Venue Spotlight: Rancho de Vida

Located one hour outside of Austin, the small town of Johnson City was the home of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Today its landscape contains miles and miles of rocky, grassy, and wildflower spotted Texas hills, and its shops offer some of the best vintage items I've seen in a while.

I traveled out there today with Emily and Bethany, owner of Loxodonta Events. Mary Pat, a middle aged bride, hired Emily for event design and Bethany for event planning. Her "ranch-a-rita" wedding is set for October 2013. We went out to her ranch, Rancho de Vida, to take a tour and get some inspiration for decor.

The ranch house is exactly the kind of house I want to live in someday. It was colorful, simple, clean, vintage, unique, and cute. The house is actually available to rent out for vacations which is something I might actually considering doing. The peaceful surroundings of miles of land covered with wildflowers sets the stage for what is sure to be an amazing wedding venue.

Mary Pat showed us all around the ranch and explained what he son would be tearing down, fixing up, and building prior to the wedding. I appreciated her love of vintage details and the color turquoise and continuously found myself taking pictures of everything around me.

After pinning over 100 inspiration pictures for Mary Pat's wedding, I can't wait to see how it all comes together over the next few months. Adios for now!

{Jessica + Aaron} Houston to Austin Wedding

Wimberley, TX, is located in the middle of nowhere. And that's exactly it's appeal to future brides and grooms. Texas Hill Country is popular location for lots of couples because their guests can take in Texas' natural beauty, enjoy its rustic styling, and feel like they're taking a vacation. All while only one hour outside of Austin, TX.

However, there are some disadvantages to Texas Hill Country. Weather is unpredictable. And cell phone service is fleeting. Both of which I discovered while working a wedding yesterday with Lauren Carrillo from the Houston branch of Something To Celebrate.

The bride and groom, Jessica and Aaron, live in Houston but wanted to get married at Red Corral Ranch outside of Austin. Hiring Lauren was a perfect decision as she is based out of Houston but works for a company that also has a branch in Austin.

When forecasts predicted a 70% chance of rain, Lauren decided to change her original plan to a rain plan, which included moving the ceremony inside and moving the cocktail hour to the reception area. Because of these changes, all the vendors had one hour less to set up before guests arrived.

Lauren spent most of the early hours of the day at the ceremony site preparing the decor and running the wedding rehearsal. She left me at the reception site to set up the sign in table, organize the escort cards, and prepare the dessert table. However, my job grew more and more as the wedding loomed.

As the only coordinator at the reception site, the vendors looked to me when they had a question about where to set up or what they were responsible to do. With no way to contact Lauren and confirm my thoughts with her, I just started making decisions. I directed the caterers where to set up their three stations, found a place for the baker to store his refrigerated desserts, provided the DJ with an area to set up, dealt with questions from the venue manager, and scheduled a time for the band to set up while not distracting the guests during cocktail hour.

I learned a lot about making decisions on the spot and sticking to your intuition and vision. I'm understanding that I need to trust myself more. I know what's going to work best. I just need to translate that to the inquisitive vendors that I work with.

My favorite part of the night was after Jessica and Aaron made toasts and the entire room of guests stood up and sang a traditional Polish song to them. It was so beautiful that it brought even the bride to tears.

Sometimes impromptu events make the night. While other times, they should be avoided.

When talking to the mother of the bride, Lauren explained it perfectly by saying, "This job would be hard for someone who doesn't love it."

And gosh do I love it more and more with each wedding.

Venue: Red Corral Ranch
Wedding Planning and Design: Something To Celebrate
Floral: Last Petal
Rentals: Premiere Party Central
Catering: Pok-e-jo's
Desserts: Michelle's Patisserie
Bartending: DNA Events
Photography: Hyde Park Photography
DJ: Altared Weddings

{Elizabeth + David} Surprise Wedding

The plan was set. Everyone knew what they had to do in order to turn a romantic engagement party in a residential meadow into a beautiful wedding in the woods. But the rain had another idea... When severe storm warnings came on the television early Friday morning, everything shifted from Plan A to Plan Make It Work.

The bride and groom, Elizabeth and David, wanted to use Elizabeth's parents' house in West Lake Hills, TX, for the party because of the beautiful natural setting. The meadow in their backyard was set with round tables topped with lush peach, pink, and white centerpieces placed in small logs. Furniture vignettes were also set up throughout the meadow for guests to sit, chat, and enjoy each other's company.

I created four paper lantern sculptures that were hung around the backyard. Early that week, along with the bride and her family, Emily and I made 10' long ribbon streamers that were supposed to hang as back drops to the vignettes in the backyard.

But when the rain came pouring in our plans changed. A tent was erected in the woods were the ceremony would be. All the furniture was covered with tarps to keep dry and later moved to the ceremony area. We decided to hang the ribbon streamers along the back line of the tent (my idea!). The reception areas would be inside the house as well as under the tent after the ceremony. Room was made in the house for food stations and a bar (my idea!).

