In 2016, I got to work on all of the event logistics for the Greater Dallas Walk to End Alzheimer’s – a fundraising walk with a goal of raising over $1,000,000.   The Walk took place on a beautiful October morning starting at the lawn at Reunion Park and then walking around downtown Dallas with a course of just around three miles.

    

 

 

It doesn’t get any cooler than Madison and James. So stylish. So fun.

They got married at Three Points Ranch which is one of my favorite venues around.  There are so many options for how to use the spaces at the venue (seriously, three totally different options for ceremony sites? Yes please) and Sally makes working there a breeze!

They said their vows under a cluster of oak trees, had cocktails in the Dining Barn and then dinner outside under the festoon lights and dancing in the Pavilion.

The theme for their wedding was something familiar to all proud Texans – “The stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas.” The goal was to be outside as much as possible under the stars – the twinkling festoons added to the canopy of stars overhead; down the long wooden dinner tables were beautiful constellation runners that Madison’s family had printed; and even when we met with Stems, we requested flowers that looked like starbursts. Stems did a beautiful job with the flowers – they felt rustic and wild, just like we had wanted. Upscale wildflowers!

Dinner was provided by BBQ Bill with sides by Central Market. Central Market did the cake as well – love the naked cake – with pies by Bluebonnet Cafe. And on top of cakes and pies, they had a smores station for their friends too! On a fall evening, that was just perfect – everyone loved sitting around the giant fire making their smores.

Let’s also talk about Madison’s style – she works for RewardStyle, so fashion is no small thing. Seriously, every time we met for anything throughout the planning, I was constantly in awe of her natural fashion swagger! So for her wedding, you can only imagine.  She wore a two piece bustier and skirt for the ceremony (with two veils!  A bird cage and a catherdral!) and part of the reception, and then she changed into the cutest green tulle tiered skirt to get her dance on.  And don’t get me started on her amazing shoes.

I absolutely loved everything about this wedding, most importantly, the two people who said “I do!” I’m mad for Madison and James!

Photos by Katherine O’Brien Photography.

 

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Lacy and Colby are impossibly cool.

You’ll see it in every single one of the photos by Leah with The Life You Love Photography. You’ll want to be friends with them instantly, I promise. How do I know? Because that’s what happened to me.  The day I met Lacy, I’m not going to lie, I’d been having a tough morning. But then I sat down with her, we bonded immediately, and I was so lucky that she decided to work together on the spot at the end of the meeting.

And from that meeting on, it was beyond wonderful to work with her and Colby.  They had such an amazing wedding in mind for their guests and Three Points Ranch was the perfect spot for it.  Warm, Texan, natural, amazing.

Let’s start with Lacy’s dress. I’m mad for it!  When she started describing her dress during the planning, I knew it was going to be amazing.  And then she sent me a photo from a fitting and I couldn’t believe it. Even better than I’d imagined!

They included so many custom touches throughout like the logoed mason jars, barbed wire table numbers, many colorful chalkboard signs, bandanas for napkins, and on and on!

Their ceremony took place in the most perfect cluster of trees you’ve ever seen.  Under an enclave of oaks and with their friends seated on benches shaped like an amphitheater, they said their vows. The ceremony included friends singing an acoustic song and a pause for Lacy to take photos of everyone from her vantage point.

Cocktail hour, dinner and dancing took advantage of lots of the spots Three Points Ranch has to offer – the whole night was spent mostly outside under the trees and cafe lights.

Rosehip Flora knocked the flowers out of the park.  These are some of the most beautiful flowers I have EVER seen, and they so perfectly fit the feel and design of the wedding. Textural, unusual, natural.  LOVE!

Catered by Pink Avocado, with music by Weldon Henson, and tiny pies for dessert by, well, Tiny Pies, this was just a blast of a wedding. Start to finish.

Check out the amazingness!

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Julie and Andrew came to me as a referral from Sherry Hammonds who photographed their wedding – Sherry and Andrew used to be colleagues! And boy am I glad because I just loved working with them on their fun fall wedding at Lakeway Resort and Spa!

