Emily & Matt - The Ultimate Hosts
Photo by: Kassidy Leigh Photography
Now introducing Mr. & Mrs. Nesto ...
The Ultimate Hosts!
To know Emily & Matt is to know how passionate they are about curating impeccable vibes for any celebration. & here at The Farm, we had the highest honor of hosting multiple events for the two of them. We were able to witness their creative brains transform The Farm starting with their engagement photos, to Emily’s floral & perfectly Spring Bridal Shower, then with their Rehearsal Dinner honoring Matt’s Italian heritage and finally, with their elegant and classic Wedding Day.
To say we were blessed to host the Nesto’s is an understatement, we are already awaiting their return!
Photo by: Kassidy Leigh Photography
As Emily has been an employee of The Farm, it was no surprise to us that she had a vision for each day. However, as we sat down with both Emily & Matt to learn more about their relationship, turns out these two are the Ultimate Hosts. As a foundation of their relationship, hosting is something they bond over as a way to bring together their friends and family in so many fun and creative ways. A few weeks after their wedding, I sat down with the two of them to help learn more about their relationship. It was clear from the start, that these two were made for each other. Not only could you feel their love for each other, it was clear how much fun they have together. The way their passion for hosting brought them together is something out of a movie, after 6 months of dating the pair moved in together and threw their first themed party. Christmas in July, of course, as they moved in the dead of summer and couldn’t resist a good theme. From that day forward, any chance they could bring their friends and family together they would, all occasions always on theme! They have hosted so many loved ones for various holidays including, Friendsgivings, Galentine’s Days, they even create a full itinerary for when they have “out of towners” join them for Musikfest that stays on the Musikfest theme.
Of course, when they got engaged it was only natural for them to show off their expertise in planning. Luckily for us, The Farm was the beneficiary of those creative juices and we loved how they were able to transform each space in a unique way for their guests to enjoy.
Before the full wedding planning even began, we hosted their engagement photos. Here is where we really began to see Emily & Matt’s love for details and themes. They had a few different vibes to match which we loved seeing how easily they transformed The Farm into each vision. In the above photos, captured by Kassidy Leigh Photography, Emily & Matt embodied an Old Hollywood Glam moment in the first row of photos. As they borrowed a friend’s truck, perfected their our outfits and described the vibe to Kassidy, they nailed their first look. In the second row of photos, you’ll see Matt’s idea brought to life by sporting their favorite jerseys with our Harvest Barn as the backdrop. Finally, completing their shoot with Italian Summer inspiration in mind, they found the garden & did a final outfit change to capture a few more gorgeous shots.
We loved how with just a few changes, Emily & Matt were able to transcend The Farm into different vibes to match each style of their personalities that they wanted to capture in their engagement photos.
Photo by Grossmith Photography
When it came time for Emily to host her bridal shower, we couldn’t wait to see how she would plan for a Springtime Shower. In true Emily fashion, she nailed the Tea Party vibes; perfected with her light blue linens for a touch of “something blue”, mismatched tea cups that we provided and an absolutely stunning “Build Your Own Bouquet” table designed by Flowers From 12th.
For Emily, it is the little touches that aid in crafting her vision. Whether that be the customized “Scattergories” since they are huge board game people, to the photos of her & Matt on the welcome table, the white framed table numbers, each detail is hand selected to help shift any atmosphere to match her style for that theme.
The Farm was happy to be a blank canvas for her first event here.
It was a day to remember for Emily & her guests as they celebrated in our Harvest Barn that had been transformed into the
Tea Party of her dreams.
Next up was their Rehearsal Dinner, that they hosted in our Harvest Barn. It was an epic pizza party to honor Matt’s Italian heritage and they even debuted “Cafe Nesto”. We helped with the red linen napkins to aid in pops of red to help craft that traditional pizzeria vibes while Emily & Matt created custom keychains to introduce Cafe Nesto, and personalized name cards to pull together more of the pizzeria vibes. The simplicity of our Harvest Barn allowed for Emily & Matt to highlight yet another fun theme which their friends and family fully embraced.
