This, my friends, is the reason I love Texas weddings. The reason my hearts stop when I see a sweet rustic setting joining forces with romantic details and heartwarming moments aplenty. And it’s also the reason I’ve been spending a crazy amount of time in the full gallery, soaking in every last precious moment captured by Rebecca McCoy Photography, from the crazy gorgeous florals from Brandi Hines Events + Design to the love-filled reception at The Wildflower Barn to the bride and groom who will leave a giant, giant smile on your face. Click here for all of the pretty.
From the Bride… Living on the Texas coast, we originally wanted a beach wedding, but the conditions are almost always less than perfect, so we decided on our second favorite area, the Texas Hill Country. With my family from north Texas and his from southeast Texas, the Hill Country was right in the middle for our guests and is an area that we absolutely love. Since we were four hours away, I knew I wanted a planner to help with coordinating it all and found Brandi at Brandi Hines Events + Design who executed my vision and feel perfectly. Our rule of our wedding from day one was to keep it a light-hearted, simple, laid-back affair with country music and the outdoors. I lost my father a year-and-a-half before the wedding and didn’t want it to be sad in any way because he wasn’t there. My mother gave me a small pendant with his picture for my bouquet and I gave my Maid of Honor, my aunt Tracey, one with my late uncle’s picture that I was very close to. That was all we needed as a reminder and to have them with us. We wanted it to be a celebration of friends and family getting together again in a springtime, country backyard BBQ environment that was very casual and soft, bringing in natural elements like weathered wood, wildflowers, old glassware, and rustic antiques which I love. I still wanted a little beach in our wedding so Matt and I collected driftwood which Brandi wonderfully incorporated into the centerpieces. It was the perfect touch of beachiness and, afterall, the wedding was in Driftwood, Texas! We also made nods to Matt’s alma mater, Texas A&M, in the table “numbers” which were A&M-related words, Messina Hof wine which is made in Bryan, and we played the Aggie War Hymn which Matt and all our Aggie friends sang. Our ceremony was kept simple by having just a maid of honor and best man with an “honorary” wedding party. We wanted our friends to enjoy themselves as guests but still be a part of our wedding so they picked their own attire based on just our requests of color/style and took part in our pictures which worked out great.
I consider myself pretty crafty so I knew I wanted to DIY some projects from the beginning, all inspired by countless hours on Style Me Pretty, Pinterest, and Etsy. I made our save-the-date coasters, the escort cards, chalkboards out of rustic frames and windows, signs out of old fence posts, the boutonnieres, about 50 crocheted rosettes, a ribbon backdrop, and the lavender toss cones. Many family members and friends also had a hand in our wedding which I love because it made it that much more special. My amazing cousins Jake and Jessie played acoustic Beatles, Allison Krauss, and Canon in D for our ceremony. My maid of honor made 125 jars of various jams (most of it grown in her own garden) and brought native potted plants, complete with sewn pot covers, from the flower farm she works on. Another aunt made my garters out of lace, blue seersucker, satin and pearls. My sweet bridesmaids made the cork “M” at the bar, the jute “LOVES” (something we all say to each other), as well as the redneck wine glasses. Our officiant was our family friend Mike who I have known almost my whole life and was one of my father’s best friends. His wife has her own cake business and although she swore off doing wedding cakes, I finally talked her in to doing ours and they were one of my favorite aspects to the wedding. I was more nervous about the cake making it down the bumpy dirt road in one piece than anything while getting ready! Matt was so excited about his surprise groom’s cake, a cobia, he forgave me for smuggling one of his favorite lures up to put on it.
Brandi was so easy to work with as she knew exactly what style we were going for and had great ideas that fit right in, it was all exactly how I had envisioned it! Rebecca McCoy is a dear friend of Brandi’s and had an amazing portfolio so I never worried once about the photography. The day before the wedding was actually the first communication I had with Rebecca since it was all handled through Brandi and the day of, I felt as if she was one of my girlfriends I had known for years! She fit right in with the family and wedding party and made me feel so relaxed and pretty in all of our pictures. I felt like we were very taken care of by these ladies and were understood throughout the wedding festivities so that we could relax with everyone as much as possible.
Advice to future brides would be to not take on too much and if there is any possible way you can, hire an event planner! Brandi’s coordination was invaluable, especially for the day-of and for our long-distance planning. I would have had many an absolute breakdown if I had to deal with everything myself. I always thought the “something always goes wrong but it won’t matter to you on that day” saying was a mean cliché but yes some things will, and yes they will frustrate you, and yes it may upset you on your wedding day (and for days after) but it honestly doesn’t matter once you walk out there, your mind just clears and it’s all about you and your love and it all goes by so very fast.
We feel like our wedding was the perfect reflection of us and that it conveyed exactly the feel we wanted. We were so happy to see everyone and were honored for them to come be a part of our day. I will never forget the feeling of seeing Matt at our first look, of marrying my absolute best friend while saying our sweet and funny personal vows, seeing everyone so dear to us when we turned around, and of two-stepping the night away with my new husband just as we did when we met that first night, minus the trash can.
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Photography: Rebecca McCoy Photography | Planning, Floral + Event Design: Brandi Hines, Brandi Hines Events + Design | Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Wildflower Barn | Rentals: Hill Country Event Rentals | Cakes: Donna Bateman, A Slice of Heaven Cakes | Cake Toppers: sweet reverie | Ceremony Musicians: Cousins of the Bride | Reception DJ: Todd Green, 5150 Productions | Invitations: Brandi Hines Events + Design + InvitaPaperStudio | Save the Dates: DIY by the bride + lovetocreatestamps | Reception Decor: Brandi Hines Events + Design + Bride | Jam favors: Maid of Honor | Catering + Bar Service: The Salt Lick | Rehearsal Dinner: Creek Road Café | Wedding Dress: Robert Bullock via Unbridaled | Bride’s Shoes: Tom’s | Maid of Honor Dress: Victoria’s Secret | Bridesmaids Dresses: Various | Groom + Best Man Attire: J.Crew + Banana Republic | Groomsmen Attire: Various | Bride’s Jewelry: Bride’s Grandmother’s + BunnyBisous + all about romance