Real Wedding: Aimee + Troy’s Red Barn Wedding

Happy Monday everyone. I have a sweet, fun wedding to share with you guys today. It took place at Strawberry Farms in Irvine, CA which features a fun red barn. Troy Grover is a wedding photographer here in Orange County and his bride Aimee writes a fun blog called homespun forte. Thanks so much to the lovely Carissa of JL Designs for sharing this wedding with me and some general details of the day.

Aimee + Troy also sent over some of their favorite moments and some advice for those of you planning now. A bit about their inspiration for the day: Most of our inspiration came from the venue itself and the time of year. Its name was “Strawberry Farms” and it’s  friendly red barn inspired us to create something that felt very crafty & very much like autumn. One of my favorite stores is Anthropologie – where I wandered for inspiration & later found my bridesmaids dresses :)

billy balls and raspberry bouquet

Gorgeous bouquet made up of red, yellow + navy flowers – ranunculas, billy balls, cone flowers, privet berries, millet, and blackberry branches. Aimee wore a vintage hair piece.

strawberry farms wedding

billy balls boutonniere

Love these boutonnieres made of yellow billy balls and either blackberry branches or rosehips – finished in tan suede cording. For the ceremony, each side of the aisle was lined with branches of fall foliage and berried branches. Eclectic lanterns (collected by Aimee), crocheted laces hanging off of shepherd’s hooks and loose fall leaves were scattered down the aisle. The Bridal Party also walked down the aisle to Strawberry Swing by Coldplay – so sweet!

wedding with lanterns on the aisles

bridesmaids carry potted flowers

bridesmaids wore vintage hats carry potted flowers

Each bridesmaid wore a unique vintage hat, sourced by Aimee from antique stores and rather than carry a bouquet, each girl carried a terra cotta pot filled with yellow marigolds and accented with yellow rick rack and yellow pom pom trim.

wedding photography by robert evans

bridal party red barn wedding

wedding letters made of twigs red barn

Aimee handmade the initials that hung on the barn doors.

bride with bike

wedding couple on farm

wedding photos by robert evans

vintage reception details clock flowers

For the sweetheart table (seen above) they used some “treasures” from the bride – special vintage books, buttons, an alarm clock and jam jars filled with blackberries. Centerpieces for the rest of the tables were eclectic lanterns and jam jars (sourced by Aimee) filled with burgundy dahlias, yellow billy balls, navy privet berries, brown cone flowers and blackberry branches. Each vase was accented with red pom pom trim or red rick rack.

centerpieces billy buttons lanterns

wedding reception barn california

strawberry farms painting by promise tangeman

Troy gave a special gift to Aimee – a piece of artwork he made with the help of Aimee’s sister, Promise Tangeman (who is an artist/designer/photographer with a killer design blog). Promise also designed the invites shown below (photo from Promise’s website).

strawberry wedding invitations

wedding gift table

vintage clocks wedding barns

desserts wedding

Balboa bars for dessert! Aimee + Troy live on Balboa Island in Newport Beach and this is a local favorite treat – it’s a dipped ice cream bar.

wedding band barn wedding

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

My favorite part of the day was when the doors were pulled back & I took my first steps down the aisle. Seeing Troy’s face at the end of the aisle, and all of our closest friends and family gave me the warmest feeling & brought a well of tears to my eyes. Troy’s favorite part of the day was entering the reception for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. & seeing everyone relaxed and ready for a good time!

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Our advice to those planning would be to create a “first look” before the wedding. A first look allows enough time for a couple to really see each other & capture those moments on camera. Some people worry about ruining the anticipated moment of the bride walking down the isle, but nothing can take away that feeling of seeing your future wife walking towards you. For me (Troy), I about fell to my knees watching her walk down and we had already spent time together before the ceremony! Also, a great advantage of this is once the ceremony is over you get the chance to go out and be with all your friends and family instead of rushing through pictures. The day goes by so fast and you want to be able to spend as much time as you can with everyone!

We also brought our Photo Lounge to the wedding. People had a blast with it and it is so nice to be able to look back and see who exactly was there.

Below is a beautiful video from the day by Elysium Productions.

vendors:
Floral Design: JL Designs
Photography: Robert Evans Studio
Cinematography: Elysium Productions
Coordinator: Jennifer Wahlquist Events
Band: Upstart
Acoustic Band: Kurt Hunter
Cake: Katie Townley
Invitations and Graphic Designs: Promise Tangeman
Groomsmen attire: H&M
Bridesmaid dresses: Anthropologie

Thanks so much Aimee + Troy for sharing your beautiful wedding with us and best wishes to you both!

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