The past few months have been a whirlwind -- planning a wedding is no joke! -- but now that we have gotten married, honeymooned, and settled back into the routine of life, I have finally been able to take a step back and appreciate the amazingness of it all.
I never realized how big of a production throwing a wedding was until we started to plan, and a huge part of the success of it all lies with your vendors. I am so lucky to have worked with so many wonderful humans and I wanted to give them the praise they all deserve. If you are planning a wedding in the Austin or Central Texas area and are looking for vendors, from venue to florist to band, then look no further. I cannot recommend these folks more:
I never realized how big of a production throwing a wedding was until we started to plan, and a huge part of the success of it all lies with your vendors. I am so lucky to have worked with so many wonderful humans and I wanted to give them the praise they all deserve. If you are planning a wedding in the Austin or Central Texas area and are looking for vendors, from venue to florist to band, then look no further. I cannot recommend these folks more:
- VENUE - LONE OAK BARN: I cannot say enough good things about Shelli and M'Kensie Aday and our experience at the Lone Oak Barn. From the moment I toured the venue and met the two of them, I knew it was where I wanted to have my wedding. They answered so many questions, let us come to the venue multiple times, and were invaluable on the day of the wedding. The LOB is gorgeous and made for the most amazing pictures.
- PHOTOGRAPHER + VIDEOGRAPHER - THE BIRD AND THE BEAR : I knew I wanted Caryn and Bryan to shoot our wedding after watching multiple videos on their site and loving how natural everything felt. We received our photos this week and they are stunning. They were so wonderful to work with, from engagements to bridal portraits to filming the day of the wedding, and together with their assistant, Justin, delivered exactly what we were hoping for. They are calm and organized and extremely talented. (All photos on this post were taken by them).
- WEDDING COORDINATOR - MODERN MOMENTS: I spoke with many planners before talking to Wes Geffner, but I knew after our initial phone call that I wanted her to coordinate the wedding. I did a month of coordination package, but Wes was available for questions in the months leading to the wedding and in the last two weeks, she was the main point of contact for all the vendors, which helped decrease stress exponentially. Her assistant on the day of, Taylor, was also very attentive and made sure JB and I were fed and taken care of and that we knew where we needed to be when.
- BAND - BLIND DATE: JB and I attended a wedding where Blind Date performed two years ago and when we got engaged, we knew we wanted them to play our wedding. They book up fast, and rightfully so, because they are absolutely incredible. Mark and the rest of the band put on a show that our guests have been complimenting ever since. They play a great mix of modern music and the classics and know exactly how to gauge the crowd and get them going!
- FLOWERS - CENTRAL MARKET (North Lamar location): Kathy McGrath created the most beautiful flowers for the day, from the bouquets to the flowers for our wedding arch to my flower crown. She came to the venue herself to deliver everything and she was such a delight to work with.
- CATERING - SLAB BBQ: Mark, Chip, and their team delivered incredible barbecue, cooked right out of their food truck and served fresh. We knew we wanted to do barbecue for the wedding, and Mark was great to work with in planning our menu and working with a changing guest count, while Chip made sure everything was executed wonderfully the day of. If you're looking for barbecue, I cannot recommend Slab enough.
- CAKE + CUPCAKES - SWEET TREETS BAKERY and HEY CUPCAKE!: My cake was exactly what I had envisioned and JB loved his, as well. Jackie McGrath at Sweet Treets is a baking genius! The flavors here are unreal. We also had the Hey Cupcake! truck come out to the venue and they served four different mini-cupcakes. Sheila Camhi helped me through the process and was wonderful to work with. I know cakes can be pricey, but both of these places served incredible desserts at very affordable prices.
- STRING QUARTET - TERRA VISTA STRINGS: They played ceremony and cocktail hour and offer a vast song list (modern and classic) performed by very talented musicians. I found them via a google search and was so lucky I did! Anthony was wonderful to work with in selecting my song list and the quartet was just what we had hoped for!
- BAR SERVICES - WILDWOOD EVENTS: We contracted them late in the process and they were wonderful in making sure guests were satisfied, but they were also instrumental in clean up, etc. We worked with Kayleigh, who assisted us throughout the entire process of planning, estimating, and so on.
- EVENT RENTALS - PREMIERE EVENTS: Premiere delivered everything from glassware to drapery to bar tables and set up and picked up everything. The ceremony space looked absolutely beautiful once they were finished setting up and our contacts, Alison and Janira, would also respond to us immediately and made the ordering process easy. It's likely you'll need a company to rent items from for your wedding if you're choosing to do it in a stand alone venue, and Premiere is a great choice.
- INVITATIONS, SIGNAGE + ALL PAPER PRODUCTS - HAPPYLIFEPRINTABLES (etsy): I ordered all of my wedding graphics, from invitations to table numbers to seating charts to decoration signage, from Michal at Happy Life Printables on etsy. She was the easiest person to work with and worked with me to create exactly what I wanted. Her designs are all over the place for every taste, but I was sold on her antler and flower theme and used it as the inspiration for all of our wedding decorations. A very affordable but beautiful option for every wedding design need you could have. We had everything printed at CORE Details in Houston, and Butch and Becca did everything from making paper suggestions to reproducing invites quickly. We had paper ranging from a 3X5 to a 16X20 and it all looked beautiful.
- DRESS - NOW & FOREVER BRIDAL BOUTIQUE (Houston): The only wedding related item from Houston was my wedding dress. It was the first shop we went to and when I found my dress, it seemed almost too good to be true. Vo, Kim, and the staff at N&F worked with me in alterations to create the ball gown I wanted with the perfect veil. This is a small shop but definitely worth going to if you are wedding dress shopping in Houston!
- TRANSPORTATION - AUSTIN CHARTER SERVICES: Because we were having the wedding in Round Rock, we knew we wanted to provide transportation for our guests. Abdul and his team helped us figure out exactly what we needed and provided transportation throughout the day for the guests and wedding party. Everyone was on time (early!) and very helpful. I highly recommend.
- HAIR & MAKE UP - BLO Austin (5th Street location) & DIVAZ FABULA: We all arrived at BLO early Saturday morning and they managed to finish 13 hair appointments in a three hour slot. No one was running late and everyone looked beautiful! Divaz Fabula came out to the barn to do our make up. What I loved about Thelma and Sandy Sifuentez's company is there was no minimum fee based on number of people getting make up done (aka cheaper if 7 people do it versus 3 people) and that they offer ala carte services at a lower price (just face makeup, just eye makeup). All of the girls loved their make up and it photographed beautifully.
- RINGS - KUBE'S JEWELERS (Fort Worth): I have to give credit to JB for finding such a wonderful Jeweler to work with in Kube's! It has been in Fort Worth for decades, and working with Brent was so delightful. He helped us create the wedding bands exactly as we had envisioned. We have returned for cleanings, etc., and he always has a smile on his face and is ready to help out. I love this place.
Again, cannot recommend these vendors enough. It's amazing to look through photos and see that exactly what we hoped for was executed beautifully because of the work of all of these wonderful people. (and thanks, mom and dad, for throwing one great wedding!)