Wedding Photos Part 3: Set-up and Details

A lot of time and love went into all the little details of our wedding.  It was important to us that each element mean something.  This process started with finding a venue that we loved, and that pleased our families (Thank you, Craven Farm!).  Then we sought out an officiant who would do pre-marital counseling, and really get to know us before the big day (Tiffani, we adore you and can't thank you enough!).  Our caterers are family friends, my make-up artist went to elementary through high school with me, and our cake baker is a friend from college.

These feelings carried over into so many elements, many of which might have been unnoticed by guests, but we hope some of them caught their eye. :)

I'm not sure how we decided to get married on a farm.  We looked at a lot of different venues, but shortly into the process the idea of a farm came to us.  We knew immediately upon visiting that Craven was our place.  We loved that it is a family business, and that we could come back each year for the pumpkin patch.

Our flowers came from the farm directly across the street from Craven

Dave and I collected our favorite recipes to share with our guests at "recipe"-themed tables

Ah, napkin rings.  Each one handmade with recycled tubes and fabrics.

WALL-E and EVE.  The movie was advertised and then came out early on in our relationship, and Dave and I loved it.  I have a bit of a skill for talking like WALL-E. :)

BIRDIES!  Danielle needlefelted each one for us.  They were displayed atop wood rounds from Dave's family cabin.

The barn set-up.  We loved the look of long tables, and given that "family" was our central wedding theme, it was only fitting that we eat family style.

While it might seem odd to some, we decided to repurpose recycled wine bottles as table name holders.  We picked our favorite bottles, many of which reminded us of certain family and friends.  It was affordable, eco-friendly, and I think it looked nice!

Ika gave me this picnic basket at my shower, and it worked great as a card basket

Seating cards, another labor of love.  We matched the napkin ring fabric to the seating cards.  They were made with 100% recycled paper and upcycled fabrics.

The seating cards were then placed in recipe card boxes (recipe-theme, get it?).  These were vintage boxes I found on Etsy.

Uncle David B carved this incredible plate for us.  What an amazing gift!  He used the image that Danielle drew for our invitations.

We used chalkboard paint on upcycled doors and frames to make chalkboards for the program, menus, and directional signs.  They saved paper and looked great!

We displayed old pictures of Dave and I as kids, and together.

Dave and I (with help from very kind family members) made cookies as favors for our guests.  They were yummy lemon sugar cookies stamped with the Message in a Cookie set from Williams-Sonoma.

I'm pretty sure these cake toppers were the first thing I bought for the wedding.  I feel in love with them.  And they were the inspiration for the bird elements (adding to our eclectic, green, family, nature, recipe-theme).

It's still kind of surreal to look at these photos.  I'm so glad that we have them to help us remember our special day.

All photos by Brett Szemple of Our Wedding Photographer.