(See the third photo! - all captured by Grossmith Photography)
Finally for the main event, the Wedding! Hosted on April 6, 2024 it was the perfect combination of elegance, modern yet classic with rustic touches from our Farm. A few ways that Emily & Matt created this ambiance was through their all black wedding party attire, pops of wild flowers adorning their reception tables, tying everything back together with their black linen napkins was the perfect touch. We also loved that they used the antique china plates from their catering team, 2 Little Piggys BBQ. The gold finished flatware continued to tie in their elegant yet modern aesthetic which was a little detail they made sure to capture. When we all sat down to chat, we joked that Emily & Matt are the curators of vibes so it was no surprise when their photos came back that they were stunning!
We share all of this to not only take you through the transformation of our Farm into different styles but to honor Emily & Matt’s precious love story. As I mentioned they fell in love quickly while working at a local college but these two were meant to be. As Matt grew up in New Jersey, each holiday season his family would travel to PA for their Christmas Tree at the same tree farm each year. Turns out, that tree family is owned by Emily’s family. All of those years of Matt returning to the same place, these two were destined to fall in love. & we are so happy that they did!
It is always so magical to see our Seed Barn restyled to match each couples’ vision. One final moment that Emily & Matt shared with me when we sat down was how much their guests loved seeing how they decorated for each of their events. They had a few of their closest friends and family members that attend all three events & each time, they loved feeling as though they stepped into a different space. We cherish the way our space easily molds to each of our couples day.
As we witness Emily & Matt begin their next chapter, we cannot wait to see how the plan to come back to our Farm with even more visions.
What we do know is that these two will bring the vibes!
Photo by Kassidy Leigh Photography
A special “Thank You” to everyone who made these events happen!
Engagement Photos - Kassidy Leigh Photography
Bridal Shower - Photos: Grossmith Photography, Florist: Flowers from 12th & Catering & Decor: The Farm Bakery & Events Team
Rehearsal Dinner - Photos: Grossmith Photography & Catering: Giovanni’s Pizzeria
Wedding - Hosted by The Farm Bakery & Events
Catering by 2 Little Piggys BBQ
Florist Sonney Floret
Photography by Kassidy Leigh Photography
Videographer Aaron Lee Photo & Film
DJ Holiday Sounds
Hair & Make up Studio 329
Vibes Mr. & Mrs. Nesto
XOXO,
Alyssa
Director of First Impressions
Celebrate love on any day of the week!
Weekends don’t have to have all of the fun..
A couple of weeks ago, we had the honor of hosting Abby & Ian for a lovely Week Day Wedding. The two of them had designed a gorgeous day, including all of the fun you might see on a weekend and brought The Farm to life on a Wednesday afternoon. As they were blessed with perfect weather, worked with an amazing florist, Side Yard Stems, who is actually Abby’s brother and of course, had The Farm’s delicious desserts, it was truly a night to remember.
You can clearly see the love between Abby & Ian in these stunning photos, captured by Ashely Plante from Analog Wedding. Abby & Ian gave the love right back to their guests with thoughtful touches, such as a cigar bar for the groomsmen to enjoy, a candy bar for the kiddos & of course, elegant dresses for the bridesmaids. We also had the yard games out for even more fun! The final touch was to make sure to have one of our fire pits going with a deluxe s’mores bar for everyone to enjoy! Every detail was carefully thought of which made for a truly magical week day evening here at The Farm.
As an exceptional example of how truly special a Week Day Wedding can be, don’t just take it from us, take it from Abby & Ian. So, when it comes time to plan your big day, don’t count out Wednesdays or Thursdays or even Tuesdays! Love deserves to be celebrated, no matter the day of the week.
Thank you to our vendor team!
Photographer: Analog Wedding
Florist: @sideyardstems on Instagram
Caterer: The Pizza Wagon
Bartender: PJ's Bartending
Hair/Makeup: Vanity Studios and Salon
With love,
Alyssa
Director of First Impressions
Featured Wedding: Sarah & Scott's Indoor Ceremony!
“It’s like rain on your wedding day” - Alanis Morissette
That might sound like a bad thing - but believe it or not, rain on your wedding day is actually widely considered to be good luck!
Most couples (but not all!) who book with us are looking to hold their ceremony at our outdoor ceremony site, complete with a beautiful wooden arbor and surrounded by tall fields blowing in the breeze.
