Monday, June 8, 2009

Barn Raising

We wanted our wedding to have a sense of community



Ideally it would have been a barn raising.
Everyone in our community would come help us build a barn for our new life together. And there would be potluck pie and dancing all night long!

In reality we planned a celebration with family style dinner, dancing to a live bluegrass band, and plenty of old-fashioned wedding symbols.
We were inspired by this idea: The ritual of guests sharing a meal together underscores the sense of community a wedding is meant to celebrate.


I would describe our wedding as having antique and old-fashioned aspects as well as woodland and family tree elements.

Some of my favorite details from our wedding are:

-The family history photos. From both Adam's and my family, going back four generations.


-Everyone pitching in their talents to make our wedding special. Many people donated services as wedding gifts to us!

-Antique wedding dress from late Edwardian Era (1905-1910) with silver locket, old-fashioned brown shoes, and handsome groom.


-Hyacinth flower wreaths as the corsages and boutonnières for our family. A wreath is the perfect wedding symbol. I love how they turned out!



Though Adam and I would actually LOVE to have a barn on a few acres of land...we will have to wait a few more years.

***Photos are from Rachel Thurston, rachelthurston.blogspot.com, our fantastic photographer***

5 comments:

joe said...

this is very cool, tess.

Tree Peeps said...

Thanks Joe!
I am so glad you could be there, it was great to see you!

Nora said...

tess--
i'm a childhood friend of adam's from ithaca, and am a religious follower of brooke's inchmark. i was thrilled to see your and adam's wedding details on her blog this morning, and wanted to pass along my admiration for your style, grace, and totally gorgeous wedding. the barlows' are a wonderful family; ka was my yw president and andra and i played violin together a lot; my older brother and shay were close friends. anyway, i wish you the very best and offer my sincere congratulations to you and adam.
cheers, nora ballantyne

Denise Fasanello said...

my god! Your wedding day is gorgeous! congrats

jendar said...

tess,

congratulations on your marriage!!! you look so beautiful!!! i remember you telling me a few years ago that you already had bought your wedding dress. i guess you may have found it at an antique store or something. did you wear the same one or you found another one? either way, is beautiful! hope all is well in seattle. maybe someday ill come visit,