Texas Weddings

There’s something oh-so romantic about backyard weddings. Inviting all your closest friends and family to celebrate the beginning of your life together, all the while knowing you’ve been spending time there for years, and will be for years to come. If only all our backyards were as gorgeous as this Texas Hill Country yard! We’re going to be spending all day with the oh-so-fabulous Joe Cogliandro. Enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy some more. Then if you want even more J. Cogliandro Photography (we did!) check out his blog for some of his pretty amazing work.

More of this gorgeous backyard affair in the gallery!

Our wedding took place on April 24, 2010 in Jonesboro, Texas. We chose to have our wedding at my parents’ ranch home in central Texas. We have enjoyed spending our free time there with family and friends and thought it would be the perfect setting to start our new life together.

A gospel band preformed all the music for the ceremony. We were married in the front of the home under a large oak tree with lanterns and orchids. After the ceremony the guests were treated to a cocktail hour on the patio. The reception was held in the back of the home by the pool with a live band. A beautiful fireworks display lit the night after my father’s toast!

Each guest left with sugar cookies beautifully decorated from Paulie’s Cookies, which are definitely a favorite of ours. We had a wonderful night that we will never forget, and we hope that our wedding guests won’t either!

Photography: J. Cogliandro Photography / Flowers: Bloomingals / Event Design: Pendley Party Productions / Location: Argenta Ridge / Invitations: Atelier du Papier / Dress: Casablanca / Bridesmaid Dresses: Ann Taylor / Caterer: Bestyett Catering / Reception Band: Sign Sealed Delivered/ Ceremony Music: Kathy Taylor & Favor

As we said, we have a day-long love-fest with Joe Cogliandro today … so keep an eye out for even more!  It’s Friday … it’s OK … you might even take a quick peek at Joe’s Boudoir photography on his website (+ a ‘Houston Fusion’ wedding + Houstonian Hotel second celebration from two of our faves)!

Sometimes it’s not how you want your wedding to look, it’s how you want your wedding to feel. This drop dead gorgeous, design-loving bride wanted an ethereal and intimate feeling affair, and by the looks of the light-infused images from Ben Godkin Photo, I would say she got just what she was looking for. And the guests were no doubt feeling the love with all the personal touches. I personally adore the fact she hid away a pair of white converse shoes after seeing Father of the Bride when she was 8 and was able to put them to good use on this heart felt day. Just precious. There is even more precious to be had in the full gallery, so be sure to stop on by.

click here for even more!

From the Bride… Thankfully, my husband Sam was very simple about the extent of his wedding involvement. No groomzilla here. With a simple, “all I want to do is marry you… that’s it”, I got free reign to do what I wanted. My mom and I were definitely the masterminds behind the design. With a mutual respect for each other’s wishes and a Love of all things design, the process went smoothly. When I first began the wedding planning process and tried to imagine what our wedding day would look like, I couldn’t so much see it as feel it. I knew I wanted our wedding to feel warm, ethereal, and intimate. I have always been completely inspired by nature and wanted to build a ceremony and reception that made us feel enveloped in God’s greatest work. We took inspiration from all types of places; from an intimate little restaurant we spotted in London, to a fabulous magazine spread, to my own unique ideas. As soon as Sam and I got engaged, we ran and booked our venue. I am still not entirely sure how this idea came about, but I somehow got it in my head that we should marry on a ranch. With no ties to this little town of Wimberley in the Texas hill country, we found the perfect venue at the Red Corral Ranch. It was filled with all the charm and warmth we were looking for.

Finding my wedding gown helped the design process as well. After trying on about 100 different gowns, I found the most beautifully eclectic, inspired, Vera Wang dress that just screamed, “Where have you been, I have been waiting for you!!” The rest seemed to flow from there. I wanted people to feel that our wedding was truly “us” and so we infused all sorts of traditions and customs from our heritage. We were married outside on a perfectly crisp fall afternoon beneath a tallis from Israel that my Jewish grandmother had used at her own wedding. Sam snacked on spanakopita at cocktail hour to satisfy his biased Greek taste buds that settle for nothing less than feta cheese. Our reception dinner was filled with South American flavor as a warm reminder of my Peruvian and Colombian roots.

