It’s official. Suspended floral installations are here to stay. Check out this masterpiece by Bouquets of Austin at this rustic, elegant fête planned by Pearl Events Austin. Dramatic and utterly gorgeous, it was the perfect complement for this equally memorable wedding, and we’re giving it two thumbs up. Scroll on to see all the floral goodness captured by Jenna McElroy.
From the bride… Prior to our engagement, our relationship had taken us across the country, but when Alan finally popped the question, the decision to have our wedding in Austin brought everything full circle. Alan and I fell in love with Austin, and though life brought us to a new home in Louisville, Kentucky, the city of Austin still holds both of our hearts. Alan is from Cleveland, Ohio, and as a Captain in the Army Reserves, he had guests coming from all over the country and abroad. I was born and raised in Texas and had lived in Austin for 6 years before moving with Alan to Kentucky. I was just dying to show our friends and family from across the nation, including my family from Arkansas, just how extraordinary a Texas wedding can be!
We began by choosing our wedding planner, Jennifer Seals of Pearl Events. To say that Jen was our rock is an understatement! Working with Jen felt like working with my best friend who just so happened to know everything there ever was to know about weddings. She guided us through every step of the wedding planning process and made my dreams of an elegant and rustic downtown wedding a stunning reality!
When picking our venue, we knew we wanted something a little different than many of the incredible wedding venues Austin has to offer. With so many friends and family coming in from out of town, it was incredibly important to Alan and I that our guests actually got to experience Austin! And for us, there was no place better than right in the heart of downtown! We fell in love with Brazos Hall when we saw it. It was full of this gorgeous, raw beauty with exposed beams and brick with a beautiful open-air second story that really felt like it could be anything we wanted it to be.
We really wanted our wedding to feel intimate and special for our guests. Terra Vista Strings made our outdoor, second story ceremony feel so beautiful with a mixture of classical music and special songs Alan and I handpicked for each other. Bouquets of Austin created a gorgeous, floral and greenery, asymmetrical hanging arch as the backdrop for our ceremony. The beautiful flowers, greenery, and magnolia leaves perfectly framed our ceremony in the city we love without hiding it’s beauty.
We chose to do a family-style dinner because we really wanted to be able to take the time to enjoy a meal with all of our friends and family. The Royal Fig created an incredible menu that felt comforting and indulgent at the same time. The meal we shared with our guests felt so intimate and special, but it wouldn’t have been complete without our beautiful wedding cake and groom’s cake from Simon Lee Bakery! Just in case the guests forgot that they were in Texas, we also had honey butter chicken biscuits (one of my absolute favorite fast-food indulgences) as a late night treat!
Throwing an unforgettable party that our guests would enjoy was one of the most important things to Alan and me in planning our wedding, so finding the perfect band was a daunting task. Blind Date delivered in the most incredible way! They went above and beyond to make sure that the night fit us perfectly while also making sure that all of our guests were having the times of their lives! They learned two incredibly special songs for our reception and played many more of our favorites at our request. I had mentioned to them that we both love 90s music, but I quickly followed up that I wasn’t sure that our guests could really dance to that. They managed to play N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, and a host of others, basically making my 90s fan girl dreams come true! They made the night so incredibly special for us, and we didn’t leave the dance floor until the flower petals started flying!
Our dance floor was highlighted by a beautiful and enormous hanging structure of flowers, candles, and greenery crafted by the floral gurus at Bouquets of Austin. I really wanted something incredible to make the venue feel like ours. Rather than having tall centerpieces, I fell in love with the idea of displaying mountains of our gorgeous wine and blush flowers and greenery hanging across the room over our head table. Bouquets of Austin made all of my flower-loving dreams come true – and then some! – with the beautiful hanging floral structure (which I so lovingly nicknamed “Steve”) that they created for us.
To top off our reception, we were lucky enough to have Hannah Lee live-painting our reception! Our guests loved getting to watch her recreate our wedding reception in a painting from start to finish. She was able to encapsulate so many little details and so much love on one canvas that Alan and I will treasure for the rest of our lives.
Our wedding day was far beyond anything that we could have imagined for ourselves! To say that it was the best day of our lives feels like an understatement. The stunning photos we received from Jenna McElroy serve as a daily reminder of just how blessed and loved we are and just how much we love each other. The memories we made on that day will carry us through a lifetime, and we are so so incredibly lucky to have such beautiful photos to share with our loved ones who helped to make our wedding day so very special.
Photography: Jenna McElroy | Cinematography: Spinning Leaf Films | Event Planning: Pearl Events Austin | Floral Design: Bouquets of Austin | Wedding Dress: Enaura Bridal | Cake: Simon Lee Bakery | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Hayley Paige | Catering: Royal Fig Catering | Hair + Makeup: Rae Cosmetics | Lighting: Ilios | Band: Blind Date | Groomsmen's Attire: Men's Wearhouse | Venue: Brazos Hall | Bar Rentals: Birch And Brass Rentals | Bridal Boutique: Blush Bridal Lounge | Bride's Rings: Saxon Jewelers | Bridesmaid Dress Boutique: Bella Bridesmaid | Downstairs Draping: Unique Design & Events | Earrings: Nordstrom | Live Painter: Hannah Lee Art | Paper Design: The Inviting Pear | Rentals: Whim Hospitality | Upstairs Draping: Premiere Party Rents