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The Ultimate Wedding Weekend Itinerary in San Antonio, Texas

August 13, 2026 | lexi

After spending a few days exploring San Antonio, we quickly realized it’s the kind of city that naturally lends itself to a wedding weekend. Between the River Walk, historic landmarks, incredible local restaurants, and unmistakably Texan culture, there’s plenty for guests to experience before and after the wedding itself. 

While planning your wedding weekend itinerary, think beyond the ceremony and reception. Where will guests grab a coffee the morning after they arrive? What can they explore while you’re getting ready? Where will everyone gather for one last brunch before heading home? Choosing a central location where your guests can stay, celebrate, and explore allows everyone to spend less time coordinating logistics and more time enjoying the city together.

During our stay at Junebug venue The St. Anthony Hotel, we called the historic John Wayne Suite home while exploring downtown San Antonio. Inspired by our experience, we’ve put together our ideal San Antonio wedding weekend itinerary, complete with local recommendations and a few favorite discoveries from our stay. 

Day One: Check In, Explore, and Welcome Drinks

Invite your guests to arrive in the afternoon so everyone has time to settle in before the celebrations begin.

One of the biggest advantages of staying downtown is that many of San Antonio’s most iconic attractions are just a short walk or ride away. Encourage guests to spend their first afternoon exploring the San Antonio River Walk, whether that means grabbing a drink along the water, taking a guided river cruise, or simply wandering beneath the cypress trees before the festivities begin. 

As evening approaches, gather everyone back at The St. Anthony Hotel for welcome drinks at the historic St. Anthony Club. We loved how the elegant atmosphere immediately set the tone for the weekend, giving everyone a chance to reconnect after traveling without needing to coordinate another destination. If your guests aren’t ready to call it a night, end the evening with cocktails overlooking the downtown skyline before turning in.

Day Two: Coffee, The Pearl, and the Rehearsal Dinner

Ease into the morning with coffee from Anacacho Coffee & Cantina, right on site at The St. Anthony, before encouraging guests to spend a few hours exploring The Pearl District. 

One of our favorite neighborhoods in San Antonio, The Pearl blends historic charm with a modern food and shopping scene. Guests can browse locally owned boutiques, visit galleries, enjoy brunch, or simply stroll along the river. If your wedding falls on a weekend, The Pearl Farmer’s Market is absolutely worth adding to the itinerary. 

Meanwhile, you’ll have a relaxed morning to lounge by the rooftop pool and get ready for the rehearsal dinner while guests experience another side of San Antonio.

That evening, gather everyone for a rehearsal dinner at Esencia, Chef Leo Davila’s signature restaurant inside The St. Anthony. Inspired by the chef’s multicultural heritage, the menu blends Mexican and Chinese influences into an unforgettable dining experience. 

Our dinner at Esencia was such a highlight of our stay. Chef Leo greeted us personally, and after learning about our dietary restrictions, surprised us with off-menu dishes created just for our table. Throughout the evening, he and the staff shared how accommodating guests is at the heart of their approach—from customizing dishes for dietary preferences to maintaining a dedicated gluten-free area of the kitchen for guests with celiac disease. That level of hospitality made the meal feel incredibly personal, and that’s exactly the kind of thoughtful experience we’d want our wedding guests to have. 

Day Three: The Wedding Day

One of our favorite parts about a hotel-hosted wedding weekend is how relaxed the wedding morning feels. Guests can enjoy breakfast together, take one last stroll through downtown, or get some sun at the rooftop pool while you spend the morning getting ready with your wedding party.

During our visit, we stayed at the iconic John Wayne Suite, which offered plenty of space to spread out, enjoy a quiet morning, and soak in the excitement before the day began. Couples celebrating at The St. Anthony also receive access to a dedicated changing room on the wedding day, giving the wedding party even more room to prepare before walking down the aisle. 

When it comes time to say “I do,” The St. Anthony offers a variety of spaces that each bring their own personality to the celebration. If you’ve always dreamed of an outdoor ceremony, the nearly 5,000-square-foot St. A Sky Terrace overlooks the twinkling San Antonio skyline and accommodates up to 160 guests. Prefer something more traditional? The hotel’s grand ballrooms, each adorned with sparkling chandeliers and timeless architectural details, can host celebrations ranging from intimate gatherings of around 100 guests to lavish receptions of 400. Connected by elegant French doors, the spaces flow beautifully for larger celebrations, while the Draper Room offers a more intimate setting for dinner receptions of up to 120 guests.