We had so many tiny details throughout our wedding that truly brought us joy. My Peruvian grandmother had brought her deliciously vintage cake topper from her wedding day to share with us. I closed my eyes in the make-up chair while wearing a very special pair of glimmering converse with the white flowy laces that I had stowed away in a box when I was 8 after watching Father of the Bride and swearing on my life I would marry in them one day. Although I had not married in the church, I wanted to keep it close to my heart, so my bouquet held a vintage charm of a church that would pop open and expose the tiniest bride and groom. My engagement ring was a family heirloom from Sam’s yiayia. It is a custom piece that his papou had designed so many years ago for the Love of his life and now their Love had been passed on to us. Our wedding bands were engraved in Coldplay lyrics that we had walked down the aisle to; music that served as a sweet reminder of our young Love when we met as teenagers. I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. We were surrounded in details that were incredibly heart felt and special to us in a way that only we could truly appreciate. A feeling of genuineness was so very important. I wanted all of my bridesmaids and flower girls to feel happy and comfortable in their skin so I was more than pleased to pick a color and let them choose the dress of their heart’s desire. I was so happy I did because not only were they happy, they got to show off their beautiful personalities and still coordinate perfectly for the pictures. At the end of the day, the feeling of Love, genuineness and celebration were truly felt by all. Our family and friends were thrilled with great food and great company. Every last person was dancing like their life depended on it.

In a big red barn out in the middle of Texas hill country, we danced, we Loved, we ate, and we danced some more. It was perfect.  We could not have done any of this without the unwavering support from my parents (we Love you!!!). We were truly blessed with such an amazing gift that we find we are still pinching ourselves as we look back fondly at our photographs. Our wedding completely exceeded our expectations in every way and we are so very thankful for that.

Photography: Ben Godkin Photo / Flowers: Last Petal / Event Design: Beatriz Craven (The Bride) and The Girl in Pearl / Event Planning: Jessica from Something To Celebrate / Ceremony Location: Red Corral Ranch / Reception Location: Red Corral Ranch / Invitations: The Inviting Pear / Shoes: Badgely Mischka / Lighting: ILIOS Lighting Design / Cake: Michelles Patisserie / Catering and bar: Primizie / DJ: look no further / Rentals: Marquee / Officiant: Rev John Connor / Dress: Vera Wang

Caplan Miller Events … Courtney (the travel guru), Sarah (the domestic goddess), Elizabeth (the socialista), Erika (the fashionista), and Amy (the gossip) … always send us the best weddings! Now, I may be just a little bit biased since I’m a die-hard Texan, but seriously, their events are always so fun! And what better way to kick off the Memorial Day weekend than a good-ol’ Texas wedding!

From Courtney …
There’s nothing better to us than a super chic couple who wants us to produce a non-traditional wedding at a gorgeous Texas Ranch!

photography courtesy of Jake Holt

This was a fall wedding held at Three Points Ranch, just outside of Austin in Round Mountain, Texas. We incorporated everything fall – from the pumpkins to the color scheme and married it with touches of Texas – boots and beer, of course!

The venue has an Airstream Camp with a fleet of five vintage Airstream trailers – our favorite touch!

Petal Pushers handled the awesome florals {their blog post}. We used mason jars and wine bottles instead of traditional vases. The bride is a wine rep and gathered tons of wine bottles from her personal collection.

The group danced to an Austin 80s rock band, LC Rocks. It was a gorgeous night under the Texas stars!

I’ll bet that was one heck-of-a party!  Click on ANY one of the images in today’s feature to see the entire gallery of photos from this wedding. Thanks ladies for sharing another of your terrific Caplan Miller + Petal Pushers weddings with us!

Event Planning: Caplan Miller Events, Location: Three Points Ranch, Flowers: Petal Pushers, Rentals: Marquee Rents, Lighting: FILO Productions, Ceremony Guitarist: Andrew Nafzigar, Cake: Coco Paloma Desserts

Thank you SO very much to Suzi Q of Q Weddings for continuing to send us some of the prettiest affairs a girl could want. You really luck out with some great brides and super gorgeous weddings…and we love it! And to the bride and groom for designing a day that is ALL inspiration. May you have many years that are just as beautiful!

