Texas Weddings

Does anyone else care that it is negative 4 in Boston today? Ummm, that should be against the law or something. So, since I am positively freezing, I thought we could warm up a bit with an Austin, Texas wedding that is as delightful and charming as they possibly get. Photographed by Suzi Q, the wedding is this perfect combination of style and handmade charm. And heart it big time.

The wedding was held at The Mansion, a part of the Texas Federation of Women’s Club. Those amazing sweets were made by the bride’s cousin, flowers were designed by another cousin and the hor’dourves were in part made by the bride’s mother! Don’t you love that. It was a true family affair and we were so happy to give you a little peek into the day.

Vendors: Photography by Suzi Q / Venue at The Mansion, Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs / Music by The Blues Specialists / Catering by Pink Avocado Catering / Lighting by Ilios Lighting / Sweets by Sweet and Tasty / Gown by Alexia Gavela Bridal

Today has kind of turned into a do-it-yourself day… and you can see why. The wedding we featured earlier today was loaded with colorful hand-crafted details and this afternoon’s feature is no exception. Sent to us by Bella Flora Creative, Libby and Matt’s wedding at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, was a charming affair with lots of sweet little touches… in other words, right up our alley!

I love, love, love this color palette. It’s modern but still very natural… and the soft afternoon light with the pop of bright yellows and bold grays, is just divine. Now… about those little fabric flowers?!?! The mix match patterns add a ton of character to the color scheme. Seriously adorable!

From the wedding coordinator, Harper Ferguson…

The bride and her mother made the cute fabric flowers that were dotted around the reception including at each place setting. All of the wish cards for the bride and groom were kept in vintage library card catalog boxes and the escort cards each featured fabric buttons that corresponded to the fabric flower favors at each place setting. Each guest received a personal blank journal from Libby and Matt with their favorite Latin phrase.

Credits: Wedding coordination and Flowers by Bella Flora Creative, Photography by Brett Buchanan, Wedding gown by Watters.

Congratulations to Libby and Matt and a big thank you to Harper Ferguson from Bella Flora Creative for sending this wedding our way. The details have put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Before we dive into our next real wedding, I wanted to let all of you vendors and wedding junkies out there that I will be speaking at the Nuptial Essential’s Austin Convention on October 27th (the event goes thru the 29th) with some of Austin’s premier wedding vendors. Oh and guess who else will be there…wait for it…none other than Colin Cowie! Yep, I am so thrilled to be speaking at an event alongside Colin and hope that you’ll come out and join us! Oh and it’s at the Driskill Hotel which just happens to he coolest hotel EVER!

The event is really a place where vendors can network with each other, swap trade secrets and learn from some of the industries pros. It’s a great learning opportunity and will give you a chance to visit one of the best cities in the country! From effectively running your business to an intimate Q & A with area vendors, this is a great opportunity for any wedding or event professional. Plus, I will be chatting all about blogging and how to utilize the newest form of social media to market and grow your own brand.

It’s going to be an INCREDIBLE event and I hope to see some of you there! Click here for more details.

When Abby asked me if I could do today’s feature, I was really excited, and I’m not going to lie, a little nervous… but she made it pretty easy for me. This wedding is right up my alley. I am head over heels for this couple’s sweet, quirky style. Plus, I love the eco-friendly approach to their day.

Now, about their awesome wedding day attire… To honor the bride’s late father, the groom wore the suit Holley’s dad wore at her parent’s wedding in 1979. I mean come-on, how completely adorable is that?!?! Yep, the groom can rock that “something old” too. Holley chose a handmade dress from Etsy, built with a recycled corset and slip. I was already a HUGE fan of Etsy, but I think they just got a few more points in my book… this dress is utterly delightful!

Photography by The Nichols.

