Romantic Dairy Farm Wedding

Erin and Dan tied the knot on a gorgeous late summer day on a family dairy farm in Connecticut! Their homegrown celebration had so many perfectly romantic and rustic details, from mason jars and floral arrangements in tree bark vases to the handmade wedding arbor and jars of local honey as favors. Katie Slater Photography captured their amazing day!

A rustic summer dairy farm wedding in Oxford, CT

Dan and I met in high school. We started dating our senior year, and we dated for about 8 years until we got engaged. Dan proposed to me at our home in Oxford, Connecticut on a Friday night. I was pulling into the driveway after my commute home from work when I noticed Dan and our English bulldog Winston in the driveway. They were going on a walk and asked if I would like to join. I parked my car and kissed them both hello. Dan asked if I had noticed anything different on Winson’s collar. After doing a double-take I read “Erin, Will You Marry Me?” on a red, heart-shaped dog tag. After this moment, things get a little blurry, there was a lot of crying, and of course a “Yes!” I was completely shocked. I had no idea that he was thinking about proposing. I was convinced it would be another year or so, since we had just moved into our new home. I later found out, that Dan and his sister Kelly had gone into the city about 2 months back to pick out my ring. Sneaky sneaky!

My inspiration was the farm that we got married on. Dan grew up on the farm as a boy, and it meant the world to him to continue the family tradition and get married there. I had the most beautiful backdrop to work with (the highest point in Oxford). After knowing we would get married there, I tried to enhance the natural elements as much as I could. I worked with a lot of flowers, burlap, hay and candles. Our brother-in-law made this wooden bar for the very first wedding on the farm, we are the 3rd wedding to use it! Dan made the wedding arbor the week before the wedding out of wood on the farm, and the honey jar favors are from a nearby farm in Southbury. I kept my decorations neutral and let the land and night speak for itself.

There was about 30 seconds after I had walked down the aisle that I had with Dan. It was a moment that we got to say hi, tell each other how excited we were, and take a long, loving look at the person in front of us that we were about to marry. It was an unexpected pause, but the best moment of my entire day. Our uncle, who was marrying us, gave us this moment before starting the ceremony, and it was really special. We hadn’t asked for it or planned on it, but it was exactly what we needed. – Erin