Real Wedding: Sarah + Joey’s Michigan Farm Wedding

You know how I love a barn/farm wedding and when I saw this wedding on photographer’s Aruna’s Blog – I just had to share! The wedding was at the Cobblestone Farm in Ann Arbor Michigan with catering by Food Art. Coordination and floral design was by Jen House with A Moment In Time Wedding & Event Production. It was a laid back day with close friends and family, great food and even some lawn games!

I asked Sarah what her favorite memory of the day was and she replied with this short story, honestly, it’s really hard to pick a favorite, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most clearly right now was actually one of the most dramatic/potentially awful as well. As my mom went to unzip the dress to take it off of the hanger and put it on me, the zipper came completely out of its track. It was 100% broken, and the only way to fix it was to put it in a zipper re-threading machine (we didn’t have time to go back to the bridal salon, though). I panicked a bit but was able to hold it together as I thought of a plan (i.e. wear a bridesmaid dress down the aisle?) My mom eventually said ‘we’re sewing you in!’ My mom is a great seamstress, as is my bridesmaid Angie (she used to do costuming when we were in high school theater together). My sister and Aruna-our photographer-took photos as mom and Angie patiently worked on sewing me in. It was such an amazing moment, where my family and friends banded together to help me out, and it turned out beautifully. I’m so grateful to have such fantastic people around me, especially on that day at that moment.

And now for the beautiful photos! Thanks again Aruna!

cobblestone farm wedding

moss initials

Sarah’s Dress is by Pronovias and the bridesmaids dresses are by J Crew.

farm bride and groom

farm bride and groom

farm wedding

lawn games wedding

I love her seating cards! Sarah got the idea from an issue of Martha Stewart.

tag place cards

Super cute cake topper from Goose Grease on etsy. They also had a fun photo booth with great background.

photo booth

bride and groom

Can you offer any advice to those planning right now? Prioritize! We didn’t have much of a budget, as we spent half of what would have been our wedding budget on our house the year before, so we were forced to decide what was important to us. Because I started planning and DIY-ing early I was able to make many of the decor elements myself (although be forewarned: this isn’t always the cheaper option!), and we went with a less expensive venue, no DJ or band (we rented sound equipment and used our computer), and less fancy flowers (that my wedding planner made look fantastic). We really love food and ended up spending the majority of our budget on the menu, and since I love everything paper & art I spent a bit more on my invitations.

Anything else you would like to share? I really loved the fabulous team of people that helped us with our day. My day-of planner (a must-have since there was no on-site coordinator…another cost-saving tip), catering team, and photographer really had a huge hand in making the day as wonderful as it was. Good people don’t have to be expensive, so make sure that you find what you need within your budget, but remember that if you don’t mesh with a vendor you should keep looking.

Thanks for those great tips and advice Sarah! Your day looked perfect. Thanks also Aruna for letting me share your amazing photographs. You can view more of Aruna’s work on her blog.

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