One space we couldn’t stop admiring during our visit was Peacock Alley. With its soaring ceilings and iconic chandeliers, it feels like stepping into a grand European hall. It’s the kind of space that instantly elevates the guest experience, and makes an unforgettable setting for cocktail hour.

As golden hour approaches, sneak away with your photographer to explore the property. Between the sweeping staircase, historic architecture, elegant ballrooms, and beautifully restored interiors, every turn offers another timeless backdrop. It’s easy to see why couples choose The St. Anthony for engagement sessions, bridal portraits, and wedding-day photography alike.

Junebug Tip: Build a little extra time into your portrait schedule. Some of our favorite images from our stay came from simply wandering the property and letting its historic character lead the way. You can also find Junebug’s favorite San Antonio wedding photographers here. 

Then dance the night away before ending the evening exactly where it began—surrounded by your favorite people, with nothing more to do than ride the elevator back to your complimentary honeymoon suite.

A touch of Hollywood history: Since opening its doors in 1909, The St. Anthony has welcomed an impressive roster of guests, including Princess Grace, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, George Clooney, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and John Wayne. Wayne even made the hotel his home while filming The Alamo, and today the hotel’s iconic John Wayne Suite—where we stayed during our visit—still pays tribute to his time there, complete with an autographed photo from his stay. That sense of history and old Hollywood glamour is woven throughout the property, adding another layer of timeless charm to every celebration.

Day Four: Farewell Brunch and One Last Adventure

Before everyone heads home, gather for one last brunch at Gallery on the Park. 

One of our favorite spaces inside The St. Anthony, the restaurant is housed in a stunning glass atrium overlooking Travis Park. Filled with natural light and crystal chandeliers, it feels elegant without being overly formal.

These slower moments often become some of the most memorable parts of a wedding weekend: sharing stories, laughing over photos from the night before, and enjoying one final meal together before saying goodbye. 

If guests have extra time before their flights, recommend a stop at the Historic Market Square. As the largest Mexican market in the United States, it’s filled with colorful artisan shops, local food vendors, handmade goods, and live music. It’s the perfect place to pick up a souvenir and experience another side of San Antonio before heading home. 

More Things to Do in San Antonio During Your Wedding Weekend

If your guests are arriving early or staying an extra day, here are a few more experiences we’d recommend adding to the weekend itinerary. 

  • Visit The Alamo. One of Texas’ most recognizable landmarks, it’s worth experiencing whether it’s your first visit or your fifth.
  • Stroll the River Walk at sunset. The atmosphere completely transforms in the evening as restaurants fill, lights reflect off the water, and live music spills onto the walkways.
  • Explore San Antonio’s architecture. Downtown is full of beautifully preserved historic buildings that make simply wandering the streets part of the experience.
  • Eat your way through the city. San Antonio’s culinary scene is one of the best in Texas, from classic Tex-Mex to contemporary restaurants showcasing the city’s multicultural roots.
  • Build in free time. Some of our favorite moments happened when we weren’t following an itinerary at all. Leaving space for guests to discover the city on their own makes the weekend feel less scheduled and more like a vacation.

Why We Love a Wedding Weekend at The St. Anthony Hotel

While San Antonio provides the perfect backdrop for a wedding celebration, where your guests stay can shape the entire experience.

Beyond its central downtown location and timeless architecture, we appreciated how thoughtfully The St. Anthony’s wedding offerings are designed for couples. Wedding packages include:

  • A complimentary guest room for the newlyweds on their wedding night with valet parking
  • A courtesy room block for up to 10 guest rooms
  • A dedicated bridal changing room for wedding-day preparations
  • Tables, linens, glassware, china, silverware, and a parquet dance floor
  • Marriott Bonvoy members can also earn two Bonvoy points for every eligible dollar spent on their wedding celebration

After experiencing the hotel firsthand, it’s easy to understand why so many couples choose to make it the heart of their wedding weekend. Combined with San Antonio’s walkable downtown, rich history, and welcoming atmosphere, The St. Anthony creates the kind of celebration guests will be talking about long after the last dance. 

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Lace, Earth Tones, and Effortless Elegance in this Casa San Jose Destination Wedding

August 12, 2026 | justine

Family linens, everyday napkins, and the couple’s own cake knife all found their place at Casa San Jose. Rather than filling the tables with objects chosen just for one day, Logan and Tom surrounded their 50 guests with pieces that already belonged to their lives, giving the weekend a character that couldn’t have been replicated with rentals alone.

The Dallas couple met at a mutual friend’s party in New York. When it came time to plan their destination wedding in San Miguel de Allende, they arrived with a clear sense of their style and a guest list made up entirely of family and close friends. Every decision that followed, from the intimate setting to the three-day celebration, reflected that simplicity.

