Fort Mill Barn Wedding

Much like the bride in today’s wedding, autumn is my all-time favorite season. There’s just something so romantic about it being just chilly enough to cuddle up, but not too freezing to find beautiful flowers and locations for incredible portraits. The bride, Caroline, shared this tidbit about her husband: “I never would’ve imagined that I would’ve ended up with someone like him, and he came out of nowhere, but he fit me perfectly.” How darling is that? Caroline, who owns Foxberry Farm, worked her magic with event design as you’ll see in the images here captured by Emily Chidester!

From the bride, Caroline: I always wanted an autumn wedding, but with a very subtle color palette of mainly cream, hints of blush, frosted green, and, since it is fall, a heavy touch of gold. The venue we had envisioned (and did end up with) was a barn. I wanted a casual venue that I could glam up with personal touches instead of a stiff expensive atmosphere, and we found just that!

Bouquet recipe: garden roses, persimmons, hydrangea, ranunculus, anemones, and dahlias

I would describe the wedding as relaxed country (and vintage) glamour. I didn’t so much have a theme as much as I had a vision: big farm tables (which I succeeded in securing), lots of brass candle stick holders (achieved with months of thrifting), real china plates (again, thrifted), spectacular lighting, full table settings and decor, and good food. The DIY involved: floral arrangements were done by myself and the bridal party (including bridesmaids bouquets and men’s boutonnieres), all the endless thrifting, cutting the table runners, spray painting endless objects gold, chalkboards (hand written by the same girl that designed my invites: Evane Corder), my cake was made by one of my sister-in-laws, friends baked tarts, I hand painted the ceremony backdrop (it was one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite series: Anne of Green Gables), even the hair and make up was done by my sister-in-laws, and my sash was made by my godmother. I love that every part of my wedding had a very personal touch; it’s the only event where you can really fully express the depths of who you are, and we were surrounded by pieces that make up who we are individually and who we are as a couple.

Two of my favorite moments were: walking down the aisle was so different from what I thought it would be. You wait to walk, and you wait to walk, and you keep waiting watching everyone go ahead of you while butterflies are rattling inside your stomach, but the second I was starting down the aisle and locked eyes with Samuel all I could feel was confidence and I felt comfortable, because I was walking towards the safest place I knew. And the second best moment was when we finally escaped and were in the car on the way to the hotel, because it finally set in that our future together was permanently in place and we could finally enjoy knowing that we get to be together from now till the end.

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Don’t take your time of engagement for granted! We only had a little over 6 months, but it’s easy to keep putting off tasks for the first few months, and that definitely added to the stress! Engagement is such a short and sweet transitional period, it goes by extremely fast, and you’ll truly enjoy it more if you get a heads start on the planning and crafting.

See Also

Intimate La Valencia Hotel Wedding Editorial with a Garden Luxe Feel

Wedding Music:
One of our friends is a great DJ, and we just sent him a list of requests and gave him freedom to add or remove as he pleased! I think our only requirements were: 70s hits, Katy Perry, and Beyonce. The processional was great. We have friends that are in an amazing band called Jude Moses (you can find them on iTunes and Spotify), the frontman is a close friend and doubled as a groomsman. I asked him if he would write the music to the lyrics I had written, he agreed. The men walked out to beautiful improv, and then my bridesmaids, ring bearer, flower girl, and myself walked out to the song the band and I co-wrote. The recessional was a nice upbeat improv again, but I’ll never forget walking out to that song I had given words to – I’m hoping it’ll be recorded soon 🙂

Wedding Location: Fort Mill, SC / Photographer: Emily Chidester Photography / Second Shooter: Erica Serrano Photography / Event Planning, Design, and Flowers: Bride, Foxberry Farm / Bouquet: Philosophy Flowers / Day-Of Coordination: CeCe Hampton Wedding Planning & Design / Venue: The Dairy Barn / Ceremony and Reception Dress: BHLDN “Victoria’s Reign” and “Tea Rose Dress” / Wedding Veil: Melinda Rose Design / Wedding Shoes: Seychelles “Evelina” via Anthropologie / Headpiece: Sibo Designs / Hair: Leah Preslar / Makeup: Elizabeth Queener / Groom’s Jacket and Vest: Urban Outfitters / Wedding Caterer: Roots Catering / Wedding Cake: Jenae Crowell / Wedding Music: Jude Moses / DJ: Bruce Thomas / Rentals: Upper Barn and Foxberry Farm / Wedding Invitations and Paper Goods: Evane Corder