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Charming Texas Hill Country Wedding at Gruene Estates

May 5, 2017 | Junebug Weddings

Aubree and Travis’ wedding at the historic Gruene Estates was the epitome of Hill Country elegance and small-town Texas charm. After having their first date and getting engaged in Gruene, it was only natural that this sweet couple returned to their roots to start their lives as husband and wife. The open-air chapel, which was originally the home of the town’s founders, is now one of the most gorgeous wedding chapel venues we’ve seen and the small barn is perfect for an intimate reception. With the help of family and friends, Aubree and Travis enhanced the rustic and elegant vibes of the venue with flea market finds and up-cycled objects, all in a color palette based on their two favorite college football teams. Needless to say, this wedding was truly “them,” and Just Like Honey captured that authenticity so perfectly!

The Couple:

Aubree and Travis

The Wedding:

Gruene Estates, Gruene, Texas

Gruene is where we went on our first date and it is where Travis proposed. The whole town was so meaningful for us that it just made sense to get married at the venue of the two individuals who helped establish Gruene.

Travis‘ dad had passed away from a long battle with cancer the April before we were married. I wanted to make sure that he was with us during the ceremony so I found a boutonniere photo charm on Etsy. The shop owner rushed the order for me with Travis‘ dad’s picture inside of it. I placed it on the inside Travis‘ vest the day of the wedding so when we was getting ready he would see find it! We were both happy that he was with us and close to Travis on the big day.

It had been raining all day and we were so worried that we would have to postpone the wedding for a while. But 10 minutes before I was set to walk down the aisle, the skies cleared up, and as the trio of strings began to play the longhorns ran up to the fence and were present to hear us say I do! It made us all laugh and started the whole ceremony off on such a positive fun vibe.

Nadine was so easy to work with and even made the extra effort to drive up to Gruene to take our engagement pictures. When I say that Nadine is an artist I mean she is a true artist. She sees people as a whole and captures who they truly are. Not to mention she makes you feel so incredibly comfortable! She was so patient the day of the wedding with the rain situation and we could not be happier with our photos. They are such keepsakes and we are so grateful for all she did for us before, during, and after our wedding.

Our colors were navy and copper. I grew up watching Notre Dame football and Travis grew up loving Texas football. So we took our two favorite teams and combined them into our wedding colors. Silly I know, but it turned out pretty great! Although, I did have to cheat a little and turn the burnt orange into copper – it was just prettier!

All of the decorations were done by my mother, sisters, myself, and the planners at the venue. I wanted the greenery incorporated with the lanterns and a mixture of metals for the votive holders. We bought a lot of items and either turned them into what we envisioned or tweaked them slightly to fit into our plan. Our photo area was created by finding some amazing shutters in Round Top and the great paper flowers were made by my sister, Amber Kornegay.

First Dance – “Shotgun” by Sean McConnell

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Just Like Honey
Venue – Gruene Estates
Floral Design – Oakleaf Florist
Catering – Salt Lick
Cake – 2tarts Bakery
DJ – Lone Star DJ
Invitations – Minted
Hair Styling – Amy Winstead
Makeup Artist – LoLa Beauty
Wedding Dress – Mia Bridal Couture
Bridal Accessories – BHLDN and Mia Bridal Couture
Bridesmaids’ Apparel – Bella Bridesmaids
Groom and Groomsmen’s Apparel – Men’s Wearhouse
Rings – Robbins Brothers

 

Congratulations to Aubree and Travis, and a special thanks to Just Like Honey for sharing these lovely wedding photos with Junebug! If you want to see a different take on Texas charm, take a peak at this eclectic Hill Country wedding at The Wildflower Barn!

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How to Plan the Perfect Wedding Weekend

May 4, 2017 | Junebug Weddings

photo by Cinzia Bruschini

You’ve heard it before — your wedding will fly right by and feel like a blur once it’s all said and done. To really cherish the moments, more couples are choosing to see their celebration as part of a larger wedding weekend. Between out-of-town guests coming to visit and having all of your favorite people in one place, you won’t regret having extra time beyond your wedding to spend with friends and family. Because planning the actual day is hard enough, we’ve broken down the best ways to plan the perfect wedding weekend for you and your guests!

photo by Elizabeth Lauren Photography

A Post-Rehearsal Dinner Get-Together

While your rehearsal dinner provides a little time to catch up with your wedding party, you’ll spend the majority of your wedding day with them and have likely spent time with them leading up to this point. Planning a get-together after dinner gives you an opportunity to hang out with guests, especially from out-of-town, who you may not have as much time to see on your big, busy day! Invite your guests to go bowling, have a bonfire, or head to your favorite bar for a low-key night before the wedding. This casual setting is a great opportunity for your younger guests to get to know each other before spending the day together, and more than likely your older relatives and their children won’t stay out for this particular event.

photo by Ten21 Photography

An After-After Party

Speaking of your younger guests, some wedding attendees may not be ready to call it a night after your sparkler exit. This is where an after-after party comes into play. Send the party animals on to the next location — a nearby bar or restaurant is a great option — so your older relatives can go home and your venue’s cleanup staff can start breaking down from your reception. It’s completely up to you whether you want to join in on the fun, show up for one drink, or head home and let the night owls rage on in your honor.