“It’s like rain on your wedding day” - Alanis Morissette
That might sound like a bad thing - but believe it or not, rain on your wedding day is actually widely considered to be good luck!
Most couples (but not all!) who book with us are looking to hold their ceremony at our outdoor ceremony site, complete with a beautiful wooden arbor and surrounded by tall fields blowing in the breeze.
Alanis Morissette said it best, but one of the biggest factors when planning for an outdoor ceremony is making sure that you have a good backup plan in case the weather is less than perfect. No matter where you are having your wedding, it is so important to have a rain plan thought out ahead of time, just in case. This is one of the biggest questions we are asked when couples first come to tour with us, and one that we are thankful to say we have an amazing system for! Ultimately, we are able to offer a lot of options that depend on a lot of different factors (such as your guest count, the severity of the weather, and your personal preference!). We are able to accommodate bringing in tents to cover the ceremony space, and also have two potential indoor ceremony options depending on your guest count!
So, what happens when (for one reason or another) we host your ceremony indoors?
We wanted to give you the inside scoop by walking you through the wedding of one of our October 2018 couples who held their wedding ceremony and reception in our Seed Barn. Sarah & Scott had a beautiful day full of love and laughter, surrounded by their dearest friends and family. One of the other reasons we adore this wedding is because Sarah & Scott are related to one of our Wedding Coordinators, Caris Green! Caris was Sarah’s Matron of Honor and we are so immensely thankful to have met Caris through this wedding!
The process of creating a rain plan begins long before the wedding day. Each of our couples is assigned a wedding coordinator included through the Farm who will be their point person of contact throughout their planning process. They meet with the couples to discuss the details of the wedding day, including putting together a rain plan. We confirm the details of this plan well ahead of time so that, in the event of rain, we are ready to execute it perfectly without having to work through any nitty-gritty details during your wedding day. We’ll handle the moving parts of your big day so that you and the love of your life can enjoy this amazing time with your loved ones (and with each other) without having to manage any of these details yourselves.
Sarah and Scott held their ceremony inside our Seed Barn. It wasn’t rainy on their wedding day, but it was chilly and windy, so they elected to have their ceremony indoors.
We have a couple of different options to move a ceremony indoors. The Seed Barn is able to accommodate up to 200 guests ceremony-style, utilizing our rustic wooden cross-back chairs. The newest addition to our property, the Harvest Barn, can host more intimate ceremonies as well. Stay tuned for another blog post to see what a ceremony in the Harvest Barn looks like in the coming months!
Sarah & Scott’s processional was greeted with a grand entrance through the Seed Barn Doors, before making their way down the aisle for their beautiful ceremony.
The beams in the Seed Barn serve the purpose of an arbor to frame your ceremony, hang floral installments, and hold the special details and decorations of your ceremony. Whether your initial plan was to hold your ceremony outdoors or you planned for an indoor ceremony from the beginning, rest assured that we can accommodate the personalizations you want to include in your ceremony!
After the ceremony, we usher the bridal party and all your guests down to our open-air, fully covered patio for cocktail hour. If there is inclement weather on your wedding day, we are well equipped with plenty of umbrellas to help your guests and bridal party around our property.
While you and your new spouse enjoy your cocktail hour spending time with your guests, taking a moment to yourselves, or taking dreamy portraits with your photographer, our Farm staff teams up with your catering staff to transform the Seed Barn for your reception! Before the ceremony, we ensure that your tables are fully set up, complete with linen and your centerpieces, and moved to line the walls of the Seed Barn during your ceremony. After your ceremony, while you and your guests enjoy cocktail hour, we transform the Seed Barn and set up the floor plan for your reception. We refresh the tables and complete any additional set-up that might be needed, allowing for a grand reveal of the space when your guests enter for the reception.
When your guests return to the Seed Barn for your reception, they are greeted by a fully refreshed space complete with all of the special details that make the space your own! When you make your grand entrance to the Barn, every detail will have been accounted for so you are able to simply enjoy your wedding day with all your favorite people.
We work with incredible teams of vendors who are all there to ensuring that, rain or shine, your wedding day is even more special than you dreamed. The vendors on our preferred list are people who we trust to give our couples the highest level of service, especially on occasions where we may have to resort to a rain plan.
