~ ~ ~ Picnic Weddings ~ ~ ~

This fantastic picnic wedding was shot by A Practical Wedding sponsor Keira Lemonis. I love featuring picnic weddings because, well, I love picnics. They are fun, laid back, and affordable to throw. (And did I mention, fun?) So mixing picnics with the overblown world o' weddings seems like the perfect antidote. How can you talk your wedding super seriously if you have a "head picnic blanket" instead of a head table? My favorite parts of Patty & Trent's wedding are that they had a pot-luck dessert buffet, let people bring their dogs, and had had dog treats at the dessert buffet! Awwww....
In the end, the pictures from weddings I love best are always these - the un-posed, un-rehearsed, un-planned moments, filled with joy and emotion.

There were picnic baskets filled with fresh fruit on every picnic table, a clothes line with pictures, bocce and horseshoes, hay bails, a lemonade stand, a wishing well.
And dancing! You can have a picnic wedding and still have plenty of dancing.
There was a playground right next to the wedding "venue" (achem, a park, yay) with a playground. Fun for the kids! Fun for the bride and groom! Just fun!
And... if you didn't already love this wedding because of the puppies and the swing set and the pot-luck... you should love it because the groom made his own boutonnière. Hurrah for gender fearless grooms!

Read the orginal blog post here:

I've been all a-twitter about picnic weddings of late, but this picnic wedding has just about everything you need - a thrifty couple, a forest, adorable babies... what else do you need? This magical forest bash was shot by sponsor Kate Harrison, and the bride is a reader of the blog (which is a pretty exciting combination for me!)
The wedding took place at the affordable and beautiful Corralitos Community Center nestled at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. (Bay Area brides - I suggest you check this location out! I wish we'd known about it.)
This from the bride: I truly found each project that I took on (i.e. 200+ paper flowers, homemade invitations, favors and banners, labeling wine bottles, etc) to be calming and it gave my creative side a chance to come out. I work in an office 40+ hours a day where that side of me is stifled and our wedding was the perfect outlet for me. I had lots of help from friends who truly wanted to help with the projects, they really were fun. Having a day-of coordinator was a complete blessing too, I highly recommend that. The store - Paper Source - became an addictive source of inspiration. I started the whole planning process with the invitations that my husband helped me design. My color theme came from the paper I chose for the invitations, it was the paper that made the whole thing come together so nicely for me!
Every wedding is better with a jam session! The couple hired local folk band The Farmers Market String Band to play for the reception.

The couple hired a local chef to make organic and sustainable picnic lunches for everyone with finger sandwiches, nuts, and chocolate molten cake. Other then that, they used reusable and recyclable materials, tried to keep vendors to a minimum, and had family and friends help with set up and tear down.
And here is the thing, when you have babies that are this delighted to be at your wedding (click to see the picture even bigger, because this child is so amused) you have done something right.
The bride and groom shared a picnic blanket (aww) and hung out with their family, friends, local folk band, and adorable babies. I'm not sure it gets any better than this!

Congratulations to Tiffany & Ethan, here is to many happy years!

All photos by A Practical Wedding sponsor Kate Harrison

Read the original blog post here: http://www.apracticalwedding.com/2008/10/tiffany-ethans-forest-picnic-wedding.html

Remember way back when when I posted about picnic weddings? Well, Amanda emailed me to tell me all about hers, and now that its said and done she sent in pictures! Amanda and Eddie had a classic, old fashioned church wedding, which was followed by a delightful, budget, picnic reception. I'm so excited to finally be able to share this practical picnic wedding!