Real wedding-The Farmer’s Museum, Cooperstown, NY
By: Jessica RobinsonThe setting: The Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York. They were married in the chapel on the grounds, Cornwallville Church. Then the reception following in the barn at the museum. The Farmer's Museum is a spectacular venue that has deep roots in New York State's rural history. The museum is set on 120 acres of pristine farm land which has been a working farm since the 1790's. The Farmer's Museum is a private, non-profit educational organization.
Caitlin had a really great inspiration board she had created for us. From that we designed many just gathered looks. I used old aluminum sap buckets from my parent's sugar house to showcase some antique purple hydrangea I picked out of my gardens at 4:30 am the morning of the wedding. For her centerpieces we created three different looks. One was in wooden crates, lined with sheet moss and overflowing with seasonal flowers. The other were a chocolate footed metal urns filled with antique hydrangea, garden spray roses and locally grown flowers. For a simple look, we gathered bright pink and purple salvia, fresh mint, fresh sage leaves and garden roses in various sized mason jars. Then, clustered them together on the tables. The smell of fresh herbs is intense and wonderful for a summery wedding.
The bride carried a hand-tied bouquet of white dahlias, patience garden roses, locally grown millet and wrapped with wide ivory satin ribbon. The groom's boutonniere was a simple dahlia bloom wrapped with a touch of natural twine. The bridesmaids carried a garden mix of purple statice, purple dahlias, creme de la creme roses and garden spray roses. Each was wrapped with a fancy chocolate ribbon with copper sequins, then vintage rhinestone buttons for added detail.
We created a "family tree" with manzanita branches in tall cylinder vases and purple mokara orchids. The bride created her own DIY escort cards of flower seeds in envelopes. We strung natural twine from the two trees and then hung each escort card with a wooden clothes pin. (pick up the clothes pins at Walmart for $1.39 for 50 clothes pins) Natural twine can be found at your local Home Depot or hardware store. We dressed the escort card table with chocolate color burlap (JoAnn Fabrics $2.99/yard).
Since many guests were traveling, we created cute out of town guest bags. We filled natural burlap bags with tissue paper, then added raspberry rhubarb jam from Lamothe's Sugar House, bottled water, Crunch and munch, rasinettes and lavender oatmeal soap from Goat Boy soaps. I picked up prepackaged "thank you" notes at Walmart (less than $2 for 10 cards) and attached them to the handle of each bag with a wooden clothes pin.
Along with Jennifer from Cookie Creatives, we created a really awesome candy station. She hand made caramel/chocolate popcorn, sea salt caramels, homemade marshmallows, chocolate dipped pretzel rods and three different kinds of chocolate bars. We added maple lollipops and maple salt water taffy from the sugar house to the display. I also made my parents famous Maple farmhouse chocolate chip cookies and placed them in jars for guests to help themselves to. I had picked up large pickle jars with wooden lids at Ocean State Job Lot for $5 each. The other glass jars came from Walmart (or you can get them at Target) for $10-12 each. Jennifer also hand decorated sugar cookies with the couples monogram on and flowers. We displayed those in vintage wooden trays amoungst all the candy jars. I picked up wooden tongs and metal scoops at Walmart.
For a little candlelight romance, the staff at the Farmer's Museum helped us hang green oxidized metal lanterns with real candles. We used thin copper wire to hang them from little eye hooks that were already in the wood beams. Since the ceilings were so tall, it helped to break up the space and add some drama.
Photography: Justin & Mary Marantz Cinematography:
Flowers: Jessica's Country Flowers Event Design: Jessica's Country Flowers Event Planning: Jessica's Country Flowers Ceremony Location: Cornwallville Church on the grounds of The Farmer's Museum Reception Location: The Farmer's Museum, Cooperstown, New York Invitations: DIY Shoes: David's Bridal Dress: The White Dress by the Shore and Modern Trousseau (Keira dress)
Candy: Jennifer from Cookie Creatives