I know I have some kindred spirits out there who love cotton just as much as I do, and this wedding from Perez Photography is the perfect fix for cotton junkies like us. And when I see that this Bride is a wedding pro herself (see her planning biz here) a major girl crush has just formed. Major. And you can see all the pretty in the gallery right here.
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From the Bride… When the man of my dreams surprised me by proposing to me in the very spot that we had met five years before, I knew our wedding had to be in Albert, Texas. Dear friends of mine had once owned the town of Albert, and it was because of these friends that I knew my now-husband. Our first call was to Tanya and Cesar Perez of Perez Photography. They were available, so our date was set. I am a wedding planner and have been planning weddings for 11 years. When it came time for it to be my turn, I felt very lucky to have so many amazing friends that helped to create our wedding. Albert, Texas was perfect for us. It doesn’t have much, but what it does have is an original 1920’s dance hall and restored ice house. The most amazing oak tree stands outside of the ice house. This beautiful tree became the inspiration for our gorgeous, hand-drawn invitations, created by Happy Menocal of New York. A childhood friend came on board to caterer our day and used some of our family recipes for the roasted potato salad, baked beans and crawfish boil seasoning. My infamous jalapeno lemonade was also a must-serve.
When it came time to decide on our flowers, I knew it had to be cotton! I have an inspiration book full of ideas that I have pulled from magazines. For years, I have had a picture of a cotton bouquet sitting there in my design binder. Cotton is harvested in Texas in the hot summer months. For weeks, we picked cotton! We picked cotton on the way to the beach and back from the beach. My insurance agent picked cotton for me! I even dragged friends with me to pick cotton. I called everyone I knew to ask if they knew someone who was harvesting cotton and begged them to allow me to come pick some for our wedding.
Now that it was my turn down the aisle, I truly wanted to be able to relax and just be the bride on our wedding day. So I turned to my treasured friends, Sofia and Victoria Avila of Mandarin Flower from Austin, Texas, to pull together everything I had been envisioning. I had spent the months leading up to our wedding scouring yard sales and market days to find weathered china to use for our dinner and items to decorate with. I turned all of my hand-picked cotton and vintage items with a list of my ideas over to them and enjoyed the being the bride! We found a wonderfully talented fiddle player to play for our procession. He was a 16-year-old high school student. One night we were out to dinner, and this young man joined the band on stage to play. I went up to his father and asked him if his son could come to Albert to be apart of our wedding. He perfectly played “These are the Days” by Van Morrison for my walk down the aisle. We loved our day. We were surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family that all came together to make our day possible.
Wedding Photography: Perez Photography / Ceremony: Albert, Texas / Reception: Albert Dance Hall in Albert, Texas / Wedding Planning: The French Connection (The Bride) / Floral Design: Mandarin Flower Co. / Wedding Cinematography: Dayfilms / Catering: Samudio’s Catering / Cakes: DIY by Family + Friends / Ceremony Fiddle: Christian Dunham / Cocktail + Dinner Music: The Reefs / Band: Chilton Vance Band / Rentals: Illusions Rentals & Designs / Children’s Face Painting: Laura Greene / Grand March Leaders: Junior & Helen Skolat / Wedding Dress: Priscilla of Boston (Now Closed) / Bride’s Bracelet + Purse: Vintage / Bride’s Necklace: A Gift from the Groom / Hair + Makeup: The French Connection