Autumn, a native Texan, and Simon, a British professional tennis player, met while Simon was playing in a tournament at Autumn’s university. She showed him some Southern hospitality, and when she returned to Bath, England to study abroad the following summer, he returned the favor. They married in a gorgeous ceremony at Villa Antonia overlooking the rolling hills of Austin, Texas …
Stacy Reeves always sends us such terrific weddings and the images from Autumn and Simon’s wedding are certainly no exception! In addition to the absolutely beautiful couple, this venue is positively perfect!
Simon and Autumn’s Story …
Simon and I met one very fateful day in the spring of my junior year at Texas A&M University. At this time, Simon was playing tennis both on the pro tour and once again for his University while working on a grad degree. Simon had traveled to the US as part of the British Universities Tennis team, playing against colleges in California and Texas – including Texas A&M. I was in the girls’ organization, 30-Loves, that helped run and score the men’s tennis home matches. That night I scored Simon’s match, and needed to quickly speak with him after the match – the only time in my 4 years I spoke to a visiting player! As our conversation quickly turned casual, it came up that my brother and I were visiting England that summer. After speaking for a little while, Simon offered to show me around when I came to England and we agreed to meet up. Well, we ended up spending the whole two weeks together, and thus began our very long-distance relationship.
After nearly 3 years of flying back and forth across the pond, we decided enough was enough, and that I would come to England. Just two weeks into the move, we took a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland and Simon completely surprised me by proposing on a perfect night over looking the city! Once back in London, and after agreeing we should have the wedding in beloved Texas, the long-distance wedding planning began…
Thanks to the internet with its endless information, wedding websites, and especially Skype!, plus an amazing mother and friends back home, combined with a love for planning and organization anyway – planning from far away turned out to be not too difficult! The only things I’d always known I’d wanted were an outdoors wedding, and in the fall. After a discussion with Simon, we both agreed that in addition, the other important factors to us was that we wanted a really nice venue, but still a laid-back affair, with good food and drink and just our families and close friends – keeping it under a hundred people. We also, wanted a special but short ceremony, spending the majority of the time at the reception with our guests. Simon was wonderful and just basically let me go for it, while still being interested as I shared the coming together of the details with him.
The biggest decision was the venue – Villa Antonia proved to be perfect on so many accounts! It was exactly the look we were going for: country – yet still elegant, beautiful views, intimate, and a venue that accommodated both the ceremony and reception! It also took care of the ‘good food and drink’ front, as the catering company they use had amazing food and also took care of the drinks! As for theme/colors I knew I wanted the feeling of an elegant but rustic fall affair, and I didn’t really have ‘colors’ – I wanted to be able to mesh metals (silver/gold/bronze), with neutrals (tan/black/brown), while still bringing in rich colors of the fall through my flowers. I didn’t want to stick to one bold color theme and distract from the natural beauty of the outdoor setting and rustic villa – instead I wanted my decorative choices to be able to blend right in to this setting. So, to still bring in the rich fall colors, I pulled together a variety of some of my favorite colored flowers to go with big yellow roses of Texas, of course!
Though getting a mix of flowers can be more expensive, we doubled the use of my bridesmaid’s bouquets using them to fill the birch covered mason jar vases we had put together in the centerpieces. The centerpieces on the tables also included metal lanterns, white and dark green fall gourds, and candles – again creating that intimate, rustic, fall setting. There really were just so many details that made our wedding perfect…. from the save the dates, invitations and programs that I made myself, to the two most delicious cakes ever – including a nod to England with Simon’s favorite football (soccer!) team on his, to the perfect playlist at the reception – thanks to doing it ourselves on iTunes and having my brother and one of the groomsmen DJ, to the PERFECT (70, sunny, slight breeze) weather, to of course…. THE dress!
Everything really did just come together so perfectly on the day… We really were blessed to start our lives together as a married couple on such an awesome day with so many of our friends and family there to help us celebrate!
Photographer: Stacy Reeves
Catering: Sterling Affairs
Florist: Visual Lyrics
Cake Bakery: Simon Lee Bakery
Bride’s Gown: Cymbeline Paris
Bridesmaids’ Attire: Vineyard by Melissa Sweet
Groom’s Attire: Calvin Klein