I hadn't built an inspiration board for a very long time. When it got down to doing all of the work to plan my own wedding, I just didn't have the time. After the wedding, although I still love all of the "details", I just hadn't found the time and inspiration to get back to it. Recently I received a sweet note from one of my blog readers, Traci. I think she was facing something that most of us brides run into during wedding planning -- feeling overwhelmed by all of the possibilities! She gave me some of the details for her 2012 summer wedding. She and her husband-to-be live on a farm, and that's where they plan to have their wedding celebration. I asked her to give me some words to describe the general feeling of the wedding she's imagined. The words she came up with included:
- country
- vintage
- a bit playful
- cozy
- relaxed
Their plan includes using hay bales for seating, and a BBQ summer feast. She also mentioned possibly using some red gingham as part of the theme.
I hope that some of my ideas here will help to inspire them with their future wedding planning!
{click to enlarge}
(I would definitely recommend enlarging this one, because there is a lot of detail that is hard to see in this smaller version.)
The DIY Pie in a Jar wedding favors came from
Green Wedding Shoes. Nothing says charming vintage farm life like homemade pies!
The beautifully simple dahlia bouquet is from
Heather Bayles Photography.
The little girl on the top row in the red gingham dress is from PrimadonnaBride.co.za.
The Vintage Gingham Blue Red and White Flower Bunting in the top right corner is from
vintagegreenlimited on Etsy.
The Butterfly Mornings Flag Bunting (with the aqua polka dots, pink gingham and red floral fabrics) is a great exmaple of the color combination I had in mind. It's also shown in the larger picture with the little cutie holding a book. It's from
LeilaLou on Etsy.
The bright fuschia colored peonies in blue mason jars are from
Shell's Shabby Shack.
Vintage hankies are one of the things that immediately inspired me with this board. The photo of a beautiful assortment of vintage hankies is from JacquieG on Flickr.
I especially love the bunting on the left. It's the best of both worlds -- it's an adorable bunting, and it reminds me so much of vintage handkerchiefs! It's called Photography Prop 9Ft Long Fabric Flag from
StarlitNestGifts on Etsy.
The red ranunculus flowers in the blue mason jar on the bottom left corner is from
The Bride's Cafe.
The down-home feast is from
this wedding on Green Wedding Shoes. I know Traci is a fan of sunflowers, so that ranch wedding might also give her some fun ideas.
The galvanized metal pedestal plate, simple flowers, and those vintage handkerchiefs (this time being used as napkins) come from
Flower Mag.
The aqua and red plaid bowtie is from
General Knot & Co. The company specializes in ties made in the USA from vintage fabrics.
The red gingham baking cups are from one of my favorite kitschy stores to buy baking supplies from,
Layer Cake Shop.
I am currently obsessed with paper straws. I want those vintage looking stripey delights in every color. The red striped paper straws were used here as an adorable little Valentine's Day project that you can download for free from
Papermash. If you want paper straws in gorgeous colors and designs, make sure to check Etsy!
Okay, the last thing for me to explain is the mason jar picture in the center of the board. I saved these for last because I think this is so cool -- you can
download these for free! You can customize the entire set of mason jar wedding invitation suite, including your save-the-dates, invitations, and RSVP card all for FREE!
How cool is that?! Here is a sample that I made for Traci and Ronnie. I filled in the blanks with generic information, but I loved being able to see a customized sample!
They also have this bunting design that I love! (I just thought the mason jar one went with the theme a little better.) You can also customize and
download this invitation suite for free, too!
I couldn't resist, here's the customized one for Traci and Ronnie in that design, too.
To see the other adorable designs available to download and print
FOR FREE, please visit
The Wedding Chicks!Okay, so some of my other thoughts on cool farm wedding details:
For wedding favors: little jars of jam or honey, seed packets that can double as place cards, or the individual pie in a jar favors I showed above. This example is from
My Eco Wedding.
