An Arbor, a Kegerator, and a Wedding
THE WASHINGTON COUNTRYSIDE This post is a long time coming. Like loooooonnnnnng time! It has nothing to do with the Dexter House, the Ravenna House, or any other house for that matter, but I'm pretty excited about it. Last summer I told you about the arbor we built for my sister-in-law's wedding. Well here it is in action...
The arbor turned out beautiful, right? It's almost as lovely as the bride and groom! The sun-aged cedar, which we collected from my in-law's wood scrap pile, added a rustic feel to the ceremony. I love how it compliments the green lawn and never-ending rural views. Of course, any arbor would look beautiful with Dayne and Adam underneath it :)
Months before the wedding, we built the arbor and moved it into one of my mother-in-law's gardens and trained a hop plant up the side. Hops grow like weeds, so it is no surprise that it took less than 2 months to grow the lush vine you see around the arbor. To be fair, everything grows like weeds under my mother-in-laws enviable green thumb! On the morning of the wedding, we cut the hops at their base, hauled the arbor (with vines attached) to the venue, stuck a couple flowers in, and voila! the perfect wedding day backdrop! Okay, so I didn't actually have to move the massive thing - I was much too busy getting a mani/pedi with the bride - but I understand calling it heavy is an understatement.
Unfortunately, it was a little breezy on the day of the wedding and the orange ratchit straps used to transport the arbor ended up in the ceremony, securing the arbor to the ground. I wish we had used a different color than orange for the straps (really, any other color would have been better than bright orange), but so it goes.
My super-awesome PhD-student-turned-woodworker-on-the-weekends husband also wanted to make a kegerator for the reception so we all pitched in to help. This is central Washington after all, and no wedding would be complete without fresh local beer on tap! It was a huge hit - the beer and the kegerator - and the best part is we get to use the kegerator again and again at parties!
To build the kegerator, we used weathered wood from the same scrap pile at my in-laws farm and tied the piece together with rusty bolts from Papa's garage. Garrett built a draft system to connect the tap handles to the kegs hidden behind the structure. I won't begin to pretend to explain the actual beer-pouring system - it was complicated arrangement of hose, metal coil, and fittings - but it poured perfectly-chilled beers and looked awesome doing it!
True to our nature, Dayne and Adam's wedding was a DIY family affair. We crafted a 'Jane Austen country' vibe, taking inspiration from hours and hours on Pinterest and the natural surroundings of our hometown. The ceremony and reception were hosted at a reconstructed grange hall in central Washington over Labor Day weekend. To get that slightly-romantic, country vibe we collected 200+ pieces of mismatched china for the dinner, built flower arrangements around white and pale pink, incorporated lace runners, and found the bride the perfect vintage-inspired gown (J.Crew in case you're interested). DIY efforts besides the arbor and kegerator included growing flowers, making the bouquets, crafting invitations, and doing the bride's hair. In addition, my in-laws raised three pigs to be be served at the welcome bbq for guests - a delicious hit with the out-of-town city guests.
The bride and groom hired the most amazing caterer and had them serve everything family style. Guests passed large bowls of food around with their neighbors, and it added such a familiar/intimate touch to the dinner. Oh and how have I not talked about the wedding cakes?! We went with a dozen small cakes instead of one large, so a cake could be placed on each long table and served family style too. The cakes were another DIY effort, baked and frosted by us, using a Poshusta-family recipe that I have to share some day because it really can't be beat!
The whole wedding was truly a lovely, intimate affair full of the best things in the county!
And here's a picture of Garrett, Wilder, and I. Wilder was pretty pumped to get to wear his cowboy boots, but I was pretty smitten with his whole outfit! Dayne let me pick out my own bridesmaid dress so as far as I'm concerned, she's the best. bride. ever!
Those two...gotta love 'em!
All pictures by Andy Whitaker, a talented family friend who's put up with the Poshusta family for 12+ years now. He's an amazing photographer, right?!
So what do you think of the wedding? How do our wedding-decor-DIY skills stack up to our renovation skills? I'd love to hear what you think!
xoxo
-Cathy
p.s. One of my favorite pictures from Dayne and Adam's big day.
p.p.s. I'm secretly obsessed with weddings, engagements, elopements - the whole deal! This is my favorite engagement shot ever and it's right here in Oregon.
p.p.p.s. Love this backyard cottage.