Emily and Ben are a beautiful one-of-a-kind couple and their wedding reflects that in the best ways. The whole day looks light and airy with heaps of fun and loveliness.
We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but we guarantee the bride and groom’s choice of evening wedding activities will not be anything close to what you might imagine. Scroll to the end to see exactly what they were up to! In the meantime if you want to see more of this amazing rustic purple farm wedding, click here to see the full gallery. Photographs courtesy of Cait Rose Photography.
Flowers Grown On Site
All of the flowers that were used in the wedding were grown in the garden on-site at Warwick Farm. Farm and venue owner Page Price planted Emily’s bridal garden in the early spring and planted seasonal blooms like Cottage Roses and Succulents that adorned the bridal bouquets, tables, and boutonnières. The Head Table donned a long antique gutter filled with succulents. The showpiece, however, was the beautiful flower chandelier that hung from the barn ceiling at the center of the room.
Short Engagement Benefits
Ben and I had a rather short engagement (8 months) – something that I would highly suggest to other brides. If the wedding planning processes was longer, I feel like I would have stressed out about the details much more than I had done in the months before my wedding rather than make firm decisions. I bought the sixth dress I tried on, my Bridesmaids purchased their Bridesmaids dresses the first time I looked at them and the only wedding venue I looked at, I booked!
Warwick Farm
Warwick Farm, located in rural Mount Vernon, Ohio, was the perfect venue for the couple. From the English gardens, greenhouses, antique milking parlor and guest to the whimsical chicken coupe adjoining the gardens, Warwick Farm provided Ben and Emily with the best of both worlds – both beauty and fun. Best of all, is that Emily and Ben get to pass Warwick Farm every day on the way to work and remember that special place where they got married.
Photographer Married At Same Venue
Emily’s photography style is playful, fun and soft – highlighting those impromptu moments that make the real “Kodak Moments”. After searching many blogs and wedding websites, Emily found Cait Rose Photography and immediately fell in love with her style, photos and personality. One of the coolest things about this relationship is that Emily and Ben found out that Caitlin was married at the same venue with one of the first weddings Warwick Farm ever hosted.
Relax And Go For It!
Another piece of advice I would like to give is to RELAX. Things will go wrong on your wedding day. Plan your seating charts, processional into the reception, and other arrangements as far as you can in advance, so you can enjoy your family, friends, and fiancé before the wedding. One of the best parts of getting married is having your family and friends celebrating with you, so keep your mind on them and not on the details. The outlook I had in the beginning was if you want something that bad for your wedding – just go for it. You can have a beautiful wedding with special pieces on a budget – just make sure to shop savvy!
Flaming Watermelon Toss, Say What?
B’s Sugar Buzz created a gorgeous 4-tiered cake with strawberry, white with strawberry filling and white with lemon filling tiers. The top of the cake did not don a cake topper, but instead used a simple wrap-around flower display from flowers grown on the farm. For a special night time activity, the couple had a Photo Booth and also used a trebuchet made by the farm owners to launch Watermelons at dusk. It was a fun event to see flaming watermelons sail through the air!
Can’t believe your eyes and want to see it happen in motion?! Watch the video below, filmed by Werner Entertainment, to see the full day unfold, including flying flaming watermelons of course!
Read on to see an incredible budget breakdown on what this wedding cost. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.
When I started my wedding budget, my main focus was on flowers. I love everything about how flowers look, feel, and how they create happiness to those who see and smell them. At my venue, the owner of the farm, Page Price, actually grows her own flowers in the gardens that are on the property, so I chose blooms that would be in season and at their optimal beauty during July. Page also beautifully arranges all of the bouquets, centerpieces and accents. For my entire flower purchase, I paid around $2,300.
I wanted a string trio (as I play cello) for my ceremony, which ended up costing $335 for the ensemble. This included custom arrangements of John Denver’s “Annie’s Song”, “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve and “The Prayer”.
Because it was an outdoor wedding and because we are members of a church, our Pastor officiated for free, which we provided a small donation.
Our catering included a stocked beer and wine bar, soft drinks, coffee, tea, lemonade at the ceremony, hors d’oeuvres, chicken and steak shish kabobs, a pasta bar and a salad bar. For 170 guests the total bill including tips was around $11,000.
Our invitations were designed by a graphic designer and calligrapher, who charged me a $65 design fee which included designing the invitation, RSVP card and reply envelope. I used Paper Source to purchase the envelopes and card stock which ended up being around $150. I am lucky to have a local printer who I have done business with to print them for free.
I bought my dress from Henri’s Cloud Nine, located in Columbus, Ohio. My dress was $2,100, but also purchased a sequin-trimmed veil ($250) and a belt ($200). My shoes I purchased at DSW for $50 for an overall Bridal outfit cost of around $2,500.
For photography, I believe I got a stellar deal for the services my photographer provided. For $2,200, we received all rights for all photos taken (over 500), received a free engagement session, and had over 8 hours of coverage for the day. That total included a second photographer for the Ceremony to capture both reactions from the Bride and Groom at the first look. We also used the second photographer during Cocktail Hour as a photo booth photographer, so we didn’t have to pay another vendor!
The venue was a flat fee of $4000.
For the wedding, I rented antique plates and rented custom chalkboards and designs from Pickin’ Chix. Total for custom chalkboard designs and rental along with antique flatware rental totaled $500.
All tables and chairs were rented for a fee of $650. This included renting double the amount of chairs than those needed at the reception because we didn’t want to have to move the ceremony chairs over to the Barn for the reception.
Our venue also holds antique and garden shows twice a year, and the owner Page Price and her wedding coordinator Eugene Robinson travel the WORLD searching for antiques and ideas. For a flat fee of $250, Eugene styled the barn with antiques for the reception.
Our DJ, Aaron Werner, provided entertainment the entire night of the reception for $750. This included providing a sound system during the Ceremony, as it was outdoors. What’s most special about his services and price – in my opinion- was that he also created a great wedding video for us for FREE.
B’s Sugar Buzz did a four-tier wedding cake that fed our 170 guests for $465 including set-up at the location.
I designed our wedding programs myself, and my local printer printed them for free. The only cost I incurred from this was the cost of the fan handle and glue to adhere the sheets of paper over the fan handle. Cost of this was around $20.
