A Homemade Wedding Homestead-Style: Welcome To The Barn!

Cowboy H and I whisked off in our truck to a secret photo location and the guests began to trickle down the road to the reception location.

They were greeted at the entrance to the drive and directed to "The Barn".

The Dana-Powers Barn is seeped in history. In 1837, Rancho Nipomo was granted to Captain William Dana as a wedding gift. This became the town of Nipomo, my hometown. In 1882 the (now) Dana-Powers House was built by Captain Dana's son Frank. The Barn sits behind the Dana-Powers House and is one of the original buildings from when the place was a working ranch. Both the house and the barn have been fixed up for special occasions. In fact, one of my aunt's was married at the House and we celebrated my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary there too. Once again, it was more than just a pretty place to us.

Photo by Lauren

Our reception was very different from traditional. I mean, it had all the tradition elements, just with a slight twist.

Photo by Katie

Here are the baby photo boards Cowboy H and I were working on the night before the wedding. I originally wanted to have a display of framed baby photos since most of the guests didn't know Cowboy H very well, but the frames were getting expensive, even at thrift stores. So I came up with these boards instead and hung them on the side of the barn behind the "guest book" table. Everyone got a kick out of them.

Instead of having everyone sign a book, and because we didn't have "engagement" photos to make a cool signing photo album or matted print from, we came up with the "guest scrapbook".

Photo by Lauren

I printed a sign and framed it, prompting everyone to fill out a card.

I formatted and printed the "guest book cards" on my home computer.

Reading back through the cards after the wedding was hilarious, and a sweet walk down memory lane.

Photo by my cousin, Sarah

As part of the guest scrapbook, we set up a photo booth. Along with the directions for the cards, we instructed our guests to visit the photo booth. I'm going to combine the cards and photos and create a scrapbook of our wedding guests.

The photo booth was really just a station, but it was complete with props and everything.

Photo by Cassie

And that's why Cowboy H had that dirty old hat around earlier in the day. As gross as it was, I think I saw everyone wearing that hat!

The photo booth was a big hit with the guests that actually participated. People were donning the props just to hang out!

I'm going to save the pictures from the booth for their own post, but they're great!

For all the gifts, we had a wagon, instead of a table.

Photo by Lauren

We also had Bocci Ball set up on the lawn where they hold ceremonies if you get married there.

Round the other side of the barn was a horseshoe pit. Only appropriate considering our horseshoe theme!

Up Next: The Party's Getting Started Inside!

All photographs by Applemoon Photography unless otherwise noted!