There's so much to learn (and so many ideas to steal!) from Andrea & John's beautiful farm wedding.

In a world where weddings are all too often about spending lots of money, using things only once, and feeling like you've got to live up to other people's expectations, this pair created a day that was uniquely them, thoughtful, sustainable, and seriously sweet!

And their to capture it all was their dear friend, Sarah Sidwell Photography.

From handmade furniture they plan to use again and vintage crockery given a new lease of life, to edible favours sourced from their farm and DIY details at every turn, we just love how considered and resourceful all the details of this Nashville wedding are.

With a dessert-only reception, (such a fun idea!), abundant with sweet treats, lemonade, tea and blankets, Andrea and John were able to warm up and otherwise chilly day.

Add a gorgeous gown, cute cardi, dapper groom separates and some seriously beautiful blooms, and you have a wedding that's not only pretty and personal, but super chic too!

Wedding Day Snapshot

Our Love Story

John and I had known each other for 10 years before we started dating. John was a friend of my grandparents, and while my grandfather was convinced that we would make a great couple, we were more hesitant. My grandfather tried off and on for 5 years to set us up, but it wasn't until we were both helping my grandfather with a project that we started spending time together and really got to know each other. John and I dated for a year and a half before getting engaged. On the day we got engaged, I thought that John and I were going to a political party. We were headed out to the car when John pulled me aside and proposed on his farm. It turns out there wasn't a party, but that was just an excuse to make sure I was dressed up (he knew I would want to take pics). He then took me to dinner where all my friends and family were waiting. I have several food allergies, and he had taken the time to pick a restaurant with an allergy-friendly menu and go and pick up special desserts. It was a great day.

The Inspiration

I was going for a mixture of pink, floral, and gold, a vintage, farm wedding.

The Flowers

My bouquet was made of pink roses with a few cream roses mixed in (regular and mini roses). My bridesmaids bouquets were pink and cream roses, regular and small, with pink berries. I absolutely loved how the flowers turned out... Beautiful, simple, and classic. I knew I wanted pink roses from the very beginning, and they turned out just as I imagined. The colors were beautiful, and our florist was a dream to work with! Our center pieces were simply pink and white roses in mason jars, milk glass vases, and various china pieces I had collected. The boutonnières were small pink roses with pink berries mixed in. I wore a strapless gown with a beaded floral belt and layered tulle skirt, a simple headpiece, and cowboy boots. I told my bridesmaids to pick a pink dress and brown boots. John wore khakis, and blue plaid button up and blue vest. The groomsmen wore khakis and various blue button up shirts. It was freezing that day, so they also wore cream colored sweaters. My mom had recently moved to a farm, and I remember thinking, wow, this was great timing! I loved the idea of getting married somewhere personal and somewhere that we would visit often, plus it's beautiful!

The Attire

John and I took on a lot of projects with our wedding. We did almost everything ourselves. First of all, John built all of our farmhouse tables and benches for the ceremony and reception, serving tables, our sweetheart table, our arbor, and some mason jar chandeliers that we hung in the reception tent. John has a sawmill and literally started by cutting down trees on his farm, turning them into lumber, and then building from there. Pretty awesome. He also helped me make wooden signs that I then painted with sayings from "Grab a Quilt and Snuggle Up" to a "Mr & Mrs Wilkinson" sign for our table to a "Dirty Dishes" sign. I think I made between 8-10 signs total. My other DIY projects included fabric wands for our send off, making my own wedding invitations, floral cloth napkins for the reception, drink labels, drink flags, and tags for our favors.

The Venue

The DIY Details

We chose to use the same wedding ceremony that my mom used at her wedding. My mom had specially pieced her ceremony together, and I loved the words/vows she had chosen. From the moment we got engaged, I knew I wanted to use the same ceremony as my mom. John's dad performed our ceremony, so it was neat getting to have each of our families represented. The bridal party walked down the aisle to "As the Deer" and bride walked down the aisle to Canon in D.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was that we used mismatched china at the reception. Years ago, I had started a mismatched china collection and our wedding gave me the perfect excuse to add to it! I collected pink and gold floral plates. We scoured antique stores and flea markets... The flea market vendors even got to know us and would throw in free plates every now and then (so sweet!). I collected cream and sugar sets, vases, antique glass insulators, etc, to use as center pieces at the reception. I also collected vintage linens that were scattered throughout the food/ beverage tables.

The Ceremony

The Vintage Touches

We chose to do a desserts only reception. We did cupcakes (gluten free/dairy free) instead of a traditional cake, doughnuts, and fruit. It was a chilly day so we had fire pits set up outside with a s'mores station. We served lemonade and sweet tea to drink.

We saved a ton of money making things ourselves, having a smaller guest list, and asking friends and family to help where they could. We also saved a lot by doing cupcakes instead of a cake and doing a desserts only reception. The doughnuts were a great price, and they were a huge hit! People were still talking about them weeks later! Photography was our biggest splurge, but it's great to have pictures to capture the day and all our hard work. We really tried to spend our money on things that we could use again in the future. So, we were looking at a lot of our wedding purchases as an investment for future events. Obviously, there were things like tent rental, food, etc that could not be used again, but we tried to invest in as much as we could. If you find a dress you love but it's a little out of your price range, look online to see if there is someone selling one. There are so many websites now where people are selling their wedding dresses that they only wore for a few hours or not at all at a fraction of the cost.

The Refreshments

Budget Tips

John has a farm and we gave each guest a half dozen farm fresh eggs to take home with them. Instead of a guest book, my mother-in-law helped by cutting quilt squares for each guest to sign that she is going to make into a quilt for us. She also let us use several quilts she had made for guests to wrap up in during the ceremony and reception since it was quite chilly that day.

Sarah Sidwell is one of my dearest friends, and a great photographer. We have taken many pictures together over the years and have always had a blast. Originally, I had wanted Sarah to be a bridesmaid and not photograph, but after thinking about it for a while, we both decided that her photographing was the way to go. It was a great decision and we ended up spending most of the day together. Sarah Sidwell Photography is great!

The Guestbook & Favours

We rented a beautiful house right on the lake in Georgia and spent a week there. It was great. It was super peaceful and gave us time to just relax and recover from the wedding. We hiked, antiqued, explored nearby cities, fished, grilled out, and slept. For us, we knew we wanted a simple trip where we could just take it easy, enjoy our days, and not have a set schedule.

The Photography

Our wedding was "so us" because of all the hard work and DIY projects we put into it, along with so much influence from our families. Our goal was to try to spend money on things that we could keep and use again and use as much stuff that we already had as we could. I have a lot of stuff that has been given to me by my grandparents or family over the years and we were able to incorporate a lot of it. We used china pieces from my grandmother and great grandmother, pews from both our families, furniture from my great grandmother, glass insulators my grandfather had collected over the years, etc. Also, both of our wedding bands are from my family. Our wedding was focused on celebrating with our close friends and family, and I have to say, one of my favorite moments was when the speeches were given at our reception. Our reception began with my cousin saying a prayer over John and I, followed by my bridesmaids and photographer, and John's best man giving speeches. I will never forget all the kind words that were said, and both John and I were brought to tears by the loving and heartfelt words of our friends and family.

The Honeymoon

Favourite Moments

Get ideas from more DIY Real Weddings.

Oh I just love how Andrea's dress moves, it's so dreamy, and that ribbon wand send-off looks really fun too! Did you read Andrea's tips on their budget and DIY, very helpful!

Thanks so much to Sarah Sidwell Photography and our super sweet newlyweds, Andrea & John for sharing their DIY farm wedding.