Anyone having a barn wedding where you need to bring everything in?

justsuzie

I just secured a venue at the Holcomb Farm in Granby.  The rental is super cheap, 1300 for the entire day!  But, we have to bring in everything except the table and chairs.  Is this going to be more expensive that one of those all inclusive venues?  

sadiegirl123

That seems to be the more expensive route, but you could probably find a reasonable caterer who could also bring in China, silverwear, and table linens. I do not know what the chairs look like or if they need covers. Is the barn decorated at all? You may want to hire someone to help with setup and cleanup. You could also save money if you could bring your own beer and wine and have the caterer have a bartender to serve. Are you having the reception in the barn or outside? Just make sure they have outdoor chairs too.

Wonder_Wall

I think it's good that they have the tables and chairs provided for you because that would be hundreds added on to the cost. It's fun starting from a blank slate with everything else but hopefully you are ambitious because it will require some work and research!

justsuzie

Thanks... I am looking into caterers and unfortunately the one I want doesn't have linens.  I will keep looking.

BrinkyDink16

Our venue is essentially a blank reception hall on a lake.  They have tables, a kitchen, and a bar but that's about it.  Which is exactly what we wanted.  We rented it for three days so we can have a set up day, the wedding day, and a break down day.  The restaurant my mother works at is caterering.  We're stocking the bar ourselves, using disposable cutlery / plates / solo cups, and DIYing most of the decorations.  We found tablecloths for under $10 apiece on Amazon.  We're renting chairs because the venue only comes with metal folding chairs.  Don't stress, it can be done and will be so uniquely yours rather than a venue that comes with everything included

justsuzie

What catering company are you using?  I am thinking about going with vintage tablecloths, mismatched from ebay.  As for centerpieces I am doing cacti in terracotta and peonies in brown glass.  Everything else is going to be DIY.  I am an artist along with most of my friends so it will be super fun.  I'd love to know details on your planning.

BrinkyDink16

We are using Gin's Tavern in Factoryville, PA.  My mother has been a bartender there practically my whole life, my father plays in a golf league they sponsor, and pretty much every major family party is catered by them.  They're excellent and have really got our vision of a Halloween party with elements of a wedding rather than the reverse which has honestly been hard to get some people to understand.

As for details, where to start!  Our colors are red and black so we're doing black tablecloths with DIY runners that are white muslin with our bloody hand prints all over them.  The dishware will be red.  On the backs of all the chairs we're planning to have bows made from police caution tape. 

All the tables will have some votive candles and a scattering of dead flowers.  For centerpieces, each table is themed after a different horror movie which makes planning a little difficult since we won't know an exact table count until all the RSVPs are in but we've estimated for eighteen and are actively gathering / buying / building centerpieces for our favorite ten.  Two good examples: The Phantom of the Opera table which will have a red rose tied with black ribbon, some torn / crumbled sheet music, a set of opera glasses and the Phantom's mask.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre table will have a vintage 1974 chainsaw sitting atop a Texas flag and possible Letherface's mask if we can make it or find it for cheap.  We're going to print up mini movie posters to aide people in finding their tables if they're unfamiliar and we're putting a synopsis of the film on the back of each of those.

Our place cards are little tombstones with RIP on top, the guests name, and the wedding date.  On the back will be their table name.  Each one has a black ribbon with a skull charm dangling from it and we're constructing a little "graveyard" out of old shutters to place them in.  Not sure if those will be laid flat or hung on a frame yet.

As for ourselves, my fiance is coming as Freddy Krueger (pre-burned because while we're friends with an amazing theatre make-up artist he didn't want to get into latex or prosthetics).  He's ordered a replica gloves with real knives and a hand knit sweater from the first movie.  I'm coming as Anne Boleyn and am having a custom red / leopard print dress made.  I also had a custom made "B" necklace made which works because my name starts with a B anyway and I'm going to be making my own headdress in the French fashion that was made popular by her.

For my bouquet I'm making a ball of pinback buttons of movies / TV shows / literature / video games that are significant to our relationship.

Woo!  Sorry to get so long winded there but I get super excited when relaying details cause I'm just too psyched about everything we're doing!  It's a lot of work but everything we've done so far has turned out wonderfully!

What type of DIY are you planning on?

justsuzie

Wow, that is a lot of DIY.  Good luck with all of the planning.  Did you find any websites in particular with good prices for linens?

I keep going back and forth with all of my ideas.  I know that I want to have a table set up with 4x4 mini canvases so everyone can paint a picture with a limited color palette.  I will put all of the canvases together to make a large painting.  This will serve as our guestbook as well. 

We are having a farm to table place cater with a pizza food truck coming at the end of the night to feed us and soak up the alcohol. 

As for decor, I know I want succulents and peonies or cactus flowers.  I am a potter, so I will make all of the pots for the plants, flowers to go it.  So the color pallet is really wide open. 

The favors are going to be tiny pots with succulents in them and a hand printed card.  I should probably nail down some ideas so I can start making the ceramics this summer while I have the time (I'm a teacher).  This will take forever, but ya know, way better than a cookie cutter wedding.  And, with DIY you can get your friends involved.  Good luck to you!

BrinkyDink16

Yeah, it is a lot of DIY but I think it'll turn out awesome.  The best price I found for linens was like $9.99 per which was still out of our price range.  We've decided to go with black plastic tablecloths for under the runners.  My mother was horrified at that thought at first but the more she thought about all the elements of the meal (like our party food and disposable dishware) she realized that eating off linen kind of wouldn't make sense anyway so she calmed down.

That pizza truck sounds awesome and is such a good idea!  We're having our appetizers brought back out after desert is cleaned up and we're just going to leave them out all night so people can keep picking at them.  We figure this will help soak up booze and cut down on the amount of leftovers we have to deal with.

Your plans sounds really great and you are lucky that you have the summer off to work on them.  My work is slower in the summer but I still have to come in every day and it really cuts into crafting time!