John attended prep school in New England with my best friend and matron of honor, Casey Mayfield.   Casey introduced us five years after graduation in south Texas where John was stationed for flight school as a naval aviator.  After going on only two dates in Texas, John moved to Florida to continue his training while I moved to California to begin veterinary school.

Upon completion of flight school, John’s first duty station was in San Diego where after three years he proposed during halftime of the Super Bowl.  After convincing me to take a walk to the beach, I reluctantly agreed (I was busy eating and consequently spilling my bowl of chili on my cute top).  The beach was seven blocks away but John only made it two before getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him.  Needless to say, it was a great surprise and I instantly regretted spilling chili all over my shirt.

As our family and friends are scattered about the country, we wanted to plan a wedding in a central location.  The fun and energetic city of Austin was the natural choice because my family lives there, I attended the University of Texas,  and it is smack in the middle of the country. We wanted to be married outdoors, near water but also close to the city which made the Four Seasons on Lake Austin the perfect place.  The venue encompassed just the right amount of unique Texas style while maintaining an understated elegance we were seeking.

John and I wanted a formal wedding with timeless style…. elegant, classic with incorporated Art Deco vintage elements, yet with subtle individual touches.  He wore his Navy choker whites while I chose a vintage style gown with delicate beading reminiscent of the Great Gatsby era. Because lavender is my favorite color, we incorporated touches of dusty lavender to jazz up the neutral palette throughout the wedding decor as well as the bridesmaid’s dresses.  My mother even decorated her delicious homemade jam wedding favors with lavender. The groom’s cake was designed as a surprise to John to represent the other loves in his life; his beloved dog, Jobu, surfing, aviation, and Boston sports.  Coco Paloma couldn’t have done a better job on his cake and his reaction upon seeing it was priceless.

There are so many unforgettable moments from our wedding day, but the military arch of swords following the ceremony is among my favorites.  The arch of swords is a beautiful tradition that welcomes spouses into the Navy family and symbolizes the sacred union between a military officer and his wife. John left on a seven month deployment shortly after our wedding day, and like so many other military spouses in our country, I am counting down the days to his return so we can resume our lives as husband and wife.

Event Planner: Cristin Meehan, Weddings By Kennedy / Floral Designer: Jennifer’s Gardens / Cake Designer: Paloma Efron, Coco Paloma / Dress Designer: Kenneth Pool / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Favors:  Homemade Colorado Cherry Choke Jam by the bride’s mother / String Quartet: Divisi Strings / Band: The Pictures Band / Photography: Q Weddings / Letterpress Paper Suite: Paper Chez / Cinematographer: 2nd Generation Videos / Film Work: Richard Photo

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Austin, Casual Elegance, Coco Paloma, Color Palette Purple, Divisi Strings, Garden Weddings, Homemade favors, jam, Jam Favors, Jennifer's Flowers, Jimmy Choo, Kenneth Pool, Military Wedding, Navy Wedding, Outdoor Ceremony, Paper Chez, Q Weddings, Texas, The Picture Band, Wedding Photography, Weddings by Kennedy
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From the Bride…Andrew and I really wanted two things going into our wedding. 1. for it to reflect our personality and 2. for it to be a glorified party, not just a wedding. We chose the French Legation as our wedding and reception site because it was a beautiful venue that also allowed us to really transform the place into exactly what we wanted, a Southern Garden Party. Throughout the wedding we wanted to create the feel of a casual elegance. We chose eclectic centerpieces that didn’t quite match, yet just “went together” and the same rule applied to the dessert table, which was made up of mini cakes and personalized pies.We put emphasis on having our flowers look “hand-picked” and our florist (Abbey from Stems Floral Design) accomplished the look perfectly.

I wanted my bridesmaids to really love their dresses so I let them choose whatever they wanted within a vintage pastel color range. The colors of their dresses ended up complimenting the reception decor perfectly. We also wanted to incorporate French themes into the wedding since our venue was Texas’ original French Embassy, and because Andrew and I had spent quite a bit of time in Paris together. To do this we used vintage French postcards as our sign in book, and danced to “La Vie En Rose” as our first dance song. Looking back, the wedding was everything we wanted it to be. Old world Paris met a Southern estate and both seemed to compliment the backdrop of a Texas sunset. It was so special for us to have everyone we loved in one place during such a magical night.

