Hello friends!

My brother got married last Saturday! It was a great day resulting in a beautiful new sister-in-law and a very happy brother. 😀 I brought my camera along to take a few getting-ready pictures and such and also took a few shots during the setup and rehearsal dinner that I wanted to share with you guys.

Enjoy a peek into this lovely rustic wedding!

wedding prep

Chessie and Logan got married at the pond on my family’s farm, which meant they needed some “building” for the wedding party to walk out of. They made one with tractors and hay bales – isn’t that perfect? Megan and Lydia (one of the bridesmaids) and I helped decorate the tractors with daisies.

Friday was so clear and beautiful and sunny. We set up the hay bales in a neat amphitheater arrangement for the ceremony, stopping many times to double-check math and make sure enough people fit on the rows. Like so.

Mom and a few assistants made bouquets in the flower studio which was filled to overflowing with thousands of flowers Chessie had ordered, plus some sunflowers Mom had grown.

Logan and Chessie spent a long time the week before the wedding preparing Dad’s shop for the reception. My favorite part of it was the string lights they draped along the ceiling. It looked magical. ❤

After a long day of wedding setup, getting our nails painted, and having the rehearsal + rehearsal dinner, the bridesmaids had a chill bachelorette party at Chessie and Logan’s house. We ate popcorn with fun toppings, drank sparkling juice, stepped over lots of balloons, watched “The Princess Bride,” and chatted. ‘Twas a fun evening, thanks to Megan’s planning.

wedding decorations

Chessie and Logan are both farmers, so the decor was fittingly rustic with wooden pallet signs (which I had the honor of painting ❤ ), straw bale seating, farm equipment, and simple and cheerful daisies and sunflowers everywhere.

The ceremony area was to the left of the parking area, by the pond, and the reception was to the right, in Dad’s big machine shop.

Inside the shop, Chessie used blue tablecloths and yellow napkins as well as wood slices topped with Mason jar daisy bouquets.

I really liked how the brown paper/cardboard signs went with the rest of the theme.

Don’t you love the way these daisies, sunflowers, and chamomile go together? It’s so happy and cheerful. My youngest sister Carmen baked dessert (hundreds of brownie bites topped with icing daisies) and the wedding cake. She did an amazing job! The bottom picture was when she was finishing up the cake in the house.

Here’s a better view of the lights, taken before the rehearsal dinner (the front tables weren’t there during the wedding). Aren’t they amazing?? They attached the lights with fishing line so it looked like they were floating.

wedding morning

Most of the bridesmaids slept over at Chessie’s house, but Lydia and I just came the next morning to bring breakfast. We all ate together and had a nice, relaxing start to the day.

Breakfast was delicious! I brought ham-and-cheese egg muffins and sourdough banana bread and Lydia brought a scrumptious assortment of fresh fruit. Yum.

After we had breakfast and helped with a bit more wedding setup while Chessie started getting ready, we headed over to Megan’s room at my family’s house and did our hair and makeup. Fun times!

These are the bridesmaids dresses (minus one) and Chessie’s wedding dress. Look how long her train is, ah!

It was a lot of fun doing each other’s hair and makeup. Despite being the bride, Chessie kindly used her hairstyling skills to help some of us less amazing at it (a.k.a. Megan and I :’D). About half of the bridesmaids were great at hair.

A dramatic B&W mirror shot of Chessie doing her makeup because of course.

Ahh look at Chessie in her dress and veil and daisy-filled hairstyle! Isn’t she beautiful?? ❤

This is one of my favorite pictures I took. I asked Chessie if I could photograph her spraying on perfume and she obliged me with looking like a cute fairy or pixie or something. So pretty!

A random detail shot of various things laid out on the coffee table (including a bit of Megan’s phone, oops). Logan’s ring at the bottom there is tungsten which breaks the ring instead of cutting off your finger – handy if you’re a farmer and that problem is a real possibility.

Another of my favorite pictures from the day – Dad standing in front of Megan’s aesthetic Cut + Paste gallery wall with his flower tie, also tying Chessie’s dad’s tie. 😛

This whole scene of the two fathers figuring out their ties was so funny and cute.

A few detail shots. ❤ Chessie generously took the bridesmaids (and herself of course) to get our nails done, which was a really fun experience. Didn’t hers turn out lovely? She also wanted a picture of her wedding dress lace plus her cowboy boots because as we both agreed, that’s her aesthetic in a nutshell.

Chessie was feeling stressed right before the wedding and Carmen was like, “do you need a hug?” Chessie said yes please and then told Carmen quietly, “You’re a good sister.” It was so sweet. The second sister hug is from Megan, Chessie’s maid-of-honor. I just love a good hugging picture.

I obviously didn’t get pictures of the actual wedding because I was a bridesmaid in it, but I’ll link to the professional photos in a later post. For now, I’ll copy a sneak peek from my aunt’s Instagram, which you should check out here for more. It’s been a joy and privilege to watch the way Chessie’s love has grown my brother. He was clearly so so happy at his wedding and it made me so happy too. ❤ I feel old, guys – my brother just got married!

I’m so glad God gave my brother a wife that makes him glow like no one else can, and gave his family a sister/daughter with an impressively sharp memory of fun times and inside jokes, a contagious joy and laugh when you’re happy, and probably the strongest work ethic and determination of anyone I know. Congratulations, Chessie and Logan, and thank you for letting me be a part of your day! It was an honor. I love you both!

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my phone + my Nikon D7200 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.