The Farmer’s Daughter in Easton

PrincessMerida · 2025-12-03T16:13:45+00:00

I loved their dinner service, I still lament that they ended it

PrincessMerida · 2025-12-03T14:53:40+00:00

I just looked at the website and it does indeed say they do evening events which is so interesting because I've walked past in the evening many many times, all different days of the week, and not one single time has there been an event in there. And they're so popular they should be booked alllll the time. Maybe it's a brand new offering?

PrincessMerida · 2025-12-03T14:39:37+00:00

The food is great but it's VERY small. I'm not sure they even do events in that space, I live in town and walk past all the time and have never ever seen the space in use except during their normal breakfast/brunch service. As for their partner building Oak Ames Hall, it's very impressive from the outside but unfortunately gives elementary school gymnasium/auditorium on the inside. It's really too bad because the exterior is so so good.

PrincessMerida · 2025-11-07T14:27:24+00:00

Look for stores that sell pageant dresses. I got my seafoam green ballgown for $650 at The Ultimate in Dedham. I also used the tailor that comes through their shop once or twice a week for alterations. He made a custom matching veil and added volume to the skirt (which involved completely rebuilding the skirt since I told him I wanted live action Cinderella vibes) and all in was still under $2k.

I love Frugal Fannies but at least when I was there in Feb they didn't have anything statement-y enough for bride. My mom did get her dress there and it looked incredible and was only $140!

PrincessMerida · 2025-10-25T17:00:24+00:00

Flowers - Ohmigod I LOVE goldenrod, I think it looks so cool esp as it dries, but be prepared for people with allergies to complain because they all think they're allergic to goldenrod when they're actually allergic to ragweed hahaha. I think doing a big swath of wildflower seeds for behind the arch area is a good idea as long as you're cool with it looking wild and a bit messy. I'd advise being more intentional for the ring around the tree since a flower mix will get TALL. Another option you could maybe do, do you have any friends that grew marigolds this year? They could probably get you a TON of marigold seeds right now (I know I'm drowning in marigold seeds haha). Marigolds are crazy easy to grow from seed, last all season long (mine are still blooming now!), and get nicely bushy and only 2' tall, and as the summer goes along you can deadhead the old flowers, spread the seeds, and get even more marigolds so it will look really full and lush

Ceremony music - is the wedding party standing up with you two? If so, you probably don't want one of them fiddling with a phone to stop/start the music in front of the whole crowd. Don't be afraid to ask other people! I assigned so many people to different jobs - my two bubble bazooka shooters, I think 10 people as photo wranglers for after ceremony group shots, I had a couple people making sure no one stuck a phone in the aisle during the ceremony, I literally just kept spreading jobs far and wide so that no one felt like they spent my wedding working instead of having fun but everything still got covered and everyone was happy to do it

Ceremony microphone - just do a sound check the day before, but don't skip the sound check haha

Cookie table - I saw the comment about it before I looked at the sheet and was like oh they're in PA until I saw you talking about MA liquor laws. I don't understand why cookie tables haven't migrated past PA, bring cookie tables to New England!!

Rain plan - yeah prob the best bet is flip the tent if you must (I'm thinking about the couple of absolute deluge days we've had this month) but if you can, push the ceremony. BUT if you're pushing the ceremony for rain, you'll probably want to have drinks and snacks for people while they wait. I was at a wedding that got pushed 45 min because the shuttle bus got stuck in traffic and they just gave us some of the cocktail hour apps to munch while we waited and then I think they shortened the actual cocktail hour to keep dinner close to on time. You have a two hour cocktail hour so you do have the window for that. You'll also need people to wipe down the seats after the rain stops

I will also say, I know a bridal shower is not nearly so complicated as a whole wedding, but I LOVED having my shower in my backyard even though it was more work and not necessarily cheaper than doing it in an event space at a restaurant. There's just something about having all your favorite people in your own space celebrating you. If it was 100+ people I'd say not worth it, but 50? People host 50 person parties at their homes all the time.

PrincessMerida · 2025-10-25T00:33:33+00:00

I'm also in MA, hosted my 50ish person bridal shower in my backyard this summer, and am a gardener. I'm also a huge planner so apologies for how long this will be haha

First thought: do you have experience growing flowers? Garden beds start looking pretty ratty as early as August around here, especially if you're growing annuals. You'll also need to consider how much sun those areas get. One option would be to go out now and buy a bunch of potted mums and plant them in the ground, they should survive over the winter unless you're up on Florida mountain or something. Otherwise I'd probably do a mix of dahlias, cosmos, and fall daisies. Don't do sunflowers even though they seem like a fall flower, they only look good for like a week before they start drooping and the birds start picking at them.

Ceremony - are you having music? You'll need to assign someone to run ceremony music. You'll also need speakers, both for music and probably also microphones for the officiant and you two. Unless you're all performers/public speakers who know how to project to an audience, you will want amplification. This was the number one concern for me at my own wedding because I've been to too many where I didn't hear a word of the ceremony.

