Q. Why did you choose to get married on your family ranch?
The lake has been a place that I’ve grown up going to my whole life. It is such a special place to my family and has always been a dream of mine to get married there since I was a little girl. It is also a place that many many people have been able to enjoy and so many friends and families have gotten to come through this place. Early on in Will and I’s relationship, I got to share the lake with him and what it means to me and my family. It became a special place to the both of us and I’m so thankful for the generosity and hospitality of my family that we got to share it with our closest friends and family to celebrate our wedding weekend!
Q. Describe your decor and how you chose it?
I would describe the look I was going for as timeless, classic, whimsical and FUN. If you know me, you know I have always loved color and fun unique styles. I am not one to just keep things simple so of course we had to go all out for my wedding! I had the dream of creating a color palette of the timeless blue and white china paired with bright and popping citrus tones and floral displays. My vision came to life with the help of my florist and wedding planner and it was truly spectacular! There were tons of crazy flowers, blue and white ginger jars and plates, touches of butterflies and citrus fruits scattered, and can’t forget about the hundreds of twinkle lights wrapped in trees and lighting up the property. Everyone kept saying how magical it all was and it really did feel like a dream!
Q. Tell me about your attire – who designed your dress, and where did you buy it?
My dress is the Mimosa dress designed by Alena Leena Bridal. I got it from a&bè Bridal shop in Dallas! I had such a fun experience getting to try on dresses and the one I ended up getting was something totally unexpected but it couldn’t have been more perfect!
Q. What shoes did you choose, and what jewelry did you wear?
My shoes are Loeffler Randall Dahlia Blue Bow low heel. My jewelry was from an online shop called Kate and Mari. I wore simple pearl drop earrings and a single pearl necklace.
Q. Who designed the bridesmaid’s dresses?
I had the vision of having all different bridesmaids dresses so it was a process getting it all to work out, but it turned out beautifully! Most of the bridesmaids dresses came from BHLDN, anthropologies line of wedding attire. I did a mixture of blue and white dresses so all of the girls wore something different. Most of them had some type of floral design. A couple of the solid blue dresses came from the website ASOS.
Q. And your groom – tell me about his look – who was his suit designer? Any other significant accessories?
The guys used the website The Black Tux to rent their suits. We went with light gray suits with complimentary light blue ties to go with the wedding colors. It was a great look for a summer wedding and The Black Tux was super easy for all the guys to order their suits from!
Q. Why did you choose me, Jenny, to be your wedding photographer?
We were looking for someone to document our day and all of the real and authentic moments beautifully. I didn’t want to have pictures that I would look back on one day and feel like they have gone out of style. I wanted something that is timeless and I will be able to enjoy forever! After seeing your work and getting to talk with you, we knew you were going to be perfect for documenting our day! We were blown away with how amazing Jenny was and how smooth our day went! She got such amazing photos and real snapshots of all the best moments. We were able to just take it all in and enjoy our wedding while she captured the magic behind the lens. So thankful for her!
Q. What was one of your favorite moments from your wedding day?
One of my favorite moments was when the band was playing and everyone was dancing. I looked around and so many people were on the dance floor we couldn’t even fit everyone. People were crowding around in the grass and by tables and still dancing and singing to the music. I made eye contact with one of my grandmothers who looked like she was having the time of her life singing to Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’. It made my heart so happy seeing everyone have so much fun because that is exactly what I was hoping for!
Q. What was your favorite image from your wedding day?
That is almost an impossible question to answer! But, some of the sunset pictures are just amazing and so glad we got to sneak away for those!
Q. Did any of your other vendors go above and beyond for you?
Abbie Boyd from Blumen Floral Co. went absolutely above and beyond for us! We used Abbie for my 2 older sisters weddings and she has been a delight to work with for all of them! She conquered an almost impossible task of transporting and setting up hundreds if not thousands of flowers in record breaking Texas heat in the summer. She worked so hard to make everything look amazing and keep the flowers from wilting in the heat and she deserves an award for what she accomplished!!! We are SO thankful for her and she definitely came through on the magical vision we had for this day!
We also used a wedding planning/ coordinator out of Abilene- Kendra Duke. Her and her team went above and beyond to make sure everything went smooth for the weekend and did so much for setting things up and bringing in a lot of rentals we used! She was a great resource to have during the planning process and we couldn’t have done it without her to pull of such a big task at having our wedding out at the lake!
Whim Hospitality was also amazing to work with! We used them for tenting, tables and chairs, and linen rentals. They were so great to come out to the lake and get everything set up. They even gave us fans for out tent when the unexpected heat wave rolled in. Everybody couldn’t stop talking about the amazing tent and it made for such a fun reception space. Would recommend them over and over again!
Q. Do you have any tips to share with other couples?
I would say that investing in an amazing photographer is so worth it when planning a wedding. After months and months of planning, it is just one day that ends up going by SO fast. Try to soak in every moment as much as you can, but having a talented photographer can help capture moments and memories that you can remember forever! Getting to look back at these incredible pictures has been such a gift to be able to relive moments or enjoy moments that I didn’t even know happened. Jenny did that for us and we are so thankful we will have these photos forever!
A special thanks to the vendor team:
Planner: Kendra Duke, Double Knot Weddings
Florist: Abbie Boyd, Blumen Floral Co.
Hair & Makeup: Mallory Blahnik
Caterer: The Shed
Cake: Christy Miller
Furniture Rentals: Whim Hospitality
Bartenders: Ballyhoo Bubble Bar
Ceremony Music: Hill Country Strings
Reception Band: Royal Dukes Band
Videographer: Bess Ophelia Films
Lighting: Alpha Lit Letters Abilene
Fireworks: Half Off Fireworks
Beer Burros: Big City Farm
Cocktail Hour Treats: Steel City Pops