What We Love About This Casa San Jose Wedding

  • A private estate celebration with just 50 guests
  • A rooftop welcome dinner overlooking San Miguel de Allende
  • A rehearsal dinner with natural beeswax candles, petal-less sunflowers, and oncidium orchids
  • Short portrait sessions that gave the couple more time with their guests
  • Family-owned linens, napkins, and the couple’s own cake knife incorporated throughout the weekend

 

Featured Vendor:
Bougainvillea Weddings

 

Three Days, Three Different Personalities

The weekend opened with an intimate rooftop welcome dinner overlooking San Miguel de Allende, giving guests time to settle in before the celebrations began.

The following evening leaned fully into a rock-and-roll aesthetic. Natural beeswax candles flickered alongside petal-less sunflowers and vibrant oncidium orchids, creating a noticeably different mood from the wedding day.

By Saturday, the colors softened to whites, greens, and abundant foliage as family and friends gathered for the ceremony inside Casa San Jose. Without a first look, every reaction unfolded in real time as the couple saw each other..

According to the planners, the words shared during the ceremony became one of the weekend’s most memorable moments, with family members visibly moved throughout the vows.

Planning From Dallas Meant Choosing the Right Team Early

Logan and Tom came to Junebug vendor Bougainvillea Weddings with inspiration that already reflected who they were as a couple. Instead of developing a concept from scratch, the planning process focused on shaping those ideas to suit the venue while keeping the overall vision cohesive.

“They came to us with a very clear sense of style and beautiful inspiration,” their planner shared. “Our role was to help guide them through certain decisions and bring those ideas to life in a way that felt natural to the venue, aligned with their expectations, and true to who they are as a couple.”

Because the overall vision was already clear, the planning team spent their time refining details instead of revisiting major decisions. That freedom carried into the welcome dinner and rehearsal dinner, where each event developed its own personality while still belonging to the same weekend.

Keeping Portraits Short Left More Time for Guests

Both Logan and Tom are naturally introverted, so their photographer adapted his approach to match their personalities rather than directing them into poses that didn’t feel like them.

“Rather than pushing them into poses that didn’t feel natural, I focused on creating a relaxed atmosphere where they could simply be themselves.”

Portrait sessions stayed brief by design. Instead of disappearing for long stretches, the couple returned to their guests and spent most of the afternoon exactly where they wanted to be.

Knowing Casa San Jose Made the Timeline Easier

The biggest planning challenge wasn’t choosing decor or designing the reception. It was fitting the entire evening within the venue’s timeline.

Because Bougainvillea Weddings had planned numerous weddings at Casa San Jose, they already understood how the property flowed from one space to the next. That familiarity allowed each transition to happen smoothly, even behind a tightly coordinated schedule.

Family Heirlooms Gave Casa San Jose Its Character

Whites, greens, and abundant foliage carried through the floral design, but the pieces guests were most likely to remember weren’t floral at all. Family linens, everyday napkins, and even the couple’s own cake knife quietly appeared throughout the tablescape.

Those familiar objects weren’t displayed as keepsakes. They were simply part of the wedding, woven into the day as naturally as they were into Logan and Tom’s home.

The Best Decision Happened Before the Wedding

Planning from another country meant Logan and Tom could only visit the venue once or twice before the wedding. Instead of trying to oversee every detail from afar, they focused on communicating what mattered most and trusted their planning team to take it from there.

For Bougainvillea Weddings, that trust shaped the entire process.

“When a couple feels confident that they are in the best hands, everything flows better.”

For couples planning their own Casa San Jose wedding or another destination celebration, it’s a practical reminder that choosing the right team early often matters more than trying to control every decision yourself.

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Samantha Rivieccio
Event Planning + Floral Design + Catering – Bougainvillea Weddings
DJ – BGolden Productions
Makeup + Hair Styling – Itza Márquez

 

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This Tibumana Waterfall Elopement in Ubud, Bali Was an Intimate Family Affair

August 11, 2026 | justine

A 24-hour flight, a five-year-old flower girl, and a ceremony beside Tibumana Waterfall made Alissa and Daquan’s Bali wedding feel like a family vacation with a wedding built into it. Before they exchanged vows beneath the trees, their closest loved ones spent several days exploring Ubud together, visiting elephant parks, monkey forests, and local restaurants before gathering at the falls for an intimate ceremony.

Global events nearly changed those plans. Flight cancellations meant several members of their wedding party couldn’t make the trip, but the couple never lost sight of what they had come to Bali to do: get married with the people who could be there, especially their daughter.

