A Cowgirl Wedding In Wisconsin
Wisconsin and California are two vastly different places. But with family roots in one place and great new friends in another, Robbie and Nikki's wedding plans hit a bit of snag. Wanting to share their love for their rustic and rural background with their Cali friends they chose to make their wedding all about showing off their home state. What a superb idea! With rolling green pastures next to The Enchanted Barn, horses that wandered in and out of the day and of course a little Wisconsin cheese, how could you not fall in love with this state in the heart of the Midwest?!
This is truly a cowgirl wedding, and we know you will be wanting to see more of it! Take a peek at the full gallery here, where we have all of the fabulous details from Nikki and Robbie's big day captured by Emily Steffen Photography. Keep reading to hear what Nikki would have done differently, see her wedding budget break down, and to get the scoop on some exciting future plans for her!
From Emily Steffen Photography:Coming from California, these two had a seamless vision for how they wanted to “show” guests the rural country side of their home state, Wisconsin! With a beautiful view of the barn and surrounding fields of green from the ceremony site, the guests were off to a great start.
Rustic, romantic Glam! Nikki and Robbie planned a soft and charming wedding in July. From hay bails to soft flowers, cowboy boots, gold glitter, horseshoes and antlers on the tables, this wedding was amazing! The Enchanted Barn was a perfect setting; a rustic venue with tall wavy, green grass with (the best part according to Nikki) the horses wandering in the background the whole night!
After the ceremony guests were met and greeted with sweet tea vodka drinks and margaritas as they enjoyed the July sun and blowing, Wisconsin summer breeze! The evening was rounded out with a family style dinner, homemade bunt cakes (in about 8 different flavors, yum), the best live wedding band ever and, of course, the famous (and everyone’s favorite) Ellsworth Wisconsin cheese-curds for a mid-night snack! Talk about a perfect rural Wisconsin wedding!
Read on to see how much this cowgirl wedding in Wisconsin cost, hear what Nikki would have done differently and to find out her exciting future plans! Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.
The BIGGEST thing I would've done differently is not procrastinated so much! I did not realize how long even some of the smallest a details would take to do (like the seating plan done 2 days before the wedding - gulp!). I LOVED doing so much of the wedding on my own, but I should've listened to what my mom has said about life, "Things always take longer than you think!" Because seriously, why did I think I'd want to be designing our programs late into the night before my wedding!? I should've been enjoying my time with friends and family!! For whatever crazy reason, I thought that by getting things done early I'd be "that girl" who has things bought for her wedding without even having one scheduled. Now I know that those girls are wise!
Not that there was anything that I could change about the situation, but I would've never guessed that planning a wedding from across the country could be so challenging. That in and of itself contributed to half of my time scheduling problems...I didn't think that it would be all that different, but everyone has lives and when you're not there in person to discuss details or arrangements, it just takes that much longer to respond and receive a response.
Our budget very loosely is as follows (because I did so much myself and with friends/family we paid a lot in smaller chunks):
Venue and food/drink: $16,000 Decorations (including flowers): $900 Photography and live music: $5500 Bride's accessories and grooms outfit including boots (my dress was a gift from my aunt the seamstress): $1000 Paper goods: $750 Groomsmen/Bridesmaid gifts (handmade kimono robes and jewelry and silk ties): $500 Other misc: ~$1500
And...as a completely shameless plug: since doing so many DIY elements of my own wedding, I really had total control to make everything "us." This was such an important requirement for both Robbie and I. Never did I think that in staying true to ourselves that we'd get such an overwhelming response to all the various details - especially the invitations. So much so that I've now had multiple requests for me to design custom wedding invitations! It's slowly getting off the ground, but my little design "studio" (aka the space our dog lets me steal from his toy room) is open for business! The Nuptial Necessities is such a labor of love. And I find myself dedicating more time dreaming of designs for brides than I did even for my own! www.thenuptialnecessities.com should be live on the interwebs soon! Stay tuned! Any interested brides can contact me in the meantime via the contact me section of my own wedding website! -Nikki
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- Band: SAGE
- Dress Designer: The Spoolhouse
- Event Planning & Design: Curated by Grace & White
- Flowers: Market Flowers
- Groom & His Men: Men's Warehouse
- Photographer: Emily Steffen Photography
- Registries & Gifts: Target
- Shoes: The Wharf
- Venue & Caterer: The Enchanted Barn