Rustic weddings at historic local barns are a huge hit in our area. We were lucky enough to have a barn in the family. What I didn’t remember –at the time- was it was a working barn. My brother-in-law uses it to store thousands of bales of hay in the loft. I realized this as we spent hours in the loft pushing leftover hay into a different room of the loft. The final result was beautiful, but cleaning up from 5000 bales of hay is time consuming.
Once we had positioned the tables into place, it was time for the fun to start. I wanted a fun, casual atmosphere so I added paper lanterns to the beams running across the barn. I alternated with pink and white lanterns and attached mini twinkle lights inside each lantern.
I’ve attended plenty of weddings in my time and know most of the guests get antsy waiting for the wedding party to finish the pictures before the reception. I solved this problem by making a popcorn and candy bar for the guests to munch on before the meal. I used mismatched containers to store the popcorn and added small chalkboard signs beside each one informing guests of the type of popcorn. For the candy, I wanted to go with candy in the theme of the wedding colors. I filled containers with white Gumballs, light pink jelly beans, light pink twisty pops, pink and green jellybeans, pink cotton candy, white chocolate wedding bark and pink candy canes. I paired this with matching light pink scoops for easy dipping.
We decided to serve Barbecue for the main meal option, along with all the fixings. My suggestion–make it easy on yourself for cleanup and use sturdy paper plates, napkins and disposal utensils, like these forks, which looked like real metal forks. I used plastic tablecloths as the base cloth on all the tables. If I had this to do over again, I would have used two plastic tablecloths per table, one of each side, and taped them together in the middle. This would have allowed the allusion of long tablecloths and could have been covered with a quilt for a more rustic setting.
I had to make the cupcakes because the only gluten free bakery in town had closed. I used a Wilton cupcake stand decorated with artificial flowers for our Cream filled Chocolate Cupcakes.
Remember to write down ideas you want to try as you thing of them. No matter how much you like them, you will forget when you get swamped. Keep a list of supplies you will need for projects. It will save lots of last minute trips to the store! Party City was one of my favorite one stop shops during the wedding planning. They carried a large selection of candy, wedding decor and tableware that helped me keep my sanity. While I did receive a surprise box of items from our wedding wish list, I also spent plenty of time browsing the aisles and picking up items I needed. They’ve got so many different colors schemes available to match my tableware, my decor and my candy!
Want to find other wedding ideas? Check out Rustic Wedding Ideas with Mason Jars, How to make a pedestal candy dish and our wedding bark recipe.
What would be your favorite DIY idea for a wedding?
I love the idea of using a barn like that. It makes for such a beautiful and unique party.
Great ideas. I am one who has to write things down as I think of them or else I completely forget them
I have to say, that turned out gorgeous! I didn’t have a wedding – we just went to the courthouse, but if I had, I would have loved this.
Everything about this is beautiful! But, wowza that barn is spectacular!
That turned out so beautiful!!! I just love the decoration and the look of the barn!
I love the barn!!! What an amazing place to be married filled with the history of that barn. I think they make some of the most beautiful places to get married for this country girl.
I love what you have done here. Great ideas and looks so inviting in this setting. I don’t have any ideas compared to this one.
My brother did the candy bar at his wedding too, and boy was that ever popular! I stocked up myself! 🙂 You did an amazing job at all of this!
Love the rustic look, very simple and elegant! It would make such a beautiful wedding!
This is so cute and it must have been an amazing day for all involved.
I love rustic touches! This was one cool reception if you ask me!
Great ideas! Weddings can be so costly. Thanks for sharing. I am going to pin this.
I love the wedding set up very rustic looking but elegant. The cupcakes look divine as well!
I love the artificial flowers on the cake, it is so pretty I love the look! Such a money saver.
I love the barn backdrop!! What a great venue!
That is such a cute set up for a rustic wedding! Love this idea; it all turned out so great!
What a gorgeous set up! I was a planner for years and always laughed about the messes I’d created for myself!
What a perfectly beautiful place to celebreate. THis looks similar to the decor at a wedding I just attended in OHIO – so Chic!
I absolutely love that old barn setting. Everything looks so lovely!
You are such a genius. I love following you. You truly made dreams come true and made memories that will last a life time. 🙂 I’m thrilled I am getting to know you and look forward to a lifetime friendship.
If I was getting married again I would so do a country chic wedding
These are all such great ideas and everything looks so pretty! I’ll have to keep these in mind when my little sis gets married!
Love the rustic looks and very pretty, I would just be afraid it would cave in while I was in there! LOL What super great ideas to keep costs down.
I love the cupcakes! Bummer about the bakery being closed, but homemade is better anyways 🙂