A Dallas Wedding
Like I said earlier today, my best friend, Katie, got married a few months ago in Dallas, Texas. Her goal was to create a vintage-inspired, chic wedding without breaking the bank. I was a bridesmaid and spent hours chatting with Katie along the way…and I just knew, that with her amazing sense of style and her incredibly practical approach, she would pull off a perfect night…
all photos by Carissa Byers
When I saw the flowers that Katie chose, and the talented girls at Rufus Felix designed, I was in love. The photos don’t do these flowers justice…they were AMAZING. Katie’s bouquet was absolutely breathtaking. It had little chocolate brown feathers, perfect ranunculus and was secured with this stunning peach ribbon. It brought Katie’s whole look together in an incredible way.
I’ve asked Katie to share with us some of her tips for creating a wedding THIS beautiful, while still staying conscious of your budget…
Do Your Research – A wedding is expensive no matter how you look at it. So, during a time when you are making major purchases…be sure you really LOVE your vendors for their skill and personality. If you don’t, find someone else. Looking back, my favorite vendors were the ones whose personalities meshed well with mine…the ones who really cared about what they do for a living and would go beyond what you expect of them.
Choose your Venue Carefully – Find a venue that has a lot of character on its own, without having to spend a fortune on flowers and other decor for the room. In our case, the owners were really relaxed and let us bring in our own alcohol which was a HUGE money saver. Plus, the space had a character and decor that completely matched my own style…so I didn’t have to put a ton of effort in transforming it.
Do-It-Yourself Projects are Key – We made our own table linens as opposed to renting them. We also brought in framed family portraits, some old, some new, to decorate the space. Since the wedding, we’ve used most of our projects in our home…..the linens were used for tablecloths for our dining table, a tree skirt for our Christmas tree, and soon to be reconfigured into curtains for our guest room.
Purchase The Decor Items Yourself – Most florists will happily rent additional decor elements for you. But, it’s expensive. We bought Japanese lanterns for about $10 each, a handful of birch vases from small stump that our florist incorporated, even a great vintage cake stand that was used instead of a rental. Again, we will probably re-use all of these things in our home at one point or another.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ditch Tradition – We skipped the favors for our guests and no one missed them a bit!
Opt For Heavy Hor’ Dourves – This saved us money in many ways. For one, we didn’t have to foot the bill for a huge dinner. We also only had to rent one set of medium sized plates and we only used forks. This cut down on our rental fees quite a bit. Plus, the bonus was that having easy-to-eat food got the guests up and on the dance floor fast!
Only Purchase One Cake – If we had ordered a grooms cake and a wedding cake, we would have ordered twice as much. Our cake lady let us know that people usually have a slice of each, rather than choosing one. So, you end up spending more than you really need to on extra cake.
One final tip from Katie….if you are doing the wedding planning and concept design on your own, give yourself permission to change your mind on things. If you find something great, or see an idea that you can’t live without and it’s nearly wedding time, go with your gut. If you’ve picked the right vendors, they will know exactly how to handle the change. I completely changed the maids’ flowers, the cake colors and the cake design just a few weeks before our wedding. I was nervous that our vendors would freak out. But, they didn’t at all. Our cake lady actually hugged me and told me that she was so happy I had found what I really wanted.
21 Comments about “A Dallas Wedding”
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These are all great tips. How many people were at the wedding, and how much alcohol did you bring? I am also buying the liquor for my wedding and I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer on how much I need! Thanks again for sharing your photos.
Your wedding turned out beautifully. I followed a lot of the same guidelines you did- made our invitations, table runners, bought all our decor items and have since re-used almost everything, brought in our own alcohol, and skipped out on the favors.
And then we actually used the exact same photographer! What a coinky-dink. Carissa is the best photographer and a great gal!
Thanks for this - it is beautiful. I was wondering about doing heavy appetizers instead of a sit down dinner but was just curious how it worked as I have never been to a wedding that did it. Were they passed? Buffet? Was there any officially seated portion of the night (ie: for toasts)? Or was it all social time/mingling and then dancing??? Thanks!