Their wedding was a hybrid of art deco meets Gatsby meets classic meets glitter! How can you go wrong?? Lots of crafting which makes me a very happy lady! We created the gold dipped feathers for each place setting along with the glitter spiked balls for the cocktail tables. And then Julie glittered the hanging lanterns to frame the dance floor as well as created the chevron risers for the wedding cakes.  And then enter Stems to complete the puzzle! The ceremony setting that Stems created was just stunning – a beautiful, modern altar with acrylic bases to create height and oozing with candle light, both on the altar and down the aisle.  With the backdrop of Lakeway’s wall of windows, it was just spectacular! For the reception, we had two styles of centerpieces. Some were lush compotes filled with ivory flowers, and the others were clusters of candles surrounded by gold confetti.

Julie and Andrew danced the night away under their glittered-lantern dance floor to the sound of the Royal Dukes band!

Congrats, you two!

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Hilary and David’s wedding was a blast.  Actually, the word “blast” doesn’t quite do it justice.  We have so many things to talk about. Beautiful and romantic hill country setting. Amazing flowers and decor. Personal touches galore. Killer dance floor. And to top it all off, a surprise appearance by Mr. Met himself.  Like I said, so many things!  So let’s start from the beginning.

Their wedding took place at Thurman’s Mansion at the Salt Lick.  To get everyone in the right mood, they had a pre-ceremony cocktail hour which included armadillo races (so fun!) and music by bluegrass band The Clarkes.  Being a TV writer with lots of other folks who work in television as guests, Hilary wanted to have The Clarkes play bluegrass versions of classic TV theme songs as guests arrived and mingled before their ceremony.  It was such a sweet personal touch, and it was fun to see the crowd pick up on which theme songs were being played (like “Family Ties,” “Golden Girls,” and “Cheers.”).

Hilary and David’s traditional Jewish ceremony took place under a beautiful chuppah created by Unexpected Elements (now Wendee Sawran Petals & Decor) in the corner of the great lawn. As Hilary walked down the aisle, the band played “He’ll Make Me Happy” from The Muppets Take Manhattan.  Unexpected Elements set up white lanterns all around the chairs, so as the sun went down during the ceremony, it only got more and more romantic as the guests found themselves surrounded by a flood of candlelight.

Following the ceremony, cocktail hour continued on the lawn. We erected a naked tent draped in festoon lights by Ilios that really started to shine in the early evening – guests enjoyed more armadillo races, lawn games, a custom photo backdrop, cocktails and snacks.  We also set up lounge areas from Loot Vintage for people to hang out around the lawn and on the balcony of the Mansion.

The biggest surprise of the evening also came during cocktail hour.  David hails from New York and is a huge fan of the Mets. As a surprise to him, Hilary arranged for Mr. Met, the Mets mascot, to fly down to Austin as a surprise for David! So under the guise of taking a moment to welcome their guests, Hilary and David headed up to the stage on the lawn. At the end of her words to their friends and family, Hilary shouted, “Live from New York, it’s Mr. Met!” – we played the Mets theme song, and Mr. Met ran out onto the second floor balcony of the Mansion! It was such a fun moment and a great surprise for David and all the guests. Mr. Met stayed around for cocktail hour to take photos with the couple and the guests.

After cocktail hour, everyone headed into the Mansion to take their seats for a BBQ dinner at long rows of farm tables. As guests headed inside for dinner, they grabbed their seat assignments – the escort cards were a fun nod to David’s New York background. We worked with a local artist to create a chalkboard of the reception layout that was designed to look like an NYC subway map.  And we attached MetroCard escort cards with magnets – she wrote guest names on the black strip with white ink. She also created a giant 4′ x 8′ chalkboard of their menu – I really can’t capture how amazing it was in a description, but don’t worry, there’s a photo of it below. As we worked on the design for the wedding, Hilary and I came up with the idea of having an ombre color fade set up across the whole room in the flowers, and Wendee from Unexpected Elements killed it! The flowers started at one end in a buttery light yellow and transitioned across the whole room ending in a deep maroon.  The effect was so beautiful! To continue the subway theme, the table numbers were subway line logos that we stuck into the centerpieces. And since their wedding was on November 2nd, we also included a colorful Dia De Los Muertos display – papel picado, Catrina dolls, and paper flowers.

