September 3rd, 2011 - Labor Day Weekend
Romance was in the air, but this wasn't the only thing heating up the evening; this was the summer of record-breaking heat in Oklahoma - several consecutive months of daily temperatures exceeding 100 degrees... We'd been planning our outdoor wedding for the past 2 years of our engagement, and no heat wave was going to deter our plans!
We wanted our day to be intimate with a rustic vibe, unique, and reflective of us as a couple. According to the wedding website www.theknot.com, it is estimated that the average American wedding costs roughly the amount of a new car... $30,000! Instead of following this trend, we set our wedding budget at roughly half that cost (excluding the honeymoon) and chose to be resourceful, utilizing the help of our creative and talented friends to help create our wedding experience. Here is how we made our dream day possible [while sticking to our budget]...
The Location: The Historic Harn Homestead is truly a hidden gem. Even though this venue is located in the heart of Oklahoma City, when you are there it feels like you are in the middle of the country. This original Land Run property was settled in 1889. The remaining estate sits on 10 acres and includes a beautiful rock and wood two-story barn, groves of trees, and a wheat field. The venue of our wedding was one of our top priorities, as it set the stage for the rustic feel of our wedding day. It was important to us for our wedding ceremony and reception to be at the same location, so this site afforded the perfect scene for an outdoor ceremony and indoor/outdoor barn reception.
The Attire: I discovered my dream dress - a form fitting, sweetheart neckline, lace, vintage look - at a dress shop near my home in North Carolina; however, priced near $2,000 it was more than I wanted to spend. I went online to www.oncewed.com and was ecstatic to find my dress in the exact size for sale by a woman who, in an unfortunate turn of events, had canceled her wedding. The dress was still in the original bag from the designer and had never been worn. Eager to sell it since she no longer had a need for it, I got it for a steal...only $750! My engagement and wedding ring were selected by my groom, custom made at a local jewelry store in Asheville, NC, where he lived when we became engaged. We selected his wedding band while in Lima, Peru on a medical mission trip with one of our good Peruvian friends (and groomsman), who translated for us. It was made locally in Lima, and our groomsman brought it with him when he flew to OK for the wedding. My jewelry and hair accessory were made by talented friends of mine, and the birdcage veil was purchased on Etsy. Wedding party attire was purchased at Men's Wearhouse and David's Bridal.
The Food: Our favorite restaurant in OKC, Cheevers, was also the location of our first "real" date. It serves up the best contemporary comfort food and also boasts connections with its popular sister restaurant, Iron Starr BBQ. For our reception, we chose to have catered food stations so that guests could mingle in a casual and fun atmosphere instead of a formal sit-down dinner. The menu included gourmet mac-n-cheese and brisket sliders on pretzel buns, among other mouth-watering comfort foods. Both our wedding cake and grooms cake were made by AmyCakes, a notorious bakery in our college town of Norman, OK. The bride cake was white wedding with raspberry filling, and the groom's cake was a carrot cake suitcase, covered in 'decals' of our favorite places we'd traveled together (including our honeymoon location, unknown to me at the time!) Beverages included old fashioned soda pop in glass bottles from POPS, an Oklahoma City favorite. Our caterers were top notch, and made this a delicious event to remember!
Photography/Videography: Although they were big budget items, photography and videography topped our priority list. We wanted to relive this day for decades to come and share it with future generations of our family. Each year on our anniversary, we watch our wedding video again (and again), and our favorite wedding photos are displayed on large canvases in our bedroom. We worked with some of the most talented vendors who are also incredible individuals - Sarah @ HolliB Photography and Will and Evan @ Scissortail Media! Together, they captured the essence of our day in a way that transcends words.
Decor: Since we already had a beautiful outdoor backdrop with many rustic details, this was an area we were able to save tremendously on our budget. We created many decorations ourselves, with the help of our fabulous wedding planner, who also happens to be one of my dear friends and college roommates, Morgan @ Events By Morgan! A friend of my sister's who had experience in the florist industry kindly offered to do our flower arrangements at cost; she utilized both fresh and silk flowers to create a natural backdrop for our ceremony and reception. We used burlap, mason jars, lace, and flowers to accent our day as well as black and white childhood photos to incorporate into our nostalgic, rustic theme.
Entertainment: Wedding ceremony music was provided by some very talented friends of ours, who sang and played guitar to the tune of our favorite songs, "Divine Romance" and "How He Loves". For the reception, we hired a local DJ, who kept the outdoor wooden dance floor moving. Since there was an OU football game ongoing during our wedding festivities, we had the DJ periodically announce the game score. We also had a chalkboard "score board" on the dance floor, and we assigned the task of updating it to several of our friends.
Other personal touches: Sweet friends of ours spent hours writing beautiful calligraphy on wedding invitations and guest name cards. Wedding party favors were hand crafted by friends of mine (including jewelry and hair accessories made for each bridesmaid). Out of town guests were welcomed to their hotel rooms with a gift bag filled with locally made goodies. In lieu of wedding favors for guests, we chose two favorite charities that are near and dear to our hearts from our mission trips to South America. We had a display that explained each of the charities and then asked guests to place their name card in the basket that corresponded to the charity of their choice; we subsequently made a donation on each individual's behalf. A good friend of ours loaned us his motorcycle for our "getaway."
