I have a beautiful backyard wedding to share with you all this Monday morning! Leta and Brian’s day was filled with homespun charm and fun outdoor details including beautiful photo sessions in a canoe and in a field of horses! Leta, her mother, and grandmother spent two years collecting the pretty plates and tableware you see in the photos. There is such a sense of community in this event – the cakes were homemade by friends, the simple flowers arranged by Leta’s mother, and nearly all of the other vendors were friends of the family. The location, on family property, alongside Indian Creek in Greenville, West Virginia pulled the whole day together with a canopy of lovely trees in early-fall colors. Read below for their heart-melting engagement story.

Before the Ring (from Leta, the bride):
We met when I was a senior in high school, Brian graduated 5 years earlier, and I was working at a local state park as a lifeguard and a fellow co-worker tried to set us up all summer. I wasn’t interested in dating but my coworker was so persistent I finally gave in (he’s one of the groomsmen). We fell in love almost immediately and were inseparable from the start.

The Proposal:
Brian proposed along the creek behind the house we had just purchased. He knew it was where I wanted to get married and thought it would be the perfect site for a proposal. Though I married a country boy and I enjoy many things about life in the country there are some things I’m too girly for…one of those is baiting my own hook when we go fishing. Brian counted on this when he took me “fishing” the day he proposed. Instead of a night crawler he baited my hook with a Tiffany’s box!!! His words were so amazing and from the heart, I rushed back home when it was over and wrote them down so I wouldn’t ever forget them : )

Details of the Day:
Our wedding was full of so many perfect memories; it’s hard to pick just one. Something we laugh about often is that the infamous canoe we exited in sprung a small leak as we were paddling down the creek; my reaction was caught on video because our microphones were still on. My favorite surprise of the day was the video our parents compiled for us full of childhood pictures, pictures of us dating and stories told by our parents themselves. My favorite part of the ceremony was the reading of the vows we wrote ourselves….on napkins while sitting in McDonald’s after visiting Brian’s grandfather in the hospital one evening. My favorite wedding detail that I am so glad we did was the fireworks at the end!

Advice to Future Brides:
My advice for all brides is to do all your stressing before your big day…it would be crazy for me to say “don’t stress,” because of my perfectionist nature I feel that painstaking attention to detail leading up to the wedding will provide for a perfect end result but the time to worry is during the year or so of planning not the day of your wedding.  That is when you get to watch all the details combine to make the perfect day! Also, don’t be afraid to be daring or take a few chances in order to make your vision come true – we had no tents because the canopy of trees was too beautiful to block and we didn’t even have a backup…the weather was perfect that day. You gotta have a little faith 🙂

Photography: Melissa Perella Photography / Second Photographer: Joan Young / Venue: Backyard at Bride’s Parent’s residence along Indian Creek in Greenville, WV – also the Old Mill owned by Fred and Barbara Zeigler / Day of Director: Ana Lusk / Bride’s Dress: J. Crew / Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew / Tableware & Décor: Collected by Bride, Bride’s mother and grandmother over the course of two years prior to wedding. Flowers: Bride’s Mother / Cakes: Homemade by Friends of Family / Band: The Hans Creek String Band from Greenville, WV / Catering: We Cook Catering / Bagpipes: Don Dransfield / Fireworks: Provided by Friend of Family