Real Wedding: Lorin + Reese's Wedding on a Goat Farm

How about a wedding on a Goat Farm! I just love all the personal details that Lorin + Reese put into the day to really make it them. The wanted an “old timey wabi-sabi country picnic with a small carbon footprint.” How fun is that?!

From Lorin, “Early on in the planning process, Reese and I decided that we wanted to be as green, compostable or reusable for the wedding as possible. We read about the waste produced by most weddings and decided it wasn’t for us. I bought a few lots of vintage sewing notions and fabrics on ebay, and from those, it seemed like the wedding details presented themselves. Reese and I both work in product design and sourcing, specifically in the cut-and-sew industry, so it was a ton of fun to bring the skills we had and apply them to the event. Whenever projects didn’t come out as I planned, I would just tell myself, it’s kinda wabi-sabi, until it ended up being a theme of the wedding. :)“

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? As a surprise for my husband, I had been secretly practicing “Sea of Love” with our guitarist. When I got up to sing, I was a huge ball of nerves, but seeing his reaction of honest surprise/joy made it totally worthwhile.

Thea, the invitation designer/printer, and I rummaged through my stash of printed ribbons and found one that became a motif background for the invitations. My sister wrote “old timey” copy for the invites after researching loads of vintage western slang (she later told me, “I think I know, like, 50 ways to say “whiskey” now.) I saved our milk bottles and jam jars, and my sister and friends thrifted for glass bottles that we wrapped in vintage lace for vases filled with local farm flowers. My mother-in-law sewed all the bunting flags from vintage fabrics and binding, as well as the gift bags, which we felted and stamped during a few crafting days. The bags were filled with goat milk soap from the farm.

Any advice for those planning now? Love all the thought and projects you put into the wedding, but be prepared for things to go awry. Shortly before the wedding we found out my sister-in-law had broken both her wrists and wouldn’t be able to do the bouquets. Luckily Jill at Studio Choo was able to fit us in at the last minute, and the work she did was gorgeous. Also, research! I bookmarked a few wedding blogs (Green wedding shoes was one of them!) and checked in with them regularly to get ideas and inspiration.

My favorite things about the wedding were all the details that made it US. I never looked in a bridal salon for my wedding dress; instead I bought a strapless dress from a discount website and sketched an overlay for it during a train ride from China to Hong Kong. When I arrived in Hong Kong I bought fabric from a street stall and had my overlay made. Neither of us liked long ceremonies, so we kept ours short, and we taped our programs to small bags of trail mix, so people would have something to nosh on. Reese’s daughter was his best man. We had a fabulous acoustic guitarist playing for the wedding, but I chose to walk down the aisle to a recording of Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World”. We didn’t have a fancy sit down meal, but we splurged on Veuve Cliquot.

Vendors

Wedding Vendors

Venue: Harley Farms // Photography: Brent Van Auken // Wedding Dress: Alexander McQueen and alterations from the bride // Hair and Makeup: Van Pham // Shoes: Elizabeth and James // Bridesmaid Dress: Pinky Otto // Groom Suit: Zegna // Floral Design: Harley Farms, Studio Choo // Invitations/Paper Goods: Kavamore Press // Music: Mike McCall // Catering: Harley Farms

Author

Jen Campbell: Author

Jen is the Founder, Editor, and Creative Director of Green Wedding Shoes, which she launched in 2008 to redefine wedding and lifestyle content. Her background as a Creative Director and Graphic Designer for ESPN and Sony Pictures Entertainment inform...