After dinner, the real fun began. This was one of the most epic dance floors ever.  We flew DJ Car Stereo Wars in from Brooklyn (he was the perfect fit for Hilary and David – a combo of New York and Texas!) and he was AWESOME. He did a perfect job of keeping the dance floor packed all night!  Guests enjoyed cakes by Blue Note Bakery (check out the bride’s cake nod to Disney’s “Robin Hood”), and Hilary’s mom made Mexican wedding cookies.

When you have a custom designed wedding logo as cute as Hilary and David’s top hat-wearing armadillo, you want to put it on everything! There were branded pieces all throughout the wedding from stir sticks and napkins to the bibs (hey, gotta keep people’s outfits protected when you’re having BBQ!) to the sparkler sleeves for the exit. And the taxidermy armadillo from their Welcome Party made an appearance at the wedding as well.  As I mentioned, Hilary is a TV writer. Well, they are quite the talented wordsmith couple – David is also a writer! As a final appearance for their armadillo, their favors were branded notebooks and pencils that guests grabbed on their way back to the buses at the end of the night.

With their Welcome Dinner the day before at the Contemporary Austin and their Farewell Brunch the day after on the lawn of the Four Seasons, Hilary and David’s wedding weekend was amazing.  They had bought the URL weddingofthecentury.org for their wedding website and the weekend truly lived up to it!

Photos by Jake Holt Photography.

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Brooklyn meets California meets Texas.

Carolyn and Ben’s wedding incorporated them all (starting with their logo!) – a sweet southern wedding at Star Hill Ranch with lots of Cali/Brooklyn cool and a dash of vintage flair.

They tied the knot down at the arbor at Star Hill under a suspended greenery arch created by Rosehip Flora standing on a vintage rug. After their sweet ceremony, cocktail hour took place on the Main Street of the venue.  Guests noshed on Royal Fig appetizers to the sound of Heybale! We created some fun gathering areas in the street using wooden tables and benches and mismatched chairs we rented from the venue (seriously, Adam at Star Hill has amassed an amazing collection of pieces!) interspersed with barrel cocktail tables.  We worked closely with ILD Lighting to create some fun lighting in all the various spaces – outside in the street, we supplemented the cafe lights that Star Hill has already and added in some additional strands to add some more lighting.

For dinner, everyone headed into the school house for an amazing meal by Royal Fig. For the lighting in the school house, ILD strung festoons across the ceiling in both the inside and outside spaces, so the entire venue looked like it was twinkling! Rosehip did an amazing job of capturing Carolyn and Ben’s vision of sweet, natural flowers.  I loved the whole feel of the reception.

After dinner, we asked everyone to start making their way to the Fitzhugh building for dancing – as a surprise to the guests, when they stepped out into the street, they were treated to an amazing Lion dancing performance! And the lion dancers slowly moved the whole crowd down the street to the Fitzhugh building.

Inside Fitzhugh, we worked closely with Loot Vintage to create a number of seating areas with lots of fun couches/tables.  They had also arranged for a photo booth from The Traveling Photo Booth that we set up in Fitzhugh B along with the bar and some other seating. And we even had some more barrel cocktail tables in the bridge area between Fitzhugh A and B – guests had lots of options during the reception of places to sit, hang out or things to do! Their dessert was a beautiful bake sale style display of cakes by Blue Note Bakery and pies set up on a wood table we rented from Star Hill.

Such a fun, gorgeous day!

Photos by Katherine O’Brien Photography

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All the vendors involved in Hilary and Ernie’s wedding, well, adored them. Any time we’d be talking about their timeline or layout or set up, inevitably someone would say something about how nice they are.  Seriously, every single time.  Because when you get to work with a couple like this, you feel so lucky to be a part of it. Hilary and Ernie are awesome!!

They got married on a gorgeous fall day at The Vineyards at Chappel Lodge which is such a cool venue.  Tucked away in South Austin, you’d have no idea that such a beautiful outdoor space is even there until you drive right up to it! Their ceremony was outside in an enclave of trees under a stunning arbor designed by Visual Lyrics.  How beautiful is that? Love.

And then after the ceremony, cocktail hour was in the courtyard followed by dinner and dancing in the open plaza area with an amazing dessert bar by Sugar Mamas Bakeshop inside.

