Connecticut Barn Wedding by Carla Ten Eyck
Hmmm…how do I describe this next wedding sent to us by crazy talented Carla Ten Eyck? Pure and unadulterated AWESOMENESS comes to mind. Donna and Andrew, the stylish bride and groom, created a rustic affair full of unique personal touches completely crafted by hand and so uniquely them. I must say, I am left yearning for a wheat bouquet to call my own. Be sure to visit the gallery for even more DIY inspiration from this artistic duo.
{Click here for the FULL wedding gallery}
All of the DIY details from the Bride:
We are both creative. I am a graphic designer and Andrew designs and builds store window displays for the fashion industry. I designed our save the dates, programs and thank you cards. He built the trellis and took care of tracking down and ordering lighting, etc. I really felt this was our chance to do and make everything on our own and just be so completely us.
Our inspiration came from blogs, Etsy and magazines from which I placed together mood boards. Many things just sort of came together and they miraculously went hand-in-hand with our rustic October theme. We sort of just did what we wanted and hoped it would work well together, but didn’t stress over it. We had planned on having the ceremony outside in Middletown, CT. It was beautiful in new England in October and we both love the fall. The day we got married, it was actually the stormiest, rainiest of days which we totally hadn’t planned on but which resulted in the most amazing photos and awesome memories.
Our photographer was amazing. She gave me the contact info for the dressmaker I used and also for our florist. We shopped thrift and craft stores near and far to collect all the glass centerpieces of which the florist made the most epic centerpiece terrariums of odd flowers and vegetables. I picked a creative and talented florist, told him we wanted terratium centerpieces, ferns somewhere and wheat bouquets for the bridesmaids and the rest was all his creativity. (Using wheat and vegetables is creative and easy on the budget). We also sliced a tree trunk to provide the centerpieces with a tree base.
We made our table markers from scrap barn wood and old cinema letters I had saved for no particular reason for years. We sprayed them white and glued them on. For wedding favors, I bought plastic party wishbones in bulk, spray painted them gold and attached thank you banners. I thought it was kind of fun to get people to interact. It was fun seeing people cart off table letters, centerpieces and wishbones to their cars afterwards. We used the leftover wood to make an arrow sign to point out the props and the wishing tree.
For the wishing tree, we dragged a huge branch out of my parents’ backyard and secured it to a wall in the back of the barn next to the gift table. The place cards, which doubled as our wishes, were made out of large tags with string. We stamped one side, wrote our guests’ names and leaned them against pine cones. I also glued origami flowers (which Andrew’s sister made and mailed to us from Florida) on random ones to spruce up the display. We placed a sign on the table asking our guests to write wishes or thoughts on the back of their tags and hang them on the tree.
It was really fun doing everything ourselves. We got to make things together and be creative together. Everything meant so much more on our wedding day because so many things we personally made or thought of. Andrew spent the entire morning with friends hanging the lighting and building the trellis. It was so amazing walking in that room for the first time and seeing him surrounded by all the work we had done together. It was so beautiful. I also loved having family involved like my grandma embroidering the ring holder or Andrew’s mom making his bow tie and his sister making the origami flowers for the pine cones.
Photography: Carla Ten Eyck / Venue: The Barns at Wesleyan Hill / Flowers: Datura: A Modern Garden / Dress: Jane Wilson-Marquis/ Necklace: Moon and Lola
32 Comments about “Connecticut Barn Wedding by Carla Ten Eyck”
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April 15, 2010 at 8:55 am
Such a unique wedding. Great ideas!
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April 15, 2010 at 8:57 am
i love the wheat bouquets!
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April 15, 2010 at 9:00 am
Pretty! I love the bride's hair. Does anyone know where to find those bridesmaid dresses? They're so flattering!
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April 15, 2010 at 9:01 am
Well done! Beautiful bouquets and loving the cross stitch. Embroidery seems to be popping up a lot lately.
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April 15, 2010 at 9:44 am
Love it! Where did the bride get her shoes?
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April 15, 2010 at 9:46 am
That dress is gorgeous!
