Texas wedding from Forever Photography

I love it when brides share their weddings with me and when Kasey sent in her pretty Texas wedding by Forever Photography naturally I was more than happy to share it with you, and best of all we have the gorgeous bride herself here to share all the details!!

From Kasey... My husband John and I got married September 24, 2011 at The Vineyard at Florence…and no, not Florence, Italy. We are in Texas, folks! The teen tiny town of Florence. The kind that you will miss if you blink. Believe it or not, tucked away in the heart of Central Texas, there is a quiet stretch of country boasting the most gorgeous Italian vineyard one could imagine. We knew from day one this was the place we wanted to have our wedding. When I first started planning for the big day, I was overwhelmed with ideas, pictures, themes, colors and everything else the blogs had to offer. I chose colors, and then I chose again. And again. After a four year courtship and a yearlong engagement, nothing I picked seemed worthy of expressing our love for each other. I had to sit down and really decide on what I wanted, what would be true to us, before I could move forward. We wanted our day to be classic and romantic with a touch of good ol’ Texas style.

To keep with the classic elegant theme, I chose to use black and white, with pastel shades of pink.  In my opinion, there are few things more beautiful than a Texas sunset.  We decided to have our wedding at sunset, outdoors under a tree facing the vineyard.  If you have ever been to Texas, you understand the paralyzing heat one must face in the summer and fall months.  This did worry us in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and we wondered if having our outdoor wedding was going to be a miserable sweaty mistake.  As I took my first steps down the aisle that evening, my mind was made up that we couldn’t have picked a more perfect time and place. The lighting was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and there was the slightest breeze blowing through the vineyard.  It felt as if I had walked out the back doors of the villa and into Florence, Italy.  The ceremony included a special moment of silence for my father and John’s mother, who both passed a few years ago.

 

John and I were lucky enough to have our family from across the United States join us for the celebration.  We held our reception in the courtyard of the vineyard under strings of lights hung from the trees.  Being from the south, we found it most appropriate that we serve our favorite food at the reception… BBQ!  We chowed down on brisket, chicken,  sausage, sides and all the fixins’.  Instead of serving everyone a slice of wedding cake, we opted for cupcakes in the same flavor as our wedding cake,  for each of the guests.  We offered strawberry and pineapple cupcakes as well as a variety of other homemade treats for the dessert table.  I am truly blessed to have so many crafty friends and family members who helped add a handmade touch to the day.  My mother made the centerpieces for each of the reception tables which doubled as a cupcake stand.  Each cupcake stand was trimmed in black lace and topped with a unique vintage knob.  My sister in law (who was also a bridesmaid) made the mason jars that hung from the trees holding the candles and single stem flowers at the reception as well as John’s photo board from when he was growing up.  We used twine to string through a grouping of trees where we hung pictures of us with our friends and family with close pins.  One of my other bridesmaids used pink yarn to wrap cardboard cutouts of our initials that we displayed on the sign in table.  My mom handmade one hundred paper black and white anemones for the guests to pin on their blouse.

Our favors were a big hit with our guests.  We made cookies in a jar topped with gingham fabric and black ribbon.  So many of our guests have told us that they made the cookies since the wedding and they were a delicious treat!  We kept the feel of the reception laid back and fun.  A friend of ours is a Texas Country singer, and he played guitar live on the patio in the courtyard. We had a few different yard games going on under a canopy of trees that we kept lit after dark and we also had jars with single stems of flowers scattered amongst the trees and on the tables.  Every DIY aspect of the wedding was a success, and it is so much fun to get everyone involved. With so many ideas and themes and out there, sometimes it is easy to get carried away and forget the real reason why you are planning a wedding.  As a bride, you want everything to be perfect and colors to match and lighting to be right and everything to coordinate.  It may have seemed crazy to have a backyard BBQ at a beautiful Italian Vineyard, but it was us.  Classic and a bit country.  If it makes you happy, it represents you and your fiancée, and you feel it is right, then make it yours.  At the end of the day, if you are happily married, then it all turned out perfect anyway. 

Venue | The Vineyard at Florence, Photographer | Forever Photography, Florist | Wild Poppy, Makeup | Maris Calderon, Caterer | Bones Cracked Rib BBQ, Rental Co | Sweet Sunday Event Rentals, Wedding Dress | Maggie Sottero