From the bride…

Our number one goal for the wedding and reception was for all of our friends and family to come together in the ultimate party. That’s why we tried to set up different areas for people to have fun in: dance floor, digital photobooth, dessert display with photos taken by Jason’s sister, and one of my favorite projects, a line of Polaroids of Jason and me throughout the years, strung up with mini clothespins. The theme and colors were pretty loose, but roughly we wanted to create an English garden feel for the wedding and reception: that’s how we chose pale pink and cream garden roses, antique hydrangea, and pale gray and green accents. I had so much fun ordering mismatched teacups off of Ebay for guests to drink out of–they were a big hit! We also created homemade, edible favors for our guests: boxes of chocolate truffles, inked with pale florals and test tubes filled with all natural, locally made honey.

Photography by The Nichols.

We tried to keep our wedding as sustainable as possible. One of the many reasons we chose our venue, Barr Mansion, is because it is the only certified organic wedding venue in the United States. All of the delicious food was organic. Barr Mansion recycles everything that can possibly be recycled, and they try to use local flowers and foods whenever possible. We made sure the favors were edible and not things that guests would just throw away. Having the ceremony and reception at the same site helped save gas, too. Instead of renting a vintage Mustang (which I totally would’ve done), we borrowed my mom’s Prius to use as our getaway car.

This wedding is so simple, so lovely and still FULL of personality. The rustic little details, the pine, the favors, the mason jars, add such charm to the day. I really can’t get enough. And, let’s not forget those teacups… absolutely perfect. A huge thank you to The Nichols for sharing this beautiful wedding with us! Congratulations to Holley and Jason!

Sooo, Abby and Tait are on their way to a wedding in Colorado right now so I have the pleasure of sharing today’s beautiful wedding with you… and let me tell you, you’re in for a treat. Amazing husband and wife team, The Nichols, completely captured this couple’s whimsical, romantic style.

From the photographer…

Holley and Jason wanted to do their best to plan a green wedding, so Barr Mansion in Austin, Texas fit perfectly into their vision. Barr Mansion is the only certified organic wedding venue in the U.S. and it’s vintage, rustic charm was the perfect setting for their English Garden-styled wedding.

From the bride, Holley…

After a seemingly endless drought in Austin, the skies opened up on our wedding weekend, turning what was supposed to be a garden ceremony into a barn wedding. We went with the flow, and everyone said the rain trickling down the large wall of windows really added to the atmosphere.

I couldn’t agree more. The rain even makes the whole scene feel more English and charming… plus, it doesn’t hurt that the bride and groom are COMPLETELY adorable.

More to come in just a bit!

A lot of you know that I live in the beautiful city of Boston, Massachusetts. But for me, it’s Texas that will always feel like home. And when I saw this rehearsal dinner that the fabulous Courtney Caplan designed, I instantly became homesick for the Texas style that I know so well. And really hungry for guacamole.

The rehearsal was held  at One World Theatre in Austin and Townsley Design decked out the space with chocolate suede sofas, ottomans and super chic pillows. The FABULOUS team at Petal Pushers (Little Black Book members, of course!) did all of the florals. It was catered by Kurant Events and was followed by Asleep at the Wheel…an award winning Texas swing band!

If you are lucky enough to be planning a wedding in Austin…Caplan Miller Events and Petal Pushers are THE BEST. I got to hang out with the girls at Engage ’09 and not only are they wildly talented, they’re also really great people!

There is something so sweet about today’s first featured wedding. The paper poms, the single stems in lovely vases, the pink and gold palette. The bride found a ton of inspiration from Martha Stewart and she managed to capture that pretty simplicity to perfection.

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!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a blast at my brother-in-law’s 30th birthday (Happy B-Day, Brad!), hitting up the children’s museum with our little bug, hanging out enjoying the summer. I wish it would stay Summer forever!

Anyway, over the weekend, I got an email from one of our readers wondering why we don’t show more country club weddings. After all, many of you are looking to throw traditional, sweet weddings in area clubs and need more inspiration!

So, I am on the hunt for chic, stylish country club chic affairs and this one is just that! It’s a little more simple than some of you are probably looking for, but it is utterly charming and will offer TONS of ideas and inspirations!

