<3 A Wedding On The Farm <3

What is your dream wedding? Just you and your loved one on the beach at sunset? Married under the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Perhaps a simple ceremony at your church or at your family home?

Personally, I don’t know if I can think of a more idyllic location for a wedding than on a small farm, surrounded by the beautiful natural landscape, animals, friends, and family that I love.

It may sound like a dream to us city folk, but for the Beiler Family this is how they celebrate weddings.

This week I chatted with Eli, farmer Jonas’s son, about his sister's recent wedding on the farm.

This was no small event, the Beiler’s had over 400 people on the farm!

Much planning, preparation and hard work was put into it leading up to the event. But in their community no one is ever left alone to accomplish this large task.

It is truly a community event and everyone comes together from far and wide (even from as far as Colorado) to make this special day happen.

The day was filled with lots of yummy food, fun games, socializing, and of course wedding cake!

An Amish wedding is very much like any other wedding you may have been too. After all love is love, family is family, and weddings are a blending of the two. 

Every family and culture is wonderfully unique and have their own traditions, and so is true for the Beilers and the Amish community.

5 things I learned about the Beielr’s Amish Wedding.

1. It takes a village!

As I said above, the whole community comes together to make a wedding happen. Everyone has a job and so everything gets done. That is not to say the day was stress free, I am sure the Beiler’s had their moments of “oh my goodness there are 400 people at our house!” However, it is custom that jobs are assigned and delegated to family members and wedding guests to keep everything running smoothly.

2.There is a community “wedding house” and “bench wagon”

Ok this idea is ingenious! The wedding house is essentially a house that folds up onto a trailer and can travel to any location and be “popped up” for a wedding ceremony! The bench wagon brings a load of tables and benches for guests to sit on in the wedding house.The wedding house and bench wagon are provided by the church for the community to use.

Side note: The bench wagon is also regularly used for community church services.

3.No single use or disposable items were used!

That’s right, even with 400 guests no disposable plates or utensils were needed! Why…how, you ask? Even more genius, the wedding house comes with enough plateware for about 150 people. Then everyone eats in shifts! Since everyone has a job, there are dishwashers who wash everything in between shifts and there you have it, a zero waste wedding!

Awesome I know, but now I feel I have no excuse for using those superhero paper plates at my son's birthday with only 10 kids lol! I am inspired to do better next year for sure.

4.Almost all the food came from the farm!

The Beiler’s provided almost all of the food for the 400 guests exclusively from the farm! Wow, that is an amazing achievement! 

Eli told me about a traditional Amish dish served at the wedding of breaded chicken with gravy and a side of mashed potatoes. He said it was very delicious!

5.A fun wedding tradition!

After the bride and groom have their wedding ceremony, it is customary to throw the groom over a fence! I asked Eli why and he was a bit unsure, so I did some research and found this tradition goes something like this: The groom’s unmarried peers will capture him and throw him over a fence into the waiting arms of young married men to symbolize his change of status into married life

Traditions vary from culture to culture, and that is true of this one as well. Eli let me know no one caught him on the other side of the fence haha, but it was all in good fun!

Weddings are a tradition that span across many cultures. We all secretly love a wedding because as humans we all love love (even if it’s hidden deep down inside!) Love transcends all cultures and is a common language we all innately understand

Congratulations to the Beiler Family, I wish you many happy and healthy years as a family together on the farm <3

Enjoy the food,

-Sara