Nashville Wife

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DIY Wedding Food

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After I shared photos of our DIY wedding reception, a few readers asked what was on our menu. The main dish was barbecued pulled pork, courtesy of Mr. Handsome’s aunt and uncle. Then we had a friend with a catering service provide Parmesan chicken, macaroni & cheese, mixed veggies, glazed carrots, and Caesar salad with homemade dressing.

We served the food buffet-style, and everything was delicious. I would love to get my hands on the recipes! There were tons of leftovers, which our families enjoyed while we were away on our honeymoon….

For dessert, several friends and family members put together a spectacular sweets table. Once again, everything was delicious, but Mr. Handsome and I only had time to try one or two types of cookies.

We also rented two soft-serve ice cream machines (one chocolate and one vanilla). There aren’t many places that rent them out, so we were grateful when Mr. Handsome’s two brothers offered to drive three hours to pick them up the day before the wedding.

Early on in the planning process, we decided that we wanted either ice cream or milkshakes instead of cake, but we didn’t want to have to bother with coolers. Soft-serve machines were a great solution because the ice cream stayed nice and cold. They were only a few hundred dollars to rent, and the ice cream mix was cheap.

We had sweet tea, strawberry lemonade, regular lemonade, and water available in drink dispensers. (These drink dispensers had a center compartment for ice, which was great on a hot, summer day.)

We also had a canoe (borrowed from a friend) filled with ice, water bottles, soda cans, and containers of sparkling juice. (We found that idea on Pinterest, of course.)

We kept the food under a tent that was purchased for our wedding and future family get-togethers. It was used three additional times this summer, so I would say it was worth the money

DIY Wedding Reception

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We were married at a local Baptist church, and our wedding reception was held in my inlaws’ backyard. They own a country property with several acres of land and plenty of shade trees.The red building in the pictures below is called the barn, although it is really just a glorified tool shed that is sometimes home to a few chickens. (The chickens all passed away over the winter, and my inlaws decided to wait until after the wedding to replace them.)

Due to rain, our initial plan to set up for the reception all day Friday didn’t work out. Rain was also in the forecast for Saturday, but thankfully we had the library banquet hall reserved as a backup location.

After the rehearsal dinner on Friday, we looked at the weather radar and decided to risk it and start setting up outside. A couple dozen friends and family members from out of town came over to the house, and within an hour, the backyard was transformed into a beautiful wedding venue.
On Saturday morning, while my bridesmaids and I were having our hair and makeup done, everyone else was back at the house adding last minute decorations. When Mr. Handsome and I walked into the backyard after the wedding ceremony, we were blown away. It was a scene right out of a magazine, and there was even a private dinner table set up for us in the tree house.
The weather was perfect, and our guests enjoyed themselves immensely.
The tables were decorated with mason jars sitting on slabs of wood that Mr. Handsome cut himself. As you can see, the large jars had hydrangeas in them. Each small jar had a batter-powered tea light sitting on white sugar. (Our initial plan was to use sand, but all the sand we found was dirt colored.)