Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Wedding Bales

Did you know that the latest rage in outdoor weddings is hay bale seating? I sure didn't, until a wonderful bride-to-be came searching in sosovintage for custom hay bale covers! She shared several photos of different hay bale *looks* such as the ones shown HERE and HERE.
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We discussed all of the different looks and tried to determine the style she wanted for her wedding. No matter how simple the idea of hay bales is, or even how casual they may look, a LOT of thought goes into planning the details of their use.
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Though my bride is getting married on a farm, her dress is very fancy and the atmosphere will be one of rustic elegance. Think VERY Martha Stewart. After looking at all of the photos, and contemplating the details of this particular wedding, I came up with a new way to dress up the bales - one that we hadn't seen in any of the photos and that we decided would work perfectly for this ceremony.

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Each bale will be covered with a neutral fabric overlay that fits the width of the bale exactly and hangs down in the front and back about a foot. The overlay will then be wrapped in a wide sash of vintage fabric, with a simple bow at the back. Besides looking gorgeous and tying the colors of the ceremony together (no pun intended), the sash will also serve to keep the overlay firmly in place. GENIUS! (pat, pat)
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A wedding with 120 guests equals 60 hay bales. So, for about a month now, I've been gathering blue vintage sheets and neutral linens for this occasion. I've done MANY loads of laundry, and completely worn out my electric scissors, too. Each of the bale covers is almost a yard of fabric (36" by 42"), and each bale sash consists of TWO 6 foot by 6 inch lengths of fabric.
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I've been so fortunate to work with a dream customer on this big project, and she has promised to share wedding photos, too! I know I'll be thinking about her in June, and wishing I could be there personally to set up the bales. As these photos show, I'm ready to ship this big bundle up to Massachusetts. Can you guess how much the box weighs? Hint: dimensions are 22" by 19" by 9". I'll share the actual weight later tonight- let's see who gets the closest!!

11 comments:

jessijewels said...

so cool! i never even heard of such a thing- hay bale seating -till you mentioned it on the thread. i can't wait to see the finished product on that so special day. best of luck to the bride and congrats to you, jenniegirl on some amazing work!

Minx's Den said...

what an awesome project! I am excited to see the wedding pics of them! now why didn't I ever think of something like this for my own wedding?

Annette - MyRoseValley said...

What a cool project! Lucky girl!If I was ever to get married a second time (with the same man that would be) his might be something I would consider. Dead charming for a country girl like me. :D

Forgot to share photos of my baby quilt made out of your fabric. Will email photos. And now Flower Power is finished. I am not sure I want to give it away anymore. Love it!

Xxx
Annette

Donna -Little Tiny Stitches said...

Jennie, what an amazing project to work on :o)
Now I feel very, very, even extra guilty about emailing you last week when you were so busy :)

You are amazing -coming up with different ways with the bales...I can't wait to see the photos -if we may? :o)

You must be all shopped and scissored out my lovely friend :0)

That is going to be a very heavy box. I'm absolutely useless at guessing, but i'm going to anyway lol..
I guess it will weigh.. 112 lb! =)

I'll be back tonight to see how much I'm out by. LOl

Have a great the rest of the week Jennie. I do hope Sophies eye was ok?
xxxOOOxxx

CelticKnot said...

Wow, Jennie! I'm very impressed. Congratulations on the big order, dream customer, and for being so fantastic and crafty. :-)

I'm really looking forward to the pictures.

My guess is 37 pounds.

Jennie said...

Whoops! Forgot to come back and tell you the weight last night. Just under 32 pounds is the actual package weight. So, yep, Donna, you were off by a bit, but I LOVE that you were willing to give it a shot. Thank you!! Thanks to you, too, Kristine- very close!!

- said...

You will be very busy but with such a unique project. It will be one you will surely remember and enjoy.

Donna -Little Tiny Stitches said...

:o) hmmmm...a bit more than a bit Jennie LOl xxx

Guessing games always crack me up =)

PAMA said...

EXTRAORDINARY is my thought of you! How very special you are! How many other crafters would work up such exciting and fetching works of art for "hay bales"!!!

What a wedding it will be....can't wait to see some photos! I know it will be a wonderful affair and will sport some of the most artistic and "hand crafted with love" hay bales known to man!!! Hope all those "seats" know how much work went into making them just so lovely!!

Schar Freeman said...

Very cool! Love the idea and lucky you to be a part of this project to make a very special day for the couple.

my guess is 35 pounds and 2 oz!

yippeevintage said...

What a charming idea! Boy, does that conjure up some dreamy warm-summer-breeze images!

Jennie, I'm so impressed with how much you accomplish and your work is always so lovely... honestly, I feel inspired by you ~ thank you for that! A lot of my aspirations and ideas just rattle around in my head for a long time and once in a while something falls out ~ lol

Congratulations on your wonderful project... I hope that we'll be lucky enough to see pictures of your brides beautiful wedding with your beautiful bale covers :)