Sarah & Scott enjoyed a beautiful reception catered by 2 Little Piggys with Chris Marx Events as their DJ, captured beautifully by Stacy Salvatori. This was a fantastic showcase of the vendors on our preferred list, and we can’t recommend them enough!
The Farm Bakery and Events supplied their wedding cake and rustic dessert table.
Sarah and Scott, we are so thankful that you chose us to host your wedding! Your indoor ceremony was so beautiful, and we are truly blessed to have been able to serve you and celebrate with you on your wedding day! We wish you a long and happy life together!
See below for the full list of Sarah & Scott’s amazing team of vendors!
Venue: the Farm Bakery and Events
Desserts: the Farm Bakery and Events
Coordinating: Susanna, the Farm Bakery and Events
Photography: Stacy Salvatori Photography
Catering: 2 Little Piggys
Florals: Froggy’s Garden Flowers
See below for the full list of items in this gallery supplied by the Farm Bakery and Events:
Rustic Wooden Dessert Tables
String lights in the Seed Barn
8ft. Tables for Reception
Wooden Cross-Back Chairs for Ceremony and Reception
Rustic Wooden Sweetheart Table
Wine Barrels with Glass Table Top
Wedding Cake Stand
All Dessert Table Stands and Signs
Planning a Wedding During COVID-19 - Cara & Jason
It’s no secret that the global pandemic of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on important gatherings and special events. This has been especially true for weddings. With such short notice, couples are having to make the difficult decision of postponing their wedding date. This is no small feat, and brings with it an intense and unique wave of emotions and challenges associated with essentially having to re-plan their wedding day. With this daunting task facing many couples whose weddings were initially planned for the coming weeks and months in 2020, one of our couples at the Farm graciously shared their story of what postponing their wedding date has looked like for them. Inspired by an article published on Pennsylvania Weddings, we hope it is able to offer some light in these unprecedented times, and some hope in the midst of an uncertain future.
Tori Repp Photography at the Farm Bakery and Events
It’s no secret that the global pandemic of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on important gatherings and special events. This has been especially true for weddings. With such short notice, couples are having to make the difficult decision of postponing their wedding date. This is no small feat, and brings with it an intense and unique wave of emotions and challenges associated with essentially having to re-plan their wedding day. With this daunting task facing many couples whose weddings were initially planned for the coming weeks and months in 2020, one of our couples at the Farm graciously shared their story of what postponing their wedding date has looked like for them. Inspired by an article published on Pennsylvania Weddings, we hope it is able to offer some light in these unprecedented times, and some hope in the midst of an uncertain future.
Thank you, Cara & Jason, for sharing your experience with us!
We cannot wait to celebrate with you on August 23!
First of all, we can not express the immense respect we have for both Cara & Jason as educators transitioning their students and their curriculum to online learning at the drop of a hat - while simultaneously postponing their wedding day. These two are truly incredible and we can not thank them enough for taking the time to share their experience with us, and for being so gracious as they work through these difficult changes.
Cara & Jason’s wedding was originally one of two weddings scheduled for our opening weekend of the 2020 season on April 18, 2020. They elected to postpone their wedding date to August 23, 2020.
How did you meet?
“Even though we both moved to the same town around 1st grade, and we both went trick-or-treating on the same block, and we only lived about 5 minutes from one another for a decade, we did not meet until our senior year. This was primarily because Cara took all the smart classes and Jason took all the shop classes. But eventually we met in Gym class and Jason promptly annoyed Cara as first impressions were never his thing. But Jason won Cara over by getting her out of class with fake hall passes, helping her with her car, work, or just general life drama, and Cara helped Jason pass math class and learn to take a break every now and then. Really not sure if we would have finished our senior year if it wasn’t for one another.”
Tell us your engagement story!
“We got engaged Christmas Morning of 2018. Just the two of us. Jason dressed our dog up as a reindeer, with bells and antlers. He (our dog Charlie) wore a present on his back that contained the hand made ring box and custom designed wedding ring. Jason did not do a practice run however, and he discovered morning of that Charlie was terrified of the bells and behaved like a lunatic. After Cara and Jason got the bells off of Charlie (while laughing hysterically), Jason told Cara to open the box that Charlie brought her and she didn’t realize it was a real gift. Inside, she found the ring box and the ring. While Jason was saying nice pretty things, Charlie promptly ate the handmade ring box, sans ring thank goodness! It was chaotic, and a little messy, and very perfect.”
