Woodland Michigan Barn Wedding

Today’s bride and groom met while in Nara, Japan — home to many wandering tame deer — so it was only natural their wedding theme embraced the woodlands and had plenty of nods to these cute animals. The wonderful Allie Siarto Photography captured this woodsy affair, so let’s take a look!

From the bride, Taylor: We are really quite lucky in that our parents decided it was best to give us two weddings. We had just been married a week before in Florida, but this second wedding blessing and reception in Michigan allowed everyone in the family to be there. My aunt and uncle lent us their barn in the woods, so a woodland theme seemed to fit really well and be different than our wedding in Florida.

We met in Nara, Japan, where there are hundreds and hundreds of tame deer wandering around the parks. We spend so many dates there, walking around in the sunshine, and feeding the deer. So that’s how we ended up with a woodland and deer theme. My aunts and mom really took off running with the idea – and went crazy with it! I turned up one day before, and they had turned the barn into this amazing place!

I loved all the vintage books that my aunt had sources in deep greens, the cute little deer my mom had scoured antique shops for. We had a typewriter I had lugged over from England, cute handwritten signs by my amazingly talented cousin, mason jars, twinkle lights, and the most amazing wood log planters. We were very lucky – a lot of people came out to help us – some family friends lent us hundreds of beautiful antique dishes, some other family friends did the food, my uncle smoked a whole pig AND built a huge wood bar for the event. My aunt officiated, and my cousin drove us around on the golf cart while we searched for the perfect photo spot. It was….so different from our wedding a week before, in such a good way that it allowed us to relax and enjoy time with our family and friends – and some real good BBQ food!