Romantic Farm Wedding

Dawn Strong
March 16, 2016
Categories: The Blog

There’s rain… and then there’s the rain that made an appearance on this darling duo’s big day planned to perfection by Elizabeth Bailey Weddings. Think torrential downpours of three inches and tow trucks pulling cars out of the mud at the end of the evening. But despite the inclement weather (and the lake on the dance floor), this sweet twosome celebrated like the sun was SHINING. See every moment captured by Jennifer McMenamin in THE VAULT right here.

From Jennifer McMenamin Photography… Libbie + Doug had one of the loveliest farm weddings that I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing. In addition to being beautiful, it was also incredibly meaningful. Both Libbie and her mother, Ginny, rode horses at Caves Farm and the bride’s horse, Romeo, is still boarded there. He made an appearance during portraits and happily munched grass alongside the bride and groom in their wedding finery.

With the help of Elizabeth Bailey Weddings, the couple planned an elegant black-tie wedding on an active horse farm amidst sprawling fields and pastures north of Baltimore, Maryland. There were bright summer blooms and cafe lights, a bluegrass band during cocktail hour and lawn games. There was a dramatic uncorking of a very special bottle of French champagne that has great meaning in the bride’s family. There was a popsicle stand from Washington DC, where the couple lives and works. There was also a touching ceremony that involved a gaggle of darling children and a half dozen friends and family members who served as readers. Even Libbie’s dog was included in family photos and the ceremony processional! Oh yes, and the weather was rather memorable, too. The forecast for Libbie + Doug’s wedding day included a flash flood warning with a predicted 2 to 4 inches of rain from powerful thunderstorms. On Baltimore’s humid summer days, those types of forecasts are often inaccurate. This one turned out to be 110 percent correct. It started raining just before the ceremony. Then, as the families and wedding party members lined up with umbrellas for the processional, it stopped. Glorious sunshine burst through the clouds, allowing outdoor mingling and playing throughout cocktail hour and the early evening, just as the couple had hoped. Then, it poured and poured, flooding the field where the reception tent was set up. Crews dropped the sides on the tent and staked them into the ground and worked like crazy to empty accumulating water that threatened the tent where the band was set up. This happened several times throughout the evening until there was a good 2 or 3 inches of standing water in parts of the tent and everyone’s feet were wet and muddy. Here’s the best part: No one seemed especially bothered. The fantastically good band played on. Guests kicked off their shoes, rolled up their dresses and pants and danced in bare feet or flip flops. People ate cake and popsicles and more than a dozen kinds of cookies lovingly baked by the bride’s family members. Buckets of umbrellas magically appeared wherever they were needed. The mother of the bride pulled on rubber boots and the bride simply shrugged whenever anyone pointed out the mud caked to the bottom of her lace gown. And tow trucks were called at the end of the evening to help extract cars stuck in the mud of the field-turned-parking-lot-turned-swamp. It could not have been a more splendid day.