A Rustic Barn Wedding at The Links at Firestone Farms Banquet Center in Columbiana, Ohio

Jennifer Ortega (23 and a social worker) and Timothy (Tim) Ortega (27 and a CDL driver) met through his sister at a YMCA and became engaged on Christmas Eve in 2012. Tim proposed during a family gift exchange with a collage of personal photos and note that read “Jennifer will you marry me?" "As I was reading it, Tim got down on one knee with the ring,” says Jennifer. They spent the next year planning a rustic barn wedding at The Links at Firestone Farms Banquet Center in Columbiana, Ohio. “I knew from the beginning that I wanted to get married in a barn, so everything was planned around that,” says Jennifer. Their color palette was decided upon when Jennifer and her bridesmaids went searching for dresses at David’s Bridal. The wedding was decorated in three shades of mauve to match their dresses. Jennifer and Tim had incorporated a sand mixing tradition in their ceremony. After they were wed, the couple and their 300 guests moved inside the venue’s banquet hall for a fun reception and cocktail hour. Each white linen covered round table was set with blue napkins and a mason jar centerpiece filled with wildflowers. After dinner, the couple treated their guests to a three-tier buttercream-frosted wedding cake made by a friend and other sweets. “Of course, we had a cookie table with hundreds of homemade cookies made by our friends and family,” says Jennifer. Each guest left the celebration with pictures from a photo booth and a sparkler exit.