DIY Wedding at the Farm

Logan & Emilie Hoffman

Marlin made all the signage for the wedding according to Emilie's specifications.  They were all old boards that we had in the granary.  She tried to incorporate as many home relics as possible.

The Barn by Day



Emilie used old windows for the seating charts.



I spent the year prior to the wedding going from Goodwills to Flea Markets to Rummage Sales all over the state looking for dishes and napkins.  Emilie was going for Shabby Chic and she didn't want the dishes to match. We used Blue Ball Jars (thanks Grandma & Grandpa Hoffman) and old bottles (thanks Barb & Jim!) for vases.  We picked all of the wildflowers that were used. Joe & Emilie got up early and went to Seasecapes (actually now called Garden Gate Greenhouse near Peru, Indiana) to pick flowers while Marlin, Courtney, Colleen and I went to pick the wild ones).

 

 The Schrock aunts and cousins along with Joe & Barb put the flowers in the vases the morning of the wedding and set them all out so they were fresh. I sewed the flags and put a number on the middle flag so people would know which table was theirs.  We used pieces of my grapevine (thanks to the rabbits eating my grapevine at the base last winter I had plenty of grapevine to use) to tie the flags to and inserted them into the jars.

 Emilie said that she wanted her wedding to be about Community and everyone helping together and she certainly achieved that from girl friends helping to set the tables to friends cleaning up the church after the wedding and more friends helping to clean up the barn and load the trailer after the wedding was done.

The tables were set with cream colored tablecloths and oznaburg runners. Grandma Schrock made the runners. She just tore the runners so that the ends were slightly raveled. There was no sewing involved and they looked wonderful!  We folded the napkins in half and placed them under the plate so that they hung down.  All of the napkins were vintage linens that I picked up here and there (thanks again Barb for your help in finding the napkins). My mom, Grandma Schrock, & Barb helped me iron and starch the napkins.  That is definitely a lost art that sometimes I think our generation has lost. It was fun to revive it for this moment.

CD's were set out for the guests to take. We actually made the envelopes by sewing a seam down the side and then gluing a button on the flap. Emilie made flags (see the one in the jar above) that we used to wave instead of using bird seed or rice when the couple was leaving.

The littlest bridesmaid, my Kati Girl

 Emilie made cookies for all the guests to take as a thank you for celebrating their special day. We tied the bag with twine and pinned a cute little button to the twine that she had drawn of her and Logan. I think she did a great job of capturing both their personalities.

 Emilie is known for her pie baking far and wide and wanted pies, not cake, for her wedding dessert.  I told her we were definitely not going to bake the pies ourselves.  When Ben and Joe got married, we bought pies from the Traverse Bay Pie Company and Emilie wanted to carry on the tradition.  Fortunately, the Traverse Bay Pie Company opened up a store in Greenwood, Indiana last year.  They were great to work with and even delivered the pies pipping hot right out of the oven!

The menu consisted of Soup & Salad with an array of cheese & crackers, and homemade biscuits, corn muffins, and rolls. All of the recipes were family recipes and adaptations of recipes that we have found over the years.

The food was served in the little cabin next to the barn. 

Schrockapalooza at the Photobooth

Emilie had this great idea of having a photobooth.  She wanted it to look vintage so she made mustaches, old fashioned glasses and hats and glued them to sticks.  She had a friend of the family take the pictures of people like the ones above of some of our family.  We actually took a picture of the entire Schrock Family and the entire Hoffman Family that were present at the wedding.  It was great fun.

Barn at Night

Emilie was the brains of the operation and had the Do It Yourself vision. We have so many people to thank that helped along the way so forgive me if I have left anyone out. The wedding was everything we had dreamed and hoped for, and the memories will surely last a lifetime. It was a good way to send off my youngest into her new and exciting life with Logan Hoffman.