Dog attendants at a wedding propel said weddings to the top of the heartwarming list. Dogs really just make everything happier, don’t they? So I was already in love with this wedding, thanks to the sweet pooch, when I read bride’s words and fell in love with their story. Sprout, the lady behind the lovely flowers, was the groom’s second grade teacher. Everest Road Photography was a camp counselor with the bride’s sister. The whole day was a memory in the making… one I’m sure the couple and all their guests will look back on forever fondly.
From the beautiful bride… I fell in love with Fredericksburg through my bridesmaid Cori Dickie by attending the 4th of July parade during college and it became an annual tradition. Her mom always buys us matching american flag shirts at Walmart. Cori and I became friends bonding over DQ Blizzards and had monthly “DQ Dates.” Once Riley and I started dating he came with me for the festivities. We never thought of getting married any where else. The Ruff Haus was the first venue I saw and I was in love. I never dreamed I would get married outside, but it was perfect for Fredericksburg and us. We wanted something casual and inviting – like a big party in our home. Along with it being a wedding we wanted it to be a celebration where everyone was there to have fun. The glow sticks were one of my favorite touches on the dance floor and for the exit. They came about because the venue pretty much didn’t allow throwing anything or any kind of fire – so we made our own light.
Riley and I graduated from the same high school, three years apart. Our parents live a few blocks from each other and did not know each other. It has been so fun to see our families come together and the fun our parents have together and the Christian marriages they have modeled for us. Riley’s mom, I would say the shyest of the group, came up with the idea of performing a surprise dance at the wedding. They took 8 weeks of dance lessons choreographed to “Shake Your Booty.” Unfortunately, the band did not have the right song so they were not very pleased with their performance. I told them don’t worry we will make you perform it at every major holiday from here on out.
Riley sells promotional items for companies so we came up with the idea of making a logo for the wedding and putting it on napkins, cups, koozies, welcome bags, and cookies. I created the look I wanted and the fonts and one of my mom’s sweet friends help me invert the letters and convert the format. We just about cleaned out all of the Targets in Dallas looking for mason jars. We wanted it later on account of the heat and so wanted as much lighting as possible. Riley’s mom is incredible with flowers and she did some of the arrangements on the tables.
When we decided on an outside wedding I knew we had to have our dog, Judge, in it. We got him the weekend that Riley proposed at William Faulkner’s home in Oxford, MS. My brother trains black labs and gave us Judge and his dog Tex is like part of the family. Having them in the wedding was one of the best and most stressful things. Judge spent the entire ceremony trying to get my bridesmaid Abbie to throw her bouquet for him to fetch. My brother even got in wedding planning mode and found and ordered the matching dog collars from a friend. One of our guest books was water color paintings and stories about oxford and the other was photography from Texas Hill Country.
Most of the details happened along the way. I never thought I would have orange as a color and could not have been more pleased. The flowers were done locally by Sprout, owned by Michelle Hodges – who we later put together when Riley’s parents met with her that she was his second grade teacher in Dallas. Also, I was so excited to find out my bonus-sister was a camp counselor with our photographer. The little connections like that made it very special.
For the flowers I had never really heard of Dahlia’s. This spring Southern Living did an article on them and I knew they would be the perfect fit for our wedding.
Programs – we knew it would be hot so thought fans would be a great idea. They were – except for the fact that assembling them is quite a bit harder than we had anticipated. We had a glueing party one night and used rubber cement which did not stick at all. It was a learning process.
My favorite DIY, if you can call it that, is the logs the cakes were on. Riley and I were walking Judge one night and someone had cut down a tree in their yard and the logs hadn’t been picked up yet. We went back home and got his truck and snatched them up. Little did we know they weighed a ton and got his back seat super dirty.
Lavender – my mom befriended the owner of Urban Herbal and we just had to have lavender scented things everywhere. My stepdad came up with the idea of iced down lavender scented towels. He may be more proud of that idea than getting his online certification to be a minister.
Photography: Everest Road Photography | Coordinator: Jasper Eisenberg | Flowers: Sprout | Wedding Dress: Stardust Celebrations | Cakes: The Sweetish Chef | Bridesmaid Dresses: Ryan Seacrest Distinction | Catering: Delicious Details | Groomsmen\'s Attire: Jos. A. Bank | Lavender Products: Urban Herbal