Memphis Farmer’s Market Wedding
You guys, no words can express how much I love when brides wear color on their wedding day. Ivory gowns are always a pleasure to see, but there’s something truly inspiring about a bride willing to step outside the box and go after the exact look she wants. Lena did exactly this with her baby blue and silver wedding gown, which fit in perfectly with her funky-chic, colorful barn wedding. Thanks to Kelly Ginn Photography for capturing this beauty!
From the bride, Lena: Ever since I was little I have always loved everything vintage, which grew into a love of everything shabby chic. I remember watching the Shabby Chic TV show when I was young with my mom on Saturday morning and swooning over all of the DIY and fun finds. This inspiration really led me to be a scavenger for all sorts of artifacts to use everywhere in my wedding. The Farmers Market Barn just played into the shabby chic romance I had envisioned for our wedding day. We scoured Memphis for weird and “very us” venues and, passing by one winter day, we found this barn, which could be rented out but was not a “standard venue.” It was truly love at first sight! After finding the farmers market barn and securing it, we decided to throw in lots of little touches to really evoke a feeling of having a shabby chic funky Jewish mess of a wedding at the farmers market. Oy, it was the best! The theme really leaned towards embracing the fact that our venue for half of the year is an actual farmers market. I also loved adding the vintage and shabby chic detailing to really make it our own. Whenever anyone asked me what my colors were, I should have lied and said something awful like olive green and magenta, but really I went in with a pastel palette and it just exploded into every color, so we’re gonna go with rainbow, because that sounds really horrible and not anything like it was 😉
Bouquet recipes: White garden roses for the bride, and lots of stalky lovely flowery things like snapdragons and gladiolas for the bridesmaids.
I could sit here and talk for days about all of the DIY projects that were done for our wedding. I made our dining room and dining table my studio, my art studio a storage room, and, well, the house looked like a wedding vomited in there for a good year. I did lots of small projects and lots of big projects. Creating my Save The Dates and Invitations were two of the more time consuming ones, but I loved every second of it; I even loved the long task of fancy addressing everything! I spent countless hours, countless. I made the wedding my full time job for over a year. It was so much fun!
I tied tulle for days to make the Chuppah under which we were married. I created our Jewish marriage license—the “Ketubah”—out of cut paper, and finished an entire season of a TV show in the process. (Thanks NETFLIX!) I fashioned countless chalkboards and scribbled out all the words on them. I sewed a gazillion buntings, and if I never see another bunting in my life I will be the happiest person. (JK they are hanging all over our new apartment in Chicago.) I know I made more things, but the day is a blur and I am sure I will see everything in pictures as I realize how much I have forgotten to mention. This wedding truly embodied a DIY wedding. My now-husband came up with the brilliant hashtag #jewityourself, and that became our motto. We had no wedding planner; I wore that hat as well. I went to all the meetings, booked all the vendors, and created the schedule. Our venue was so great in that it gave us the weekdays prior to the wedding to set up, and—I kid you not—we were there from 8am to midnight almost all of those nights. Thankfully we had some awesome friends and my (the brides) amazing mother to help us in those days prior to getting everything arranged. We seriously did everything but make the cake, serve the food, play the instruments, and of course take stunningly beautiful photographs of the entire day.
Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Sit back and really enjoy this amazing and fun time you have together. I learned early on that Wedding Brain 24/7 isn’t as magical as it seems. You have to remember that the engagement is there for you to grow as a couple, not just to plan to most epic awesome day ever. Make time first for your relationship and then the planning of the wedding, because the first one is what this is all about!
View all images from this wedding in the gallery
Wedding Music:
Processional: “Long Black Veil,” Johnny Cash
Bridal Processional: “Sugar Mountain,” Neil Young
Recessional: “Ashamed,” Deer Tick
First Dance: “Carolina,” Ben Gibbard
From the photographer, Kelly of Kelly Ginn Photography: When I asked Lena and Sallis what their initial inspiration was for their wedding, my jaw dropped, I had tears in my eyes, and chills all over my body: “The Farmer’s Market offered ample opportunity for us to creatively construct a shabby chic wonderland lit by thousands of twinkling lights. We wanted our theme to be something fun and funky that harkened back to our southern roots and emphasized our love for a simpler time.” Lena and Sallis didn’t follow any common trends, they strayed away from typical traditions, and made their wedding the Lena and Sallis way. From the hand cut Ketubah that Lena did herself, to the dozen of wine/whisky bottles that were collected over the years from celebrations and date nights, and then hand painted on, to the thousands of twinkling lights that Lena and Sallis hung themselves, to the mix match pattern bunting that added the perfect amount of twang, to the linen strung chuppah stitched with the Star of David that Lena and Sallis snuck over and danced under when no one was looking, the day was made perfect because of all the time, and hard work that this couple put into their wedding. I asked Lena what her favorite memory from the day was, assuming she’d say “seeing Sallis for the first time,” or, “our first kiss.” No, not Lena, here’s the perfect answer she gave me: “The moment I walked into the barn when I was about to walk down the aisle. The orange colored glow of it all. I will never forget the lighting and the excitement of being steps away from being married.” I love that the artist inside of her most remembered the color of her day.
Wedding Location: Memphis, TN / Photographer: Kelly Ginn Photography / Florist: Lynn Doyle Flowers / Venue: The Agricenter Farmer’s Market / Wedding Dress: Barefoot Bride / Wedding Veil: The veil was my mother’s from her wedding day that I made into a birdcage / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Anthropologie, Free People / Groom’s Suit: Jos A. Bank / Groom’s Shoes: Allen Edmonds / Caterer: Central BBQ / Wedding Cake: Frost Bakeshop / Cookies: Semi Sweet Confections / Band: Earnestine and Hazel’s Band / Ceremony Musicians: Silas Armstrong (Banjo), Justin White (Guitar), Andrew Geraci (Upright Bass) / Officiant: Rabbi Micah Greenstein / Transportation: Yellow Cab of Memphis / Wedding Invitations: Bride
FINALLY Gladiolas in a bouquet! They are amazing! Why don’t more people use these flowers?
Totes TDF! Love this theme and the adorable wedding party!