Callee and Skye’s late June wedding was one we will always remember here at Love ‘n Fresh! Actors, singers and dancers living in NYC, this duo brought larger-than-life personalities to their romantic garden wedding at the Inn at Barley Sheaf in New Hope, PA. Over the course of a year, we planned every perfect detail with Callee and her gracious mom, Bea, and brought hundreds of stems of fragrant peonies and allllll the textural spring greenery we could harvest to make lush floral displays at the Inn at Barley Sheaf. The ambiance of the day was classic and thoughtful with vintage touches and just a little bit of drama to match Callee and Skye’s style.
Photos in this blog post were generously provided by the talented Lev Kuperman Weddings.
The Inn at Barley Sheaf
If you haven’t yet explored the Inn at Barley Sheaf, you really must! Run by top-notch folks, Deena and Mark, who take providing white glove service very seriously, this Bucks County bed and breakfast on the outskirts of charming New Hope is one of the best venues we know of for a weekend-long celebration with family and friends. There are several suites in the historic inn (built in 1740), the barn, cottages and an on-site restaurant with an acclaimed chef and a stellar wine list. The grounds are superbly managed, with sweeping lawns, towering old-growth trees, a formal boxwood lined garden complete with a gazebo, a refreshing swimming pool, a big old barn that’s been fully renovated into a modern reception space, and a pasture with miniature donkeys and horses! Pulling into the circular drive with the gurgling fountain full of water lilies always makes us a little giddy!
The Wedding Party
Callee wanted a bridal bouquet that really matched her unique personality, something different, yet still classic and elegant. She liked the look of a cascade bouquet but didn’t like the idea of hauling around such a cumbersome bouquet all day. So we created a pseudo-cascade bouquet, one that draped down in the front but still remained somewhat compact for this very slender bride.
Knowing that the wedding would be in the garden at the Inn at Barley Sheaf, we kept the look natural and seasonal with lots of fragrant, billowy white peonies and heaps of unique and textural seasonal foliage. Callee specially requested a few white lilies be included as they are her favorite blooms and hold a lot of sentimentality for her. We also added three massive poppy pods to the bridal bouquet to give it some drama and that bit of “something different” that Callee really wanted. Doesn’t the bridal bouquet look great with her elegant beaded gown?
Callee’s bridesmaids wore springy soft green dresses in various styles. We created bridesmaid bouquets of green and white seasonal blooms and foliage for them as well but with a more relaxed wildflower style and touches of soft peach yarrow. The bouquets really stood out from their dresses for that classic romantic look we were trying to achieve!
Skye didn’t want to be upstaged by Callee so we created a bodacious boutonniere for him featuring a large, white peony. If a groom’s going to wear a formal morning suit with tails and a top hat, you accommodate with a boutonniere to match! Skye’s groomsmen wore charcoal gray suits with kiwi green ties which went perfectly with the smaller boutonniere we designed for them featuring white pin-cushion flowers, green nigella pods, and sprigs of lavender with a green ribbon.
The Ceremony
There are so many great ceremony spaces to choose from at the Inn at Barley Sheaf! Callee and Skye chose the formal boxwood garden with the gazebo as their backdrop. It was a perfect match for their classic elegant vibe. We installed a lush floral piece on the gazebo to frame the couple as they said “I do.” We also placed bouquets along the aisle to bring color to this otherwise verdant green space. Combined with the bridal party flowers as they stood on either side of the gazebo, there was a sense of heaps of flowers just plucked from the garden for this special union.
The Reception
Callee and Skye opted to have their cocktail hour inside the newly renovated barn at the Inn at Barley Sheaf. It’s air conditioning and vaulted ceilings ensured guests got a chance to cool off a bit from the summer warmth. After cocktails, as the sun lowered, the party moved outside again under an Eventquip sailcloth tent on the lawn behind the barn at the Inn at Barley Sheaf, the perfect spot for catching the twilight and sunset as toasts were made to the new couple.
Each table was uniquely decorated with a curated collection of antique vessels and mementos gathered by Bea, Callee’s mom, who is an antique shop owner in Pittsburgh. We added seasonal arrangements — including lots of peonies — to the vessels and styled the tables just-so. It was an incredibly special touch to have these piece hand-picked and full of memories for the couple. Each guest’s plate got a sprig of fresh lavender from our farm as well.
The real show piece of this tented wedding reception at the Inn at Barley Sheaf were the floral hoops we installed around each of the central poles in the tent. These hoops added color and interest, as well as visually lowered the ceiling, so the tent felt more intimate and fun. Seeing the photos of Callee and Skye dancing with the hoops in the background makes all the hours of assembly to hang all eight of these hoops worthwhile!
What a day to remember at the Inn at Barley Sheaf! If you’d like to see more of our garden weddings, be sure to check out this blog post and this blog post.
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