Catering: Portabla / Wedding Cake: CoCo Paloma Desserts / Pies: Cutie Pie / Venue: French Legation Museum / Wedding Photography: Jessica Monnich Photography / Floral Design: Stems Floral Design / Wedding Planner: Events by Emily / Band: Minstral Band

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Austin, Coco Paloma, Events by Emily, French Inspired, French Legation Museum, Jessica Monnich Photography, Minstral Band, Portabla, Stems Floral Design, Texas Weddings, Vintage Chic
Post categories: Austin Weddings, Texas Weddings, Vintage Chic

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From the Bride… Our wedding was sort of Anthropologie meets Jonathan Adler. Antique charming pieces mixed with a modern pattern and punches of color.  It started with a cocktail reception in the garden with the music of “Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys” playing in the background, which created an old-timey 40’s kind of feel. In a way I wanted the reception to feel like you stepped back in time. A little Texan, a little modern, a little old-southern, a little Italian, but all very charming.

Since I’m a designer, I did the invitations myself. It was convenient that both of our initials are “J” so I started there. Being a visual person, I wanted to tell our story in pictures. Each “J” is made up of icons that represent each of us and then the theme was carried out throughout the wedding. They were printed at a local shop that I regularly work with on an antique letterpress.

During the cocktail hour, the guest picked up little escort cards/boxes, which matched the picture of the table they were at. Continuing the theme from the invitations, we chose 12 icons (one for each table) that represented us as a couple and labeled the tables this way. Each card on the table stanchion told a bit of a story on the back of why that picture was significant. In lieu of the new trend of wedding slide shows, we did a photo wall of old family photos, and photos of Jack and I traveling (and some from our engagement session with Jenn). The photos were all black and white in antique white frames.

Our first dance was to Nellie McKay’s “I Wanna Get Married,” which, again, is very 40’s in style and the message of the song is very housewife-ey. I’m not very wife-ly, so I loved the irony of this, but the song is still just pretty. My dad and I danced to Ben Folds’ “Gracie.”  When I heard the line “didn’t really want to make you be anything you didn’t want to be,” I knew it was the right song.  We’re not very traditional people so what was important to us were those more unique touches.

One of the most important things to us was getting our dog down the aisle. She’s our baby, but she’s terrified of large crowds and public spaces. We did a lot of training ahead of time including multiple visits, so she could get used to the scents of the space. In the end, she was still the wild card, but she did surprisingly very well.

The last personal element was the vows. I didn’t want to recite anything, so it was important to me that we write our own. I’m nervous in front of a crowd, so I was regretting this choice once the day actually came. The morning of the wedding, I was still fine-tuning what I was going to say. Ultimately, my whole message came together in the dressing room with my bridesmaid friends helping me right before the ceremony.

The most memorable part of our ceremony was unplanned.  I walk down the aisle, I look at Jack and he’s crying.  I hug my mom, and she’s crying. I was about to lose it altogether, when Scott the officiant starts… “We’re all here to celebrate the relationship of Jack and Jeanine.”  Right at that moment, a car in the distance slammed on its breaks letting out a very large screech. Everyone laughed and it broke the tension.

I knew I wanted Jenn to photograph my wedding long before I ever thought I’d have a wedding. She’s known my business partner/graphic designer Trina for a long time. One day I was on a plane with Trina while she was working on Jenn’s website. This was the first time I saw her images and I was stunned. I never considered anyone else from that moment on.

Wedding Photography: Jennifer Lindberg Weddings / Wedding Ceremony & Reception Location: Mercury Hall / Floral Design: Flora & Fauna / Wedding Coordination: Mariska Nicholson (mariskamn@mac.com) / Wedding Cake: Coco Paloma Desserts / Rentals: Austin’s World of Rentals / DJ: Todd Meador, Friend of the Bride & Groom / Ceremony Music: Julia Cory / Wedding Dress: Manuel Mota via Balina Bridal / Bride’s Shoes: Stuart Weitzman / Veil: Balina Bridal / Bridesmaid Dresses: Ann Taylor / Groom’s Attire: Men’s Wearhouse / Paper Goods: Jeanine Donofrio of State & Madison Design Co. / Catering: 34th Street Cafe

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ann Taylor, Austin, Austin's World of Rentals, Balina Bridal, Blue, Brown, Coco Paloma, Flora Fauna, Julia Cory, Mauel Mota, Men's Wearhouse, Mercury Hall, Outdoor Ceremony, Red, Stuart Weitzman, Texas, TX
Post categories: Austin Weddings, Contemporary, Texas Weddings

images courtesy of photography by vanessa

Jackie, Nick and their families were such a pleasure to work with! You would have never known it was raining cat and dogs on their wedding day…and at The Wildflower Center no less! Their completely outdoor wedding changed on a moments notice as tents had to be brought in and with the ceremony and cocktail reception moving indoors. The wedding party handled everything with such grace it made the wedding that much more beautiful!

