Sarah and Ryan's Bohemian DIY Autumn Wedding in the Virginian Mountains by Aaron May Photography

It’s that time of year again when the leaves turn orange and the golden hues of mother nature burst through the low lights of the cold autumn air. If you love autumn, then you will love today’s wedding, filled with autumnal shades and some beautiful rustic design and decoration. Ryan and Sarah were married on 21st October 2023 (happy anniversary for yesterday) at Rivers Bend Ranch in Stanley, Virginia. Their wedding came in 3 parts. Day one was a private elopement, just the two of them. Day 2 was their actual wedding and reception. Day 3 was an early morning hike up into the hills. They certainly made the most of the stunning backdrop and really went to town on the gorgeous decoration. Big thanks to their planners Forever Moments for this beautiful submission and to their photographer Aaron May Photographyfor the wonderful images.

Ryan and Sarah’s first date was a hiking expedition in the Shenandoah Mountains and they have been each other’s rock since. After tracking through the Rocky Mountain Region countless times over the past six years, the couple decided they wanted to elope on top of their favourite peak, the Stony Man, located at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The following day, Ryan and Sarah invited their closest friends and family to a re-enacted ceremony, followed by a reception at Rivers Bend Ranch in Stanley Virginia just 20 minutes from the park.

The couple chose to incorporate an autumn colour scheme to complement the foliage. Some unique decor features include the table numbers named after the different peaks in the Shenandoah they’ve climbed, as well as broken terracotta clay pot pieces with guest names calligraphed on with paint. Ryan and Sarah’s vegan lifestyle inspired them to have a vegan charcuterie board for cocktail hour, all the while their love of coffee was highlighted through a staffed coffee bar throughout the reception using thrifted mugs the guests could choose as a wedding favour to take home.

Design and Decoration
Our decor was a reflection of our love of browsing thrift shops and the mountains. We both love fall so much and wanted to make sure our venue was open and had expansive Mountain View’s. So we had a ceremony outside in front of a mountain scape. We collected rugs to create our aisle and had florals along our triangle backdrop. Then we had a big barn area for the reception which was fully open in the back to ensure plenty of views of the mountains while eating. We used a lot of antique furniture to create two different seating areas between the reception and ceremony, along with some yard games and bonfire areas. Inside the reception, the decor was really just the entry table and dining tables. But we used lots of autumnal colours and jewel colours. We used vintage dressers for tables and incorporated a lot of lace and greenery. We wanted to combine vintage and natural elements.

Flowers
The florals were all by a local company called West Virjeni. She did an incredible job attaching florals to our triangle arch, she made me and my flower girls the most beautiful floral crowns and also did table centrepieces for all the dining tables. All the colours were autumnal and then she spray painted some select items a beautiful teal that accented it all perfectly!

Personal touches
Honestly, it felt like every bit of our day was personalized. Our good friend officiated the ceremony. Our close friends were the musicians for the ceremony. My brother in law was the DJ. Our good friend who owns a restaurant catered the meal. Another close friend did our grazing table. My best friend did my hair and make up. And another close friend was our photographer. In addition to that, our table names were each named after a mountain peak in Shenandoah National park. Neither Ryan or I drink alcohol, so we wanted to make sure we had something unique along with our mobile bar. So, we had a coffee bar that was a HUGE hit. We hand selected our weddings favours. We collected mugs from thrift shops and good wills all around us and my dad built our mug wall. Folks used their mugs to bring to the coffee bar and get lattes. There was a 40 minute line at the coffee bar for most of the night – everyone loved it. My dad also built our large connect four board and corn hole boards. I also made our seating charts by spray painting some easels and using a cricut on some old window panes from an antique shop. That was one of my favourite parts about the wedding, was that it felt like it was an extension of us and our friends and family. Together we all made it come together and had a whole weekend celebration!

Outfits
We both just had a vision of what we wanted, and googled it. We were super lucky that we both found the perfect thing online and were able to get it fitted just right. I knew I wanted a two piece dress and I couldn’t find any stores that had them to try on in person. My two piece set was a lace 3/4 sleeve crop top in white with a button up back with a long, super silky and flowy skirt. The skirt had hints of champagne in it. I knew I wanted velvet floral mid boots as footwear and found the PERFECT pair on poshmark for $15!!!. Ryan wore a forest green suit with a terracotta floral tie, brown shoes and belt and cute green socks that had little foxes on them.

Special Moments
We initially didn’t want to have a wedding but sort of fell into it. We just wanted to go to the mountains and elope together. However we knew we’d regret not spending the time with friends and family. Our compromise was that we did an elopement on Friday evening in Shenandoah national park at an overlook we frequent. It was just us, the officiant and our photographer. We then did a small ceremony the next day and had the reception and bonfire after that. Then Sunday morning we did a sunrise hike for anyone who was up for it. And I think both the elopement and the sunrise hike were some of the most special moments. Just being out in the mountains together to say I do and then hiking with friends to close the whole weekend out really made the whole weekend an incredible experience.

Advice for other couples
A wedding is going to be expensive, that’s just a given. So I think the important thing to keep in mind is that this is a special day for you!! So have fun with it – make sure to incorporate things that are meaningful and special to you as a couple. It’s a lot of work, and I was positive I wasn’t going to feel like all the stress and money was worth it afterwards. But it was worth every single second and every cent. Ryan and I both just cried together on Sunday morning because it was the most incredible weekend – far exceeding any expectation we could have had. And what everyone says is so true – it goes by soooo fast. So take tons of pictures and savor every moment. We made sure to have a Polaroid camera for folks to take photos with and leave in our guest book and that was so much fun to go through the next few days together and see how others experienced the day!