Photographed by none other than Little Black Book member Q Weddings (awesome by the way), this wedding is ALL about the pretty. Which we love! Here are some details from the beautiful bride…

Jason and I wanted an intimate wedding, so we invited everyone who’ve made a difference in our lives, and that became the theme.  We had 40 guests and no strangers.  People came from all over the world to see us, and we wanted to treat them right.  The menu included a steak and chicken duet plate because, well, why not have both?!

I was very hands-on with all the decorations, including the centerpieces and the place cards, etc.  The paper pompoms from Martha Stewart Crafts made all the difference in our wedding, and the pink fluffy hydrangeas on the tables really complimented them.

Because most men don’t care for wedding favors, I decided to please the ladies of the crowd with mini perfumes.  It’s a little indulgent but at the end, every girl smelled pretty and felt special.  I loved the way my mom arranged it.  They were just lovely!

MORE TO COME!

If there is one thing that I can’t get enough of, it’s wedding details. Done right, details will make a wedding magazine-worthy (or in this case, SMP worthy). Details will give your guests a glimpse into the hours upon hours spent poring over every little touch, every little wedding planning piece of crazy. Details are one of the best ways to put your style stamp on your wedding, a way to let your nearest and dearest know just how special the evening is.

And when I saw the details that the unbelievable Courtney Caplan of Caplan Miller Events designed for this affair…well, I swooned.

photography by Diana M. Lott

From Courtney…

The bride’s oldest sister is a huge fan of Amy Atlas’s candy stations, so we did our best to design one that was inspired by her perfect creations.  The flower girls wore little, yellow ballerina tutus, walking down the aisle to twinkle, twinkle little star.

After dinner the guests went back outside to the original ceremony area where we moved the chuppah to cover their wedding cake, added ottomans for seating, space heaters and cocktail tables.  We had their band, toasts, a fantastic hora! and the best part of the night…. a fire pit and s’mores station.

{to see the full gallery, click here!}

Today’s second featured wedding is pure heaven. Designed by the FABULOUS Caplan Miller Events (seriously people, remember this incredible event that they did a few months back?), the affair is all about the chic. Perfect yellow inspired chic.

Photography by Diana M. Lott

With an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception, the design team really managed to create an event that captured the romance of the venue…the bride’s family home in Austin, Texas. Here are a few more details from Courtney…

We moved the guests to the garage area for cocktail hour.  We literally moved their entire set of dining room and living room  furniture to the garage area and used this as our lounge seating.  Guests were served lemon drop martinis, margaritas on the rocks and there was plenty of Coors Light available (groom’s favorite) with yellow koozies to match.  The bride’s youngest sister set a black and white damask backdrop over one of the garage doors for a fun backdrop used for photos that guests could take themselves.

Guests were then lead inside the home for dinner.  We used their living room and dining room to seat 180 guests!  The 20 guests in the wedding party sat on the patio at a long dramatic head-table.  All florals were created with a mix of yellow flowers and blooming branches.

Photography by Diana M. Lott

We have more on the way from this yummy, yummy wedding!

{to see the full gallery, click here!}

My obsession with all things yellow is somewhat new. Even when gray and yellow became color palette staples, I wasn’t completely sold. And to be honest, I am not sure what triggered the love affair. But whatever the cause, my love affair with all things yellow has been taken to an entirely new level thanks to this incredible wedding that the forever talented Courtney Caplan sent me…

I mean come on. How stinking cute is this? The yellow (I am thinking J Crew) dresses paired with the khaki suits. The perfect flowers designed by who else but Petal Pushers in Austin. The adorable bride and groom. It’s so lovable, it’s almost hard to believe! Oh and it looks really, really fun. Can’t beat that!

the amazing photographs were shot by Diana M. Lott Photography

Here are a few details from Courtney of Caplan Miller Events…

This is a wedding that I did in March in Austin, Texas at the bride’s parent’s home on Lake Travis. We first started designing this wedding by covering the entire back yard with a custom riser to cover their existing landscaping.  We used white carpet, white staging and white dancefloor.  Our ceremony took place on this platform and was then turned for the band, dancing and dessert later in the evening.

