DIY Barn Wedding

Like so many newly engaged couples, not everyone has the money to spend big bucks on a wedding. I thought I would share some of our DIY projects for our wedding (barn weddings seem to be on the up and up) and how I made my dream wedding come true! I said forget it to one of those over priced wedding planners and thought I would tackle the biggest project of my life at that point ALL BY MYSELF…can’t forget to mention with the help of my amazing friends and family. I am a creative person and wanted all aspects of our wedding to feel like us, defiantly not a cookie-cutter wedding that’s for sure! I really wanted everything to mean something to us and be very personal. My husband and I were so thrilled on how it all came together, with the slight hiccup here and there.

So here’s my list of how we saved money by doing most of the hard work ourselves!

We were lucky enough to have a family friend that owned a hobby farm that would let us use their property for FREE, Hardy Country Farms, it is such a beautiful farm :)!
We had ceremony and reception all in the same place.
We had friends and family help clean up the barn and around the property, so everyone that was involved in the wedding got roped into helping with the big clean up. THANKS GUYS 🙂
I had our programs and invitations made by a small businesses on Etsy . You can save way more money plus they looked amazing! And hey who doesn’t want to help support small start up businesses. We also made a wedding website so our guests could let us know if they were attending and little tips on what to wear etc to a barn wedding.
We ended up spending a good portion of the budget on food since I am such a foodie. Being a cook myself I wanted a big focus on the food and we weren’t disappointed. We used Pane Vino Trattoria & Wine Bar in Lindsay, Ontario.
I sought out a party rental store in Barrie, Ontario for the rental of our chairs, all linens, dishes and cutlery.
The only flowers that we bought were for my bouquet and the wedding party. All flowers seen were picked from my grandparents flower beds. My mom and Grandpa were up bright and early cutting flowers for the centerpieces. That my mom and family friend helped put together.
I came up with the idea for buntings from a Pinterest picture I had seen and asked my Grandma and Mom if they were up for the task and they were more than happy to help out! So all I had to do was buy a bunch of fabric from the local fabricland. I made sure to look for the sales!
For our giveaways/ favors, myself, my mom and sister with the help of a few family friends made a crazy amount of cookies. We had a cookie bar, with custom bags that I made. Allowed each of our guests to take as many cookies as they wanted for the ride home.
Another must have for a barn wedding was extra lighting, I had an idea to string lights in horizontal rows from the ceiling where everyone was eating. But to find these certain lights I wanted, I couldn’t find them anywhere! Until finally I gave Target a shot and of course they had them, I bought every last box! The lights we used were called frosted globe lights. They were perfect for soft lighting.
I scored big time by my mom being an avid antique collector. Most people either have to buy or rent antiques, to use as props for their wedding.
Lastly, all the little odds and ends like wooden signs, tags, etc were made by hand, and were very inexpensive to make.

**Another great idea** for a barn wedding or even outdoor wedding came from my husband, him and his groomsmen made and or bought fun games for our guest to do while we did our wedding photos. It was such a great idea and our guests loved it! I would also recommend selecting a carter that does Hors d’oeuvres that are passed around! It was a great idea and kept everyone satisfied till dinner. You want to keep your guests having fun while you are off getting pictures taken.

Here are some of the pictures from the set up of the big day.

Here is one of the hand made signs we made

Flowers we ordered from local flower shop for bouquets.

Our cookie table for our giveaway/ favors.

The head table all set-up, the lights that I was searching for like a mad women, grandmas hand made buntings, my moms beautiful flower centerpieces.

The ceremony set-up was outside the barn, my dear old Dad and Grandpa made the custom arbor for us, we stood right in front on the big day. The chairs were also packed up and moved into the barn for reception once the ceremony was over.