Wedding Assembly

I've mentioned on and off for the last couple of months that Ryan's sister has been planning a wedding. Guess I never mentioned she planned it for this past weekend. (Following in good Shaffer footsteps: two months of planning!)

Bre wanted to get married on the family farm in one of the barns. But the barn is an actual farm barn. (Not like a livestock barn, but a storage barn.) So for the last two months, the family has been wildly planning every little detail of how to transform that barn into a venue! They all worked so hard envisioning and crafting the details. Because of our crazy May and Ryan's work schedule, we haven't been involved in the work until this weekend.

Ryan took Friday off work, and we headed out to the farm to help as needed throughout the day. I was stunned at how amazing the place looked when we got there. (I had actually never been in that particular barn before, but I was still stunned.)

Isn't it beautiful!?

So many lights strung perfectly throughout, an arbor at the front made from vintage doors, giant spools turned into tables, and amazing landscaping at the entrance.

We jumped in and started helping with chores. Ryan cleaned the insides of those massive doors.

(And yes, that is a dance floor hand constructed from pallets. It was quite a magnificent piece to behold.)

He and Andrew (the groom) hung a projector screen on one of the walls.

(Not pictured: I handed tools to them.)

That's a big spool!

Ryan and Andrew went out to put up signs at some intersections, and they sent this back to me. I am one lucky lady. My happily ever after indeed begins right there with that handsome man.

Meanwhile, I was on veggie cutting duty. Turned my hand orange and got a blister, but we got every last one of those veggies cut and prepped.

(That's our niece, Kelsey. I found out later that someone at the reception asked if I was her mom. I'd claim her!)

So here's a conundrum. I'd been teaching myself to curl my hair for this wedding. But I had forgotten what country living was like. Namely, windy. When I went to the car to get something, this happened. For real.

And that's when I realized a ponytail was going to be the only option for the wedding day. Not attractive on me AT ALL, but the only option if I didn't want to (a) sweat to death in a barn on a 90 degree day and (b) have my hair flooding the lens of every photo I took at the wedding.

So that was the making of the wedding venue.

OH! I didn't take a picture of it, but it was complete with the fanciest porta-potty you've ever seen in your life. Obviously a farm barn doesn't have restrooms for the masses, so they had to get something. The one they chose was this air conditioned trailer with a men's room and women's room. Pictures on the walls, music playing softly, running water, the whole bit!

I'll let you peek at a bit more later, but that's how we spent our Friday!