Sara + Mickey's Wold Farm Elopement | Saint Olaf, Iowa
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Fifteen years ago I first visited Wold Farm in Saint Olaf, Iowa. We were visiting Zach’s grandparents and I remember the awe I felt like it was yesterday. From the 1000 mile road trip across the country to the gravel road that I mistook for their driveway, the whole experience was one of those out of a movie. The farmhouse was full of character and smelled of Grandma Berniece’s cucumber salad and raspberry pie. Grandpa Don loaded us up on the tractor and toured us around the farm, stopping to show us in the buildings and bins. I was amazed by the beauty and remember thinking how cute the grain bins would be as little cabins - never anticipating that one day we would make that a reality. Grandma Berniece and Grandpa Don welcomed me into their home with open arms from that very first trip and even though they are no longer with us, I think of them every day and feel so blessed to have just celebrated twelve years married to their grandson and ten years living on this beautiful farm. This place is truly special and it means so much to carry on the legacy of Wold Farm for another generation. While we’re not farming crops, we’re farming love, connection, and memories and I think Grandma Berniece and Grandpa Don would be pretty proud of us.
The Bin —- For years I dreamt of renovating the grain bins and finally in 2022, with support and encouragement from those who believed in me, The Bin vision with the help of several great local contractors and vendors, was made a reality - The Bin at Wold.Farm.
The Grain Bin conversion took vision, time, resources, and faith. I also had faith that like me others would thoroughly enjoy escaping the city and vacationing on the peaceful prairie at Wold Farm. And as we wrapped up our first full year hosting guests at The Bin on Wold Farm I can say my heart is full and I’m thrilled to see how the adventures continue to unfold.
Over the year we’ve used this space as a place for family, for friends, as a getaway for couples on Airbnb, as a way to give back, as an artist retreat, and a place for me to meet and photograph clients at the farm. It’s BIN quite amazing!
As my dreams grew and built on each other, and I found myself yearning to bring people to me who value quiet simple beauty, who value peace, connection, and memory making. This hillside is our little sanctuary and I feel called to host weddings here on the farm. Not the traditional large weddings, but small intimate fully inclusive elopements - incorporating all of the beauty around us, local vendors, and of course photography.
I’m a believer in embracing dreams and diving in head first, so last winter I put it out in the universe, I prayed over it, planned it out, and marketed for an elopement giveaway to host our first elopement at the farm. Rather than set up the whole event as a “styled session” like many of us photographers in the industry work to capture content and promote new ideas, I wanted to use this opportunity to serve a real life couple by offering our first elopement as a giveaway. I can’t lie, I was a bit nervous at how this would be received. How many people would agree to be the first couple to elope, in July, on our farm in rural northeast Iowa?
I was thrilled with the response to my elopement giveaway, and could only offer it to one couple. After speaking with Sara + Mickey I knew they were the ones!
The energy in Sara’s entry was beautiful, soft, loving, and laid back. They had been together for six years and been talking of eloping with a party in the future. Seeing the elopement giveaway felt like it was meant to be for Sara. She already had her dress, as she always planned to wear her mother’s wedding dress, which I learned was handmade with embroidered flower details by her grandmother. (Who’s crying, I’m not crying!!) If you know me you know how sentimental I am and that detail alone was enough to make my heart explode!
Not only do Sara and Mickey love the rural landscape, they both hope to live on a farm one day where their pup can run wild. They’ll have an orchard and make cider, and live happily ever after - I do believe it. I love their dream and so incredibly grateful they were our first elopement at Wold Farm - and it was an adventure! The adventure grew even more exciting when my favorite northeast Iowa magazine picked up the story from my social media posts and asked to write a feature article in their summer issue on the elopement!!
Y’all I cannot even tell you how excited I was to see this story in print - you can read it here at Inspire(d) media.
When Sara and I first talked on the phone we went over the main details, she picked their date, which happened to be Thursday, July 20th, 2023. I asked if they had preferences for dinner and with a simple request for a vegetarian menu and an adventurous palate I knew chef Brian Bruening owner of Schera’s Restaruant and bar would create a culinary masterpiece - and it was as beautiful as it was delicious. When I met with Brian to talk about the elopement dinner I left the menu up to him but mentioned the couple loves cheese and cider. Not only did Brian deliver the most amazing three course fine dining experience but he also included Eden Cider which was absolutely amazing and paired wonderfully with our river walk photoshoot - scroll and you’ll know! In all seriousness, this may be our go to sparkling beverage of choice for toasts moving forward! It is light, bubbly, and crisp.
As for flowers and décor, I had planned to use wildflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace is a favorite of mine, and pull from the wealth of vintage decor items I’ve collected at the farm. However, an amazing thing about a small town is having talented friends you can rely on and I was so relived and overjoyed to have the help of my friend Michelle Gifford for décor, you can find her booth on the first floor of the Turkey River Mall. The Elkader Floral Shop came through with a summer bouquet for the bridal bouquet, and vases filled with a sunny summer variety were put together by my talented mom-in-law, Dawn Herrmann, from a mix of her own flower garden and her good friend and neighbor Sue Meyer. Flowers have always been special to Dawn and she was in charge of arranging the flowers at our own wedding twelve years ago. I bet she never guessed she’d be arranging florals on the farm she grew up on for other weddings! Speaking of details and family, this was truly a family undertaking, as my husband served as the Wold Farm Officiant. He did an absolutely beautiful job with Sara and Mickey’s ceremony and also provided the music for the evening. He’s seriously the best. (I’m so lucky!)
