• Real Weddings

After shopping around  for wedding venues, Elisa And Vance decided on using Vance's grandparents farm in the Catskills for their wedding venue. Seems like a no-brainer ... right?  A gorgeous outdoor venue for free. What more could you ask for?
In the midst of their wedding planning they realized that their beautiful venue was turning into a logistical nightmare. They were basically creating an event venue from scratch. Bathrooms, electricity, and running water were just a few of the things that they never expected to be coordinating. Read on to hear more of the details, but don't worry it obviously has a happy ending. You can see more photos in the full gallery by clicking here. All captured by Heidi Benjamin Photography.

From The BrideOur biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was definitely the venue. Like I said, we pretty much had to create our event from the grassy field up! The actual site of the wedding had to change a few times after we met with vendors and talked about logistics.

Trust me, having to think about where people will go to the bathroom or how to keep a generator quiet are not things normal people getting married do, but I certainly feel like we could throw an event anywhere now!

Their Wedding VowsElisa:I promise to always be there for you.
I promise to never take you for granted.
I promise to always treat you with respect.
I promise to never forget to kiss you goodnight.
But above all, I promise to be the best husband I can be.

Vance:I promise to always be there for you.
I promise to never take you for granted.
I promise to always treat you with respect.
I promise to never forget to kiss you goodnight.
But above all, I promise to be the best wife I can be.

We also wrote our own ceremony, which became painfully clear when our officiant pronounced us husband and wife without any exchanging of rings! We looked at each other, asking “Rings??”, shrugged, kissed and walked back down the aisle. We slipped them on later before the photos and laughed about it afterward!

From The Bride:Though we didn’t have any declared “theme” or colors, it was clear that our wedding was all about the farm once everything fell into place. From the BBQ dinner cooked on site, to the fresh-picked wildflowers in growlers on the table, to the horse troughs serving as beer buckets behind the bar, everything just fit. And the rockabilly band and late-night fireworks didn’t hurt either!

My sister, shower attendees and I worked on special BBQ kits for the grown-ups (with bug wipes, BBQ bibs,wet naps, kazoos!) and kids packs (with bubbles, farm stickers & coloring books!) for the little ones.

Since we didn’t have waitstaff, we had a bottle of bubbly on ice at all the tables, which we adorned with special tags that said “Hold your horses!” or “Whoa Nelly!” to direct our guests to save it for the toast!

Photographer: Heidi Benjamin Hair: Karen Neblung Hair Studio Caterer: Brooks BBQ Coordinator: The Bohemian Way DJ: Starline Rhythm Boys Dress Designer: Madabby Flowers: The Flower Patch Jewelry: Wistfully Drifty Veil or Hair Accessories: Ilze Lucero Prop or Furniture Rentals: Catskill Mountain Tent Company Boutonnieres: Studio Ardent Veil: Talkies