Wedding Prep--Austin, Texas

Today I was asked what the best day ever was to me. No doubt, my wedding has been absolutely the best of the best. There is just something about being with the one person that you love the most. However before the big day, there was a lot of planning!

Hummingbird House, Austin Texas.

If you read my post on our proposal, know that we tried to take one day off before all the craziness began. Make sure to let your family know personally about this big step in your life! You do not want to be in an awkward situation where your parents find out about it through  facebook. To us, our family was first. We called our parents a few hours after being together. We talked to them and shared their happiness with them. The following day, we shared the news with closed friends. I did it by text as I didn't have facebook to do a "status update."

I'm guessing for each couple it is a bit different on how they want to approach the planning. For us here's how it kind of happened and some advice.

1) Budget--We talked about how much money we were planning on spending. This is big! Before going to pinterest and claiming "this is my wedding" there must be a reality check on what to get with the money you have. My parents were also willing to help us out and pay forward so it was better for us to pay in installments for the venue, dress, etc. 

2) Pinteresting--I loved getting ideas from pinterest. Again! Make sure to know what really is most important to have. 

3) Location--We visited about 5 places in Austin together to get a feel. Note that pictures can be deceiving so go into the place. Some of the areas you see on pictures look larger than they actually are. We ended up choosing Hummingbird house. When I walked in, I could just feel it was going to be a magical place. And I could really see our wedding being here. This place had a hint of nature and modern touch. The price was in our budget and wasn't the most expensive of all the places we visited. Wherever you go make sure to always ask what is included in the price. This will allow you to also know whether you need to obtain anything additional. Hummingbird house did not provide a kitchen--for us this meant when we were selecting food vendor we had to make sure that they could provide a kitchen themselves or a way to warm up the food and complete all the prep outside. Also review closely the contract!

For our ceremony we choose my church in Pflugerville. As a side note, make sure you let your priest know at least 6 months to a year in advance about the wedding. Giving long term notice, allowed me and my fiance to take the required classes on time. We also paid for using the church this day.

Ceremony Location: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church
http://www.stelizabethpf.org/

More pictures on the following blog.

Reception Location: Hummingbird House
http://hummingbirdhouseaustin.com/home/

The venue had AC so even if  our wedding was in June, our guest were cool inside. Love the all windows feel!            

Water + Flowers

Gold and Purple everything!

Yummy Cake. Red velvet.

I love these because my husband and I made each of them. They have lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary! We purchased the bottles at Amazon and we stamped all the stickers. We got the stamp at Office Depot

We had a painting I made with Austin's skyline for our guests to sign.

4) Date--We selected a date based on location availability. I was not crazy about June (because I felt it would be too hot) however this was the month that my family could make it. Again the money factor comes into place for date. Some venues have a breakdown and cheaper prices winter months.

5) Guest list--My fiance and I literally sat for 3 hours and brainstormed on every person we knew. Then we ranked them on basis of must be invited, would be nice to invite, not necessarily need to invite, no big deal if they are not invited. We also made sure to capture the number of guest that the location could hold. Guest number will change how much you are spending on booze and food. 

We made sure to list +1 as well on our estimates.

6) Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, and MOH. Asking your bridesmaids and groomsmen if they are available also very important! They should also know what they are getting into. For example they would need to be available for the rehearsal and they will probably be spending $ for their tux and dress.

6.5) Engagement picture: These are really not necessary, but it was for us part of all the magic! We were traveling to Brazil, and since my uncle lives there, he had a contact of someone who really knew the best places to take pictures!

This shot in Brazil was so fun! We already had a trip planned so we just went for it!

A little sepia never hurt!

The date picture is a must too! :-) Specially if you are in a beach!

7) Wedding Coordinator: Because a wedding has so many moving parts to it, we decided to hire a wedding coordinator. Actually, we just hired Dream Weddings. They were absolutely amazing. They took care of the food, flower arrangements, decor of the venue and overall coordination. This was great for us as we thought it would be hard to coordinate everyone on the day of the wedding. Having all these moving parts under one umbrella helped us a bunch!

http://dreamweddingsofaustin.com/

Sometimes coordinators might have an idea of what should be happening. Make sure that they know what is on your mind. They have a lot of experience and can give you ideas, but ultimately, you decide how the timeline will be. For us, we wanted to give a speech. We got a few looks from them, but I wanted to say a few words, and my fiance wanted to recite a poem. We did and we had no regrets.

8) Music DJ: The best way for us to know if we wanted him was by going to one of his events! We stopped downtown to hear dj Aaron from Altared weddings. They were clear to tell us that some of his events were not related to their company, but we just wanted to get a feel, and we loved it! Aaron was awesome, he was playing all night and even a bit longer than we requested. He just told us he felt the vibe and everyone was having such a fun time he just kept playing songs!

9) Photographer: Our photographer was Estrella Chacon. We met for coffee and she let us see her albums of previous weddings just for us to see her style. She was not pushy at all. We chose her and could not have been more pleased on the final product. At first I was thinking she was not capturing the natural moments, but she was! I just didn't see her. She works with her husband as second photographer. Both of them were extremely professional! For her work please see the next blog I'll write with their pictures!

10) Wedding invitations: Make sure to let someone else proofread it!

11) Dress advice: Don't feel rushed to pick one on your first trip to a Bridal store. You will hear other brides finding "the dress." Trust me, you will know when the dress is right! Make sure to go with 1 person, maybe the Maid of Honor. They are truthful and will keep you grounded on what you wear.


On my next blog I will show pictures of our day! :-)