Katie & Andy’s DIY Backyard Woodland Wedding in Virginia

Katie & Andy fell in love with the house that Katie’s grandfather built. The house is set within the tranquility of Great Falls and you will all soon see why Katie & Andy picked this place as their wedding venue. Not only is the house GORGEOUS, but Katie spent her childhood in this house – learning to bake, garden, and spend time with family. This venue held so much family emotion and history, it made for a PERFECT backdrop for their wedding day. Thanks to Douglas Pettway for this real Virginia wedding.

Katie & Andy’s DIY Backyard Woodland Wedding in Virginia

Photographer: Douglas Pettway | Venue: Grandparents house/backyard | Cake: Tea Time Delicacies | DJ: Friend | Catering: Tea Time Delicacies | Flowers: Tonya at Occasional Flowers | Hair/Makeup: Paola Rios | Shoes: DSW (Nina) | Dress: Jeanettes Bridal | Centerpieces: DIYed by Groom

She spent much of her childhood there learning to cook, garden, and grow vegetables. Their house was always the location where the family got together for holidays, birthdays, and weekend dinners. When Katie met Andy, he also feel in love with the beauty the tranquility of the rare property in Great Falls. Katie’s grandfather built the house and designed all of the landscaping. They alone take care of the garden with no outside help for the last 48 years. They are two of the hardest working people we know and it is reflected in their property.  Their house has always been so special to us that it was the obvious, and the only place we considered for our wedding.

Their house is also the place where Andy proposed. Katie thought she was going over to help work in the garden but Andy surprised her by planning a proposal with friends and family.

We choose purples, yellows, and greens as our colors after we decided to get married in the spring. We thought they would complement the outdoor spring colors: the foliage, the flowers, and the green buds on the trees.

Click inside for the rest of Katie & Andy’s DIY, backyard Virginia wedding.

We incorporated logs into our centerpieces, on the alter, and as flowerpots to decorate the tent. The logs came from a tree that was cut down last fall, right where the tent was. We thought the logs added a natural, rustic feel to the wedding. The browns and greys of the logs complemented the purples and yellows. The logs inspired the texture and look of the cake.

Chuck Otts, a family friend of the Whitman’s, was the performed the wedding ceremony. Chuck has been a special part of Andy’s life since he was born and he performed a compassionate and heartfelt ceremony.

Katie and Andy (with the help of Andy’s dad) found old window frames. We stripped off the old paint, fixed them up a bit, and repainted them with a paint appropriately named “April Morning.” Then one each window pane we wrote down the guest names for each table. We spent many hours assembling seed packets for party favors. Aunt Annie assembled the centerpieces and did all of the decorations.

Of course, Granny and Papa helped a lot by getting the gardens and the lawn ready for the wedding. In the fall we helped them plant around 2,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs. They spent countless hours getting the barn ready and weeding every corner of the garden. Katie’s Aunt, Annie Cobb was invaluable to the wedding, especially the decorations. Katie and Andy told Annie their vision and their ideas and she turned it into more than they ever expected. She has a great eye for detail and turned our ideas into one-of-a-kind decorations.

We had a brown cake with dark chocolate shavings that was inspired from the trees and logs throughout the property. We used fake, silk flowers for the centerpieces and to help decorate the arbor. Andy and his dad, Mark Whitman, built the arbor to serve as the alter. It was an original design inspired by old barn doors.

Congratulations Katie & Andy! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous, DIY backyard wedding with us. A special thanks again to Douglas Pettway Photography for sharing his images for today’s real Virginia wedding feature!

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