It was definitely a challenge running around and moving things in the rain while coming up with spur of the moment ideas to keep the party flowing. But at the end of the night, after Elizabeth and David announced that they were just going to get married that evening, it all came together better and more beautiful than I could have imagined. This self-proclaimed unconventional couple got their unconventional wedding in a way that is sure to be remembered.

Venue: Private residence in West Lake Hills, TX
Wedding Planning and Design: Bird Dog Wedding
Floral: Posey Floral and Event Design
Vintage furniture: LOOT Vintage Rentals
Catering: Pink Avocado Catering
Photography: The Nichols

Summer 2013 Internships

I finally finished school for this semester so now I can dedicate a lot more time to keeping up with this blog! After sending out my resume to 20 different wedding planning companies in Austin, TX, and Dallas, TX, I managed to score two internships for this summer! I will be working at Bird Dog Wedding and Something To Celebrate.

At Bird Dog Wedding I get to work closely with Emily Leach. I will be working at her office/home three times a week, accompanying her to client meetings, running errands, creating timelines, assisting at weddings, and much more. Because she runs a smaller business, I will really get to learn all the ins and outs of the industry and see what goes into planning a wedding from start to finish.

At Something To Celebrate I get to work with a few of the company's event planners who are based in Austin, TX. This company works out of Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, so they take on a lot of weddings per year. I will get to assist at weddings, attend client meetings, and complete an intern project. This internship is year-long which will ensure I learn a lot about the wedding industry. While interviewing for this internship I got to attend and assist at two weddings - one at Three Points Ranch and one at The Driskill Hotel.

Dessert table display I set up at Three Points Ranch

Tablescape at The Driskill Hotel

Over the summer I plan to use this blog to record the work I do, the fun events I go to, and what I've learned through these internships. It's going to be a wild ride - but I'm more than ready for it!

Say Cheeeeese!

After months of planning, hundreds of emails, and thousands of decisions, your wedding day can seem so short. It flies by before your eyes. And before you know it, it's over. The next day is just another day. After it's all said and done, the only things you'll have left to remember one of the most important days of your life are the pictures.

I think that photography is the most important part of every wedding. Whether it's your dad walking around with his digital camera or your 5-year-old niece snapping pictures with a disposable Kodak camera, these are the things that will last forever.

Nowadays there are so many options for photography on your wedding day. You can have artsy pictures, modern pictures, vintage pictures, black and white pictures, saturated pictures, posed pictures, candid pictures... The list goes on and on and on.

My favorite form of photography at weddings and events though is definitely photo booths.

Photo booths are relatively new on the event scene, but are not something that should be overlooked. They add something extra to your event that is interactive for your guests. It's a fun way to get them involved in your wedding and to keep a little piece of them after it's over.

It's an easy way to get pictures of almost all your guests without having a stranger awkwardly ask them if he can take their picture. People love being able to see their pictures as soon as they're taken and photo booths provide this unique opportunity that photographers can't always do. 

No matter how old you are, from 12 to 82, everyone still loves to play dress up. Huge sunglasses, feather boas, empty picture frames, fake flower bouquets...the options are endless! Pick props that go with the theme of your event.

Here are some of my favorite photo booth companies in Austin, Texas. Whether it's their editing style, booth design, backdrops, or offered props, they all offer something unique  and have different vibes that are sure to be a hit at your next event!

• Booth 66 Photobooth
• Live Oak Photobooth
• Airstream Photobooth
• Annie Ray Photobooth
• Smilebooth

Or create your own backdrop to hang up yourself!

Fan-tastic

Streamers to make them beam

Falling flowers

Stripes are ripe

Purple circles

Beautiful blooms

Swinging string

Basic burlap

Ridged ruffles

Lights at night

Hot hydrangeas 

Tousled turquoise

Sensational sparkles

Treasured chalkboard

Pretty Polaroid

Moss monograms

Pictures that pop

Newsworthy

Trees please

Giant geometric

Ace in the Cornhole

In the South, we spend our tailgates, barbecues, and sometimes even weddings, playing a lawn game called cornhole. Sound unfamiliar? Think bean bag toss! The only things you need to start playing this game is a cornhole board and a set of four bean bags. You can search the internet high and low for the specific dimensions of how to make a cornhole board but I won't bore you with that. There are only a few things you really need to know. Basic rules state that a bean bag that falls in the cornhole is three points, a bean bag that lands on the cornhole board is one point, and you need 21 points to win. My interest lies in the decor of the cornhole boards and the bean bags. Customizing your board and bags to make them personal to you makes beating your opponent that much sweeter! So have your guy make you a board. Get out your paints and sewing machine. And ace it!

Sweet and romantic

A bright Lilly print!

Stained wood and bold colors

Chevron, chevron, chevron

His and Hers

Simple, one-letter monogram

Beach vibe

Match your wedding theme

Teammates for life

Even a baby shower!

For the kids

Modern and preppy

Your state and hometown

Colorful stripes

Newlyweds

Monogram and patterned bean bags

Silhouettes

Simple and natural

Sorority crest and letters!

Bold pattern