A Flamig Farm wedding in Simsbury CT, you say? I said HECK YES to this when Sarah met with me and told me her plans for this epic day…how could I not? Let me back up a bit. I first met Sarah at her Dad’s wedding that I had the honor of photographing at The Saybrook Point Inn and Spa in Old Saybrook CT about 3 years ago. As if that wasn’t enough of a push in my direction I find out Sarah boards her horses at one of my childhood friends’ barns in Granby! Julia is super outspoken and I am sure helped force Sarah to call me, and boy am I glad she did! Maybe one of my favorite things about Sarah and Jim is how they met: on Farmersonly.com
Yes you read that right! That is indeed a real site, and one that I happened to make fun of years ago when I re-entered the dating scene… but little did I know that it did in fact work! Honestly, all of those online dating sites work, you just have to meet the right person. When I started dating I had been posting about my (awful, awful) dates online. It was also online that I made fun of farmersonly.com and Julia saw it! When Sarah was trying to meet someone, Julia told her to go on farmersonly.com and viola! She met her man, Jim… and here we are on their wedding day celebrating their connection! After Sarah hired me last summer I got inspired to go back online and tried Bumble out. I decided to just give it one last hurrah… why the hell not? Within literally 15 minutes of signing up I met my current love, Melissa. We started talking about super hero movies and never looked back!
So thank you, Sarah and Jim for inspiring me to put myself out there one last time!
So Sarah told me in our initial meeting that she planned on ‘walking down the aisle’ on her horse, and I was a mess of yells and clapping and screaming! COME ON! Despite the record heat that day, she got to fulfill her dream of having both of her horses at her wedding and even had Julia’s donkey Ke$ha as her flower girl! (enter more clapping and screaming!)
Creative partners for this fabulous farm wedding:
Venue: Flamig Farm, West Simsbury
Flowers: Stop & Shop, Simsbury CT
Ice Cream: Tulmeadow Farms, Simsbury CT
Bride’s dress: David’s Bridal
Catering: Bear’s Smokehouse, Hartford CT
Getting Ready Location: Residence Inn, Avon CT
Sarah gave her bridesmaids custom socks with their animals on them- they were thrilled!
Plans to have their first look at Flamig Farm were scrapped because of the above 100 degree temperatures… so we had to wing it at the hotel. I found what I thought would be a quiet little hallway with gorgeous light. Here Sarah and Jim read each others vows before turning around to see one another for the first time.
The one air conditioned moment all day…
Once we arrived at the farm, we went to Farmer Julie’s place and met up with Doones and Pepperoni for some photos!
The Miss Ke$ha joined in and the promise of treats got everyone camera ready!
This bridesmaid and so much energy all day and made the best faces, I had to include this one of her wrangling Pepperoni!
This is one animal loving wedding party!
Yes please! Ice cold gatorade was CLUTCH!
Two cuties walking down the aisle!
Julia and her son Mason with the best flower girl in all the land Ke$ha the donkey!
Most epic walk down the aisle ever ever everrrrrrrrrr
Literally the only moment you could tell either of them was hot all day long! They were such troopers!
The famous eggs sign! From Flamig Farm’s site, “One part of our history often comes up when people wonder about the big backwards EGGS sign on our barn. Well, years ago, an artist friend of ours told us he wanted to put something on the end of our chicken barn. That sounded interesting but we were really too busy at the time to pay much attention to what he was doing, and before long he invited us to the Farm workshop to show us what he had created. We found 4 huge 8 foot tall letters that said EGGS. We knew zoning would not let us put up an advertising sign that big. Finally someone said, “Let’s put it up backward and call it “ART.” And so we did.
Zoning did come out but they must have agreed it was art, and the sign has been there ever since.”
OK OK … wait for it! There are baby goats here! Sarah was so down to clown with a baby goat and I was filled with mirth and joy! This little guy was trying to eat Jim’s flowers!
Since we had to bring this little baby goat back, we took a little spin around the farm and the sun was epically perfect by their vintage Chevrolet truck! Despite Sarah and Jim both admitting they were officially done… we HAD to ask and they happily obliged. They know my tell tale squeals by now and knew I would get some really amazing images, or I would not have pushed them beyond their limits. It was SO HOT! But tell me it wasn’t worth the ask?
Meanwhile back at the tent, Bear’s BBQ was throwing DOWN some BBQ! Their broccoli slaw was so freaking good, it’s worth a mention here!
Smart move changing dresses not only for the heat but so we could see those boots!
Their hilarious save the date- with wording by none other than Julia…! We did their session at Jim’s farm and then at Julia’s barn, it was perfect! You can check out their session HERE
Hay couch! It was surprisingly comfortable…!
Can we say perfect ‘cake cutting’ aka ice cream sundae bar? YES. The foresight involved here was amazing considering how hot it was!
Sarah and Jim, what can I even say? I had the BEST time with you all, and am so excited for you to see the tons of amazing photographs I got from your wedding. Have the best honeymoon!! XOXOXO
To see more weddings by Carla Ten Eyck, click the links below:
Wm H Buckley Farm Wedding in Ballston Spa, NY
Tyrone Farm Wedding, Pomfret CT
Holy smokes! Carla, These are the best pictures I have ever seen! You are amazing!
Farmer Julie!! Thank you so much! I truly love what I do and being surrounded by others who love what they do as much as me (like you and your whole team) makes magic happen. Can’t wait to come back for more weddings and baby goats! XO
Sarah and Jim,
Nothing but beautiful. Every photo perfect.
Peter