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Shannon & Keith: An Outdoor Wedding in Boone, NC

Shannon and Keith wanted a celebration shaped by the beauty of the changing seasons, and their autumn-color affair at the bride’s family’s farm in the

Shannon and Keith wanted a celebration shaped by the beauty of the changing seasons, and their autumn-color affair at the bride’s family’s farm in the North Carolina High Country was a perfect fit. The Bride Shannon Stacy The Groom Keith Ogden The Date September 4 Weddings are all about details: The colors, the flowers, and the season are just a few of the finer points that help shape the event. But sometimes, one detail in particular will set the tone for the entire celebration, and rest of the pieces fall perfectly into place. For Shannon, 33, a quality management specialist at University of North Carolina Hospitals, and Keith, 31, a product technical manager at Elastic Fabrics of America, that detail was the location: her parents’ farm nestled in the mountains of North Carolina’s High Country. Invitations featuring a picture of a barn announced the early-autumn celebration, along with the color palette of deep reds, oranges, and yellows. “I chose those colors because the location is in the mountains,” says Shannon, “and the color is so beautiful up there in the fall.”

Guests walked through a rustic entrance gate, which was wrapped with grapevine and twinkle lights and hung with a sign (decorated with more copper ribbon) marking the entrance to the barn. The doors to the barn were equally inviting: They were each wrapped in grape-leaf garland and topped with a basket filled with red sunflowers, yellow mums, burgundy and green seeded eucalyptus, grapes, and trailing ivy.
A three-tier wedding cake rounded out the feast, with clusters of multicolored sunflowers separating the chocolate, yellow, and red-velvet tiers.
Shannon and Keith’s late-afternoon celebration began with an outdoor ceremony on top of a hill in the fields next to Shannon’s parents’ home. The bride and her attendants walked down a grassy aisle created by two rows of black wrought-iron stakes hung with vases covered in moss and filled with Red Rover Daisy mums.
Taking a cue from the bridal bouquet, Keith wore a sprig of yellow-red freesia and a galax leaf on the lapel of his Perry Ellis tuxedo; his wine-color vest matched the ties worn by the groomsmen and the best man.
George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart” brought Shannon and Keith to the floor for their first dance, and their guests followed suit soon after, dancing to everything from old favorites to more current hits. “They played a variety of songs so people could get up and dance to what they liked,” says Shannon.
Shannon wore an exquisite ivory, natural-waistline gown with rum and ivory beading from Oleg Cassini.
Dressed in champagne-color dresses with sparkly beading across the bodice, the five bridesmaids and the matron of honor carried yellow sunflowers and more Red Rover daisy mums in their bouquets, which were tied with copper-colored ribbon.
Shannon’s bouquet, filled with multicolored sunflowers, Flame and Eggplant calla lilies, and fragrant yellow-red freesia, provided a burst of color against her gown.
An early 20th-century Amish-courting carriage, decked out in multicolored sunflowers and pulled by the neighbor’s horse Roscoe, brought the newlyweds down the hill to their reception for a memorable entrance.