As I’ve been putting this post together, I cannot help but smile! I honestly can’t believe it’s all over and I’m kinda said it is, but I’m also so glad at the same time (ha!). But all that to say, it truly was the best day of my life.

To be honest, I had a hard time figuring out which photos to put in this blog post because I didn’t want to do too much or bore you! Plus, I didn’t know which photos y’all would want to see versus what I want to see (ha!). But I did my best to share photos that illustrated the entire day and told a story. Let me know if you have any questions or if I didn’t address something you had a question about!

Our Wedding Invitations

I actually wrote an entire blog post about my experience picking out and designing invitations and shared what they looked like. You can read more our wedding invitations here!

Wedding Day Timeline

During one of my wedding Q&A discussions on Instagram, several of you were asking about the order of events on the actual wedding day. I thought it might be helpful to share a generalized timeline of how everything happened. I hope this is helpful for those of you planning or that had questions! We didn’t really stick to this exactly, but it’s a pretty good general timeline.

9:30 – Pancake Breakfast for Bridesmaids

10:00 – 2:00 – Hair & Makeup for all bridesmaids and mothers

3:00 – 4:30
First look with Dad
First look with Groom
Group photos, Groom’s cake first look

5:00 – Guests Arrive

5:30 – Ceremony begins

6:00 – Ceremony ends, cocktail hour begins
Post ceremony photos
private dinner for bride & groom during cocktail hour

6:30 – Bride & Groom announced in ballroom
First Dances
Welcome Speech by Father of Bride
Blessing by Officiant

6:45 – Dinner stations open

8:00 – Cake Cutting

9:00 – Bouquet Toss

10:00 – Second Line Exit + Grand Send Off

The Ceremony

I’ve shared this with y’all before, but the ceremony was the most important part to me and Duncan and we wanted it to be extra special and meaningful. We put a lot of thought into the music and order of events that went on during that time. And I’m happy to report that we were both SO pleased with how everything went and couldn’t have asked for a better result. It was PERFECT!

Even though the ceremony was the *most* important part for me and Duncan, I waited until the last minute (literally 3 weeks before) to figure out the run of show and select music. Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted an outside ceremony. Don’t get me wrong, I love weddings in churches and there’s something so special about them. But something about having a non-traditional wedding outside just spoke to my heart and that’s how I always imagined my wedding to be.

I knew I wanted non-traditional music and that I wanted to walk down the aisle to a contemporary song that I knew really well – one that made me *feel* something, particularly worshipful. So I made a list of all the worship songs I loved – ones that felt powerful and that I never get sick of. Oh, and ones with powerful lyrics, of course. I shared the list with Duncan and he felt the same way about all of these songs. Each of these give both of us goosebumps, so I knew we were off to a good start!

After many hours of listening to all the songs, I finally decided on the final ones I wanted to go with. I’ll share the run of show with the songs included so you can get a feel for how things went:

Prelude – How Great Thou Art sung by Stephanie Toups

Seating of the Family – strings by Barton Strings

Processional – 10,000 Reasons sung by Jimmy McNeal

Call to Worship + Invitation to sing In Christ Alone (sung by Jimmy McNeal)

Questions of Intent

Presentation of the Bride

Scripture Readings

Exchange of Vows

Exchange of Rings

Prayer

Solo Hymn – Come Thou Fount by Jimmy McNeal*

Pronouncement of Marriage

The Introduction

The Recessional – Come and Get Your Love by Redbone**

*Duncan and I both LOVE this song, so we thought it would be perfect for right after we exchange vows for a little time of meditation and prayer

**We thought it’d be fun to play a song after it’s all said and done that we both love and makes us want to skip and dance a little! This was one of our favorite parts because we love this song so so much! And it set the tone for a really run reception and celebration to follow!

Food & Seating

We did food stations with open seating. I’ve only been to a couple of weddings where there was a sit-down dinner. And after talking about it on stories and reading your DM’s, I realized that doing food stations and having open seating (at a black tie event) must also be a southern thing. I didn’t even realize this was something “different” until several of y’all messaged me asking me why I chose to do things this way. Honestly, I didn’t even consider doing a sit-down dinner at my reception – the thought never even crossed my mind!

