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Whitney and Ryan
Kimpton Seafire Hotel
Wedding Planner: The amazing Stephanie Cardwell at Kimpton
Officiant: Rev Donovan Myers
Hair and Makeup: Jackie Soriano and Trina
Ring Designer: The Diamond Broker and Diamonds Direct
Shoes: Barefoot
Flowers: Celebrations | Delphiniums, Dusty Purple Roses, White Ranunculus, White Ginestra, Purple Succulents (loved that) and pops of yellow flowers
Decor: Celebrations
DJ: DJ Craig
Bridesmaids Dresses: Hayley Paige
Warren Barron-Watters
After dating for a few weeks, Whitney called out Ryan on a trip he wanted to do. Ryan had mentioned hewanted to hit up Lockhart, TX for barbeque roadtrip. On a dreary Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m., Ryan picked up a Friday night fun Whitney to head to Lockhart, which is almost 4 hours away, for a there and back full day of eating barbeque, followed by watching college football. We should have brought a change of clothes after how three barbeque joints left us smelling like a smoke pit.
Oh Lordy. I went with my bridesmaids to one store in the morning. It was fun but nothing was 100% me. I liked a certain aspect about one dress and another part of a different dress but I couldn’t find a dress that had it all. I had an appointment that at Warren Barron that afternoon so naturally what does one do while killing time in between wedding dress shopping appointments…goes with her girls for beer and pizza?! It was so much fun. I went to Warren Barron and we showed Stephanie, my wedding dress angel, the pictures and the things I liked and didn’t like about the dresses I had tried on. I loved her reaction. Stephanie, just looked at me and said, “I know the dress you are going to get. Try on anything you want, I will help you pick out as much as you want but I know the dress you will pick.” I was caught off guard but she was good and she was right. It was perfect. Naturally it was in NO way shape or form what I thought I wanted but it turned out to be perfect, perfect for me.
An hour before our wedding, we saw bad weather coming in. We knew that this might happen. However, we thought it would pass quickly. The storm lasted for over an hour. The Kimpton started moving our wedding inside. By the time this was finished, the rain had stopped. Our wedding party and guests demanded the wedding be outside and grabbed wedding crew gear. They helped move everything outside and we were able to get married on the beach with a great overcast in the background. It ended up perfect. The weather right after the storm was a bit cooler which was perfect for the wedding on the beach. We did still have to eat inside because there was SO much to move but we were so glad we ate inside. The weather turned really muggy and it would have been miserable. Basically everything turned out great and I am so grateful for our friends who went rogue to help us get married on the beach and for Stephanie and her amazing staff at Kimpton for being so flexible and gracious to help make this happen.
My matron of honor, Alicia, and my maid of honor Elizabeth, were a little sneaky. Liz and my dad had been talking and she actually was able to get my mothers personal bible and brought it with her. Alicia talked with my dad as well and was able to get my mothers wedding dress and Alicia made my garter from her dress. It was beautiful. My friends Ashley also got in on the wedding dress action and had the cover of our wedding album made from the lace in my mothers dress. I am still in awe of the ladies I am surrounded by and their thoughtfulness. I can never thank them enough for their kind hearts.
I still hurt from laughing! It was so much fun. I felt like I was hanging out with life long friends. Now I will say, my girls, we are a little crazy ourselves and we were just laughing and having the best day. Rebecca and everyone just jumped right in like they have know us for years. Because of that wonderful spirit we got some insane pictures. I mean, at one point I was in the soaking bathtub in my pj’s, makeup and hair done, with my veil, high heels, my bouquet and a bottle of champagne with my girls surrounding me singing “All I Do is Win”! I’ll say it again, I hurt still from laughing so hard. It was an absolute blast!
