So, what is the most important part of your wedding day?

There are so many different components that go into an objectively Successful Wedding Day - from the venue, to the catering, to the florals and the photography and the design and fashion, just to name a few.

While it is easy to view weddings from the perspective of the success of the vendors you hire, or the enjoyment of your guests, or maybe even your parents’ satisfaction with your Big Day, there is one element (the most important one of all!) that it is all too easy to lose sight of amidst all of the planning, partying, and pomp and circumstance.

Can you guess what it is?

You get to marry your best friend, and the love of your life.

After all, that’s what the day is truly about, right? The powerful commitment you and your spouse have made to each other, and the new life you are choosing to build together.

It’s about You. It’s about your Love. And it’s about your Story - and your commitment to a future together.

We, along with every couple planning on getting married in 2020 and every wedding vendor, have felt the effects of this pandemic on our plans. We can only imagine the heartache it has caused and the weight of having to make adjustments to your Big Day. With regulations changing so often, we are all flying by the seat of our pants trying to keep up with how best to serve our couples, while keeping everyone safe. That being said, there is one constant that not even the pandemic can dampen.

You get to marry your best friend.

If there is one positive thing we can honestly say has come out of this pandemic, it has been seeing people get creative with their wedding days. It is all too easy to view weddings in a more traditional light and get caught in the timeline, or “the way they should be” - but we are seeing couples hosting trivia night, or having yard games and dance floors outside, and sending desserts as their favors to avoid a buffet-style dessert table. There are so many options we have absolutely adored seeing!

In fact, our first wedding of the entire year was for 25 guests. Not only did Anna & Jerred have to make significant adjustments to their original plan, but a huge thunderstorm also blew in right in the middle of their outdoor ceremony - and not only did they still have a beautiful day, but their celebration was so unique and so perfectly authentic that they actually ended up laughing as they ran toward cover to read their vows and became husband and wife underneath our Cocktail Hour Patio.

(In case you don’t believe me that it was gorgeous, we have a video to prove it!)

We also got the sweetest email last week from one of our early August couples, Kristi & Andrew, telling us about their conviction to change many aspects of their wedding day in order to keep their guests and their vendors safe, because they fully understood that the valuable part of a wedding day has nothing to do with the pomp and circumstance. They went beyond regulations, digging deep into humility, to understand that the day is about celebrating their love and commitment to each other - while also fully acknowledging that no one specific timeline, floor plan, or way of doing things could possibly change the significance of their wedding day.

Kristi and Andrew are planning on hosting a cocktail style reception with dinner served as hors d’eurves throughout the night, as well as dessert. They are taking full advantage of the ample space offered at the Farm to spread out across the property for a beautiful standing reception for their guests to mingle, with yard games and their cake cutting set up outside.

This was not their original plan at all!

However, Kristi & Andrew, like all of us, were forced to evaluate their priorities. We can’t wait to share another post featuring their Big Day later on in August!

Here are some other great and creative ideas our couples have done in the past to spice up their wedding day - which are even more relevant now than ever! From dancing outside under the stars, to having an intimate sparkler send-off with your family and bridal party, to cake cutting outdoors and spending precious and private quality time with your Spouse.

The uniting factor of those choosing to still get married in 2020 is simple: they just want to get married! There are so many materialistic aspects to weddings that can so easily become the focus, or the priority, when trying to plan a wedding day - and of course that becomes a major factor as couples are trying to determine their best course of action in the age of a pandemic.

Of course it wasn’t your dream to have your guests or your vendors wear masks throughout your wedding day.

Of course it wasn’t your dream to be getting married in the middle of a pandemic. These things are hard - there is absolutely no denying that.

But those things certainly will not define the significance of the union of marriage you are entering into with your spouse.

Your wedding is about more than aesthetics. It’s about more than the pictures you get back, it’s about more than having a big party, and it’s about more than any other earthly thing that could possibly be a part of your wedding day.

It’s about you getting married.

Our industry is here to support you and help you pull off the most incredible day you can imagine, and we also want to encourage you to find what matters most about your wedding day.

And we hope you find that it’s your best friend.

Our team at The Farm will do everything we can to serve you and your families on your Wedding Day. Despite all of the changes and new ways to celebrate, I can assure you that the couples who have gotten married so far in 2020, have loved every minute of their special day.

If we can leave you with one word of advice, it’s this:

“This is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life - whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothing? look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Matthew 6: 25 - 34