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April 15, 2010 at 9:54 am
such a special wedding.
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April 15, 2010 at 10:03 am
Love the portraits of this super cute couple!!!
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April 15, 2010 at 10:05 am
Lovely! I adore the shots in the "stadium" seats. And everything looks beautifully quaint and rustic. Thanks for sharing :)
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April 15, 2010 at 10:05 am
LOVE the dress, hair...flowers...and the photographs are stunning!
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April 15, 2010 at 10:30 am
That necklace is AMAZING!!!! Beautiful pictures!!
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April 15, 2010 at 10:42 am
WOW! I LOVE HER TATTOO! What a gorgeous wedding!
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April 15, 2010 at 11:01 am
This is going in my top 5 favorite weddings!!
I love the mason jar stamp on the place cards, great idea! -
April 15, 2010 at 1:28 pm
This is one of the most gorgeous weddings you've ever featured. It's beautiful, personal and classy without being stuffy. LOVE!
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April 15, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Where did the bride find the cake topper?
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April 15, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Fabulous work as always, from Carla~!
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April 15, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Michele: you can find some personalized wooden cake toppers on etsy really easily. But for less than $10 you can find the wooden people, and acrylic markers at Michael's or another hobby store and DIY it!
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April 15, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Hi everyone, Thank you so much for the great comments. I just wanted to give props where due...
My dress (was incorrectly credited) was actually made by Jane Wilson-Marquis. She worked with me on the design and dipping the bottom blue and it was way cheaper then buying a new dress. He website is: http://www.janewilsonmarquis.com/
Bridesmaid dresses: Pricilla of Boston
Cake Toppers were from Etsy and very reasonable for personal hand-painted figures: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nakedpeggies
My shoes: For $60 from DSW are Audrey Brooke
Necklace: Custom made, they are amazing to work with- Moon & Lola http://www.moonandlola.com/
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April 15, 2010 at 10:26 pm
So cute!! Where did you all get the mason jar stamp for your escort cards? I LOVE it!
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April 16, 2010 at 7:03 am
donna (and andrew),
so cool to see this up here -- thanks for letting me have fun designing your wedding flowers. one of my favorites of all time (you guys AND your wedding).xo
tony -
April 16, 2010 at 9:18 am
too cool...love this! I'm totally envious of how creative this couple is :)
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April 18, 2010 at 8:43 am
Jar stamp: Michael's Arts & Craft Store
Hair & Make Up (she also did my color): She is amazing Amalia Moscoso www.amaliamoscoso.com
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April 19, 2010 at 11:51 am
I really love this wedding, it's the sort of wedding me and my fiancé would like to have in June. Actually we're looking for those large tags with strings because we're fan of the vintage look. Where did you find them?
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April 20, 2010 at 11:20 am
Staples, they are called Shipping Tags
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April 21, 2010 at 6:17 pm
what a cool couple, cool photographer, cool decor, cool everything. so much inspiration here, and i agree that the vintage tags rock.
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April 22, 2010 at 8:40 am
I love so many things about this wedding! It's going to provide a lot of inspiration for our November wedding. Thanks for sharing! :)
Oh and where did you get those bridesmaid's dresses??? I've been looking everywhere for cute grey dresses (on a budget) and haven't had that much luck. Those are super cute and flattering so I would love to consider them for my bridesmaids. Thanks!
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May 2, 2010 at 9:04 am
Where did you find your headband/veil combo?
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May 13, 2010 at 11:42 am
HI Donna,
I am actually planning a fall wedding for next October, what was the name of the barn where your reception was? I love it, it looks like the perfect location I have been searching for!
Beautiful wedding!!!
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May 18, 2010 at 3:20 pm
who did you hair?? its beautiful
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June 6, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Headband was from Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeSomethingNew I sent her scraps of my dress.
Barns/Location: The Barns at Wesleyan: http://www.pavilion-catering.com/about_welcome.htm
Hair & Make Up (she also did my color): She is amazing Amalia Moscoso (in NYC) www.amaliamoscoso.com
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