When planning for the elopement there was never a mention of cake, but I could not resist surprising the couple with their very own wedding cake from a northeast Iowa favorite! Cakes by Glenda is located ten miles away from Wold Farm, down a few curvy gravel roads, where she creates her famous angel food wedding cakes frosted with homemade buttercream. I surprised Sara and Mickey with a white angel food cake with raspberry filling - they saved me a slice and it was as DELICIOUS as expected. In fact, writing this is making me want to order a cake right now!
I also want to thank my friends who stepped up and helped make this evening perfection. Teri Ann Marting, Beth Gilana, Ashley Wacker, Annie & Audrey Palas, you are incredible support through my daily life and were so appreciated on elopement day. Thank you for everything and I hope to do it again soon!
And last but not least, the detail that put the elopement at Wold Farm into action in the first place, photography. The wedding photography was done by yours truly and I loved every single minute of it. If you’ve fallen in love with the idea of a Wold Farm Elopement, you can believe we will do everything in our power to deliver an experience and images that make your heart sing and memories to last a lifetime. Or if you are interested in wedding photography for a large traditional wedding at another venue I’m happy to talk to you about your wedding photography vision, too! I highly recommend the Barn on Heron Hill another local barn venue who does an amazing job for larger weddings! See weddings on the blog or more about my art and photography at JWebbArt.com.
Thank you for making it this far! Now that I’ve wrapped up the behind the scenes of the first ever Elopement at Wold Farm, please continue on to see and read more from my longest blog post in history
— Sara + Mickey’s Wold Farm Elopement…
Sara + Mickey
July 20th, 2023
On a sunny Thursday in July, Sara and Mickey embarked on their drive from Chicago to rural Saint Olaf, Iowa, where they would become husband and wife. They arrived at the farm and were greeted by Zach, Jillian, a bouncing excited seven year old Emmajean, and the friendly old Collie Buddy. Upon arrival we showed the couple around the farm, and where to hang their wedding attire. A stack of Inspire(d) magazines were gifted along with a bridal bouquet and note. Sara in turn surprised us with an amazing painting she created of the Grain Bin and we adore it! From the minute we met it felt like these two were part of the family.
As the couple got situated, I took detail photos of their rings and dress, and then left them to relax and enjoy the afternoon as they prepared for their ceremony.
Later that afternoon I approached the Bin to begin their wedding day photography, Sara was finishing up her handwoven flower crown. She then handed me a second smaller crown she made for Emmajean. How incredibly sweet is that!? These are the kind of people you want in your life. Seeing Sara’s heirloom wedding dress on was more beautiful and perfect than I could have imagined. I’ve never seen a dress more perfect for twirling! We took a few more final touches getting ready in the Bin, Sara helped braid Mickey’s hair, and he sewed on a loose button onto his suit. How cool is it that Mickey’s suit was actually a suit loaned to Sara’s mom for a photo shoot she was doing and when Mickey saw it he had to have it! After offering to buy it from the family friend, the friend insisted on gifting it to Mickey. Not only did he love the style, but sustainability and buying used is important to Sara and Mickey, and I love that about them. After they were all buttoned up, we headed out for photos near their prairie altar and then over to the Turkey River with a bottle of sparkling cider and two champagne flutes. They walked along the river, danced, and celebrated with champagne while I directed and documented. It was perfection!
We made our way back to the farm and the couple headed into The Bin to freshen up before their sunset ceremony. The Officiant took his place and two friends sat in as witnesses as music began to play. Sara and Mickey were all smiles as they walked down from The Bin and across the lawn toward the prairie. The ceremony was short and sweet. The poem “I have just said” by Mary Oliver was read and the couple exchanged their own vows a few steps into the tallgrass prairie. The couple kissed and Mickey swept Sara up in his arms. And they danced alone on the edge of the prairie for their first dance.
While dinner was being plated, Sara and Mickey made their way over to our rustic barn and sat at Grandma Wold's table decorated with a mix of fine china from my both my grandmother, Zach’s grandmother, and our friend Michelle’s collection. Something borrowed, something old, and something blue.
A three course dinner by chef Brian of Schera’s Restaurant was served including: vegetable spring rolls with creamy peanut sauce, asparagus and cherry tomato and pea and leek cheese tartelettes with spring lettuce and lemon vinaigrette, and Gnocchi a la Parisienne with summer vegetables. Cider and wedding cake were enjoyed into the evening and the couple was left to soak in the moment under the twinkly lights and stars.
The next morning we took the newlyweds on a little tour of Elkader and set them on the river in our two-seater kayak with a lunch packed for a quick float down the Turkey River. We headed back to the farm and said good byes and congratulations. Then this beautiful young couple pulled out of the driveway and down the gravel road onto their next adventure as a married couple!
Congrats, Sara + Mickey!!
We hope you will always look back on your Wold Farm Elopement experience with joy and that you’ll visit us again at Wold Farm! Thank you for trusting us with this part of your journey!
XO, Jillian, Zach, Emmajean + Buddy
www.Wold.Farm
A Huge Thank You To The People Who Made this Dream A Reality!
And to the sweetest Bride who made my little girl a crown and helped this mama show her little girl how to chase her dreams!
