This is a great example of a wedding that shows what you can achieve if you put a bit of time and effort in to doing something, and that a wedding doesn’t have to cost an absolute fortune! With the sun shining and your best friends and family around you, it’s easy to remember that the best things in life are free…cheesy but true.
Freya and Tim are both farmers – Tim is a 6th generation farmer in rural southern Minnesota and Freya is an organic farmer by profession and runs her own small produce business. Agriculture, food, and the outdoors is the core of who they are and being a totally ‘smashing’ couple and essentially being truly authentic to themselves, these elements came through beautifully and personally in their relaxed outdoor wedding.
A HOMEMADE, HANDMADE OUTDOOR WEDDING
Freya, The Bride: Our wedding was in Ketchum, Idaho and we held the ceremony and reception in Ketchum Rotary Park along the Bigwood river, the river upon which I grew up and love dearly. Tim and I didn’t really go for a theme or colour scheme. Everything was very simple and natural and the whole event was homemade and handmade – DIY style – very relaxed, like an afternoon picnic. We had lots of games like bean bag toss, ladder golf, hula hoops, bubbles, etc and these were played by both adult (and little) kids!
We had directional signs, chalkboards and such, all made by my husband. There was not much need for more decoration than that as it was such a beautiful venue.
MY OWN BRIDAL STYLE
I knew I wanted to be comfortable and feel like myself, not all made-up and princess-like. After trying on too many “cupcake” dresses, I found the “mini-cupcake” and loved it. I paired the dress with Canadian-made handcrafted Boulet western boots, that were a gift from my husband a few months before we got engaged. He knows I love my boots, and the collection keeps growing.
In terms of jewellery, I wore my mothers, sisters, late-grandmothers and my pearl bracelets. It meant a lot to me to have all those women with me under the chuppah….
THE HANDSOME GROOM
Tim wore a pair of smart trousers and a shirt he had already owned, and a new tie by Hugo Boss, that took my and my sister hours to pick out. His braces were his grandfather’s and the kippah he wore was the one that my father wore when he married my mother.
A VERY PERSONAL CEREMONY
My cousin (a rabbi in new york) performed our ceremony. He has done a few weddings in our family, and it made sense to have him do it… we don’t really have a rabbi of our own in our Jewish community. That’s what happens when you grow up in rural Idaho.
We incorporated tons of personal touches into the ceremony all of which were very important to us: the Kiddush cup we used was a bat mitzvah gift of mine, and our rings were custom made of gold melted from my father’s wedding ring, which no longer fits his hands, and Tim’s mothers engagement ring.
Along with the traditional Sheva Brachot (seven blessings), we also created our own English translations which made it really fun and real.
The ketubah was ordered on Etsy from Once Upon A Paper from and we LOVED it!
CHUPPAH DESIGN
We were married under the same chuppah as my brother, sister, two cousins, and my parents, aunts and uncles, using my grandfathers tallit. It was also the tallit that we were all bar/bat mitzvahed in, and we attached it to metal poles that we found on our farm.
FLORALS
I chose my favourite flowers: yarrow, scabiosa, dahlias, etc. I had a few girlfriends help make the flower arrangements that we placed in mason jars. The bouquet and boutonnià¨re were made by the lovely Michelle at Ketchum Flower Company in Ketchum Idaho.
Another personal touch was having a kerchief of my grandmother’s the wrapped around my bouquet was
FOODS THAT WE LOVE
My family and I put the tables and chairs together the day of the wedding. Not having a wedding planner or catered event made a lot of work for us, but it was fun and personal. We didn’t have a caterer as such, but rather different food carts celebrating foods that we love. So we had woodoven pizza in varying flavours: lamb pizzas with local Idaho lamb, and wild mushroom pizzas and salads with greens and tomatoes from local farms.
We also had ‘street food’ style tacos with ‘carne asada’ that was all grass fed beef from the valley. The chicken was also locally raised.
MANY TYPES OF CUPCAKES
We had cupcakes as opposed to a cake. There were so many diets to accommodate (vegan, gluten-free, Kosher etc) it was easier and we could incorporate more flavour options. We had carrot cake, chocolate, chocolate guinness, salted carmel, vanilla, strawberry, chai, etc.. The cupcakes were made (and hand delivered with such kindness from 3 hours away) by Amaru Bakery in Boise Idaho.
OUR FAVOURITE BAND
We hired a favourite band of ours Taarka. We love the music and they could play ceremony music, traditional jewish and klezmer tunes and fun stuff to dance too. This was the largest expense of the wedding as they came all the way from Denver, but well worth it!
FREYA + TIM’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Venue — Ketchum Rotary Park
Cakes — Amaru Bakery
Ketubah — Once Upon A Paper
Florals — Ketchum Flower Company
Entertainment — Taarka
I’m always a big fan of a DIY bride and it just goes to show that you should spend whatever YOU want on your wedding, if you want to go DIY crazy, do it!
Have the courage to be as authentic to yourself as the beautiful Freya and Tim were to themselves.
Such a cool bride! Thanks for sharing! Love x
Isn’t she just? And I love that there is a genuine do-it-yourself abundance of absolute gorgeousness in this wedding.