hilary + david


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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Comments

One Response to “hilary + david”
  1. Rebecca says:

    How did you make the Metro Card escort cards?! I am very interested in doing something similar and I do not know how to!

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