An absolutely wild and wonderful farm wedding in West Virginia!
To kick off my summer season, I was very fortunate to be a part of Chris & Rod’s elaborately fun wedding at Crider Farm (the groom’s namesake) in Capon Bridge, West Virginia. The day couldn’t be more perfect and the love for these two was so palpable that you could feel the outpouring from every guest.
The ceremony was held outdoors, with bales of hay as seating. Chris was radiant in her A-line wedding dress with a gold rope belt and Rod was every inch the gentleman farmer in glen plaid with a bowtie and cowboy boots. From the start, Rod set a unique mood with the Game of Thrones theme as his march. The non-denominational wedding readings and testimonials from their friends ran the gamut of referencing Carl Sagan and law books! Even the officiant made a joke about how it was okay that they were missing the Arrested Development premiere.
After the ceremony, everyone made their way to the reception barn and tent, for dinner and drinks.
The bride and groom wanted to have a bluegrass feel to the music–with artists like the Tune Yards, The Alabama Shakes, John Denver and Allison Krauss–since we were in West Virginia, but only a touch.
Once dinner was done, there was a fantastic slide show and a few dances with the newlyweds, including Charles Bradley “You Put the Flame On It” for the first dance, and Sufjan Stevens “The Dress Looks Nice On You” for the father-daughter dance.
Chris and Rod then gathered everyone for the Dabke, a traditional Arabic folk line dance. I played Bassam Ayoub “Dabke” for the dance.
The dancing then started immediately thereafter. DJ D-Mac and I tag-teamed throughout the night and ran through a number of styles, from hip-hop, pop and even some club classics and hits throughout the ages.
Rod specifically requested for some “untz-untz” (house music) action, and we were more than happy to oblige. Some of the tunes played were Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”, Phoenix “1901”, Florence + The Machine “Dog Days Are Over” and Icona Pop “I Love It”. There were many dancers, but surprisingly, the most charismatic dancer that gathered the biggest crowd was the officiant!
After some dancing, the couple had a friend perform with flaming poi (swinging tethered round weights) to Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding – “I Need Your Love”. We were admittedly a little concerned because the performer was only a few feet from the DJ setup, but everything turned out great and burn-free!
The wedding required a lot of planning and coordination among the newlyweds’ friends and the vendors they chose to work with. It was a two-day affair, with a bluegrass band performing on the first day and the main event on the second day. It was a lot of hard work, but in the end it was well worth the effort.
The last farewell to the night was a paper lantern lighting ceremony. They passed the lanterns and a few of the Criders’ closest friends and family lit their lanterns as the lanterns flew into the clear West Virginia night sky. It was a gorgeous event with an abundant outpouring of love from everyone involved. We were definitely glad to have been a part of this momentous occasion.
