Are you ready for this rustic beach barn wedding I have for you today? I hope so!! It’s a gem!! So many of the details were handmade with love by the bride (including the stationery and paper goods). The mismatched yellow bridesmaids dresses the bride let her bridesmaids pick out themselves, wildflower bouquets (a favorite of mine), a perfectly beach-y first look, a beautiful venue and ceremony site built on cranberry crates, and a delectable handmade barbecue rub favor for guests to remember the day and the amazing barbecue reception spread. All of this is great, amazing even, and Stacey Hedman Photography photographed it all beautifully, but the sweet bride and groom are really the best part. They met in kindergarten, though they didn’t realize this until years later when they found their class picture and realized they were seated next to each other!! More sweet goodness below…

Mike and Amanda technically first met in kindergarten, but didn’t really know each other or even remember each other from back then. They first discovered they were in the same kindergarten class when Amanda was going through old class pictures senior year and found their kindergarten picture. They were sitting right next to each other smack in the middle of the front row. What a surprise that was! (Amanda later used the kindergarten photo as their save the date.)

They really met their sophomore year in high school when they shared the same gym and health classes. Mike had an interesting way of flirting in that he’d steal her backpack and hide it in the boys locker room!! They ran with different groups of friends though and never saw each other outside of that class. They chalked up whatever was between them as harmless flirting and nothing more than that. And then they ended up in the same computer class their junior year. The flirting picked up right where they’d left off and then some. Mike used to enjoy tipping her over in her chair and she would constantly make fun of his hugely baggy “skater boy” pants.

After months of silly flirting, about halfway through junior year, they started hanging out outside of class. Their first real date was meeting up at a high school basketball game (odd considering neither of them really like basketball) and then bowling with some friends. They only hung out a couple of times before Amanda went to France with her French class for a week. They were both surprised how much they missed each other during that time considering they didn’t know each other that well.

It was probably another 2-3 months before they shared their first kiss, and when it finally happened at the soccer field down the street from Mike’s parent’s house, the first words out of Amanda’s mouth were “finally!”.

The rest of their junior year was great, they hung out a lot, and Mike even asked Amanda to prom!! They had an equally fun senior year and grew even more close. After looking at a bunch of colleges, Northeastern finally won over Amanda’s heart. And while Mike originally didn’t think he wanted to go to college, wound up going to UMASS Amherst.

The longest they ever went without seeing each other was a month, and after that month of not seeing him, Amanda took a bus to UMASS on Valentine’s Day weekend. She got there late at night. Mike had made her dinner and decorated his whole room with candles and flowers. He sat her on his bed, got down on one knee, and proposed!! He told he loved her so much and that he didn’t have money for a ring right then but would once summer came. Amanda of course said yes but suggested they wait a few years until they were older. They never really told anyone of this first proposal until years later.

The years really flew by after that and before they knew it they were working full time and buying a house!! They lived together for three and a half years before the real proposal came. They’d been together ten years at this point and Amanda was really sick for Thanksgiving that year. Mike had wanted them to host but Amanda insisted they didn’t have enough room for a sit down meal with their families and suggested they host Christmas instead. Thanksgiving Day came and Amanda, with the help of a lot of medicine, managed to suck it up to go to dinner at not just her parent’s house, but Mike’s too. It was at Mike’s parent’s house, after a game of UNO STACKO, that Mike got down on one knee and presented Amanda a beautiful sapphire ring. He asked her to be his wife in front of his entire family (he’d hoped to have her family there too, hence the reason he asked if they could host Thanksgiving) and she said yes!

{From the Bride} We decided to get married almost 2 years after Mike proposed because we needed some time to save money. It also gave me plenty of time to plan (or so I thought). Being a designer, I knew I wanted things very custom to us. I found that impossible to do in a stuffy ballroom, or any place that was too fancy. We are very laid back people who love to throw barbecues and parties in our backyard, and that is kind of how we pictured our wedding to be, a fun party. We originally wanted a barn wedding but couldn’t find a barn big enough on the Cape or the South Shore to hold all of our guests. And then we fell in love with the Bourne Farm. It has a barn, but it’s pretty small, so we opted for a large tent. But we could have the ceremony and the reception there, and hire any vendor we wanted. Everything about the day was custom to us.

We started the day with me and the girls getting hair and makeup done at the hotel, while the guys got ready at Mike’s parent’s rental house. Then the guys came back to the hotel so Mike and I could have our “first look” on the beach. We both hated the thought of everyone staring at us so we thought having a first look would take the pressure off – and it did! It was so nice to see him on my own before all of the chaos began. After our first look, we piled onto the school bus along with the wedding party to go to the barn to get many of the pictures out of the way. We really just wanted to enjoy the party so we thought getting pictures done before would help us do that. The Bourne Farm is so pretty and there were many photo opportunities.

Neither of us are religious and so the person who married us was Mike’s high school shop teacher “Herm” who taught Mike pretty much everything he knows about cars. Herm has known both of us since high school and couldn’t have been a more perfect person to marry us. The cranberry boxes that were used throughout the ceremony as decor were from Herm’s barn behind his house which used to be a cranberry farm. The flowers were done by our friend’s mother who owns Ivy and Olive’s. She worked really hard getting the perfect wild flower combo that I envisioned and did so perfectly! I had collected mason jars, both old and new, for the last 2 years. Friends were constantly donating them to me and we ended up with over 150! We both love barbecue food and wanted it to be the food at our wedding. We ended up using the most amazing caterer who specialized in tented events and made delicious pulled pork, ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, corn bread, mac n’ cheese, and red bliss potatoes. We got so many compliments on the food, many people saying it was “the best wedding food ever”! We had a nacho bar (one of our favorite foods) during the cocktail hour and a variety of lawn games including corn hole, croquet, horseshoes, hula hoops and frisbees. The guests loved this aspect of the day and had so much fun, just how a summer barbecue would be at our house.

The day overall was completely and utterly perfect. The weather turned out amazing, bright, sunny and warm for a fall day, and it didn’t start out that way! It was rainy and gloomy all morning, so we really lucked out. I had told the bridesmaids to pick any yellow dress they wanted because I wanted to actually like their dresses and pick something they would wear again, and those came out so well! The flowers and decorations came out exactly how I hoped. I’d wanted to do so much more but time and budget ran out, but I was so pleased with what I did get done and how it came out. Everything turned out fabulous though and it really was the BEST day/night of our lives.

{Advice for Couples} I would have been lost without my lists! Making a schedule of the day really helped me figure out how the whole day would pan out and what things I needed to do. When people ask if they can help, take them up on it!! I didn’t do that until the very end and I regret that. I don’t think I would have been as stressed as I was if I had asked for more help early on. Lastly, go with your gut when it comes to making decisions. Planning a wedding is all about making decisions and if you don’t you are at a standstill. If something feels right, go with it and try not to over think it.

Congratulations, Mike and Amanda, and thank you so much for sharing your wedding and love story with us!! We wish you both so much love and laughter in the many years you’ll share together! Many, many, many thanks to Stacey Hedman for sharing their very special day with us today!! We’re so thankful to have you be a part of our rustic month :) xoxo