We have one really cool, creative Bride before us here. Not only does she own a vintage rentals company but she decked out her rustic Texas wedding with antique rugs, candelabras and handmade dreamcatchers for every guest. The venue, The Prairie, fit the vibe to a tee and Feather & Twine Photography captured it all. See every perfectly placed detail right here.
From The Bride… Tiger and I got engaged in December 2013 over a beautiful weekend spent at The Prairie. We both knew that we wanted to get married at The Prairie because we both feel that this place is so special to us. With unspoiled natural beauty and charming vintage touches everywhere, The Prairie was the perfect canvas for us to create a relaxed and simple wedding. Our relationship is like that, simple and relaxed. Tiger and I dated briefly in high school and reconnected close to 30 years later and it’s been magic ever since. We wanted to invite our guests to celebrate this with us and also give them the opportunity to relax in an environment that is void of fuss and stress. We decided to rent The Prairie in its entirety and invited our closest family to spend a few days celebrating our new beginning and each other. Since our closest family members have flexible schedules, we decided to get married on a Tuesday. This became particularly important since we set a date in June of 2014. With summer weddings being a very busy time, opting for a weekday wedding was not only less expensive, but we were able to get the vendors we wanted with shorter than normal notice.
My style is mostly influenced by vintage and found items. As the owner of a vintage rentals company (The Borrowed Flea), most of my time is spent looking for unique items so other brides can add unique touches to their wedding and engagement shoots. As a bride myself, I was determined to enjoy this process and not overthink every little detail (which is also the biggest piece of advice I would offer other brides). For me, it was important to add some personal touches and that meant making dream catchers for every guest and one large one to hang in front of the barn before the ceremony. I put five beads on the large one, each representing one of our kids. The dream catchers for the guests were smaller of course, but came with a handmade card thanking each one for supporting us and sharing this most special day and a reminder that dreams do come true.
The barn itself has a lot of character with soft beautiful colors and gorgeous candelabra chandeliers. I added some crochet banners over the doorways and used several vintage rugs down the aisle to define the space. I placed a larger rug at the end of the aisle which is where Tiger and I exchanged our vows. Vintage candelabras were place on the rug and simple glass candles were accented with a tribal motif ribbon and tied with raffia. Simple, elegant and easy. The brightness of the space and natural patina of the barn created a peaceful vibe all by itself and that’s the feeling we wanted to invoke with our guests so adding too much would’ve taken away from that. Our reception was next door in the lounge, where we all enjoyed excellent locally sourced food, drank wine, listened to great music, laughed and cried. As for the vendors we chose, the flowers were done by myself and were simple and unstructured. Our caterers were from one of our favorite restaurants in Houston, Shade. We employed the exceptional musical talents of Sarah Sharpe and crew from Austin to sing before, during and after the ceremony and our wedding wouldn’t have been complete without Feather and Twine, our photographers. Kelsey and Talon get us and our vibe and captured our wedding day perfectly. Our day was magical and perfect in every way.
From The Groom… Tara and I met and dated briefly in high school almost 30 years ago. I was only 16 when I met her, but I knew the moment I saw her I was in love. We both went our separate ways back then and little did we realize we would reconnect later in life. When we did, we quickly knew that those feelings of love in our hearts for each other had never gone away. Our story is truly a fairy tale come true. One of those magical and fateful life events that we thought only happened in the movies. We made it our reality and it has been one of the most amazing journeys we have both ever experienced.
When we were searching a venue for our wedding, we looked at many different alternatives. It had to be magical and have a certain “fairy tale” quality to it. The Prairie was already a very special place for Tara and I as I proposed to her in a meadow there during one of our previous visits. It always seemed like time stood still and many amazing things happened there that brought our lives together again.
Our wedding day was one of the best days of my life and one I will always cherish. I will never forget seeing Tara walk towards me and seeing her in her wedding dress for the first time. She literally took my breath away… just like she did all those years ago.
Photography: Ruét Photo | Catering: Shade | Wedding Venue: The Prairie By Rachel Ashwell | Music: Sarah Sharpe