The Wedding Story of Justin and Sarah Brandenberger

Although rustic-yet-glamorous barn weddings are all the rage right now (and we really wouldn't have it any other way!), we continue to see brides who put their own take on tradition. Such is the case with Justin and Sarah Brandenberger's wedding—rather than stick with the classic summer or fall barn wedding, they ventured off the beaten path and decided on a winter wedding!

the details

Sarah had a few wedding details pre-determined after her and Justin were engaged. By the time they set a date, they had only eight months to plan leaving little time to go back and forth on decisions. Fortunately, Sarah already had her heart set on a rustic barn wedding and she found her heart's desire in Sylvan Cellars in Rome City, Indiana. "I was obsessed with the chandeliers and wood! So classic and a perfect rustic backdrop for our traditional black and white theme," says Sarah. 

From that point on, Sarah became rather familiar with The Knot and Pinterest. She knew that when it came time to splurge, she wanted to spend the money on her dream venue and delicious food. As far as the other details went, Sarah felt confident that she could save money by taking on many of the projects herself. She even did all of the floral arrangements herself including the centerpieces, the bouquets and the boutonnieres! Also, because she wanted a lifelong keepsake of her wedding and did not want her flowers to wilt due to the harsh January temperatures, Sarah used all artificial flowers from Afloral.com. But she didn't stop there. Sarah went on to design and print her own invitations, ceremony programs and even popcorn bags (she says it is possible to run paper bags through an inkjet printer, just so you know!)

She also enlisted the help of her mother and bridesmaids to help create the ceremony backdrop, a full wall of wax paper cones. She took inspiration from Style Me Pretty and even though everyone did their best to talk to her out of the laborious task, she was happy with the result. "It was truly a labor of love that deserved its own hashtag, #teampapercones, but it was such a fun touch to make the altar area for our ceremony more special!" says Sarah.

What we love

Sarah describes herself as "lady-like and romantic" when it comes to her personal style, while she says Justin is an outdoors type. It was important to her to represent both of their styles in their wedding day in a Kate Spade-meets-the-outdoors way. With both of their styles in mind, the couple chose to go for a romantic twist on a rustic outdoor theme using traditional black and white colors but also throwing in blush and gold accents. Sarah incorporated antlers and wood accents, and even bought Justin a wedding ring with an antler inlay!

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