What We Love About This Tibumana Waterfall Wedding

  • Turning the wedding into a week-long family trip around Bali
  • A five-year-old flower girl who was at the heart of the celebration
  • Earth-toned fashion that blended naturally with the surrounding forest
  • Swapping a traditional reception for an afternoon at Finns Beach Club
  • Trusting their planner to handle the logistics so they could enjoy the trip

Featured Vendor:
WedBali

Making Sure Their Daughter Was Part Of The Ceremony

The couple skipped a first look, saving the surprise for the ceremony. Their daughter rode to the venue first with Daquan while everyone else followed separately. When Alissa arrived, it was the first time they saw one another that day.

The vows were the part they remember most, but there was another moment that mattered just as much. “The most important thing for us was making sure our daughter was there. Taking a 5 year old on a 24-hour flight around the world was no joke, but making sure she sees what love looks like in real time was one of the most important things.” Standing beside Tibumana Waterfall, surrounded by their closest family, that was exactly what they created.

As portraits wrapped up, other visitors gradually made their way down to the falls. Instead of interrupting the celebration, many paused to congratulate the newlyweds before continuing on their own visit. The Bali heat was another challenge, but bottles of water and handheld fans kept everyone comfortable through the afternoon.

A Week In Bali Before The Walk Down The Aisle

Alissa and Daquan actually met twice. A mutual friend introduced them during a college tour, but Daquan had to leave before they had the chance to exchange contact information. Nearly a year later, they unexpectedly ran into each other in their college dining hall. “Sparks were immediately flying. Since then we’ve been inseparable and have been enjoying life.”

Years later, that easy connection shaped the kind of wedding they planned. Rather than organizing a large celebration back home, they invited their closest family members to meet them in Bali and turned the wedding into a shared vacation.

Everyone arrived on Monday after a 24-hour journey, leaving a few days to settle in before the Thursday ceremony. They visited Mason Elephant Park, explored Monkey Forest, experienced the Night Safari, and joined day tours around the island before gathering at Akar Ubud the evening before the wedding. There, they raised a toast, thanked everyone who had traveled so far, and enjoyed one last dinner together before the celebrations began.

Friends who had married in Bali introduced them to Junebug vendor WedBali, a recommendation that simplified almost every decision. After choosing their ceremony location and floral arch, the rest was handled by the planning team. “We picked the arch we wanted for the wedding and they took care of everything else. It was really simple and easy for us.”

That support became even more valuable when international tensions disrupted travel only weeks before the wedding. “Our whole thing was that no matter what happens it’s about us as a family and this wedding is meant to be for us even if it’s just us that can make the trip.”

Choosing A Ceremony Setting That Needed Very Little Added

Greenery wasn’t something Alissa and Daquan had to create. Between the dense trees, cascading water, and natural surroundings of Tibumana Waterfall, the setting already reflected the color palette they had chosen months earlier: greens, browns, and soft blues.

The floral arch complemented the landscape without competing with it, making the ceremony feel connected to its surroundings rather than staged within them.

Comfort mattered just as much as coordination. Alissa chose boho braids to keep her natural curls manageable in Bali’s heat and humidity, pairing them with soft, glamorous makeup. Guests received an earthy color palette instead of strict dress requirements, allowing everyone to wear something they genuinely enjoyed while still creating a cohesive look in photographs.

Trading a Traditional Reception For The Beach

There wasn’t a formal reception waiting after the ceremony. Instead, everyone headed to Finns Beach Club, where the celebration continued over music, cocktails, ocean views, and conversations with travelers from around the world. “We met tremendous people from all over the world, partied, enjoyed the beach, and loved every minute of it.”

It suited the rest of the wedding perfectly. Rather than following a traditional reception timeline, the day unfolded much like the rest of the week: relaxed, unhurried, and shared with the people who had made the trip to Bali alongside them.

When Plans Change, Keep Your Priorities The Same

Looking back, Alissa and Daquan wish more of their loved ones could have been there. Even so, the travel challenges never changed what mattered most. Their advice to other couples is simple: “Planning a wedding can feel like you’re trying to take care of everything else except yourselves. Make sure you prioritize yourselves over everything else. It’s your day!”

Their wedding didn’t unfold exactly as they had imagined when they first started planning, but the parts they talked about most had nothing to do with seating charts or timelines. They remembered the waterfall, their daughter, and the extra days spent together in Bali.

 

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Helopixel
Event Planning – WedBali
Venue – Tibumana Waterfall

 

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