Whimsical, romantic, colorful, floral-filled – a complete and utter dream. These are just a few words we would use to describe today’s stunning Dallas, TX wedding planned and designed by The Wildflowers. The bride couldn’t have looked more beautiful on her big day donning a long sleeve Berta gown as she held a cheerful, cascading bouquet that will hypnotize you with its sheer beauty. Head on over to full gallery captured by Charla Storey Photography to see all the magic, including one of the most wow-worthy ceremony arbors that has ever graced the pages of SMP.
From Rebecca of The Wildflowers… Instead of an elaborate Pinterest board, Stephanie presented five adjectives that expressed her vision—among them “whimsical,” “modern,” “elegant,” “unique,” and “colorful.” As a designer, there is no better way to bring a new vision of what we are celebrating than with the inspiration of words, feelings, and the personal story of the couple. Getting to know Stephanie made creating a storied setting exceptionally easy. Immediately my mind went to the storybook landscape of The Cotswolds, the intricate French moldings of The Adolphus’ 19th floor ballroom, a Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a dreamy palette of inky midnight blues, emerald, thistle, and rose, all coupled together for a delightfully intimate feel.
The ceremony florals were whimsical and lush, taking cues from the gardens that provided inspiration. The almost-infinite growing aisle juxtaposed with a modern indoor ballroom is what truly made it a unique. What was even more magical was watching Stephanie cascade down the aisle to Henry Mancini’s choral version of “Moon River.”
Après-ceremony, guests were invited for cocktails among the historic hotel’s newly updated foyer, which was dressed in mid-century modern furnishings and Cy Twombly-like paintings throughout, with the sounds of soul and jazz scoring the evening. Guests were invited back inside the ballroom for dinner, greeted by tables dressed in cut glass and mineral tealight votives, floral-framed menus as a gentle nod to the French framed mirrors of the ballroom, miniature favor boxes tied in emerald silk ribbon bows, and bud vases of ranunculus, sweet peas, garden roses, clematis, peonies, and muscari nestled throughout.
After a treat of Charred Corn, Lump Crab and Poblano Soup, Petite Texas Filet Mignon, Cedar Plank Salmon, Rainbow Fingerling Potatoes, Wilted Arugula, Grilled Asparagus, guests enjoyed dancing, cake, and revelry. As the night grew darker, guests guided the bride and groom to their getaway car, signaling the end to a magical evening.
The Adolphus’ 19th floor ballroom has beautiful, ornate gold framed mirrors in the space. I created a gentle nod to the framed mirrors by designing Stephanie’s save the date with simple gold writing and her invitations with frame details, this time of florals. Hand-calligraphed escort cards in dark teal with mineral tea light votives and bud vases welcomed guests as they entered the reception. The menu was displayed in a similar floral frame as the invitation, this time with different blooms, a butterfly, and a hand painted ribbon detail. I created a custom font that included digitized floral illustrations climbing throughout the letter, used as the first initial for the guest’s name, followed by hand-calligraphy to complete the full name for the place card.
Lemon cake, raspberry preserves, vanilla mousseline, Italian buttercream and red velvet cake, cream cheese icing with Italian buttercream!
The bride’s beautiful bouquet was a cascading bouquet of clematis, daffodils, sweet peas, peonies, muscari, and garden roses.
Texas Wildflower Portraits by Lou Ellen O’Kennon
The favors were delicious Kate Weiser chocolates wrapped in white boxes and green silk ribbon, set at place setting.
Welcome gifts for hotel guests included San Pellegrino glass bottles, Lammes Texas Pralines, and a welcome note with the wedding weekend itinerary.
From the Bride… After we graduated college I thought he possibly would propose soon after, though nothing happened. Then when my birthday came in June I thought it may have been then, but still nothing happened. Though, he really surprised me when on the 4th of July we had a casual day by the pool and said he got us some reservations to go to dinner that night at a seafood restaurant that was supposed to be really good. We ended up going to restaurant and I was thinking nothing of it – we order our food & drinks and before we could finish or even receive our food he popped the question since he didn’t want to wait any longer! We celebrated and finished our meal with a few glasses of champagne and then afterwards his family was there and we took pictures and had a very low key celebration.
I am the first in my family to get married and since Joe and I have been together for so long I felt there was a lot of excitement around the event. Since Joe and I grew up together our friend groups are the exact same – our high school friends have seen our relationship grow through the years but also our college friends grew to know us as a couple over several years. Since we are the first of our friend groups to get married there was even more excitement from our friends to celebrate!
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I think the most special thing we did during our wedding which we were so glad that we did was during our reception dinner – we walked to each table to greet each person and thank them for coming. It was so nice being able to see everyone we invited and give everyone the chance to feel special and part of our day. We ended up getting so many more candid photos and had many touching moments going table to table!
First Look – Both of us were very excited since I knew he was clueless about my dress (and he knows my obsession with fashion so the dress was super important to me). We were both so calm after seeing each other and everything was perfect. We could hardly keep a serious face when taking photos we were just laughing so much talking to each other about various things like our dogs and what our friends all were doing today. We last saw each other the night before when we all went out to a bar in Dallas with our wedding party and friends from out of town!Any advice for future brides/grooms?
The main thing we learned in the process is getting a wedding planner is the best decision you can make! With both of us working full time jobs, having two puppies, and trying to keep up with our social lives- we needed help planning & executing our vision. Finding someone who has the same aesthetic and taste as your own makes it even simpler when you both gravitate towards the same ideas and designs. Rebecca could not have been any more perfect for the vision I had!
Photography: Charla Storey Photography | Event Design and Planning: The Wildflowers | Dress: Berta | Cake: The Adolphus | Calligraphy: The Left Handed Calligrapher | DJ: Le Force Entertainment | Ballroom: The Adolphus | Catering, Cake and Hair and Makeup: The Adolphus | Floral: The Wildflowers | Lab: Goodman Film Lab | Paper Goods: The Wildflower | Rentals : Top Tier | Video: Peyton Anne Frank