I love an open concept because it gives people more freedom to walk around and talk to more than just the people sitting around them. Plus, the dance floor gets started earlier! We had farm tables and chairs on either side of the reception space so people would be able to sit and enjoy their food at their leisure. This setup worked perfectly for us!

Bride & Groom’s Cake

I mentioned this to y’all before but Duncan’s cake was one of the things I was really excited about! So much so that I didn’t even really pay attention to mine – I literally didn’t care and allocated all the budget to his.

I’ve come to learn that a “groom’s cake” isn’t something most people or and a lot of you all hadn’t even heard of the concept. Which got me thinking, where did this come from? And why is that, to me, it’s such a normal and expected thing at weddings? After doing a quick Google search, I learned that it’s mostly a southern thing. Either way, I had so much fun with this!

In my experience, people have a lot of fun with the Groom’s cake and it typically is inspired by something that the groom really loves. I’ve seen groom’s cake of the UT tower, and LSU tiger, golf clubs and many other fun and different things! I brainstormed several ideas for Duncan, but it soon became obvious that I needed to do something Avenger-related since he’s so obsessed.

This was ABSOLUTELY one of my favorite parts of the wedding and I’m so glad I went all out for Duncan’s cake! I kept it a surprise because I knew he’d have a no idea and we did a “first look” with the cake where we blind-folded him and then did a big reveal of the cake. It was truly one of my favorite moments – he LOVED it so much. I smile just thinking about it!

For our cakes, we used The Cake Plate in Austin.

Wedding Weekend Outfits

I’m not going to lie, the FASHION was absolutely one of my foveate parts of the entire wedding planning process. I LOVED getting to wear things I knew I’d never be able to wear again in life, so I went a little over the top with all my dresses.

Rehearsal Dinner Dress

I wrote an entire blog post on the dress I wore to our rehearsal dinner if you want to check out that process – it was so fun to design a dress form scratch!

Ceremony Dress

My ceremony dress was Galia Lahav and I got it from Stanley Korshak. I actually wrote an entire blog post about my experience trying on dresses at Stanley Korshak and finding the one! I LOVED my experience! The dress I ended up wearing was actually the first dress I tried on – crazy right?! I knew it was the one because I kept comparing all the others I tried on to it and it was the one that I felt the prettiest in. I loved the bodice style and how it made me feel like a princess!

Reception Dress

For the reception, I changed into a custom-made dress that I designed with Mackenzie Brittingham. I also wrote an entire blog post on that design process of creating my reception dress if you want to read more about it + see more photos!

Going Away Dress

And for my going away dress, I wore Alexia Maria. I wanted to do something not white and a little spunky and when I saw that hot pink dress with the big twist knot in the front, I was sold! It was perfect! Plus, unlike my other dresses, I knew I’d be able to wear this one again.

Wedding Accessories + Shoes

I wore my mom’s diamond earrings (they’ve always been my favorite piece of jewelry of hers!). The earrings were my something borrowed :)

And then I wore custom-made shoes that my mom and I designed together.

My ceremony veil was also by Galia Lahav; it was the matching veil that went with the dress. I love how it completed the look!

For my something blue, my mom had a cross made with blue topaz stones. My birthstone is topaz, so it was a sweet little tie-in. I fastened the cross to an inner part of my dress – I loved this little detail!

Wedding Rings + Bands

You guys. I have so much to say about Abraham of L&L Jewelry. Like, I cannot explain to you how much I not only love him but also working with him (oh, and of course his work!!). He worked one-on-one with Duncan to design my engagement ring and Duncan and I both just can’t sing his praises any louder! He’s based in New York, but I truly believe he’s one of the best out there.

I didn’t have time to fly up to New York to work on the bands, so we did all the designing via the phone, FaceTime, text messages etc. and like always, Abraham was THE BEST! I also feel like he really helps you get the most bang for your buck and is honest about pricing.

Guest Welcome Box + Favors

I didn’t really get any good photos of the entire welcome box, but I wanted to include what we put in them since I’d gotten a few questions surrounding what to put inside welcome boxes. For us, we wanted to put stuff in there we both loved and told a little story.

Since the wedding was in Austin, we included some chips and salsa to add a little Texas flair. Duncan is obsessed with Diet Coke, so we included that plus some candy since we both can’t get enough (we did skittles and hot tamales!). We also added water bottles and Advil plus the party favor. For our party favor, we got a family friend to make crosses that we had painted gold and blue with our wedding bible verse on the back (1 John 4:7-12).