Can't remember exactly how much alcohol we bought, but we visited many liquor stores to price compare. Found the cheapest and they were able to give us really accurate estimates as far as how much to purchase. Literally, we had 2 beers left....and not much alcohol. The liquor store let us return any unopend liquor bottles when it was all said and done. So, we made sure the servers knew to only open one bottle at a time.
As for the hor'dourves and seating, we did have some seating, but not nearly enough for everyone to be seated at the same time. You have to account for the older, more reserved crew : ). So we made sure to have some tables near the activity and some out on the patio and other tucked away, quite areas for people to visit. The Hor'dourves worked just fine. I really wanted to have hor'dourves, but at the same time wanted people to feel like they had dinner. We made sure to include a meat, starch, and veggie. My favorite part of the hor'dourves was an live cooking stations for crab cakes (for our crazy cajun family). That was our splurge for the hor'dourves....to me it made the food seem like a little more than just apps.
We served the food buffet style and never had official "seated" portions of the night. People just gathered around for toast, garter and other scheduled wedding-ish things. Hope this helps....
Ohhh...so it must have been those crabcakes that made your crazy cajun family get so rambunctious after dinner!?! No, seriously, Katie's wedding was fabulous and very personal. The most touching parts were the spontaneous things that just 'happened' like when she and her dad were dancing and her Mom just got pulled into the moment...and their little circle on the dance floor brought tears to everyone's eyes!
Katie did opt to see Matt before the ceremony for photos. In retrospect, Katie...are you glad you did?
did you have your ceremony at TimesTen Cellar as well?
Would love to see more pictures if possible esp of the cake and reception.
This is gorgeous
I give that same advice to my readers. I love how concise you made it...It can be overwhelming planning a Wedding but relax and breathing are important.
I would love to see a picture of the linens!
Could you please tell me where the purple dress is from in your photo...I have been looking everywhere for the "right" purple for my bridesmaides?
katie- is your dress a Judd Waddell? it looks like we have the same dress!!! I'm so excited to see someone else in it. You look amazing!!!
Hey guys! The bridesmaids dresses were actually chocolate brown, from J Crew. The purple dress is a girl that did a reading.
I will look around to see if we have any shots of the linens...sadly, we didn't get a lot of detail shots:(
stunning wedding flower bouquets.
This is great advice. I love the idea of having heavy hor'dourves! We did this for my friend's birthday...we thought people would still be hungry & unsatisfied...not true. The food stations were beautiful...which complimented her chic/elegant party theme, everyone had a good time & the food didn't run out :-)
Excellent photos!
Doing it BIG in TEXAS on a BUDGET.. I LOVE IT! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING!!
Ya know, Coqui Lingerie has great bridal lingerie if you're interested in that sort of thing. Take a look at http://www.coquilingerie.com " rel="nofollow">http://www.coquilingerie.com >
Saving money where you can is always great. One of our brides rented a giant house on the beach. All the family was there for a week. They had the wedding on the beach out front and the reception on the top floor. It was intimate and lovely.
Click here to see a video clip of this romantic beach wedding!
http://www.blog.lifestagevideography.com/?p=37 " rel="nofollow">http://www.blog.lifestagevideography.com/?p=37 >
I HAVE to know... where is that cake stand from?!
This wedding is sooo beautiful! Love the dress!!! Love the bouquet!! Love the colors! All of it!
And Melissa, that video of the beach wedding and dancing? Beautiful. It reminds me I will have to take some Merangue (sp?) lessons before my cousin's wedding.
I love SMP!!! I'm now addicted.
But I fear all these budget weddings are for less than 300 people...any that have been that large?
Thanks for all the ideas and tips!!!
Your wedding turned out beautifully! Substantial hors d'oeuvres are a great tip, and one I often suggest to make the most of your catering budget. Having a signature cocktail--or a specially chosen wine and beer--are also great alternatives to a more expensive open bar.
Heavy hors d'oeuvres are a great cost-saving tip and alternative to a dinner menu. It's also much easier to mix and mingle with your guests with bite-sized portions. I agree with the "Ditch Traditions" tip as well. I see so many people provide a champagne toast for each of their guests. The sad truth, the guest will take a sip of the champagne and go back to their drink of choice.