Our wedding party included 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen, each one from a different stage of our lives: sibling, childhood friend, college friend, pharmacy school friend, and residency friend. JJ's grandfather officiated our wedding, and we included our niece, nephew, and cousin's children in our ceremony. We were so honored to be surrounded by family and friends who represented different stages in our lives, and it was a perfect day of celebration!
Romance was in the air, but this wasn't the only thing heating up the evening; this was the summer of record-breaking heat in Oklahoma - several consecutive months of daily temperatures exceeding 100 degrees... We'd been planning our outdoor wedding for the past 2 years of our engagement, and no heat wave was going to deter our plans!
We wanted our day to be intimate with a rustic vibe, unique, and reflective of us as a couple. According to the wedding website www.theknot.com, it is estimated that the average American wedding costs roughly the amount of a new car... $30,000! Instead of following this trend, we set our wedding budget at roughly half that cost (excluding the honeymoon) and chose to be resourceful, utilizing the help of our creative and talented friends to help create our wedding experience. Here is how we made our dream day possible [while sticking to our budget]...
The Location: The Historic Harn Homestead is truly a hidden gem. Even though this venue is located in the heart of Oklahoma City, when you are there it feels like you are in the middle of the country. This original Land Run property was settled in 1889. The remaining estate sits on 10 acres and includes a beautiful rock and wood two-story barn, groves of trees, and a wheat field. The venue of our wedding was one of our top priorities, as it set the stage for the rustic feel of our wedding day. It was important to us for our wedding ceremony and reception to be at the same location, so this site afforded the perfect scene for an outdoor ceremony and indoor/outdoor barn reception.
The Attire: I discovered my dream dress - a form fitting, sweetheart neckline, lace, vintage look - at a dress shop near my home in North Carolina; however, priced near $2,000 it was more than I wanted to spend. I went online to www.oncewed.com and was ecstatic to find my dress in the exact size for sale by a woman who, in an unfortunate turn of events, had canceled her wedding. The dress was still in the original bag from the designer and had never been worn. Eager to sell it since she no longer had a need for it, I got it for a steal...only $750! My engagement and wedding ring were selected by my groom, custom made at a local jewelry store in Asheville, NC, where he lived when we became engaged. We selected his wedding band while in Lima, Peru on a medical mission trip with one of our good Peruvian friends (and groomsman), who translated for us. It was made locally in Lima, and our groomsman brought it with him when he flew to OK for the wedding. My jewelry and hair accessory were made by talented friends of mine, and the birdcage veil was purchased on Etsy. Wedding party attire was purchased at Men's Wearhouse and David's Bridal.
Photography/Videography: Although they were big budget items, photography and videography topped our priority list. We wanted to relive this day for decades to come and share it with future generations of our family. Each year on our anniversary, we watch our wedding video again (and again), and our favorite wedding photos are displayed on large canvases in our bedroom. We worked with some of the most talented vendors who are also incredible individuals - Sarah @ HolliB Photography and Will and Evan @ Scissortail Media! Together, they captured the essence of our day in a way that transcends words.
Decor: Since we already had a beautiful outdoor backdrop with many rustic details, this was an area we were able to save tremendously on our budget. We created many decorations ourselves, with the help of our fabulous wedding planner, who also happens to be one of my dear friends and college roommates, Morgan @ Events By Morgan! A friend of my sister's who had experience in the florist industry kindly offered to do our flower arrangements at cost; she utilized both fresh and silk flowers to create a natural backdrop for our ceremony and reception. We used burlap, mason jars, lace, and flowers to accent our day as well as black and white childhood photos to incorporate into our nostalgic, rustic theme.
Entertainment: Wedding ceremony music was provided by some very talented friends of ours, who sang and played guitar to the tune of our favorite songs, "Divine Romance" and "How He Loves". For the reception, we hired a local DJ, who kept the outdoor wooden dance floor moving. Since there was an OU football game ongoing during our wedding festivities, we had the DJ periodically announce the game score. We also had a chalkboard "score board" on the dance floor, and we assigned the task of updating it to several of our friends.
Other personal touches: Sweet friends of ours spent hours writing beautiful calligraphy on wedding invitations and guest name cards. Wedding party favors were hand crafted by friends of mine (including jewelry and hair accessories made for each bridesmaid). Out of town guests were welcomed to their hotel rooms with a gift bag filled with locally made goodies. In lieu of wedding favors for guests, we chose two favorite charities that are near and dear to our hearts from our mission trips to South America. We had a display that explained each of the charities and then asked guests to place their name card in the basket that corresponded to the charity of their choice; we subsequently made a donation on each individual's behalf. A good friend of ours loaned us his motorcycle for our "getaway."
Our wedding party included 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen, each one from a different stage of our lives: sibling, childhood friend, college friend, pharmacy school friend, and residency friend. JJ's grandfather officiated our wedding, and we included our niece, nephew, and cousin's children in our ceremony. We were so honored to be surrounded by family and friends who represented different stages in our lives, and it was a perfect day of celebration!
For us, this was a dream day from start to finish...a dream day that didn't break the bank! It was so meaningful for us to have purpose and community behind each and every detail, and we will forever cherish the memory!
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