A Formal Wedding at Crooked Willow Farms

Formal

When you think of a farm your rarely think about formal wear... but just wait until you see this elegant farm wedding venue! This beautiful location is just as much of a show stopper as the rest of this fabulous event, with a huge barn event space and plenty of lawn space where Taylor and Frankie set up their beautifully tented dinner reception! Be sure to scroll down to see the whole budget and breakdown.

Keep scrolling to see just how this formal farm wedding in white and green turned out! You will love all the tent chandeliers! And as always, but sure to check out all the photos from Rachel Havel in our full gallery.

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Bringing Friends Together

Taylor and Frankie have not only known each other since junior high school, but that is also the time in their lives that their romance began. Having grown up together for so long, they share a lot of mutual friends and passions in life and were thrilled to bring all of their favorite people back together as they celebrated their marriage.

Thanks to our wedding planner Ashley Summers everything went very smoothly and I personally did not have to stress about anything the day of. The only hiccup that arose was some of the guests arrived via bus to the venue while we were still taking our family pictures, so guests began flocking to get a sneak peek at the bridal party before the "big reveal." I guess you can't blame them! I do wish we had more time for bridal party pictures as they were a bit rushed, and you could see it in my face. We were also a little short on seating at the ceremony, so it's especially important to keep in mind that people do not like to get super close on benches and to allocate more space to be safe.

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Ceremony + Cocktails

From beginning to end, they wanted to create an experience for their guests that was fun and full of surprises. Guests were welcomed to the wedding ceremony where they sat on beautiful benches with a live wedding painter as the couple said their vows.

They were then escorted to the cocktail hour as a bagpiper lead the way where they were then greeted with a custom bootleg cocktail and lots of fun snacks including a sausage and pretzel station. As the guests transitioned into the tent for dinner, they viewed the completed wedding painting and were welcomed with light blue hues matched with white florals and long wooden tables. Large, garland bells hung from the ceiling as they dined into the evening.

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Live Music + Donuts

The night continued on into the barn with lounge areas and an incredible band to entertain them throughout the night. Guests were able to pop outside for a break as they enjoyed the photo booth bus and made-to-order mini donuts from the dessert trucks. It was certainly a day to remember.

Stressing the small stuff is not worth it! The process and planning of such a special moment you've both been looking forward to should be nothing but a fun and joyous occasion. No matter what may go wrong, just enjoy sharing the day with the people that mean the most to you, and focus on each other. It can be overwhelming to have so many people there from all parts of your lives, but at the end of the day, this is about your first day as a family unit and you only get to do it once!

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Budget breakdown

Did you LOVE Taylor and Frankie's big day? Looking to see if you might be able to do something similar for yours? Click here to see what their wedding budget was and to get a breakdown of just how much everything costs!

Planned Budget: $200,000+

Actual Budget: $300,000+ (not including rings, clothing, honeymoon, travel)
Number of Guests: 225 attendees, 275 invited

Biggest costs: Saturday Venue ~$14k Band ~$30k - this was something we thought was worth splurging on as a band can really elevate the mood of the evening; our band was incredible and once we began dancing, we regretted none of the high costs.

Lighting - this surprisingly was one of our most expensive costs. Flowers and greenery~$40k+

Tenting - also a bit of a sticker shock, ~$20-30k

F&B - as to be expected, this was very expensive but one thing we did not want to compromise on was having delicious food and drinks! There's nothing more disappointing than typical "wedding food" and being avid foodies we wanted to creatively emphasize our love of food.

Other: besides decor, welcome bags, after party, rehearsal dinner (around $60k+), custom touches (signage, napkins,) hair, makeup, clothing etc., transportation adds up really quickly but is a very important element to make the guests' experiences as seamless as possible.

I think this organizational aspect is crucial so that guests know exactly where they need to be and do not need to stress about any element of your day so is worth splurging on.

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