets, but I’m so happy we decided to stay focused on creating an event that we wanted instead of what we should do. I hope that by doing this I set an example for my future couples to plan a wedding that is about them!