All About the Bridesmaids

I already wrote about how I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding if you want to check that out.

And then I wrote about my bachelorette weekend too if you missed that blog post recap! Please let me know if there’s anything else I missed when it comes to recapping everything about my wedding party. I loved every little detail and had so much fun with this part of the planning!

Bridesmaids getting ready dresses thanks to Migoldrina Bridal

I’ve been a fan of Migoldrina for years and these little dresses were PERFECT for getting ready! Their bridesmaid’s dresses have buttons in the back too so that you can easily take off your dress without messing up your hair.

Bridesmaids robes thanks to Weezie Towels

I’ve shared with y’all before how much I love my Weezie robe, right?! I first discovered them a little over a year ago and I basically wear mine every single day! I absolutely love it and thought it would be such a fun gift for my bridesmaids.

Bridesmaids shoes thanks to Dee Keller Design

I wish we had gotten more photos of all the girls in their Dee Keller shoes! Honestly, this is one of my regrets because the shoes were such a special part of everything. I loved that my mom was able to design them and how they turned out.

Bridesmaids Jewelry thanks to Hazen & Co.

I’ve known Taylor of Hazen & Co. for years – she is such a doll! We went to the same church back in Dallas and met through a family friend back in 2016…I think? Anyway, I loved having my bridesmaids wear the poppy earrings from her jewelry line, Hazen & Co.!

Bridesmaids dresses: Nicole Bakti

We got the bridesmaids dresses from Chatta Box Boutique in Baton Rouge, but the designer is Nicole Bakti. It took us WEEKS to find something I really liked. I knew from the start I didn’t want your typical bridesmaids dress and I didn’t want to do something solid. It took a long time to find a pretty silhouette and a different (but not too much) fabric that paired well with my ceremony dress.

We actually didn’t find the dress in the boutique, but we found it within a catalog of one of the brands that the boutique carried. I just tried to look on the designer’s website and I couldn’t find it? But I did find a pink version of the dress (we had them change the color) on another random website here. I think we had to get them special ordered and pre-ordered because they were from the SS20 collection.

Obsessed with these cuff links I got Duncan for the wedding and just to have! I had them made by the same guy that did our rings, Abraham of L&L Jewelry. 

Groomsmen Tuxes

I’d heard amazing things about The Black Tux and so I was excited to try them out for our wedding. We could not have been more pleased! They were SO easy to work with and I think their tuxes are the best rentals out there. For Duncan and his groomsmen, we got the shawl collar style and I love how they look!

Reception Party Supplies

Personalized Foam Hats, Cowboy boot koozies, Personalized second line napkins – my mom designed and ordered all of these from one of our family friends who owns a promotional logo company, Geaux Logo.

Light up glasses – Flashing Blinking Lights

Second Line Umbrellas – we had them made through a vendor on Etsy.

Wedding Vendors

Event Planner: Verve Events Austin

We worked with Barbara from Verve Events. And YOU GUYS. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this woman. She has been in the industry for YEARS and knows everything there is to know about planning all sorts of weddings. She was available whenever I needed and did all the necessary behind the scenes work to make my day perfect. I truly loved working with her and recommend her 100% if you’re planning on having an Austin wedding.

Florals & Production: Jackson Duram Events

Remember when I shared about my vision for wedding decor a few weeks before the wedding? The main thing is that I wanted the reception to feel like the outside was coming inside – very natural and representative of the beautiful Texas hill country where the Omni Barton Creek is located.

Photography: John Cain Photography

We had Matt from John Cain Photography and he was so great to work with. I’ve been friends with John for several years and it was special getting to work with his company for my big day.

Wedding Band: Party Machine

I got to meet with Carl before the wedding to talk about what I wanted and the vibe I was hoping to achieve for the reception. I appreciated getting to know him before the wedding. And then I have to say that these guys TOTALLY delivered a fun time! They were a BLAST and exactly what I was hoping for in a band! I highly recommend them!

Bride & Groom’s Cake: The Cake Plate

Ceremony Vocalists: Jimmy McNeal & Stephanie Toups

Officiant: James Madden

Groomsmen Tuxes thanks to The Black Tux

Hair: Carolyn Holden

Makeup: Adore Makeup (Shirley did mine!)

Rings/Bands: L&L Jewelry