Inspired by the great outdoors, this Pittsburgh barn wedding features all good things Mother Nature has to offer. After a chance meeting, Tori and Anthony wanted a celebrate their new life together surrounded by as much greenery as possible. Obviously that started with a sage green, white, and champagne color palette. Next came stationery from Oh Joyful Day that featured hand-painted foliage and invited guests to the outdoor ceremony and barn reception at Irons Mill Farmstead. The charming rustic wedding venue was adorned with tons and tons of fresh eucalyptus, which was accented by monochromatic white florals. Other details like wooden table numbers, a sprig of fresh rosemary at each place setting, and a semi-naked wedding cake decorated with greenery added to the natural style. The evening ended with a live painting of the couple’s first dane by Live Painting by Jaison & Stephanie and a sparkler send-off. Exquisitely captured by Oakwood Photo + Video, this wedding is bound to be a new favorite!
About the Couple
I grew up spending summers at my grandparent’s cottage on Lake Erie. Fourth of July was probably the most exciting weekend. The whole neighborhood came together for a little parade where we all wore our red, white, and blue and marched through the streets. Fast forward to Forth of July weekend 2015. I was 21 and heading into my senior year of college. Our neighbors were in a band that was playing down at one of the bars on Geneva-on-the-Lake. I was down in the dumps over a short term relationship that had ended and my mom was willing to do anything to just get me out. I thank her every day for pushing me to go because if I wouldn’t have, my story would have been a lot different. I didn’t know his name at the time, but Anthony had shown up at the bar to meet up with a friend whose parent’s had a cottage next to my grandparent’s. Not only did his handsome looks catch my attention, but I think the whole table was swooning. My head tried to tell me he’s too good to be true and that he had to be a jerk, yet I found myself downloading every dating app out there in an attempt to find him.
The next day was the big parade and there he was. Once again, my mom comes in as #1 wingwoman. She started talking to him and got just the amount of information we needed in a social media driven world – his name. As the weekend came to an end, my mom and I sat on the beach scrolling through Facebook until we finally found him! I added him as a friend and within 10 minutes, I had a message.
Our first date was the following Tuesday and the reason I will never forget that is because on that Monday, I got cold feet and told him I just couldn’t go on a date because it was Bachelor Monday with the girls LOL. My mom threatened to hook him up with one of my other friends if I didn’t go. Sure enough, Tuesday afternoon, I was on the road to meet him. I remember pulling onto the street, which ended up being three streets down from my grandparent’s, to find him shirtless in his landlord’s garden. We went to a local winery and from that moment on, we never left each other’s side. We both knew that within those few short days, he was my future husband and I was his future wife.
Anthony is a member of the US Coast Guard, which was the reason he was in Ashtabula, OH to begin with. We spent two years falling in love with each other and this small lake town. In September 2017, Anthony got orders to Honolulu, Hawaii. I had just stared a new job in January and was working on my CPA license, so it was best for us to do long distance. In May 2018, the weekend before I was about to fly out and visit him, he got to come home. This was my second time visiting him in Hawaii and I was determined to get pictures done while I was there. I had all my appointments scheduled for the week ahead to get my hair and nails done. My focus was so wrapped up on the trip ahead and being prepared for these pictures that I didn’t think for a minute anything more would come out of Anthony’s weekend home. Little did I know, these pictures would become our engagement pictures.
Anthony has a camp in central Pennsylvania and the Friday he got home, I went straight there from work. I found him and a friend hanging up my favorite globe lights on the deck rails. His friend left and I was starving. Anthony was convincing me to just wait because he didn’t want to shut everything off yet (we were running on a generator). We were listening to music and the song “Greatest Love Story” by LANCO came on and at the part when it mentions getting down on one knee, he got down and proposed! Here I was in sweatpants, chipped fingernail polish, in the middle of nowhere, and I wouldn’t change that moment for the world.
About the Wedding
Our wedding was inspired by the outdoors. We wanted to bring as much greenery into it as possible with white floral throughout. We wanted the space to be elegant, while still embracing the beauty in the barn at Irons Mill Farmstead. Our bridesmaids wore sage green and the groomsmen were dressed in black suits. All decor was neutral with champagne as the accent. Our ceremony took place outdoors on what I would say was the most beautiful day in May. The most unique thing about it was Live Painting by Jaison & Stephanie, who spent the evening live-painting our first dance. Our guests were so intrigued and it became such a special memory piece.
Favorite Moment
We got married on Mother’s Day weekend. My mom is my best friend. One of my most recent memories with her was going to see Mama Mia 2 and busting out a dance party to “Dancing Queen” in our living room as soon as we got home. As a tribute to all the women who were with us on that day, I thought, let’s recreate that moment. We did just that! It was so awesome to twirl around in my beautiful dress surrounded by so many strong women who have made such an impact on my life. This was how we got the dance floor started and at that moment, everything we spent the last year planning was over and it was time to enjoy the rest of the night.