Last tidbits from the bride…

Other elements that helped personalize the day: a bright yellow family quilt suspended as a photo backdrop; table seating cards hung inside a frame made from wood salvaged from my great-grandparents’ Texas homestead; and perhaps the best toast ever by the groom’s siblings, a tag-team comedy act that should be going on the road any day now.

The wedding was a hit, thanks to our family, our friends; Suzi Q, who helped put us at ease; and especially my parents, who footed the bill for an affair that was probably a smidge less traditional than they would have designed, but, I hope, one of the happiest days of all of our lives.

Being from Texas, this wedding warms my heart. It’s Texas chic to its core…and I am loving every bit of it. The bright infusion of colors, the sweet but totally beautiful details, the DIY spirit paired with a style that can stand all on it’s own…this wedding is perfection! And Q Weddings, the photographer behind the day, captured the story flawlessly.

From the bride…

For me, sourcing local food, drinks, and flowers was non-negotiable. As insatiable pie lovers, we opted to skip cake in favor of three kinds of pie: pecan, margarita tart, and apple-cream—a family recipe that our excellent caterer, My Own Chef, learned to make just for us. The menu was Tex-Mex all the way: tamales and corn fritters; grilled sirloin and chicken fajitas; jicama, orange, and lime-chili salad; and more guacamole than even our hungry crowd of 100 could polish off. To wash it down: two Texas beers, Shiner Bock and Real Ale’s Rio Blanco Pale Ale and our two favorite Texas wines Becker’s Claret and Viognier.

And then there were the flowers. Such flowers! I was dead set on tracking down a local wildflower grower, and I found the absolute best: Texas Specialty Cut Flowers, a family-run farm outside of Wimberley, Texas, that supplies the likes of Whole Foods. From them, we got the most brilliant, vibrant anemones, Icelandic poppies, and every last yellow ranunculus. The flowers were so gorgeous that elaborate arrangements would have only detracted from their natural beauty, but we did have a local florist fashion three oversized wreaths to hang as backdrops for the ceremony.

I am not usually a fan of lots of color and yet I heart this wedding so much that I was literally bursting at the seams when I was formatting the pictures. Photographed by Q Weddings, it’s ALL charm. With details that would make any bride swoon, each and every corner was total perfection.

From the bride…

Because location and food were top priorities and accounted for a big chunk of our budget, we picked a few elements we could do well ourselves. I made the invitations; my mom rounded up most of the decor; the groom assembled playlists for the reception and tried to do others without breaking the bank—for example, we asked a good friend who’s a professional musician, José Ayerve of the band Spouse, to play during the ceremony (The Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love,” Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” “San Antonio Rose”).

As for the clothes: The thought of pushy bridal salon employees made me a green, so I ordered my dress online from J. Crew. That turned out so well, I went back for the bridesmaid and mother of the bride dresses. The men of the wedding party wore navy suits of their own choosing and ties from Banana Republic. I found my earrings on Etsy, and, in keeping with the wedding location of Comfort, I ordered gold leather flip-flops from J. Crew. I’ve worn them all summer now, and they remind me of the day each time I put them on.

Today is all about color. Weddings that bring beautiful hues into their look in a way that is all together chic, stylish and utterly gorgeous. This next wedding, photographed by Q Weddings, is a bit more demure than the last one and yet it’s HUGELY charming, unbelievably stylish and wonderfully approachable. In a word….LOVE.

From the absolutely gorgeous bride…

Since we live in Chicago, where March is still the dead of winter, and many of our guests were coming from the East Coast and the Midwest, we wanted to make the most of springtime in Texas: bright colors, loads of wildflowers, and as much outdoor time as possible. We were aiming for a carefree, unfussy day, along the lines of a gussied-up backyard barbecue—a nicer version of a party we would throw at home but not so casual that it wouldn’t feel special (with one solemn rule, despite our Hill Country location: no gingham). We lucked out: The sun shone on us throughout our outdoor ceremony and reception.