For flowers: Dahlias and peonies are both great for the most bang for your buck summer flowers. I put an ad on Craigslist a few years ago for a friend's wedding and found multiple local farmers that were willing to sell huge gorgeous flowers for a dollar or less per stem. Sunflowers are always bright and fun if you want to add a little more yellow to the color palette. One of my personal favorites are ranunculus -- they come in perfect shades of reds and pinks for this palette, and I just love how romantic and ruffled they look. Either way, I think there definitely need at least a few of those old pale blue mason jars!
$1 for this big bloom? Heck yeah!
$10 to $15 for a stunning bouquet or centerpiece like this? Sign me up! 
I know Traci likes sunflowers, so I chose a few of my favorite sunny bouquets to share. I like sunflower bouquets to look a little wild and loose. My favorite is the one on the bottom right. I like the wheat, the color choices, and look -- vintage hanky!
For guests: Things to help protect your guests from the sun! You can make fans do double duty by having your programs printed as fans. A thoughtful touch that I really like is to have a tray or small table set up with a couple of bottles of sunblock, paper fans (if you aren't doing the program fans), and maybe a few inexpensive paper parasols for extra delicate guests. You can buy those pretty cheaply online at places like
Oriental Trading Company. You may also try to find some of those pretty vintage hankies I can't shut up about to give to your bridesmaids or closest female relatives to dry their tears of joy!
I don't love the style of these, but they did kind of use the same colors as my palette, so I'm including these fan programs from
Beau-Coup.
I DO love this fan template by Martha Stewart.
I would also highly recommend having at least some ice water available to guests prior to the ceremony to help keep everyone cool. Lemonade would be a hit, too.
For the wedding party: I think it would be really fun to let the bridesmaids (or at least the junior bridesmaids / flower girls) wear patterned dresses. I showed little girls in red gingham dresses, but I also really like something like this dress that I found at
Nordstrom.
A couple of summers ago, I wrote about
how cool it would be to have someone like
Fresher Than Fresh Snowcones at your wedding reception to serve gourmet snowcones to your guests. Traci and Ronnie are in luck, because Fresher Than Fresh is actually located near them!
If you're looking for some more farm wedding inspiration, Green Wedding Shoes had several that I thought were really nicely done.
This one on a goat farm uses a lot of cute touches, including the buntings I can't get enough of, doilies, and hay bale seating.
This one is at a strawberry farm. It's one of the most colorfully fun and whimsical weddings I've ever seen. I love the details, including the rainbow selection of bottled soda pop. My favorite detail are the fruit and vegetable place cards and markers. That is one of the most adorable party details ever, and someday I might try something like that for a garden party. Doesn't that wedding just look fun though? I want to be friends with those people!
This is a page from The Natural Wedding Company about
hay bale seating. I think hay bale seating can be a great element, but I definitely think you need some sort of fabric on top to protect your guests. I was thinking about it and I wondered about maybe just watching for some cheap linen sales and using a flat twin or full sized sheet to cover each bale? I've bought flat twin sized sheets for about $4 each, so that wouldn't be too bad. You could also check thrift shops to find a variety of floral patterned sheets for that purpose, too.
This farm wedding from
Elizabeth Anne Designs has some good ideas. I especially like the idea of having some games and activities for your guests to do, like playing horseshoes, bocce ball, or a beanbag toss game. They also have some cool hay bale seating ideas, like this one:
Lastly, I had to throw this in for Ronnie. I know he's a John Deere fan, so I thought maybe he could do something like this tractor get-away car, also from
Elizabeth Anne Designs:
I hope that my ideas help Traci and any of the other brides that come here searching for inspiration! Thank you for the notes and the kind comments!
Oh!
P.S. These adorable
"My Favorite Dresses" notecards from
alittlesweetness on Etsy would be sooo cute as bridal shower invitations!
P.P.S. If you liked this inspiration board, you might also like some of these other summery themes:
Light Blue and Red PaletteAqua, Orange and Yellow PaletteAqua, Orange and Brown PaletteMelon Inspired Summer ReceptionCherry and Berry RedsCitrus Punch Backyard BBQ Wedding ThemeHot Pink and Green Palette
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