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Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue

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Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue

Sara + Erik

Columbia City, Indiana
- 10/07/2018
Total wedding budget $9,000
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue
Whimsical Modern Barn Wedding in Blue

Sara + Erik

October 7th, 2018
Columbia City, IN | Union 12

What was your total budget? Please provide a budget breakdown.

  • Venue (with bar charges)- $3000
  • Photography- $1400
  • Wedding Dress-$1099
  • Wedding Suit- $250
  • Flowers/ Pumpkins- $900
  • DJ-$750
  • Decor- $300
Total Budget: $9,000

How did you meet?

Erik and I met at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. We were classmates in our first business class together our freshman year and we started dating our Junior year.

What is your proposal story?

After months of begging Erik to take me to IKEA, he finally took me after his basketball season ended. When we got back from Indy, he proposed to me at his parent’s house in Kokomo, Indiana, and all of our friends and family were there watching from the Balcony they have on the back of their house.

Tell us about your wedding vision.

I love natural and neutral tones and colors. In Indiana, most of the pretty places to get married are barns, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting married in a big red barn. Union 12 was the perfect mix of modern and rustic that I was looking for. The barn has a lot of whites, blacks, browns, which we mixed with a dusty blue color as well as navy. It sounds like it wouldn’t have looked good together, but all of the neutral colors blended together seamlessly.

Tell us about your attire choices.

I got my wedding dress from Bridal Village in Hicksville Ohio, which is no more than 25 minutes from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The ladies that worked there were absolutely incredible and they did fantastic with everything from trying on the dresses, making me feel special, fittings, and the final appointments. I highly recommend them for wedding dresses, mother of the bride dresses, bridesmaids dresses, alterations and anything else.

I also fell in love with our bridesmaid dresses online through Azazie. They were super easy to work with. Most of our girls ordered try on sizes and the process was super easy. Our suits came from Macy’s, and that was an easy process as well.

What was most important to you two while planning? Was there anything you chose to splurge on or skip?

We were definitely trying to plan our wedding on the budget-friendly side of things, and when you start adding everything up it just got to be more and more expensive. We decided to skip save the dates because we didn’t want to pay for the extra postage. We posted our date on social media, and sent our actual invitations out about a month or so earlier than people normally would. We also had people rsvp online, which saved us money as well.

We didn’t really skip out on anything or really splurge on anything either. We probably paid the most for our venue, but it was mostly because we loved it so much, and thought October would be the perfect time of the year for it.

What were your favorite parts of the day?

We loved getting to see all of our friends and family on both sides, together just to support us. We also wrote our own vows and absolutely loved getting to share that with not only each other but also with our families and friends.

Tell us about your wedding flowers.

We had a family friend do our flowers for the day. Alyssa Lagoni did amazing with our flowers. I loved just being able to tell her the color or vision I was going for, and they looked better than I could have ever done or imagined.

Here are some of the flowers that were in our bouquets:
White / Ivory roses per stem
thistle
white hydrangea
lisianthus white
Mini Carnations per stem
Limonium
Lambs ear

Besides our actual flowers, it was always my dream to walk down the aisle in October, and there was no better way to do that than with White Pumpkins lining the aisle. It was actually perfect, and that was probably one of my favorite details about our wedding day.

Tell us about your wedding cake.

My cousin, Stephanie Leininger, with the help of my Aunt (Sheryl Cox), made both our cake to cut and save, and cupcakes for our guests. Our wedding took place in October so our goal was to do some fall flavors as well as unique flavors. We had Pumpkin Spice, Smores, Peanut Butter Cup, Cinnamon Roll, Marble, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry.

What did you do for favors?

We did little treat bags filled with Hershey Kisses that said, “A Heart full of love and a life full of kisses, now Erik and Sara are Mr & Mrs.”

Please describe any personal, handmade, or DIY details.

Pretty much everything for our wedding was DIY. We made our own centerpieces out of spray painted wine and lemonade bottles. We also made these wooden pallets that we put the bottles on. For our guest book, we took a big piece of wood and stained it and wrote “The Bowens” on the top of it with some really pretty Calligraphy, and had people sign that with silver Sharpies.

Did you include any special traditions or family heirlooms?

I wore a pearl bracelet that my grandma got for me before she passed away, as well as the veil that my cousin wore at her wedding.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their wedding now?

No planning or amount of time you put into it will ever seem like enough, but I wish I could go back and tell myself that none of the stress or time spent worrying about endless details was worth it. At the end of the day, you can’t please every single one of your guests, so do what is going to make you happy, and don’t stress about the rest. It will work itself out and at the end of the night, you get to leave married to your best friend!

VENDORS

Photography: Messy Photography   • Ceremony Venue: Union 12 • Reception Venue: Union 12 • Floral: Alyssa Lagoni • Stationery: walmart • Videography: Isaac Herman • Wedding Cake: Stephanie Leininger • Rentals: All Occasion Party Rental • Hair: Elizabeth Lindsey • Makeup: Make up by Melsie • Groom’s Attire: Macy’s   • Bridesmaid Dresses: Azazie • Wedding Dress: bridal village • Submitted via: Matchology