Details and Transformation: The Barn

This is how the barn looked before the picture below...but it was oh so much worse! These AMAZING, AWESOME bridesmaids, my dearest hearts in the world (and their husbands) made our wedding beautiful! That was a loooooooong, fun, dirty day. Notice the absence of the white sheets to the right and the pile of junk to the left behind Charlotte.

Lights strung (I found a ton of Christmas lights at Hobby Lobby for $1 because it was off season!), lanterns hung, the table stretched out and everyone having a blast!

One of Sam's groomsmen and 2 of my bridesmaids' husbands, Nathan and Martin, created our dancing area for our dance floor.

Notice the diner booths to the left-we found those in the barn and incorperated them for seating! The guys made this beyond lovely!
Tackling the barn and giving her an internal face lift!

This barn was being used as a huge storage shed, we pushed everything back and stapled white sheets behind the beams.

We found some treasures in the barn, including this vintage chair and desk! We left one portion of the barn uncovered, using it for our gift and cake room.

One of the most beautiful sites for a wedding shin dig I've seen! Still one of my favorite locations.

The location of your wedding sets the tone and the feel of your entire ceremony/reception. If the ceremony is being held at a winery, you automatically have the ambiance of elegance and class. Let's say it's located at a downtown pizza eatery-you have that laid back unique flare and casual vintage sense. If you have it a barn, or in the woods-well-the possibilities are endless...
The location of our love parade was not a wedding venue at all. It was a horse property, 2 mama huge barns and kingdoms of woods that had no desire to be tamed. I knew I wanted something raw and when we tracked through the woods avoiding horse manure piles and then pulled the massive weathered grey barn doors open, I knew, this was it! The spider webs danced hauntingly and the dust that was sleeping on all the timber flew about bringing about sneezes in Sam. My friend and co wedding planner Molly and I looked at each other-we knew-this was the jewel we were looking for. We saw the lights hanging and the table stretched down the center of the beams and rafters, everyone laughing!

Sure, some of our family members thought we were a bit crazy and couldn't see past the junk-but in the end, it couldn't have been more perfect!

There was junk everywhere in the storage barn that we had our reception dinner in-old furniture, barn equipment, timber and tons more misc. objects that where quite stubborn in being repositioned behind the white sheets myself and 16 bridesmaids staple gunned to the beams!

We searched for deals on globe lights, Christmas lights and the like. We borrowed paper lanterns ordered a dump truck load of saw dust to be poured do the center of the barn. Away wen the dirt floors and the sweet smell of fresh sawed wood filled the barn! That's one think I totally believe in if you are on a budget, if you have friends who are willing, borrow things like lights, lanterns, jars etc.... it saves so much money and most times makes people feel more a part of the wedding.

This is the house we ALL stayed in. (all 16 girls, 2 husbands, my dad and mom, aunt and 2 extra friends plus myself!) It was an adventure. My girl friends came out 3 days early all the way from Norway, Mozambique, Northern CA and Israel to help out and be with me! Weddings are wonderful, especially when you have friends like that come out and enjoy the love with you.