A Beautiful Rustic Summer Wedding {Wedding Wednesday}

As I mentioned in last week’s Friday Favourites post, my family headed up to our hometown for my cousin Mark’s wedding. He was marrying his beautiful high school sweetheart Lisa and we were all so happy to be there to celebrate with them! It was an absolutely lovely wedding with awesome food, great decor and tons of family fun.

I’ll warn you that there are a bazillion pictures in this post because there were just too many great DIY projects that I just had to share them with all of you. I feel like I need to pin each photo on Pinterest because there is just so much good stuff!

Mark, Lisa and their family and friends did a fabulous job of putting it all together. Having just done our own wedding this spring, Garrett and I know how much hard work went into making it such a special day.

They had the grandmas toss flower petals as they walked down the aisle before the bridal party. Isn’t that just so sweet? They looked like they were having a blast.

Lisa was a stunning bride walking down the aisle with her mother.

The ceremony was done on the ramp up to the barn, making it great for all the guests to see everything, including this super sweet first kiss.

The happy couple went off into the pastures to take photos while all the guests made they’re way into the barn.

Mark made this huge wooden arbor for the entrance way to the barn, with large hydrangea arrangements and hay bales on each side.

Inside, they’d decorated the whole place with twinkle lights, mason jars and twig stars.

Many of the guests grabbed drinks at the bar and headed out into the lawn to enjoy the beautiful summer night.

 There were lots of fun lawn games set up for guests to play like bocce ball and croquet. I loved this idea!

 There was also a seating area with this cute photo display in old paneled windows.

 It was fun to see all their pictures from over the years.

We even caught a glimpse of the horse in the paddock, with a blue heron walking around. Do you see it along the tree line? Quite the odd couple, but they seemed to get along great.

The dinner was held downstairs in this beautifully decorated dining area with rustic touches and fresh flowers everywhere. I snuck downstairs to take some photos before the festivities started.

The paper lanterns covering the barn lights are actually from our wedding! We had them in strings on the back patio. We offered them up to Lisa to borrow and she came up with this great solution for the bare bulbs.

The burlap was attached to the beams and held up twinkle lights, that created the perfect mood lighting once the sun started to set.

Each table had a burlap and lace table runner made by the bride’s grandmother, vibrant flowers, a large wooden slab cut by Mark and vintage mason jar candles. It all came together so wonderfully.

The flower arrangements added some great colour to the space with bright pink and light green blooms. The peonies were actually silk flowers and I had to idea – they looked so real!

In the vases, there were green apple floating – a nice little nod to the apple orchard that surrounds the barn.

This rustic red lantern and hay bale held the cards and presents. I loved all the little touches, like the paneled glass door and galvanized bucket of branches.

For a guest book, Mark cut this giant slice of a tree and they had it carved with their names and the wedding date for guests to sign.

When you came down the stairs, there was this long table with all the goodies to check out.

Using more wooden slabs and pipe, Mark constructed this epic cupcake stand. It made my DIY wooden wedding cake stand I made for my friends’ wedding look puny, ha!

There were cupcakes in lots of different colours and flavours. When they’re this pretty, it’s always hard to know which one to pick!

For favours, they gave jars of homemade strawberry jam and raspberry jam made by Lisa and her mother. Garrett had some in Greek yogurt yesterday morning and said it was delish!

“Spread the Love”

To help guests find their seats, there were clusters of apples with the guest names printed on little leaves. It was so much fun finding your apple – and Garrett loved that you could eat it as a pre-dinner snack.

The happy couple! It was so great to be a part of their day and hear all the lovely stories from their friends and families.

It was also a chance for my family to take some group photos. We are never all dressed up and in perfect natural light at dusk.

The meal was prepared by a great local catering company called Men with Knives. All the food was fantastic, but the part I looked forward to the most were these adorable individual apple crisps in mason jars. They were the perfect portion after a big dinner and I loved how it tied in the apple theme. (Inspired by these cute jars, I made my own recipe for Individual Mini Mason Jar Apple Crisps – the perfect size for dessert or to pack into your lunch for a midday treat)

After dinner, all the guests gathered out on the lawn to watch the lovely couple come out to have their first dance.

With the twinkle lights and the summer evening air, it was just lovely.

Back inside, the party started to pick up with dancing. You better believe I switched out of my heels into flats at this point!

And I may have had another apple crisp with Garrett. It was just too good…and you work up such an appetite with all that dancing!

They were also a photo booth set up and my whole family got in on the action.

There were hats and props for everyone to try on, and you got to see your pics in real time, which made for even more laughs.

 The fridge at my parents’ place is covered in goofy photos now.

Needless to say, we all had a great night.

I wish Mark and Lisa many more years of happiness together!