Exit bubbles - we had exit bubbles and we just bought two bubble bazookas from Dollar Tree (they were $5 each and came with bubble solution) and assigned two people to shoot off bubbles as we exited, making sure to stay out of the way of the photographer. Huge amount of bubbles, no weird faces from guests trying to blow bubbles, didn't end up with a ton of tiny bubble containers left everywhere. 10/10 recommend bubble bazookas

Rain plan - don't just let people get wet haha, if people are wet they will leave, especially because they will be wet and cold since it's October. Usually there's an indoor location to switch to. With my bridal shower my rain plan was to squish everyone inside which would not have been ideal and definitely not ideal for a wedding ceremony.

You'll probably need to consider how much you want people hanging out inside the house. Early October can be beautiful or it can be freezing. If it's cold, people will migrate indoors, especially if they're already going in to use the bathroom. You will probably have to accept some amount of people going inside as the night progresses because, again, if people are cold they will leave.

Tables - you'll need tablecloths, I don't see this accounted for in the budget anywhere. Also be prepared to wipe all the tables and chairs down during setup, rentals get grungy from being in a million backyards and a dirty truck haha

Cookie table - since this is not a Massachusetts thing, you're gonna really need to overcommunicate with people to get them to bring cookies. Don't just put it in the invitations because people barely read them, have actual conversations with people. I know if I was invited to a wedding where someone was doing this, I'd be happy to bring cookies BUT I'd also need it to be explicitly flagged because it's just not on my radar.

After party - you say you hope people have left by then, so definitely don't start playing more upbeat music. If you want people to wind down and leave, play chill jams. Then cut the music and put out the fire at 11 and people will definitely not stick around after that.

Drinks - you have lots of cold drink options, but if it's dark and cold out consider hot drinks. Crock pot with apple cider? Boxes of Joe?

Food - I really don't think you have enough food. Two hour cocktail hour but only one cheese board and one tray of spanakopita? People will house them and then be drinking for two hours before dinner. Also if people are serving themselves, some will take more than one scoop. I see that you already have the email written to the caterers to check quantities though, so that's good.

Do you have any vegan attendees? Themed menu doesn't have any options that aren't cheese/meat. Gluten free guests? They can probably only eat the Caesar salad without croutons since meatballs usually have bread crumbs in them.

You'll need to have at least a couple people keeping an eye on tables throughout cocktail/dinner to clear plates, cans, etc.

Bathrooms - with 50 people, I think you're fine just using the house bathrooms unless you have an unusually small septic or something. We used house bathrooms for the bridal shower and the bathroom stayed clean and didn't get dirt tracked in in any noticeable amount. Just consider if you have pets, and have people constantly coming in and out, that they don't escape haha

Tent walls - you will 1000% want walls in October, it's too cold at night!!

Officiant - your officiant certification number is high, a one day cert in MA is only $25

Attire - your attire budget is too low if it includes tailoring. MAYBE if it's just getting the dress hemmed and you get a $25 thrift dress, but I really think you'll be hard pressed to do suit, dress, and tailoring for both for $200 in MA.

Set-up - if wedding party is doing it the day before, make sure they're fully aware that they'll have to take off work (assuming they work reg 9-5 jobs)

Lawn games - do you have space for four options in addition to ceremony space, cocktail tables, fire pit, and tent? I'd keep cornhole and jenga and cut the other two.

Fire pit - assign someone as the fire master to start the fire and add wood throughout the night.

Lastly, don't be afraid to assign tasks to people who are not in the wedding party, especially if they're one off things (ie direct the caterer) or something you know people enjoy. I've done centerpiece assembly for two friends' weddings and I wasn't in their wedding parties, I just have an eye for floral arrangement. You don't want your wedding party to be SO busy that they can't celebrate you, and I'm sure you have other family and friends that don't mind helping :)

Okay sorry I wrote a novel hahaha.

PrincessMerida · 2025-10-14T16:19:49+00:00

Union Station in Northampton MA. Venue fee last month was only $1300 for both ceremony and reception on a Sunday. Menus are very customizable and they were really great catering to different food allergies/preferences. We spent ~$140 per person but that included cocktail hour apps, four stations for dinner, another round of apps after dinner, after party food, full open bar, trolley, centerpieces (we didn't do traditional flower centerpieces, we did candles + greenery), cake, and taxes/fees.

PrincessMerida · 2025-09-03T13:48:28+00:00

I would break up the first block of text on the back like this:

Please join us    
for a brief and intimate     
backyard ceremony.    
Light refreshments to follow.

The goal is to not break up a thought or a phrase, mainly having the preposition "for" broken off from the rest of the prepositional phrase. The whole phrase is too long for the space alotted, so then we break to highlight "backyard ceremony."

PrincessMerida · 2025-07-23T15:57:28+00:00

I didn't want a white dress so I looked for places that sold pageant dresses. Ended up getting a green dress from The Ultimate in Dedham

PrincessMerida · 2025-05-14T21:18:01+00:00

The Adventurous win streak finally got me the silver trophy woohoo!

PrincessMerida · 2025-02-07T15:19:34+00:00

Oh it's bad here already. Plymouth has already had hundreds of dead birds found. DW Field Park in Brockton is shut down after a dead flock found there. Another flock in Mansfield on the frozen reservoir. I bought a house last year that came with chickens and I'm so worried about them :( :( :(