We used an iron chuppah that was covered in Texas smilax and yellow florals by LBB vendor, Petal Pushers – she created moss letters with their initials, hanging lanterns and shepherd hooks to line our aisle.  Bridesmaids were in yellow JCrew dresses.

The guests were greeted with fresh lemonade before being ushered to their seats.  The bride used a local Grammy award winner as her pianist (Floyd Domino) for ceremony and cocktail hour music.

{to see the full gallery, click here!}

We have readers that work on every type of budget imaginable…from $2,000 to $200,00 and just about everything in between. So while we don’t always focus on one type of wedding over another, we hope that budgets large and small can find inspirations and ideas from those we do feature on SMP.

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!

The past two days have been all about weddings that fall in the $5,000-$10,000 range. But more importantly, they are weddings where the bride and groom allow those that are closest to them to really help define the day. Those where their unique personalities are infused into the wedding style. Those where details really shine. And, regardless of their budget, I love that Amy + Matt did just that.

Ahh…I can just breathe a sigh of pure happiness when I look at these photographs. They were shot by Luna Photography and do an absolutely brilliant job at conveying the soft, pretty elegance of the day. Here are a few more details from Amy…

We recycled everything that we could and along with having some yummy micro brewed beers we chose to get a keg of my husband’s favorite organic beer to cut back on the waste (and cost). For a year we collected glass mason and milk jars, some vintage and some spaghetti sauce jars to use as vases and candle holders. All of our candles were hand made by a local man who only uses soy and chemical free products. We wanted our flowers to have a “hand-picked” feel and we brought down a bunch of potted herbs that we planted ourselves. This was a big money saver for us and now the herbs are growing in our garden and in some of our family and friend’s gardens too! The day after our wedding was Mother’s Day so we decided to take our left-over flowers to a retirement home so that the flowers could be enjoyed by the mothers there. We hated the idea of just throwing them away!

All flowers were done by Bouquets of Austin and event planning was done by Aimee of Liz Belle. More on the way!

Oh and here’s a hint about the upcoming giveaway…we are officially calling June, Green Wedding Month, so think super chic, super green, unbelievably awesome.

We gave you a little sneaky peek of Amy and Matt’s wedding in the making yesterday, but now it’s time to see the actual affair and all of the incredible details. Plus, Amy is stopping by to share some behind the scenes secrets and inspirations!

Paula and Mike of Luna Photography are the talent behind the gorgeous photographs. Although they aren’t a budget studio, Amy and Matt saw the beauty in their work (and so did we, as we’ve asked them to be a part of our Little Black Book!) and were able to sacrifice in other areas to book this duo and fly them out from San Diego!

Here are a few words from Amy, the lovely bride…

There are a lot of things that are important to my husband and me; a couple of the most significant are family, healthy living and the environment. With those things in mind, when we started planning our wedding neither of us wanted to do anything too wasteful or meaningless, so we strived to make our wedding simple yet elegant and as meaningful as possible. We really wanted our wedding to feel more like a family reunion or garden party. In choosing our vendors we tried to find people that have the same ideals we do and it was really important to us that we support small and/or local companies. We wanted our money to go towards helping support fellow artists (my husband is an artist) and people trying to make a living doing what they love.

So much more on the way! Oh and guess what…we have THE BEST GIVEAWAY today. Seriously, you are going to die!

So, for those of you that are curious, I got the idea for today’s feature after I got an email from a sweet and loyal reader who was hoping that I would show her a few more $5,000-$10,000 as her family has been hit hard by the economy and she and her fiance are footing the bill for their affair. And yet like all brides, she still wants a beautiful wedding.

Sounded reasonable enough to me! So, I sent out a twitter (or a tweet, however you are supposed to say it) and ended up getting some pretty fantastic budget friendly affairs! This one, sent to me by the incredibly talented Paula of Luna Photography, made me actually squeal with glee!

Before I show you the wedding, though, I wanted to share these ADORABLE pictures of the bride and groom outfitting the Allen House in Austin, Texas, for their big day!

