Our Rainy Washington Wedding at Craven Farm

I’m so excited to finally share our wedding photos with you! Rob and I were married last summer in Snohomish, Washington at Craven Farm. With the gorgeous barn, cornfields in the background and shabby-chic décor, I knew it was the perfect venue. Although it was August, we were concerned about an outdoor Seattle wedding, so we looked at which date historically had the least amount of rain. Washington had a record dry summer this year, but on that day it ended up POURING. We were taking photos in the second story of the barn when we first heard the thunder storm rolling in. Many people told me that rain is good luck and fortunately it didn’t alter any of our plans.  Ultimately it made for a memorable day and regardless of the weather everything went so smoothly. I wish we could go back and relive that day over and over again!

Craven Farm had perfect getting ready areas, even a man cave complete with a poker table for the guys. The bride’s room was adorned with vintage wedding photos, décor and dresses. It was so exciting to finally wear my dress, get my hair/makeup done and see how everything came together!

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The whole year before our wedding Rob gave me a hard time about the “first look” photo, saying he was going to make a funny face or something. Thankfully he didn’t ruin this special moment because it was so fun to see his reaction. Months before this he guessed different aspects of my dress (lace, somewhat fitted, not strapless, low back) and he was spot on, so he was pleased at how well he knows my style.

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One of the hardest parts of wedding planning was finding bridesmaids dresses. I knew I wanted them all to be a shade of blush, but each bridesmaid could have a different style. I eventually found a selection of J.Crew dresses in this pretty pink shade and let them pick the style they liked best. Then for one of my gifts, I gave them each a statement necklace and earrings to wear on the big day. I had fun searching for pieces that fit each girl’s style.

I love how our groomsmen outfits turned out! They all wore the “photographer” pants from Express with a white collared shirt. To make Rob stand out, he wore the matching vest. Some of Rob’s gifts to them were the pink Michael Kors ties and argyle socks. I think the ties added the perfect pop of pink and complemented the bridesmaid dresses perfectly!

Our ceremony was in a partially open barn overlooking the cornfields and surrounding green hills. The venue already had the pretty lights up in the barn and we added the flowers down the aisle, the wood backdrop and a couple pillars with more flowers. Our ceremony was short and sweet. We both wrote our own vows and I’m so glad we did! There were some funny parts and also sweet, serious moments. I could read his over and over again, he did a really great job!

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And now for the reception! We wanted it to be a fun party with a natural flow (not many breaks for announcements, dances, toasts, etc.). The food was one of the most important aspects for us. We wanted guests to really enjoy the dinner and to include some Seattle fare in the buffet, like the teriyaki smoked salmon. It was the only thing we didn’t have any leftovers of—definitely my favorite item! I also loved the brie and crab cakes we had as passed appetizers.

We had about 50 guests, so we decided to have assigned tables to ensure that our friends and family were able to sit together with no awkward arrangements. Our friend Emily, who is an amazing calligrapher, handmade our seating chart. It was nice to have a personal touch rather than just printing something out.

I really enjoyed putting together out sweetheart table. I spray painted our initials gold to match our color scheme and found some rose-colored Champagne glasses at a local antique store. This bottle of Chandon also caught my eye because of the white and gold, plus it had the perfect message!

For our other tables, we had pink napkins with gold flatware and an eclectic mix of center pieces. Each table had a wood slice topped with different rustic-looking vases, Polaroid photos and antlers. I also added some gold sparkle to the candle votives by dipping them in glitter. They matched the table numbers perfectly!

We wanted to have several activities to keep people busy if they didn’t feel like dancing. I asked my grandpa if he would be able to make a corn hole set and he went above and beyond—it even has folding legs! Did I mention he’s 90?! Seriously amazing. Rob and I stained it, then painted our initial. His mom made the bean bags with some pink and gold fabric I had found. It was a family effort and such a special item to keep from our wedding!

Another piece of the wedding puzzle that was very important to me was the dessert table! Duh. I knew I wanted cupcakes, so we tested several flavors and ultimately decided on pumpkin, pink champagne and chocolate salted caramel. We also had a simple white cutting cake with some flowers on top. Overall I think the biggest hit was the mini doughnuts! We had four flavors: old fashioned, maple bar, maple bar with bacon, and vanilla cake doughnuts that had light pink frosting and gold sprinkles.

We also had a couple handmade items, including my mother-in-law’s truffles and the cake stand which we made from a tree their neighbor cut down. To find the pole in the middle Rob and I drove 40 minutes to Mt. Charleston to cut down a large branch. We put some serious time and effort into it!

To “Spread the Love” our favor was homemade crabapple jam. I topped the gold lids with lace and tied it with twine for a rustic look.

A lot of our guests traveled to the wedding, so we thought a map would be a fun guestbook since they could sign it in the area they live. I’m excited to frame it and hang it in our house with our other wedding photos!

Another special décor item was this collection of family wedding photos, including our parents and grandparents.

Our other activity was the date jar, where guests wrote down ideas for the new Mr. and Mrs. It was hilarious to read them afterward—you could tell which ones were written after a few drinks!

As much as I cared about the dessert table, Rob cared that much about the bar. We went on several outings to find local wine and beer, plus his brother brewed a special batch just for our wedding. We also had “His” and “Hers” drinks, mine being pink lemonade with lemon rum and Rob’s being vanilla vodka with ginger ale.

In anticipation of a hot day and our guests sitting outside for the ceremony, we got water bottles with personalized labels. I planned on putting them at the entrance in large galvanized buckets, but since there was plenty of water outside (ugh rain), we just used them at the bar.

It really was the best day ever (as cheesy as that sounds!) and I’m so blessed to have my amazing husband, family and friends.

 

Photos by Alex Grummer