A Barn, Dear Friends, and a Beautiful Evening

This was a wish come true for me!  I always, always wanted to give a barn party, but there was a small problem.......I didn't have a barn.......and I didn't have an occasion to give such a party.  Enter my friend, Brenda.  She invited the lay leadership of our church to a party in her beautiful barn!  When she asked me if I would help, I jumped at the chance.  Would I ever!!!

Look at this beautiful land!

This is the way the barn looked two days before the party.  Can you imagine getting a BARN with animals living in it ready for a party?  I can hardly get my home ready!  Plus, it is so dry here, that the dirt and dust from the arena is blowing like crazy, which means we set up the tables early, but couldn't add tablecloths, dishes, or centerpieces until the last minute.

Here's the outside.  Doesn't it look like a good time is about to happen?

This is what greeted guests down by the road.  These pumpkins were commandeered from my front door and have now been returned!  Don't you just love this old wooden wheelbarrow?

Folks entered at this end of the barn and this was found on both sides of the door.

This old church pew sits here all of the time.  I know this photo is blurry, but I wanted you to see this grand piece of history.

Brenda snitched these three pillows from her front porch for the evening.

I thought you might like to see the tack room.

This hand tooled saddle has the badge that reads "Charmaine James".  She was a famous barrel racer and Brenda's husband bought her this beauty.

You can see the party area through the door.

We put the desserts in the wash bay.

We were going for high style and low budget and by using tin foil pans, we made it happen.  

This other bay held drinks in self-help coolers, just inside the door.

This guy graced a very popular table....... 

the one that held the peanuts!

It was so delightful to see all those adults walking around with a bag of peanuts.  (And, because it is 2016, you can see the obligatory bottle of Purell!)

I just love those old burlap bags over the hay bales that hold up the coolers.

This is the buffet table waiting for the barbeque and beans.  More tin pans here.

Each horse had a basket of carrots outside of it's stall, and, again, I was tickled to see all of those grown ups getting so into feeding horses!

Here's what tables for nearly 100 looks like.

Here's the dinner plate.  Yep!  It's a foil pie pan.  No renting (or washing) dishes for us.

A colorful paper lined the plate, and the plastic flatware was tied with a bit of raffia.  You can see the red gingham plastic tablecloth which was over white linen cloths.  A strip of butcher's paper ran down the middle.

Three mason jars made up the centerpiece.  One held corn, one black beans and the little one held just the burlap covered votive.  

Ok, now.  The stalls are ready.....

the tables are ready......

and it is time for the stars of the evening.  This is Brenda's husband, Ken, bringing in his big horse, Dakota.  He's 16 1/2 hands!  No wonder his nickname is "Big D".  A huge thanks go to Ken, as well, for his incredible generosity.

He's ready to party.  Three more beauties were brought in and they each showed their own personality.  They seemed to really love the attention.  

Time for guests!

I very seldom post photos of my friends or guests, but I just had to use this one.  This is Brenda, a woman I am so proud to call my friend.  This entire event was her vision and I was simply an extra pair of hands to help.  She designed, she cleaned, she schlepped, she organized and she was the sweetest leader.  And thus, I got to give a barn party!!!!! 

P.S.  Brenda owned Balthus von Tassel, the beautiful heirloom turkey who was featured in this post.  Please take a look at this handsome devil.

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21 Rosemary Lane

  

Chukkar Farm Wedding - Part II - Decor

 

These two creative young people had a clear vision of what they wanted this event to look like.  The bride is a graphic designer, and the groom is a woodworker, among their many other talents.  And even though they were definite with their desires, they were so very lovely to work with and easy to please.  There was a small army of loving friends who gathered at 9 am the morning of the wedding to transform the dream into reality. If you missed yesterday's post about the venue, Chukkar Farm Polo Club, you can see it here.

 

I never made the bridal bouquet before, but this loose, gathered design was easy to do.  We arrived to buckets of flowers, so we started with the most special pieces to be sure we had enough of the most lovely flowers.  Coral and turquoise were the colors used throughout the planning with lots of burlap and natural colors.  These coral ranunculus, peach David Austin garden roses, white delphinium, and several varieties of mums were the basis for these bouquets.  The bridesmaids bouquets were smaller versions of this. 

 

The men's boutonnieres were so simple and perfect.  We just wrapped coral hyperninum berries and a bit of greenery with twine.  It looked so cute on their suspenders.

 

These were the flower girls' baskets.  You can't really see here, but they were birch bark baskets that we trimmed out with burlap and a touch of baby's breath.

 

Early in the morning, we attempted to put the tablecloths out in the gravel area between the barn and the party pavilion.  The wind was so strong that we had to tip the chairs to keep the cloths on the tables.  This slowed us down just a bit, but by afternoon, the wind died down and we got back to work.

 

This is the look as it was coming together.

 

Here is the centerpiece with the glittered chipboard table number leaned against the mercury glass candle holder.

 

You can see that the bride wanted just a suggestion of meadow flowers on each table, and it was beautiful like that.

 

The children had their own picnic tables.

 

The non-alcoholic beverages were set up in front of the barn.

 

The party pavilion across the gravel area was beginning to look like this!

 

And at the entrance to the pavilion, the white wine was chilled in an old baby bathtub and the curtains were held back with burlap bows and large bunches of baby's breath.

 

The vintage canoe was fitted out with plastic to hold ice for drinks and decorated with ferns.  Note the "J + H" vinyl cutout custom made for them, which you'll see re-occur several places in the décor.

 

I just had to show you this again so you could see the "staff" that was helping make critical decisions!

 

This old sideboard served the red wine.

 

The flowers were simple and colorful.

What's a southern wedding without cornhole?  Can you see the heart decal again?  Sorry for the glare.

This cute tee-pee was another design element that the bride included.

The top was decorated with burlap, lace and some flowers.  More glittered chipboard letters spelled out "love" and swung gently in the wind.

Inside were a collection of pillows and a lace tablecloth on the grass.  I love this pillow fabric and you'll see this design and these colors lots of other places.  Even the invitation had this unique element.

Many places had these slabs of tree trunks topped with lanterns.

What a cute way to offer sparklers on this old washstand.

Darling!

Vases with candles in them, wrapped with twine hung from the equestrian equipment.

Near the bar area, around the dance floor, the small cocktail tables were given a cheerful little nod.

This old trunk on the industrial lorry was lined with an old lace tablecloth for gifts.

This is the bar before the set-ups were brought in.

The flowers on the bar carried through the bride's color selections.

 

In front of the club house, we set this old rocking chair with a simple tin of flowers and a chicken wire-lined picture frame.

It held the escort cards!  See the heart and arrow design again?

 

Here's the bride's beautiful mother.  She's a dear friend of mine and she's just as pretty inside as out.  All the women in the wedding party were wearing these matching kimonos while working on the décor and getting hair and make-up done.  They looked so cute and were just a darling group of women and were SOOOO much fun to work with. 

 

Tomorrow's post will be the actual wedding photos.  It's a stunner!