Boho Chic Farmhouse Wedding & a Rue De Seine Sia Dress

Emily and Chris have kindly joined us today to share their totally gorgeous farmhouse wedding held at The Middleburg Barn in Virginia, US on the 2nd November 2019. Their day really is a masterclass on boho-chic style. But more than that, their wedding was totally them.

My advice to those of you currently wedding planning (you can get lots of my personal wedding advice in The Happy Wedding Club by the way) is to have the day that represents you. Otherwise, your memories won’t stand the test of time and you will be filled with wedding regrets.

Back to Emily and Chris’ fantastic nuptials, which were filled with gorgeous touches, a very stylish Rue De Seine Sia dress and a lot of love. A big thank you goes to Katherine Joy Photography and Video for sharing these joyous images with us.

Farmhouse Wedding

The Proposal

Chris planned a really special proposal, with the perfect ring! We went to dinner at St. Anselm in D.C., then headed to the basement of the Hay Adams for cocktails. He asked me if I wanted to sit on their rooftop, which I thought was interesting in December, and when our elevator stopped on a floor with hotel rooms, I was super confused. It wasn’t until we were in one of their suites, overlooking the city, that I realized he was proposing.

I called my mom and dad immediately after I said yes, followed by his parents, and then everyone who ended up being in our wedding. It was like they were there to celebrate with us, but it was still a private moment, which I loved.

The Planning Process

My favourite thing in the world is hosting friends and family for parties at home. After Chris proposed, we talked about how we wanted our wedding to feel, which was simple: We wanted it to feel like us. That means a little boho, a little elevated and a little simple. I had a vision of our perfect, dream home in my head, and we decided to make our wedding resemble that, which made every decision afterwards easy to make.

We booked our venue first. Although we looked at a few, we fell in love with the charm at The Middleburg Barn. The owner told us no one really chose to get married on the mountainside, and that’s exactly what we wanted.

After that, we chose our photographer and videographer not only because she had the aesthetic we were looking for, but because her personality was perfect. We followed our instincts and continued to hand-pick every one of our vendors to build a true A-team. We wanted everyone to do a good job, of course, but we also wanted everyone present with us to feel like friends and family, and that’s exactly what we got.

Your Outfits

I knew what I wanted our day to look and feel like, but I didn’t know exactly how I wanted to look until Danielle at Lovely Bride D.C. handed me the Rue de Seine Sia gown I wore. I’m not an emotional person and I cried. I originally wanted to make the dress my own by cutting the sleeves, but the geniuses at Befitted Tailoring in Alexandria came up with a solution… they bustled my sleeves! I had never seen that done before and loved the idea.

The Flowers

I knew I wanted a custom arch and a custom greenery chandelier, and Mark from Flower Haus Guys made my dreams come true. I really wanted to use our arch during the reception, so we repurposed it as the head table backdrop and added a custom neon sign, which was perfect for end-of-the-night photos.

Also, if you look at photos from our first dance, the greenery chandelier is prominent. It made an already beautiful venue even more breathtaking.

The Details & Decor

So many pieces of our wedding day were incredibly special. These are a few of my favourites:

I created a playlist for the day, from getting ready in the morning to what was playing when guests arrived to our processional, recessional, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. Every song told a story about a portion of our lives, separate or together, and also meant something to our guests. It took me a year to perfect it, and I knew it would take a special person to understand it and share it.

Alex from the Dapper DJs was that perfect person. Every single vendor told me four hours was too long to dance at a wedding. But when I asked Alex, he said, “Do what’s best for you and your guests. We can party for four hours!” He trusted me and I trusted him completely, and he crushed it. We could barely get our guests off the dance floor at the end of the night.

Also, my dad and I created a custom mash-up of songs for our father-daughter dance and my best man, who is a dancer, was our choreographer. Even though neither of us could dance well, it’s a memory I’ll keep with me for a lifetime.

Although Chris and I both love and collect bourbon (we had an old fashioned bar during cocktail hour), we knew we wanted to get married after a friend’s wedding in Mexico, where we drank a lot of coffee and a lot of tequila. When I asked Bubbles and Brew (our cocktail truck) if they’d make and serve a custom cocktail, they asked for a recipe. We completely winged it, but our ‘I Love You Like XO’ cocktail, made with Patron XO and cold brew, was a hit with our guests.

Heirloom DC made custom boho chairs for our appetizers and the photos of them are still some of my favourite from the entire day!

Advice For Other Couples

I had so much fun planning the wedding that I almost quit my job to do it full time. Maybe one day… 🙂

No matter how much a bride loves planning, though, I’d recommend to everyone getting married to hire a wedding coordinator. Designed Perfectly made my vision run smoothly. She was there for me leading up to the wedding to handle details and logistics and allowed me to enjoy our wedding day fully by keeping everything running smoothly.

It’s been almost a year to the day since our wedding and Chris and I both look at photos and videos from that day and tear up. It was completely magical and we’re so thankful it was ours.