Brynn & Kyle’s Rustic DIY Farm Wedding at Chanteclaire Farm MD

Thanks to Two Bright Lights, I have yet another feature to share from the wonderful Amie Otto Photography !! A double whammy of sorts… if you will.

I absolutely loved the Regan Airport engagement shoot Amie shared with us last week, but this wedding feature will knock your socks off even more! There are a TON of DIY and offbeat elements throughout ~ a couple that truly did things their own way and I have ALL the details (and pictures!) for you!

Let’s first meet Brynn (name love!) and her new husb, Kyle:

My husband and I are both originally from Northern Virginia (both born in Alexandria Hospital, in fact) and we love the outdoors, so we wanted to have a very easy-going, relaxed, wedding….a big party for our friends and family. Our wedding budget was $30k and when we first started looking around Northern VA, we had a hard time finding what we wanted for a reasonable price. We have both always loved the simplicity and beauty of the countryside/farms and so we were searching for something outdoorsy along those lines.

You will quickly see why Brynn & Kyle were drawn to this amazing farm location, but it doesn’t hurt that the weather looked like absolute perfection too!

Brynn shares all the juicy details:

We actually found our venue, Chanteclaire Farm by sheer luck. My Aunt and Uncle own a cabin in Deep Creek Lake, MD and Kyle and I went up to look at The Wisp Resort as a potential venue….disliked the cold feel of the reception area…and on a whim, my Aunt said we needed to check out this farm. We showed up on a Saturday, there was a wedding going on, but the owners Fred and Christiane (former Nova natives) were so nice, they invited us in and showed us around. We were sold instantly, everything we were looking for. We went back the following weekend and booked it. Christiane is a french chef and actually makes everything from scratch in her kitchen (in the barn) – the food was amazing.

^love this shot Amie ~ so cool!

On the dress…

The dress – I am not a dress kinda gal, so it was tough for me to find something I felt comfortable in…not too sequiny/lacy/etc. I went to Leesburg Bridal in Leesburg, VA and the selection and staff there were amazing. I found my dress without having to deal with the overwhelming feel of going to David’s Bridal. I was looking for something simple with a flare of traditional. I got my dress and veil (and bridesmaids dresses) from Leesburg Bridal. I also got a “party dress” from JCrew – to change into halfway through the reception (a simple long white dress).

I am obsessed with Brynn’s shoe selection and her clutch! Seriously – so unique, and I love the practicality of a bride in flats. (Especially ones on a budget from DSW!)

The shoes – I got my shoes from DSW – since the wedding ceremony was outdoors, I wanted to be comfortable (and not fall over) – so I went with flats.

Brynn on her garter:

My husband is a huge Chicago Cubs fan, so I got a Chicago Cubs garter from Etsy. He loved it! He’s also a huge Washington Capitals fan, so an amazing friend of mine made a Cubs baseball hat and a Capitals hockey puck cakes – we surprised him at the rehearsal dinner. They were so awesome.

I LOVE this tidbit!!!!!

My husband and I really loved the movie Up. …There is a part of the movie where the couple meets as kids and exchange grape soda pins and create their own adventure club. Well, my husband found the pins on eBay. He wore his under his jacket at the wedding and I had mine in my purse.

You just have to read more to see the inside of this barn venue ~ vintage furniture, DIY floral vases, a “tree” theme, and a chandelier!!

We have some amazing friends and wanted to show them how much we appreciate them. Being in a bridal party can be so expensive so we tried to maintain cost. The bridesmaids shoes were $10 at Target…I was proud of that! We gave the ladies purses from Etsy, pearl earrings and hand-made (by me) pearl necklaces. Kyle got his men flasks with the Dia de Los Muertos theme (Day of the Dead), also from Etsy.

Obsessed with this vintage blue truck! seriously, I need to own one. now.

Love this next shot!

Our wedding favors were from Etsy – they were made out of the paper pulp of recycled bills – we had heart-shaped magnets and heart-shaped gift tags that were a blend of paper pulp and wildflower seeds, so our guests could take them home and plant them. The vendor we bought the wedding favors from was submitting a portion of all sales to the American Cancer Society – we knew we had to spend money on certain things for the wedding, so we wanted to try and make sure some of it went to a good cause.

We also made our own floral vases at the reception – mason jars with childhood photos as the table numbers. The flowers in the bouquets and at the reception were an arrangement of wildflowers and willow sprigs. Along with the flowers at the reception tables, we did simple white votive candles ($1 each from the Yankee Candle Outlet). If you can’t tell, I’m an accountant and a frugal gal – I love a good bargain…and with how expensive weddings are (which we had no idea initially), it was a fun challenge to see how much we could do and still fit in our budget.

We were going for a very nature-esque theme. The colors we picked were chocolate brown, dark purple, and evergreen. I felt they were very calming colors. Along with our natural theme, we really tried to incorporate the importance of family. We both have family members that couldn’t make it or that had passed that were very important to us. So we made a “family tree” to sit with the guest name cards, that had pictures of family members present and past that couldn’t attend.

^ What an amazing idea. Such a beautiful and unique way to commemorate those that could not be there.

This looks like something out of a freakin’ magazine … simply stunning!! Look at the vintage furniture in the background too!

We had two local artists play at our wedding. DC’s The Kevin Pace Trio (www.kevinpace.com) played an amazing version of Mae’s “Falling into You” and we had Trae Lamond from DC’s New Rock Church of Fire (http://newrockchurchoffire.com/) sing “Jump” for the bouquet toss.

Thank you SO much Brynn & Kyle for sharing your wedding with us, and for taking the time to share all your details as well! Thank you also to Amie Otto Photography & Two Bright Lights for allowing us to share these feature!