With a couple this cute, and this chic…you just KNOW the wedding is going to be good!! Back tomorrow with all of the incredible details!

Thank you so very much to Heather for sharing these gorgeous images with us. Heather is traveling right now, but if you want to email her about her services in the Austin area, just click here.  And, thank you to Ever After Images for giving Heather the opportunity to share her incredible work with us. And an even bigger thank you to Amy and Craig for letting us show off your big day!

Lots more to come including a pretty awesome giveaway later today!

Loving every bit of today’s perfect, Southern wedding. Heather Wendling was one of the photographers behind the affair and she did a beautiful job at capturing the sweet simplicity of the day.

Heather was assisting the contracted photographers, Ever After Images on this particular shoot.

From Heather…

The groom, Craig, is a musician, evident by the amazing Bluegrass band which performed at the reception and had everyone up on their feet, dancing and having a great time.  Dinner tables were decorated with wildflowers in glass cola bottles and a packet of seeds guests could take home and plant in the garden.  In one of the bridal party photos, everyone is holding a glass bottle full of homebrew made by the groom’s family especially for the wedding.  In place of a bride or groom’s cake, guests enjoyed delicate pink and cream cupcakes.

Today we are featuring my sweet friend, Heather Wendlings photography…she is just starting out but is already getting applause for her simple, absolutely beautiful work. It does help when you have a wedding that is as adorable as this one!

Heather was assisting the contracted photographers, Ever After Images on this particular shoot.

From Heather…

Craig wore a beige linen suit and groomsmen wore brown suspenders and boots.  The bride, Amy, is very laid-back – she wore a gorgeous, floor length empire waisted gown with cowboy boots underneath and her hair down and loose with a single flower on one side.  Throughout the day she looked relaxed and absolutely stunning.  I’ve honestly never seen a dress like hers and the jewelry she chose made it even more unique.  The bridesmaids bouquets were bright wildflowers of differnt shapes and heights and really popped against their blue dresses.

One of my very favorite things about my job is discovering new talent. Great new photographers, invitation designers that are just starting out, cake bakers and planners, cinematographers and event designers. It’s so incredibly inspiring to watch people who are living their dreams, who are just taking off on their creative adventure.

Which is exactly why I am so thrilled to introduce Heather Wendling, a brand spanking new photographer who just happens to be one of my childhood besties. I was totally blown away by her work and by the charming, Texas style wedding that she recently shot…

Heather was assisting Ever After Images on this particular shoot, though all of these shots were captured by Heather herself. And, she’s stopping by to share a bit of the detail!

Both the outdoor ceremony and reception took place at Starhill Ranch in South Austin.  The ranch consists of several re-stored buildings which have been re-located to the site, including a house for the bride and bridesmaids to relax and get ready, a “saloon” for the groomsmen, a chapel perfect for small weddings, a barber shop which serves as an office for the ranch owners, a large house with a porch overlooking rolling hills where dinner was served and a dance hall with old wooden floors for perfect dancing.  Essentially the wedding took place in a charming little town where everyone knew one another.  As the night wore on guests were outside under string lights enjoying the beautiful night, chatting on the porches of the buildings, ringing the bell in the chapel (a favorite for younger guests) or inside on the dance floor.

Today’s featured Little Black Book member D. Jones Photography is located in Houston, but accepts commissions throughout Texas, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Mexico and Europe. David and Laura sent us some absolutely beautiful images from a fabulous wedding outside of White Hall, Texas.

Katherine and Ian’s countryside ceremony was in a lovely grove of trees.  After the ceremony, family and guests enjoyed lawn games, drinks, dinner and dancing late into the evening  …

Ian is in the British Navy. He and Katherine currently reside in France.

The totally beautiful flowers that highlighted the entire day were provided Little Black Book member, Melanie at The Last Petal.

Thanks so much to Laura Burlton and David Jones for sending us today’s great wedding. For all Style Me Pretty fans, I do have to set the record straight, though. Not all Texans can ride a horse. Really. And many of us have never played horseshoes either! But we do all know a lovely wedding when we see it!