I loved the design the they created with Visual Lyrics – the guys’ boutonnieres had gears woven in and the centerpieces all had a large piece of metal machinery somehow woven in, like a giant spring that the flowers sat in, or a large gear at the base. All so cool! Juxtaposed with the soft flowers and greenery, it created such a beautiful effect!  And then, having Royal Fig Catering as a part of your wedding is always a good idea. Dinner and dancing under the lights strung by Ilios just made for such a fun, romantic setting. And DJ Digg did a great job keeping the party going.

Take a look – you’ll fall in love!

Photos by Forever Photography

 

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Take two seriously awesome people and combine with a dream team of vendors and what do you get?  A badass wedding.

Jen and John are too cool for school and also two of the nicest people ever.  Working with them was just a joy.

They did an amazing job of putting together an amazing roster of vendors – Catering with a Twist, Posey Floral, DJ Go Go Garcia, Sweet Treets Bakery and then on top of all of that, Cory Ryan to document all of the fun.

Their wedding at the Allan House was gorgeous.  First, Jen’s bridesmaids are in some of my all time favorite dresses – everyone in mismatched varieties of metallics, sparkles, sequins. The effect of all of them standing side by side was just stunning. Love!  And Posey did a beautiful job with all of the flowers, keeping things soft with pops of gold (love the gold painted succulents so much! I might have to DIY some of those just for myself!) from the personals to the centerpieces. There were three types of centerpieces – a low overflowing compote, a cluster of bottles with succulent accents at the base, and then some tall gold containers with lush arrangements on top for the family tables and the head table.  Everything looked stunning! And let’s talk about dinner… the food was so fun too! Catering with a Twist had 3 food stations around the courtyard – sushi, tacos, and sliders! And then on top of all of that, the late night stack station was such a winner – Frito pies and donut holes! Seriously.

I hadn’t worked with DJ Go Go Garcia before, but I am a huge fan now! My assistant and I were joking that he was so great, he should DJ our day to day lives.  Just to have an awesome soundtrack all the time.  I loved the playlist – so many amazing songs, things I hadn’t heard in a long time! So. Fun.

And then when it was time for the wedding to end… lavender buds for everyone to toss! The photos of their exit are just so perfect.

Their lovely day was featured on Love and Lavender – you can see the feature here!

 

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Let’s talk about the awesomeness that is Sheer and Ryan. So kind, smart, funny, and LOTS of fun. (We’ll get to more of the fun when we get to their dance floor.)  I absolutely loved working with these two from my first phone call with Sheer to seeing them off at the end of their Mercury Hall wedding!

They tied the knot under the oak trees on a brisk January day – and thoughtful as they are, they even had blankets for their guests to share during the ceremony! A really personal touch that I loved was that they had their family process with and hold up their chuppah for the ceremony, so as they said their vows, they had their whole families standing up with them throughout the ceremony (with their adorable pup Sambo in the first row! He even stuck around for some portraits after the ceremony. Seriously, I can’t get over that dog).

After the ceremony, everyone was ready to celebrate! Inside the hall, I loved the clean beauty of the design that they put together. Keeping the chairs and linens in white, the lovely flowers provided pops of yellows and greens with some natural paper elements for table numbers and escort cards (with green fern detailing to boot!). Brooke with Pollen Floral Art did such a beautiful job with the flowers. Everything felt so easy and natural.  Just pure pretty!

After a delicious dinner by Austin Catering, it was time to party.  Sean with ATX DJ is one of my favorite DJs to work with – he knows what he’s doing, and Sheer and Ryan’s reception was a perfect example of that! They had put together an amazing playlist and then Sean ran with it and kept the dance floor going and going with only a quick break for cake and cupcakes by Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop for something sweet.  As me and my assistant stood off to the side, I told her this was a wedding I wish I could’ve been a guest at. Dance. Party.

I feel like Sheer, Ryan and their guests could have danced for days, but alas, all good things have to come to an end, and eventually it was time to say goodbye. So they hopped into their pedicab and headed off into the night!

Such a perfect wedding.

Photos by Sledd Weddings.

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To wrap up their amazing wedding weekend, Hilary and David threw a Farewell Brunch for their guests on the lawn of the Four Seasons.

We were so lucky and had gorgeous weather all weekend long, so it made for a perfect setting for an outdoor brunch!

Photos by Jake Holt Photography

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