How did you find the Farm?
“We started planning Spring of 2019. We knew we did not want a very traditional wedding from the beginning. We first thought we might want a destination wedding; Cape May is a sentimental vacation spot so we looked there. While in all of these beach themed venues we realized that it just wasn’t us. The gold and ornate halls, or the fancy meals. So we thought about us and were reminded of the farm / country areas we used to drive through in PA, times spent in parks outdoors, and our absolutely favorite food venues - food trucks. We quickly landed on Meyers Farm and Bakery after seeing the location and started to put it all together.”
Are you able to use the same vendors for your new date as your original date?
“We are able to use pretty much all the same vendors. They were extremely accommodating and understanding. We were very nervous about having so many separate vendors when we realized we had to move our date, but it all came together very quickly. Jason really took care of this. We got the news on my first day of digital instruction as a third grade teacher, and I was overwhelmed by 23 eight year olds attempting to navigate Chromebooks and emails. By the end of the day, Jason had contacted all of our vendors, secured a new wedding date, and created/ordered a new invitation. I planned the first wedding, but he planned the second.”
How are you handling the additional time leading up to your wedding?
“A little sad about it, of course. It took us both a couple of days for it to really sink in. We went from 32 days ‘til our wedding to 162 days.
“We are both doing alright. There isn’t much for us to organize at this point, and we are both NJ teachers trying to digitally instruct our students. We have enough on our plates to keep us busy. Jason was actually a little relieved because he has been procrastinating making all of our center pieces and signs and now he has more time to work on it (not that he will get started anytime soon of course). We weren’t particularly attached to our original wedding date, it didn’t have any deeper purpose for us. We were just ready to be married. We discussed getting married on the 18th anyway, with just a witness or two. But we decided, since we were going to pay for this party, it might be nice to actually get married then too.”
Has anything helped to offered you hope in this situation?
“Yes. First, all of our vendors (Meyers Farm and Bakery included) have been incredible in maintaining our original expectations and contracts. Our families have been overwhelmingly supportive and positive about the change. They have done their best to find any and every tiny bright side to our new date, even the idea that now we can have a nice tan for our big day! Plus, our wedding isn’t canceled. We still get to marry each other. We still get to celebrate with our family and friends. And even better, we still get the same wedding we have been planning. This will always make a fantastic anniversary story for years to come!”
How have your guests reacted to the new date?
“Extremely understanding, and to be honest, very relieved. A handful were going to be unable to attend, or frightened to attend. It wouldn’t have been the celebration that we had hoped.”
Did you have many guests traveling from out of town?
“Not MANY. I would say we had around 10-15 guests traveling from out of town. Flights were booked, but we couldn’t do much about it. We are happy to say that everyone who reserved rooms in our hotel block were not penalized for their cancelations and many airlines are being accommodating as well.”
How did you let everyone know?
“For long distance guests/relatives, we gave phone calls very quickly, to be considerate of travel plans. We enlisted our families in help with this. Then, we created and sent our a revised wedding invitation, with the new date and time, asking our guest to RSVP once more. Jason was proud with his new invite design, he made a parody of the original “uninviting” guests from the first date and “inviting” them to the new one instead. He also bought a new domain, the original was www.jasonlovescara.com and the new one is www.jasonstilllovescara.com, our guests found it funny too.”
What advice do you have for other couples in the same situation?
“Try to make the best of the situation. This is a terrible set of circumstances, but with the right person by your side you can handle it.”
Cara & Jason, we are so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate with you. While we are (extremely) bummed not to be able to celebrate with you on April 18, we know that August 23 is going to be an incredible day and we can’t wait to be a part of it.
See below for the list of incredible vendors working with Cara & Jason to deliver them the perfect wedding day, no matter what:
Venue: the Farm Bakery and Events
Desserts: the Farm Bakery and Events
Coordinator: Jess Roth, the Farm Bakery and Events
Catering: the Munchie Machine
Catering: Dos Hermanos Tacos
Beverage: PJ's Bartending Service
Wedding Photography: Tori Repp Photography
DJ: the Pros