Every so often I come across a wedding so beautiful, I basically surrender my entire day to it. This is just such a wedding. Because Blue Elephant Photography filled this gallery with so much pretty it will simply take a day to devour. From the Bride’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous bouquet from Dream Bouquet to all the sweet, handcrafted details – this gallery is basically overflowing with pretty. See it all here.
From the Bride…The whole inspiration behind the wedding was a vintage, rustic, laid back kind of country feel. I wanted everyone to be relaxed and enjoy themselves, but at the same time I wanted the atmosphere to feel romantic and special. I chose the venue, Briscoe Manor, because the moment I walked in, I knew that the wedding couldnt be anywhere else. The limestone, longhorns, and wrought iron screamed Texas to me, and being originally from Texas, I couldnt resist. Not to mention, the staff is absolutely incredible, there is an in house catering service, and there are romantic touches all over the venue. The colors that I chose for my wedding were peach and pale yellow. I knew that I didnt want the bridesmaids and the groomsmen to match perfectly, so I wanted to find two colors that complemented each other well. Because of the fact that it was a summer wedding in south Texas, I also wanted something light and airy for my bridesmaids. The Antonio Melani bridesmaid dresses that I found in Dillards with my maid of honor the summer before the wedding worked perfectly. My bridesmaids are from all different parts of the United States, and they all have different skin tones. I really lucked out with the peach because it looked so beautiful on all of my girls. As far as the boys go, there really was no other option than gray. I didnt like the formality of black, and I thought that the gray complimented the peach and pale yellow very well. Plus, all of the guys looked great in the gray, and it really helped keep the casual feel that I was going for.
The special touches that really made my wedding were all of the hand-crafted little touches that my mom and I put together, and all of the pieces that I collected over time to add around the wedding. I was engaged for 15 months before I got married, so I had plenty of time to slowly collect little accents, like a wood lantern, some rustic wood pinecones, and a wood sign that I thought captured what I hoped the day would represent, Dear God, I want to take a minute not to ask for anything, but simply thank you for all that I have.
I found my dress at Davids Bridal after spending about three days straight in different boutiques in downtown Houston. It was designed by Oleg Cassini, the same designer that designed Jackie Kennedy and Lady Dianas wedding dresses. My shoes, veil, and sash were WHITE by Vera Wang. My shoes and sash were a blush color because there were small blush colored cloth flowers on my dress, and I wanted to bring that out with the shoes and sash. My earrings were Swarovski crystal earrings. I actually did not buy them for the wedding, but they were actually bought for me by my husband. They were the first piece of jewelry he ever bought me, so I thought it was perfect to wear them and surprise him. I ordered my garters off of ETSY. My flowers were done by a local florist in Houston called Dream Bouquet. I took pictures off Pinterest to her that I had found and loved, and she actually looked at the individual flowers in the bouquets I liked, knew what the flowers were, and recreated the bouquets. I created my invitations on Minted, and I actually had matching Save the Dates that I created as well on the same website by the same designer. My hair was done by a young, trendy, independent hair dresser in Sugar Land, Texas. Her name is Mallory Castaneda and she owns her own hair salon called The Refinery. I have been going to Mallory since I was a senior in high school, so it meant a lot to have her do my hair for my wedding. I had minimal decorations that I used at the wedding because of the fact that Briscoe Manor itself is so beautiful. I did, however, order a few canvases offline and collect different pieces along the way. One of my favorite finds that I had at the wedding were the pinecones made out of wood on all of the tables. I found them at a little lofted shop in Stillwater, Oklahoma on clearance. Im pretty sure they are Christmas tree ornaments or something, but I thought they worked great with the rustic yet vintage theme I was going for.
There were many DIY projects that occurred with this wedding because of the fact that my mom is a graphic designer. She hand painted the Here Comes the Bride sign that my youngest cousin carried down the aisle right before I walked in. She also hand painted the tiny signs that were on the cupcake stand and wrote out all of the place settings for our guests. She was very busy, to say the least. The guest book was made by my now husband. We saw a guestbook on Pinterest that we liked, so he drew the bike that was then printed onto some canvas at Office Max. My mom also went the extra mile and put together Texas bags and baskets for the guest arriving at the hotel. She filled the bags and baskets with pralines and some chips and salsa, in order to give our guests a taste of Texas. We had stickers made with our names and the dates on them to put on the bags and baskets as well. One of the DIY projects that I did as well was a journal that I began on May 19, our wedding date, the year before , 2012, for my husband. I wrote in the journal every day and put different memorabilia in the journal as well to help us remember the year leading up to the happiest days of our lives. I had it deliver to him so that he could read the letter I had written in it for him a year earlier with the intention of him reading it before we said I do. I also decided that instead of a little pillow with no meaning for the rings to be carried down the aisle on, that I would put two Bibles together. One of the Bibles was my husbands grandmothers, and the other Bible was my great-grandmothers. I tied them together with some lace, and attached the rings with twine to the top of them. As far as anything custom done to my dress, a few nights before the wedding, I decided to sew a piece of one of my dads blue shirts and a piece of my moms wedding dress on the inside of my dress. I cut them both into a heart shape and sewed my moms wedding dress on top of my dads shirt and into the wedding dress. I needed something borrowed, something old, and something blue, and I also wanted to have a piece of the two most influential people in my life on me when I walked down the aisle.
Photography: Blue Elephant Photography | Flowers: Dream Bouquet | Wedding Dress: David's Bridal | Cake: Edible Designs By Jessie | Bride's Shoes: David's Bridal | Jewelry: Swarovski | Catering: Behind The Bash | Makeup: Sephora | Hair: Mallory Castaneda At The Refinery | Venue: Briscoe Manor | Bridesmaids\' Dresses: Dillard's | Ceremony Entertainment: Third Floor Strings | Groom's Shoes: Al's Formal Wear | Groom's Tuxedo: Al's Formal Wear | Invitations/Stationery: Minted | Reception Entertainment: DJs Unlimited | Sash: David's Bridal | Veil: David's Bridal