Oh if only I could share everything. Ha. Hands down the best moment was taking the pictures in the bathtub. It was such a priceless moment. But in all honesty, that entire day of getting ready and taking pictures with my girls was amazing. It was filled with nonstop laughter and maybe an inappropriate joke or two. I seriously hurt that day from laughing so hard. It was just so fun and so relaxed, even as we saw that big storm coming in. Nothing could dampen my mood
Ahhh like every good love story, at a bar. Ryan was invited by his friend Clay to come meet up with some “people just going out.” Whitney was meeting some friends that night as well. Little did we both know that our friends were all there on dates. By the end of the night, we found out we both lived in the same block and were part of the same condo HOA. We hit it off from there
We did the first look and I am so glad we did. I wouldn’t change that for the world. I knew I would be emotional but it was crazy the way it hit me. Ryan was standing looking out at the ocean and I walked up behind him but when I came around the corner and saw him, I lost it. My knees totally buckled and I was just looking at his back! I had been having so much fun with my girls getting ready I really didn’t think about how I would feel in that moment and it just hit me in that moment. It was the most incredible feeling seeing this handsome man standing in front of me and I was going too marry him. It was so personal, intimate and special and I am so glad we did that just the two of us instead of in front of everyone. You get the opportunity to just be who you are and have your natural reactions to each other. I get butterflies just thinking about that moment.
Ryan is really good about randomly taking me out to dinner so the fact that he texted me earlier that week saying he had made reservations at one of our favorite restaurants, Bob’s, for Friday wasn’t unusual at all. He always said he was going to propose doing something not expected but never flashy. His joke was he would do it while fixing some plumbing in the house. He acted like he misplaced his Aggie ring in kitchen. I saw it, grabbed it, and when I turned around he was on one knee proposing.
We wanted a touch of yellow and a tree on our invitations for Whitney’s mother who was celebrated in 2009. My dad used to bring my mom yellow roses all the time and yellow was her favorite color so we figured it was the perfect way to feel honor her without doing an “in memoriam” table or the empty chair thing. No offense to others if they have done that, it just wasn’t right for us. I wanted it to be subtle but significant to me. I had celebrations put pops of yellow flowers in my bouquet and they tied it with a yellow ribbon along with surprising my dad with a yellow rose routine. Celebrations surprised up and at dinner had a yellow rose on my napkin, my dad’s napkin and Ryan’s napkin. It was just those little touches. Also, Stephanie our wedding planner did our menu and it had the back ground of a yellow rose. That meant a lot to us especially with Ryan never meeting her. We had to include her in some way.
Enjoy the ride and don’t sweat the details.
Bride: I felt incredibly giddy and calm considering everything went crazy due to weather. I was just so happy to be surrounded by my people while I married the man of my dreams. I am not the cool, calm and collected type but all day I was. It was great.
Groom: I was calm as can be. The whole day I was acting like I had things to do, but I just had to show up. Once I saw her for first look, the wedding itself was a breeze.
Husband and Wife: Fly me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra Father Daughter: My Little Girl by Tim McGraw Mother Son: Everything by Michael Buble
How do we pick?! Obviously the wedding itself was the best but there were several funny moments that will always stick out to me. The first one being immediately after the wedding while we were hanging back taking pictures my new brother in law pulled me aside to say welcome to the family but while he was telling me this I screamed. When he hugged me from the side his boutonniere pin stabbed me in the arm and I was now bleeding haha. It was a priceless moment. I know he felt so bad but I was cracking up. The second would be all the insane dancing and glow sticks. It was just a non stop party! The third and maybe the best was after the reception ended. We had walked outside with everyone and were about to go back to our rooms but my bridesmaids came up to me with an idea…how about we jump in the pool! Well I knew I wouldn’t be wearing my dress again so why not. So I jumped in the pool with my bridesmaids, glow sticks and all. Well evidently we weren’t supposed to do that so we got kicked out of the pool so we all said goodnight and went to our rooms. It was priceless and I am so glad we did it. The bad part was then trying to walk to my room in a soaking wet wedding dress., that sucker was HEAVY!!! hahaha
