Sunday, August 9, 2009

A Green Barn Wedding

I am sorry to have left blog world for a few weeks, but I think I am on my way back.

We had a wedding last Saturday. Our daughter married a wonderful young man from Texas. If you have been involved with weddings, you know there are a gazillion details that need to be dealt with and another fifty that you will miss. However, the wedding was beautiful, fun and full of love, family and friends. Despite the rain, ( it started ten minutes before the ceremony and ended about fifteen minutes after the ceremony), we had a grand time.

We wandered around the farm, playing with the chickens and turkeys, sitting around cute tables supported by straw bales, sipping glacier water, home-brewed beer, two buck chuck, and I think there was a clandestine bottle or two of Highland Park going around. Before dinner, we had hors d'oeuvres to nibble on while we chatted and watched the bridal party get all the photos snapped.

We had a lot of help getting ready. You need to go see my wife's blog Synchronizing, to get a better overview.


Bride with papa

I planted a lot of sunflowers around the farm to give it a good old country feeling. These were planted to be the backdrop for the wedding ceremony




The green barn makes a nice backdrop for our family and friends who came to celebrate and witness Lesley's and Brian's vows. People travelled from Idaho, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Alaska, New York, Ohio, and of course, Michigan.


The best man at our wedding, (right) back in 1978 smokes a cigar with me at midnight. The bride and groom have been taken away by a pumpkin. It was a grand evening.




39 comments:

Leslie said...

It must have been very special for your daughter to have her wedding on your farm. It sounded like a lot of fun and the backdrop of sunflowers is a beautiful idea. I have never been to a wedding like your daughter's but I think I would much prefer it over some of the weddings I have been to.

freefalling said...

That bloke in the last photo, looks a lot like Martin Sheen.

The wedding sounds wonderful!
Loved seeing all the photos over at Ruth's place.

What's two buck chuck??

Stiggy said...

Sounds like a great time was had by all.

Nice to see the sunflowers you planted for the wedding - thinking back, didn't you plant a whole load of other flowers for the wedding too?

No wonder you've not been blogging Don - hopefully we can both be back doing our thing a little bit more now.

:D

A Bite of Country Cupcakes said...

It all looks beautiful and the barn backdrop would be something admired by many a Bride for her wedding I think,
Glad you survived it all and all the work it entailed...
A lucky bride and groom.

Susan said...

Don, you did a beautiful job with a gargantuan task list of preparations! I'm sure you've read my gushing praise over at Ruth's, so I won't gush as much here. But everything was so beautiful! You deserve a standing ovation! And now I hope you are getting some much-needed rest before you have to start back to school.

Lisa said...

congratulations!

Mandie said...

What a special way to get married! When my hubby and I do it again at 20 years I hope to get married on our property (where ever that may be). I love the sunflowres!

Lanny said...

I was thinking of you last week and wondering how the crunch was going.

Like babies, wedding days come whether your ready or not. Sounds like you were ready and had a great time. Farm weddings are the best! My oldest was married in a big church downtown and since then we've had two weddings (second oldest and then our friends daughter) here at our farm. And I wouldn't do another one any where else from now on.

The sunflowers look great! And aren't the twinkie white lights great on a summer evening? Are you going to keep yours up?

Don said...

leslie: farms do make a great place for weddings. Actually they make a great place for just about anything!

The sunflowers bloomed for the backdrop, but the thousand I planted for cutting and decorating bloomed four days too late. Oh well, I have a big wall of sunflowers out behind the barn!

Thanks for stopping by.

Don said...

He looks like a lot of people!

Two buck chuck is a brand of good wine that sells for two bucks per bottle, ($3.00 east of the Mississippi)

Charles Shaw is the bottler.

Don said...

stiggy: it's good to be back in touch with all my pals! Congrats on the capture of the monster mole!

Don said...

country cupcakes: barns have a certain mystique about them, don't they? We did have a great time. Now, I need to relax a little before the school year begins.

Don said...

susan: thanks for visiting! Yes, I am relieved and a little sad. I wish I could have had more time with everyone.

Don said...

Lisa: Thank you!

Don said...

mandie: the informality of the farm made for a great party! We did have a preacher, and he did a really nice job. (Nephew Nathan).

Sunflowers are easy to grow, even I can do it!

Don said...

lanny: I agree about weddings at the farm!

Thanks for thinking about me during my fun and busy days!

I will post some photos of the wedding area at night with the twinkly lights on, it looked really good! I still have some up on the rustic arbor we built and around five of the treetrunks in the orchard, but I don't like mowing around the cords so much! (lazy *&%@#) Hey! watch your language!

Country Girl said...

That is wonderful, glad it all worked out. Sunflowers are perfect back drop. We grew lots this year too. Most of them were volunteers from last year...perfect. We've been missing you in blog land. Glad you are back before school starts.

Don said...

Country girl: Thanks for stopping by. Your little piggies look so cute! (in case anyone is wondering, I am referring to the newest additions to her Achorn Farm!!) ;)

Ruth said...

Wait, is that the world's most interesting man??

Don said...

Ruth: Stay thirsty my friends.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

YOu're back - the wedding looks wonderful and I love your sunflower backdrop, just perfect. And as you say, the green barn is a great setting. thanks for your kind comment on mine too. It was a great Welsh day!

warren said...

It looks like a marvelous wedding! Congratulations to all involved! The farm looks beautiful (I saw your wife's pics too)!

sandy said...

Enjoyed the post Don and loved seeing the photos that both you and Ruth put up...hey cigar at midnight...That appeals to me! ha. I think I'll go out at midnight, with my cigar and watch the meteor shower going on tonight.

Ginnie Hart said...

If Dennis had known you'd be smoking a cigar at midnight, I bet he would have stayed longer?! :) It was such a grand event, Don. I'll never forget it!

Unknown said...

wonderful post for a wonderful day! glad to see you back in the blog world. i love you so much.

Don said...

elizabethm: It's hard to believe the wedding was two weeks ago! The farm was a nice, informal setting.

Don said...

Warren: thanks for stopping by, it's always nice to hear from you!

Don said...

sandy: get a pic of you and that cigar!

Don said...

ginnie: you know I'll say that it could not have happened without all of your time and effort! THank you again.

I hatdly got to see ot talk to Dennis or Amy. I needed another day!!

Don said...

lesleyanne: wasn't that a great day?! everybody had a great time loving you and Brian!!

Welcome back!

Paige said...

Congratulations! The wedding was gorgeous (thank you for linking to your wife's lovely pics!) What a beautiful family you have. It looked like much fun was had by all.

The sunflowers and twinkly lights were my favorite part.

You did a great job all around... glad to have you back blogging.

MYM said...

Looks picture perfect :) Congratulations to the lucky couple!

The Greater Green said...

Looks like such a beautiful wedding! We moved to the country after we were married, and always thought it would have been beautiful to get married on our small farm... :)

Chicken J said...

The cigar picture is cool,it should be on a wall at frankie & bennies,chicken Don.................hugs to all your chucks.....chicken J out

John Going Gently said...

I WOULD KILL FOR YOU BARN!!!!!!!!!!!!
i mean it
johnx

Bob Johnson said...

Beautiful setting to have the wedding Don, you are so lucky to have such a place.

Nishant said...

That bloke in the last photo, looks a lot like Martin Sheen.
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Heather said...

Gorgeous property! Do you rent your barn out for weddings??