The colors were aubergine and apple green. The bridesmaids’ bouquets were in shades of purple composed of anemones, tulips and swet peas. The brides bouquet was in all white adorned with vintage family brooches.

The ceremony was held in the ampitheater making is dramatic and romantic. The cocktail reception took place in the gallery with jazz group The Lucky Strikes playing. Dinner was held under a tent with purple venetian chandeliers – table flower arrangements had an organic feel using manzanita branches and hanging candles.

The bride and groom live in Alaska and brought the most northern state down south by having Alaskan beer, serving Baked Alaskan Pies for dessert and having “Alaskan Snow Ball” (aka cake balls) as favors.

The night ended on a high note with the bride and groom leaving in a vintage Rolls Royce with a trail of fireworks a la My Best Friends Wedding!

Event Design & Production: Caplan Miller Events (Sarah Miller) / Photography: Photography by Vanessa / Ceremony & Reception Location: The Wildflower Center / Florist: The Flower Studio / Catering: Kurant Events / Cake Design: Coco Paloma / Lighting: FILO Productions / Furniture Rental: Townsley Designs

. . .

A few more spectacular events from Caplan Miller Events …

Liz & Tom’s wedding at The Four Seasons

Gorgeous Driskill Hotel Wedding

Beautiful Summer Garden Photo Shoot

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Austin, Caplan Miller Events, Coco Paloma, FILO Productions, Kurant Events, Photography by Vanessa, Texas Wedding, The Wildflower Center, Townsley Designs
Post categories: Contemporary, Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Planners & Designers

photography by Q Weddings

Held in Austin, Texas at the Austin Country Club, I love that the bride and her helpers transformed a relatively traditional space into one that is jam packed with charm. The flowers were all done by another of our favorite Little Black Book members, Verbena Floral Design and the perfect cake was designed by Coco Paloma Desserts!

photography by Q Weddings

We have so much more coming up today including some AWESOME DIY packaging!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Austin, Austin Country Club, Coco Paloma, Pink and Gold, Q Weddings, Texas Weddings, Verbena
Post categories: Traditional Elegance

And Amy and Matt’s wedding, sent to us by lunaphoto is one that anyone would love, filled with a simply elegant style and sweet but utterly sophisticated details.

From Amy…Both my husband and I have two sets of parents and we really wanted them to feel included, so we decided to have a moment during the ceremony were they all came up and made a circle around us and vowed to continue to love and support us as we join our families together. This became especially important to us since 10 days after our wedding my husband’s step-dad passed away. We are so thankful that we were able to have such a special and intimate moment with him before he passed.

For our wedding favors we decided to give different types of trees for our guests to plant. Instead of having a guest book my mom had a great idea of making us a quilt, so we had a table where guests wrote little messages to us on squares of cloth to be sewn into the quilt. It will be something that we can keep forever and as my mom put it “feel surround by love”.

From Amy…

Our caterer (Primizie) and baker (Coco Paloma) are small companies that we found locally in Austin; and the best part is that they both only use the freshest most natural and/or organic ingredients! We saved a ton of money by doing a dessert table instead of a big wedding cake; we had a small 8 inch cake, different sized cupcakes, cookies, 2 pies and a big bowl of fresh fruit. Our invitations (made by Viola from Chewing the Cud, who I found on SMP!) were made using all environmentally friendly products, and we had a local artist do the calligraphy on the envelopes.

We chose to not do the traditional cake-cutting, flower and garter tossing, etc so that we could have more time to spend with our family and friends, particularly because most of them flew in from all over the United States and even Singapore! There is so much that I could write about our wedding; everything went so well and since we were planning everything long distance we hired Aimee Villa with Lizze Belle Event Management to help us bring everything together, she did such a wonderful job of helping make our wedding magical for us. Along with hiring Aimee, one of the most important things that we did was hire amazingly talented photographers; Mike and Paula Luna of lunaphoto were a joy to work with and did such an incredible job of capturing such a special time in our lives.

* * *

Thank you so much to Amy and Matt for sharing their day with us!! We have a pretty awesome giveaway coming up next and later, find out who won the Sarah Darcy Giveaway!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Allen House, Amy and Matt, Austin, budget, Coco Paloma, Lizze Belle Event Management, Luna Photography, lunaphoto, Primizie, Texas Weddings
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Casual Elegance