Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, I get to “meet” you bride and grooms out there in SMP-land. You send me a sweet email regarding your feature and we chat back and forth about the specific details or just, in general, how very awesome you are. Because, let’s face it, you lovelies ARE awesome – and today’s darling Houston bride? She’s like a crazy cool combo of seriously sweet + oh-so-chic, and from the very first “hello” in my inbox, I knew her wedding was going to be one of my all-time faves. And guess what? I was right. See her stunning DIYs, gorgeous venue (Agave Road) and breathtaking gown captured by Clayton Austin in the full gallery. You’ll love her just as much as me.
From the Bride… Ryan and I are both originally from Texas, but I was living in California and he was still living in Texas when we first met. If you can believe it, we actually met in Las Vegas! We randomly sat beside each other at a blackjack table at midnight in Treasure Island on family vacations, then walked the strip until 6am exchanging life stories. We’ve been inseparable ever since. The craziest part is I went back to the exact chair where I met Ryan during my Bachelorette Party, I sat down with $10, played only 3 hands, and won three blackjacks in a row. It was like fate was confirming that I should marry him! Although we didn’t want a Vegas themed wedding, we did make our thank you gifts a deck of cards with stickers that read “What Happens in Vegas, Leads to Marriage in Texas.”
Most of the inspiration for our wedding stemmed from the wedding venue itself and wedding blogs like SMP! The first moment we toured Agave Road we knew it was perfect. Living in Houston, we wanted a venue that felt like it wasn’t apart of the city, and Agave Road genuinely felt like we were at a destination wedding. The venue has a distinct Spanish feel that I wanted to compliment with a winery theme I had always dreamed of for my wedding. The theme then became sort of a Modern Spanish Vineyard wedding. With all of the inspiration I got from this blog, everything came together so perfectly. All it took was some personalized touches through Do-It-Yourself projects for my vision to truly come to life.
Being a Graphic Designer, I am constantly going through Do-It-Yourself projects and I knew that our wedding would be the ultimate place to bring all my ideas to life. I lived on Etsy, purchasing over 25 items for the wedding. Some of the DIYs included cake toppers I painted along with hand-died ombre escort cards that were placed in old white shutters I found at a habitat restore outlet for $5. Our table numbers were stained and then placed next to hinged frames with pictures of me and Ryan at that corresponding age so guests could see us grow up together. Also, some of our reception tables had wooden wine boxes that I personally stained and had filled with beautiful flowers from our florist along with glass jars and lanterns. For our guest book, I bought a wooden book from Lorgie on Etsy and filled it with mini envelopes of different colors from Paper Source. We had our guests write notes and seal them so we can open them on our 1 year anniversary! One of my favorite quick projects was a shadow box frame where I cut out hearts from maps with the city names of where we met, got engaged and got married. It was such a delight seeing all the projects come together on the day of to make our wedding feel personalized to who we are.
It’s hard to pick one favorite memory, since our entire wedding was a dream! But I think we both agree that our First Look was our favorite moment of the day. Our photographer decided to shoot the first look from the bridal suite balcony as we met below in a clearing behind the venue. And since he was so far away, we felt completely alone. It was such a pure moment, being able to see each other for the first time and having no one around to pose for. But even though he was far, Clayton perfectly captured the moment with what we think is the best sequence of pictures from the whole day.
My advice to future brides is to stay organized! I created one document that was a check-list for the entire wedding broken up into individual months. It made planning so easy since I only had to focus on what was to be done that month and didn’t stress about the big picture. But remember, when the actual day comes, don’t sweat the small stuff and don’t forget the whole reason you are there! As long as your groom is at the altar and you both say “I Do,” then you had a perfect wedding!
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Wedding Photography: Clayton Austin | Wedding Venue: Agave Road | Floral Design + Linens: Agave Brothers | Wedding Cake: Edible Designs by Jessie | Dessert Table: Sweet | Wedding Invitations + Paper Goods: The Bride | Wedding Dress: Elizabeth Fillmore (Ballet Noir) | Bride’s Shoes: Vera Wang Lavender Flats | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale via Bella Bridesmaid | Men’s Attire: Men’s Wearhouse | Makeup: Beauty by Brit | Hair: Sensia Studio & Spa | Photobooth: Think Event Group