Get ready for an overload of precious, make your heart happy, details from an adorable couple who just happen to be high school sweethearts. This wedding was a family affair in every respect, even the chandeliers that were used (wait until you see them!) are from the Mother of the Bride’s personal collection. Believe me, it doesn’t stop there. The bride made the cake toppers out of two vintage birds from a dollar store! True story. The welcome sign? It’s from their old fence. This beautiful wedding captured by Kristi Wright Photography just goes to show how things right under your nose can be turned into fabulous personal touches for your wedding. I am so inspired by this couple I may or may not be sizing up the wooden fence in our backyard to see if we can put it to use… XOXO, (the other) Abby from Life in the Super Burbs.
{click here to see the full affair}
A few words from the talented bride, Stephanie. It is SO worth the read:
High school sweethearts! Edwin and I have been together for 11 years! When we first started planning the wedding, we knew right from the start that we wanted to have a vintage country wedding. We both love the Texas hill country so finding the right venue in the hill country was important. We planned a spring wedding because the weather is usually perfect and all the flowers and lovely Texas bluebonnets are in full bloom. Once we set our date we had 9 months to plan the wedding. I did a lot of research on anything and everything vintage country. We shared our vision with our family and for next 9 months we were making and buying things for the wedding.
After a drawn out search, we came across Chapel Dulcinea and 12 Oaks Ranch; we fell in love with both venues. 12 Oaks Ranch for its openness and the beauty of the oak trees that surround it in its hill country setting and Chapel Dulcinea for its old fashion Spanish chapel on the edge of a cliff overlooking the hill country. What was even greater about both venues was that Chapel Dulcinea was free and 12 Oaks Ranch was allowing us to decorate the day before and also gave us the freedom to decorate as we wished to make our vision of a vintage country wedding come to life. The venue was already beautiful in its self but it just needed a splash of vintage décor to tie the theme in. We wanted to make sure we created a beautiful eclectic setting of peacefulness, joy and comfort for our guests.
When it came down to finding a photographer, we knew we wanted a photographer that shot modern-in the moment pictures. After searching and searching, we came across Kristi Wright’s website. Once we viewed her portfolio and had a meeting with her; we knew she was the perfect photographer to shoot our engagement and wedding pictures.
We made sure we integrated meaningful things into our wedding. Edwin is from the coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico so we incorporate his culture in the food and entertainment. For entertainment, we hired Huapangos, a trio of Mexican folk singers; somewhat like Mariachis but without the trumpet. As for the food we served carne de rez (pulled beef) cooked in a red sauce with warm corn tortillas, green salsa, fresh cilantro, chopped onions along an old fashion bottled Mexican Coca Cola or orange Fanta. Our wedding guests had the choice of frozen margaritas, cold beer and sangria served in a mason jar with a stamped tag that had our initials and the wedding date. For fear of people losing their mason jar; each mason jar had a different picture and phrase stamped on the back of the tag.
My late grandmother’s favorite color was lavender so we incorporated lavender roses into our table flower arrangements. Each table centerpiece was different. Some had vintage crochet doilies (inspired by a wedding I saw on Style Me Pretty), vintage books, a big mason jar filled with fresh flowers, a bow tied around the lip and a crystal prism hung in the center of the jar (another SMP inspiration) from my mother’s old chandeliers. My mother has a beautiful collection of vintage chandeliers, we wanted to give the venue some elegance so my father, uncle and Edwin hung several chandeliers all throughout the venue; the biggest one hung in the middle of the dance floor.
Our whole family shares a love for antiques. Throughout the months leading up to the wedding we’d go to their homes and pick for things that we felt we could incorporate into the wedding. It was truly special seeing all of our family’s things from their homes at our wedding.
Before we got married we had our old fence replaced. Edwin and I saved all the pieces of old wood from our fence to make direction signs and we also used the old entry door to make our welcome sign. My bouquet and boutonnieres were done by West Bank Flower Market. As for the flowers in the centerpieces, I ordered some from West Bank Flower Market in bulk and the rest I purchased at a local supermarket. Edwin and I have a huge sweet tooth so we definitely knew we had to have a candy bar. Our candy bar had all of our favorite candy, cookies and snacks! I made our cake topper out of 2 vintage birds I found at a dollar store! Along the outside of the pavilion we hung a 200ft homemade doily garland in the oak trees starting from the front of the venue all around the back of the venue. We had a beautiful book made of our engagement pictures to serve as a guest sign in book.
Almost everything we used at the wedding was once used. We bought things from thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales and Craigslist! We had the honor of having Edwin’s parents neighbor, a music teacher, play her violin before and after the ceremony. She played one of our favorite songs, La Vie En Rose as we walked down the aisle.