Today marks Cory and my FIRST Wedding Anniversary. I can not believe an entire year has gone by since our wedding, and what an incredible year it has been! In honor of our anniversary week, I thought I would dedicate some posts to the design aspects of our wedding. I hear so many girls say that they hated planning their wedding and that it was the most stressful thing they’ve ever done. This always blows my mind, because for me, planning our wedding was by far the most exciting and fun thing I have ever done. Maybe I am weird – or maybe it is just because I had an exact vision in my head of what I wanted everything to look like. Regardless, each day this week I will be featuring a different design element of our wedding, also highlighting the incredible vendors that we were able to work with.

To start, our venue:

Chandelier Grove is an old pecan tree orchard nestled in the little town of Tomball, Texas. Rows and rows of pecan trees welcome you as you drive towards the farmhouse that sits on the property. On your right you see a gorgeous one hundred year old reclaimed wood barn – a venue so organically beautiful that you feel as if you’ve just stepped into a dream. I remember as I was getting my first look at the property that I had chills all over my body. I had never felt as much of a peace in a brand new environment as I did there. One of the owners, a retired nurse-practitioner and devoted Christ follower, began telling me the intimate details of the venue…

The white-washed walls: When the two owners bought the pecan tree orchard they knew that they wanted to make it into a wedding venue, thus beginning their search for the barn. The barn, now located on the property, was originally located in Canada. (This next part blows my mind) – they somehow took the barn apart, flew it all the way from Canada to Texas, and then reconstructed it on their property. Inside of the barn, if you take a look around, there are over 3,000 white boards. The owner personally hand painted and white-washed every single one of the 3,000 white boards, and every board – she prayed over. She wanted the barn, when weddings were held there, to be a place of worship. She relates the story of reconstructing this barn and white-washing the walls with our lives as Christians. When we are created, we are pure, precious, innocent children of God. But quickly, the sin of this world hits us. Over time we become dirty, old, and weathered. However, when we give our lives to Christ, he makes us new. He washes away the dirt and sin,  and makes us “white-washed” and pure again in his image. Now, HOW COOL IS THAT for an analogy?

The foundation built on Christ: When laying down the cement before the barn was rebuilt, the owner buried a bible in the foundation. Her vision behind this was that every marriage that took place on this property would be “built” and rooted on the foundation of Christ.

The barn details: The owner, by hand, has added SO many incredible, beautiful details to this already gorgeous venue. Many of the doors, light fixtures, & other decor elements that she has added were purchased from Habitat for Humanity. My Opa (Mother’s father) was very involved with Habitat for Humanity growing up, and this was just another reason that this venue stuck out to me.

There are so many more incredible aspects to this venue that I could name, but most importantly, I knew that God had perfectly hand picked Chandelier Grove as the place for Cory and I to get married. Together, we have been made new as one in His image, and we are actively striving to keep Christ as the foundation and at the center of our marriage.