We got married on October 13th, 2019 and it was everything I wanted: boho meets rustic farm wedding with pops of colorful flowers and touches of stripes & dots. I was considered a “mature bride” as I was reminded by the tailor as she pinned the dress to my then 35 year old body. I wouldn’t consider myself a girly-girl (whatever that means) because I hate dressing up. I can’t walk in heels and I don’t have much time for frivolous things like The Bachelor but I am a walking contradiction as I love fruity cocktails, the color pink and flowers AND I spend most of my days painting pink flowers (what’s more girly than that?) while I wish I was drinking a fruity cocktail.

I had to make an exception about my ‘hating to dress up’ for the big day as I do love what dressing up looks like just not as much in practice. I wanted vintage looking shoes which I picked up at Unique Vintage in Burbank when I was still living in California. I knew I wanted a super unique dress and nothing too fancy. I was open to anything but I knew I wanted that boho vibe and that it needed to go with a flower crown since I had my heart set on wearing one (I’d been painting animals wearing flower crowns for sometime so I was a little obsessed). When I saw this blue gingham (it comes in pink too) dress from BHLDN and it was ON SALE I had to have it! I ordered it online and never got to have that fun movie-montage moment where you sip champagne and try on dresses in a fancy store BUT the dress arrived and was an instant hit. Full discIosure: I did get it tailored ever so slightly and had a built in bra put in since it was strapless and I’m part of the itty-bitty-titty committee.

I always wanted peonies at my wedding but I quickly learned that peonies in fall aren’t really a thing so we went with silk flowers since I just wasn’t willing to compromise on that AND we could prepare all the flowers in advance and I was all for that. We found a lot of great flowers at Hobby Lobby. My bouquet was a very realistic looking “fake” peonies that my mom arranged with a few other bits of greenery and a TON of ribbons. I can’t remember the brand name of these peony bouquets but we got them in Raleigh, NC at Logan Trading Co. I also made my flower crown and the flower garlands for the dogs! My mom helped arrange and put together all the centerpieces. We made these out of galvanized tin holders, striped ribbon and flowers, of course (combination of Amazon finds and Hobby Lobby and alike).

We were on a tight $5,000 budget for 50 people and like I’ve said before we aren’t fancy people so we served nachos in cardboard open boxes like when you’re at a ball game with floral wax papers with bamboo eco-friendly forks and a mixture or striped and dotted napkins (everything found on Amazon). The paper runners on each table are actually from Papersource but it’s just wide wrapped paper that we cut length-wise in half. This worked out great since the wrapping paper was super long and could span the 10 foot wood farm table.

I always wanted a cake with flowers decorating it instead of overly sweet icing and I love those semi-naked cakes. So we went with a mini-cake tower so we could have various flavors and everyone would get their very own cake! Gorgeous cakes by Pink Baking Co.

So after the sunset ceremony outside the rustic barn at Long Creek Farms in Rocky Point, NC we went inside the rustic barn sparkling with twinkle lights to enjoy our nachos, speeches and finally those little cakes I just mentioned. The rest of the night was spent chatting with friends from close and far and dancing but because I was a “mature bride” and most everyone else attending was also mature we ended the night reasonably before 10pm, packed up the cars and got a good nights rest.

I’m going to include many photos here of the night. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this boho, rustic farm wedding on a budget. Photos by Lindsay Fort Photography

To view my painted flowers go HERE Did I also mention that I LIVE paint weddings? If that’s your jam go HERE

Our wedding was also featured on the Polka Dot Bride site on 2/26/2020 please enjoy the article POLKA DOT BRIDE