Wedding Location Scouting

This past Sunday Paul and I traveled out to one of my best friends Rachel's, parent's farm to scout  out our wedding location. (We got engaged on the 28th of December, yay!) We brought Axle and Clover with us so that they could run around on the farm with Rachel's two dogs Athena and Bella. Paul and I were so excited when they offered to let us have our wedding on their farm! Rachel took us on a tour of the whole place, and I took a bunch of pictures so we could decide where everything will be set up. And of course the dogs made their way into most of the pictures, haha!

 This is the field that we would section of for people to park their cars.

 Their super looooong driveway. Its at least a half mile from end to end.

 After our guests park, they would travel a short distance up the hill to where the barn is.

 First view of the barn.

 Clover was completely infatuated with this horse, affectionately named Blob. She followed him all over the farm.

 Close up of Blob, he is such a sweet old horse!

 This is the pond that will be the back drop for our ceremony. We are planning on building a sort of lattice arch to stand under when we say our vows. We are having the wedding in the fall, so the trees will be very colorful.

 The flat field in front of the pond where we will be setting up seating for everyone.

 The view farther away from the pond, complete with the dogs running in to the water. Axle swam all the way to the middle of the pond a few times. He loves the water!

The dogs loved the pond!

 Axle and Bella racing up to the barn.

 I love the way the sunlight sparkles on the water, its going to look so pretty in the fall.

 We are planning on starting the ceremony at dusk, so our vows will be said just as the sun goes down.

 Axle and Bella running in the field.

 Rachel's dog Athena is so pretty!

Sweet Bella!

 Clover and Athena!

 Axle licking his chops.

 The view through the barn, I think that's Clover standing at the end.

 Axle and Bella.

 Axle found a log to play with.

 Another view of the field, the pond is off the the left. It has a slight slope towards the pond, so it will be somewhat like 'amphitheater' seating. 

 This is a tractor wheel that they use as a fire pit! We are going to use this along with a few portable fire pits during the reception/after party. We are having sort of a 'camping theme,' complete with a S'more bar! (This was Paul's idea!)

 The dogs running out of the woods.

 Eventually we found the rest of the horses while ridding around on the four wheeler.

 The horses got annoyed with the dogs and chased them out of the woods!

 The back field.

 Clover got chased into the woods by the horses and ended up getting lost for about five minutes. We found her pretty quickly though. She loved the horses... they just didn't like her very much, haha!

 Before we left, the horses made their way back up to the the barn, so we walked over to say hello.

 This is Rachel's horse Black. I will be ridding him in at the beginning of the wedding. That's the plan anyway. We'll have to see how he feels about it!

 After all of our fun Axle and Clover needed to be hosed off because they were completely filthy. We all had such a great time and could not be more grateful to Rachel and her family for letting us get married on their beautiful farm. Paul and I are so happy to have our wedding on such a wonderful property! We have a lot more to do before the big day in November. But we will keep you updated with the planing process!!

Have any of you had farm/outdoor weddings? What did you do on your big day? Do you have any advice or suggestions you would like to share? We would love to hear your stories in the comments below!!