A Real Wedding, II
A bit more from Danielle’s gorgeous Rustic, Chic wedding…
All photos by Ray and Erica Tisdale at 35 Atlanta
Danielle has been sweet enough to share with us her Real Wedding Story…
We spent the 2004 Labor Day weekend with family and friends in Montana, where our family has a vacation house. I brought my newfound best friend, Melinda, and my brother, Cass, brought a few of his friends. Little did we all know that within six weeks of the trip, Lee Copeland (one of Cass’s best friends) and I would be dating, as well as Cass and Melinda. If you fast-forward a few years, I was in the midst of planning the wedding of my dreams with Lee, and Cass has just proposed to Melinda! We were going to be a great big family of best friends!
I plan weddings on the side and have looked at every bridal magazine since I was 5 years old. I had so many choices to make – what season, color, theme- there were too many options! I finally decided on an early fall wedding and the color palette of sage green, chocolate brown, and cream. I always wanted to have an outdoor wedding and reception but it was hard to find just the right place. We wanted an element of Montana throughout the wedding but did not know where we could find that in Georgia. Finally, my florist told me of the perfect place! Fair Weather Farms did not advertise (all by word of mouth) and was gorgeous! It is a 2000-acre private family farm located in Social Circle, GA. You drive down a long, curvy dirt road for about a mile before you get to the Lodge and Pavilion. The Lodge is a three story hand-pegged rustic beauty – all of the wood beams and floors were salvaged from a cotton gin out of North Carolina. When you step through the doors, you are looking at a 3-story glass window that overlooks the lake and 200-year-old oak tree where we would exchange our vows. You were surrounded by trees and rolling pastures – it was as if we had planted a little bit of the Montana Big Sky Country right here in Georgia!
We planned the ceremony for outside underneath the gorgeous old oak tree in front of the lake. Our reception took place outside and inside the screened pavilion that is adjacent to the Lodge. I wanted a Southern Rustic Chic theme using as much of the natural surroundings that we could AND I was on a budget!
To see how Danielle designed this perfect, budget friendly wedding…stay tuned!
I will never grow tired of seeing rustic weddings...they are so charming! Danielle you did such a beautiful job with your planning.
This is such a beautiful wedding - thank you for posting it! And thank you Danielle for sharing it!
Danielle -- I grew-up in Montana. I am getting married this fall and wanted also to incorporate Montana throughout my own wedding. Looking at all the pictures, I feel your wedding beautifully captured the essence of Big Sky Country. To be honest, I was a little homesick when I saw the photographs. Beautiful job!
I am a sucker for little wooden wedding signs. I love to photograph them! This is a great little rustic affair!
Wow! I just started the wedding planning process, and so far all of my ideas are reflected in these pictures! Keep them coming, I can't wait to see more.
Thanks to you all - it was a wonderful day and I enjoyed every moment planning it. Amy, if you have any questions you can email me at danleecopeland@gmail.com. I would love to share any tips or ideas that I used.
Hi,
I love those wooden wedding signs. Can you make this on your own or is there a place where you can buy them. Any help?? Thank you!
You wedding is absolutely gorgeous Danielle. I've been searching but it doesn't look like Fairweather farms has a website. When you were planning were they easy to deal with. And how many people can the facility hold? Thanks so much.
An absolute inspirational color palette and perfect for autumn and green weddings. I can already see the melding of themeing and earth's colors. Lovely! Also I really like the professional but rustic 'Wedding' sign. Believe or not, my name is Lee Cass and I'm a Green Wedding Planner in Australia. Small world eh? A recent wedding the bride cured (left to mildly rust) Olive Tins and used these as vases for table floral arrangements. There's some great ideas out there.
Lee Cass, lenorek.com
That's awesome that they don't advertise, but how do you get in touch with them? Do you have their contact info?
i was just wondering if you would be willing to give out the information to get this location. my fiance and i are in love with this place and would love to talk to them about using ther facility for our wedding. thanks so much!
carly