Did you have a nice long holiday? Some of you are probably newly engaged and joining us for the first time. Congrats! To welcome you, here is a beautiful vineyard wedding captured by F5 Photography. Ariel and Andrew kept it simple on her family’s vineyard, and the DIY results are amazing. Read below for more info on her projects!

 

I’d love to hear about your DIY projects…

 

My vision of the day was really something my husband and I came up with together, and we miraculously agreed on just about everything.  We saw the event as being casual, with a lot of DIY projects to give it an eclectic and fun “vintage rustic country” feel.  I would say that our most important attributes were a) the food (definitely wanted good southern comfort food), b) that everyone was having a great time and dancing, and c) that the ceremony was short, but very “us” and very meaningful.

DIY projects were many- I really wanted to honor our love of literature, and somehow couple that with my creative side, so I spent quite a few hours creating little hand painted table numbers with quotes about love from books we love.  Another DIY project was a CD of love songs that we both love that we put together for guests.  However, I have to give most of the DIY credit to other helpers, including my mother, her best friend Dorian and her daughter Sprigg, and my good friend, Stephanie.  My mother, Dorian and Sprigg basically made our vision come to life, from the decorations to the flowers to the unique altar (a pair of doors that Dorian found on the side of the road!).  My mother and my mother-in-law spent many hours baking Polish (my side) and Italian (his side) cookies as gifts for guests.  And my friend Stephanie was amazing and handmade all of the bridesmaids’ gifts, which were sweet beaded necklaces with matching earrings.  Planning a DIY wedding from across the country was no easy task, and there’s no way we could have made it come together without all of the people that helped out before and the day of.  We were very lucky!

Did your wedding location hold a specific significance to you?

Absolutely!  We got married on my parents’ farm, Pilot Mountain Vineyards, in Pinnacle, NC.  I helped on the farm some growing up, and my family has put a lot of hard work into it, so it was a very special and meaningful place to get married, and to share with friends and family…Not a bad view either!

What was the most meaningful part of your day?

I would say in general, just having so many people we love in one place, celebrating our day… all the way out in rural NC!  But, if I had to name a specific moment, I would say it was when Andrew and I were saying our vows, which we wrote ourselves, in front of one of our best friend, who was the officiant.  I had a tough time getting through those vows, because they held so much meaning.

Did anything funny or out of the ordinary happen?
Yes!  The DJ accidentally played the wrong mother/son song, and my mother in law assumed that Andrew had changed it and started yelling at him on the dance floor!

 

Another hilarious moment was watching everyone jump up and down to “Jump Around” by House of Pain on the pool-covered dance floor… I think my mother nearly had a heart attack.  But it survived!
Also, it was almost unbearably hot (this was right during that big summer heat wave), but that stopped absolutely no one from dancing the night away- many of the guys just started ripping their shirt sleeves off!
But I would say one of the funniest parts of the evening was a surprise from my husband to me, in which he and the groomsmen serenaded me with “All My Life” by K-Ci and Jo Jo…

Tell us details of the events surrounding the wedding as well.

We squeezed a lot into that weekend, because most people were coming from out of town.  We had the bridal shower at a wonderful little cafe in downtown Winston-Salem, called the Screaming Rooster, and they did an amazing job of fitting us all in and hosting/catering it.  That evening, we had a very casual cookout with traditional North Carolina BBQ at the farm and listened to bluegrass while there was a huge thunderstorm!  Then all the bridesmaids stayed over and the groomsmen headed into town for who knows what at their hotel…

How did you know your partner was “the one”?

Oh there are many reasons… his kind heart, his practicality (which balances my neurotic-ness), his amazing sense of humor, his ability to see the positive in almost any moment… after almost 5 years of being together, there is not a day that goes by when I’m bored.

Any advice you’d give new brides who are just getting started?

I would say that my number one mantra would be to just try to remember what is important to you and your partner.  For us, that was having our friends and family there, celebrating and dancing with us.  Things will absolutely go wrong, but the small stuff really does NOT matter- no one will remember those things.  And I would also advise that brides and grooms remember that, in the end, this is just a very small beginning to what will hopefully a long and fulfilling partnership… 

Vendors:
Makeup: done by a good friend, Claudia Mendoza
Hair: done by my mother’s hairdresser of forever, Andre Carvana of Carvana and Co (Winston-Salem)
Photographer:  F5 Photography
Venue:  Pilot Mountain Vineyards, Pinnacle, NC
Dress:  Eden
Shoes:  Target!
Accessories:  Necklace and earrings were designed by my mother, father and husband, and were made from my late grandmother’s jewelry.
Catering:  Debbie of D&F Catering
Event Planning:  My mother and Dorian Faye (her best friend), plus the bride, groom, and pretty much anyone else who would help!
Flowers:  Dorian Faye and Sprigg Parker
DJ: K2 Productions
Photo Booth: Audio2Go