Country Western Wedding – SOLD

Part V

Congratulations to Shawna and Adam on their October nuptials. The couple truly included country western elements into their wedding ceremony. The bride and groom let their personalities and fun loving nature shine throughout their special day.   Shawna chose a lace wedding gown with a chapel train. The strapless dress was a classic A-line design featuring a feminine corset-fashion back. The bride’s mother added elegant lace shoulder straps to the gown and handmade the elbow length veil. Stylish cowgirl boots and a splash of lime green lace to the underskirt of Shawna’s wedding dress enhanced her color theme (read more here).

The bridesmaids wore matching lime green dresses with blaze orange sashes and cowgirl boots of their choice. The groom and groomsmen wore Cinch shirts, brown vests and Cinch jeans. The men all donned their own cowboy hats during the recessional. The cowboy hats were placed on pew hooks prior to the ceremony replacing traditional bows. Lining the aisle was an assortment of cowboy boots filled with prairie grasses next to each pew. The ring bearer wore custom made chaps by Caleb Conner and the flower girl carried a bucket of Kansas wheat.

Adam swept Shawna off her feet with THE KISS at the altar that dipped her backwards. It was a precious moment to seal their vows. The new Mr. and Mrs. walked down the aisle to the recessional song “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” by American country music artist John Michael Montgomery. Their wedding was so well scripted it was like watching a scene from the Hallmark Movie Channel. Cowboy Lifestyle Network did ask for a second kiss staged so we could take a photo to share.

“We met at the Manhattan Commission Company (sale barn). We work every Friday together during the sale,” stated Shawna. Following the church ceremony the newlyweds greeted guests before walking through an archway of bubbles towards the getaway vehicle.   Holding true to their country roots and playing off their sale barn experience; red carpet lead them to a decorated stock trailer filled with straw bales and coolers full of Coors Beer and Pendleton Whiskey.

Shawna explained, “My maid of honor’s husband Nate Ateyo and another bridesmaid’s fiancé Tyler Lau decorated the trailer. They did everything for it and Nate’s dad drove us around.”   The duo were all smiles and in small town Volga, South Dakota they were celebrities for the day.

Cowboy Lifestyle Network asked Shawna to share a few tips with other couples planning their Country Western Weddings. She insisted on “letting the groom make decisions otherwise when you really do want his opinion, he won’t give his input.”

Bridal Advice and Tips from Shawna:

• Everyone will give you ideas and sometimes it will be overwhelming, but take a huge breath and thank God for the loving family.
• Delegate tasks and give people jobs. “They want to help so bad and you can’t do everything,” she learned.
• Lastly, if the men are running over an hour late, the groom’s ring goes missing within minutes of the ceremony, and your mom won’t cooperate to be in any pictures, take another huge breath and thank God the groom is just running late and not running away, at least you got him that camo engagement ring, and your mom is there keeping herself busy, busy, busy cuz her baby got married and she doesn’t want to think about it.
• Always buy one or two more than you need cuz it’s not worth the fret of trying to remember where you bought the said item.
• Give the groomsman a pocket knife so he can cut out the unity candle wick during the ceremony.
• If you do the sand ceremony along with the unity candle, make sure you buy sand and not wax that looks like sand. Wax tends to settle and stick, making for a messy ceremony.
• Take every happy moment, freak out moment, and sentimental moment all in because the day does go by SO fast! Enjoy every second!

Next up: The Wedding Reception and Barn Dance complete with auctioneer gavels for guests…