Cara and Chase's 'All The Colours' Fun Outdoor Home Wedding in Virginia by Emily Barbee

It’s always been my dream to have a garden big enough so my child can get married at home. Now Dexter is only 10, so I have a few years to turn my dream into reality but every time I get sent a home wedding, my heart just flutters a bit more! Today’s wedding is no exception, Cara and Chase were lucky enough to hold their wedding in the family home that Cara was brought up in, with a garden big enough for not only a gorgeous outdoor ceremony but a big marquee reception as well. I love the laid back garden party vibe of this wedding, all the brilliant bright and colourful flowers, the bridesmaids floral dresses and of course the pet dog. I do LOVE a home wedding, big thanks to Emily Barbee for the lovely photos and to Vida Events for the planning.

The most perfect day full of love, laughter, friends and great music. Fun times were had would be an understatement – people still tell us that it was the most fun wedding they’ve ever attended.

Cara and Chase were married on 3rd June 2023 at Cara’s childhood home in Middleburg, Virginia. ‘It’s my childhood home! My parents still live there. It’s where I’ve always imagined I would get married. We had 230 ish guests and it took 10 months to plan.’

How they met
We met at a local music venue in Charleston, SC through some friends. We met in June of 2021.

The proposal
Chase wanted to go on a golf cart ride through our neighbourhood before we left for dinner reservations we had. He pulled up to a really beautiful house at the edge of our neighborhood, one which we have always admired, and he told me that he met the owner on his run earlier in the day. He told me that the owner said we were welcome to walk out onto his dock to check out the view. As we ventured into the front yard, I was very apprehensive and was looking around because it felt like we weren’t supposed to be there. When I turned around, Chase was on one knee proposing. The house overlooks a waterway that leads from the Stono river into the Charleston harbor and a big sailboat was cruising by while he was proposing and the people aboard erupted into applause and cheers. The owner of the house was sneaking photos from inside the house – we were in fact allowed to be there – and brought us out a bottle of Champagne to celebrate.

How did you allocate your budget?
Thankfully we had a great wedding planner who helped oversee the budget and ensured that we were allocating everything accordingly.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
Splurged on food, music and a photographer. Saved on the venue – it was free – and the wedding cakes.

How did you choose your photographer?
I work in the arts so the photos were very important to me. When the photographer I initially wanted wasn’t available, she recommended Emily, who I was unfamiliar with at the time. What a great introduction because I love love loved the photos she took, especially the film photos.

The dress
Dress was by Maggie Sottero, my earrings were custom made by Mad Made Metals. Shoes… Amazon – no idea what brand. I switched into white and gold Berkenstock sandals as soon as I could – I would have been bearfoot if my mom would have allowed it!

The suit and bridesmaids
Jos A Banks for Chase’s suit. The bridesmaids all picked their own floral dresses. I told them to stick within a color palette of Pinks, Blues, Greens and Yellows but wanted them to choose something they would enjoy wearing, and rewearing.

Theme or colour scheme
All colours! The theme was a fun outdoor early summer woodland Virginia wedding with killer music, food, drinks and vibes.

Flowers
We used a local florist who grows all of their own flowers on their farm so they’re all native to the area. They grew flowers from seed specifically for our wedding. I told the florists to use all colours and to go crazy with local variants. They were wild and beautiful.

Decoration
We really let the venue shine through and did minimal decorations. We sourced block printed linens from India on Etsy and paired those with mismatched vintage plates and bud vases on the tables. We rented some boho/70’s style furniture for the tent, which paired nicely with some colorful kilim rugs and poufs that were sprinkled throughout the outdoor areas. In the tent, we cut small trees down from the woods of the property to bring the woodland vibe into the tent and doned string lights throughout the branches. Oh, and lots and lots of disco balls.

Food
We had a raw bar and some heavy passed horderves (salmon crudo, tomato pies, black bean tostadas and more) during cocktail hour and a massive grazing table with all kinds of delicious cheeses and veggies – it was a huge hit.
For the main meal, we had stations of sliders (veggie burgers, po-boys, bao buns), salads, different varieties of french fries and a mac n cheese bar (curry mac, buffalo mac, and classic. We also had pizza from our local pizza place for late night an ice cream bar and buckets of the most incredible Not Fried Chicken by Life Raft Treats (a hugeeee hit)

The wedding cake
We had three cakes that my mom bought from a local bakery. She then decorated them with flowers and fruit! I honestly can’t remember the flavors – this tradition wasn’t something I was super interested in making a big deal out of but my mom insisted. One small detail of the cakes that I loved – we re-used the same wedding cake-topper that my parents used for their wedding in the early 1970’s.

Entertainment
We had an incredible band play called Danger muffin. Chase and I are big music fans and we wanted a non traditional wedding band. Danger muffin played acoustic at the ceremony and jammed out hard during the reception. The dance floor was packed the entire night.

Who supplied the stationery?
I designed the stationery using artwork created for me by my best friend and talented artist Ashely Blazer. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on the invites because I feel like invitations are so wasteful (how many invites have you thrown in the trash?) so we went simple with a single card.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We did a quick “mini-moon” to The Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island, GA the weekend after the wedding. We hope to go to Italy this summer for a real, belated honeymoon!

Personal touches
We made custom trucker hats that said “Virginia is for Lovers” with the O being the disco ball from the wedding invitation, to give out on the dance floor. It was a mob scene when we first handed them out – they were a big hit. I liked that they didn’t have our names on them indicating that they were overtly from a wedding. People still wear them to this day!

Special moments
It was literally the best day ever from start to finish but the thing I remember the most was when I was looking around the packed dance floor seeing so many people I love from so many parts of my life all having the best time.

Advice for other couples
Don’t take things too seriously. Plan the wedding for you and don’t feel bad if you skip the silly traditions that aren’t your vibe. Think of it as a party celebrating your love, not as a wedding, and it will be a blast.

Biggest surprise
How nervous I was before I saw Chase! I am a very laid back person and have never felt so out of sorts! The second I saw him my nerves slipped away.