photo by Jessica Heron

A Day-After Brunch

If you aren’t hopping on a plane immediately after your grand exit, consider having brunch with your guests the next day. Everyone needs to eat, so you may as well do it all together one last time before the weekend is over! Your guests will appreciate the opportunity to congratulate you again and say “goodbye” before leaving town. If you have a local family member who has been itching to help in planning your day, see if they might be interested in hosting the day-after brunch.

photo by UNIQUE LAPIN Photography

A List of Local Must-Sees

While you’re busy getting ready with your best girls, enjoying your first look, and taking pre-wedding portraits, your out-of-town guests may be wondering what they can get up to before heading to the ceremony. Providing a list of your favorite places in town lets your guests feel close to you without actually needing to have you present to experience the fun. From the best restaurants to shops and sights, your guests will appreciate a little insight into the city they’re visiting for the weekend. This list is a great page to add to your wedding website or even to include in your wedding invitation suite!

photo by Samuel Goh Photography and Ksana

Get Your Guests Connected

In the age of social media, you’re able to help your guests connect before they ever meet in person. Set up a Facebook group a few months before the big day to allow them to begin getting to know each other and even making plans. The Facebook group is a great way for guests to make travel or carpool arrangements as well as to coordinate meet-ups during the wedding weekend. Putting your guests in touch ahead of time also allows them to answer each other’s questions so no one has to ask you. The less you personally have to facilitate, the more you can focus on getting married!

Your perfect wedding weekend can include one or all of these options — it’s totally up to you! Looking for more wedding planning ideas? Check out these helpful posts:

8 Ways to Make Time for Yourselves in Your Wedding Day Timeline

9 Creative Reception Activities Your Guests Will Love

5 Wedding Traditions You Might Want to Rethink + What to Do Instead

Why You Don’t Need to Feel Guilty About Your Wedding Guest List

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You Have to See the Dress This Bride Designed for Her Union/Pine Wedding

May 4, 2017 | Junebug Weddings

This Portland couple’s Union/Pine wedding features warm industrial vibes and modern intimacy! Hillary and Michael wanted their wedding details to strike a balance between totally intentional and completely carefree, and we think they achieved that goal wonderfully. Hillary, an apparel designer, dreamed up and created her own stunning gown that featured a modern texture and was topped with a soft floral shawl. We can’t help but smile along with this couple’s portraits – Olivia Strohm Photography did such an amazing job of capturing their playfulness!

The Couple:

Hillary and Michael

The Wedding:

Union/Pine, Portland, Oregon

I designed and made my own wedding dress. I am an Apparel Designer and have always loved using all white color palettes with a lot of texture so designing my own wedding dress was a sweet spot and such a fun process! What a cool experience laboring for hours over such a special piece of clothing and all that it represented. If you design, you know that things rarely go exactly the way you had envisioned straight away, but after remaking more than half the dress only two weeks before the wedding it finally felt “right.”

I loved feeling elegant, yet effortless and comfortable on my wedding day in separates that were designed just for me. I’ve actually continued designing more bridal separates since the wedding so that I can share the same experience I had with other brides!

Each bridesmaid wore a different dressed picked specifically for her by the bride so everyone looked cohesive, yet their individual personalities showed through.

We focused the most on staying true to ourselves as a couple. We spent a lot of time up front talking about how we wanted the experience to feel and we felt it was important to be intentional with those closest to us. We wanted to go all out for details and personalized touches, but to not let the specialness of our commitment be overshadowed by a lot of stress and logistics. So we kept our wedding small and simple and intimate and it was perfection for us!

Olivia Salzwadel of Olivia Strohm Photography is a dream to work with. She is professional and organized and put together, but she is so dang fun! I was not looking forward to stuffy, posed wedding portraits. I let Olivia know I preferred candid shots and my oh my did she work her magic! We have such amazing photos that are artistically stunning, but they feel authentically us.

It was so amazing to see all of our thinking and planning and ideas become a reality. We took each step and decision one at a time so it was shocking to our family and friends (and even to us really!) when we arrived at the day and everything was beautiful, stunning, and crazy fun. It really did feel like US. We still can’t believe we pulled such a great balance off!

We would advise couples to take some time at the beginning of your engagement to set your priorities. There are so many decisions and it gets so overwhelming (even if you don’t think you have “one of those” families!) it is really helpful to have guidelines to fall back on to keep you on track. Take time early on in your engagement to slow down and level set just the TWO of you. Decide how you want to feel during the planning process and on your big day so that you don’t get distracted by things that ultimately won’t matter to you along the way.

A pastor from our church who knows us well officiated so the message was personal and poignant. We started and ended with traditional wedding vows but wrote in our own promises to eachother so we could understand the weight of our commitments in our own language. We sealed our union with a secret handshake before the big kiss.

Oh, Union/Pine! We absolutely love this place. I had been to a work event at UP a few years prior and never forgot the feel of the venue. Such clean lines and minimal industrial feel, but with the dark wood and stark white contrast it also feels so lush, cozy, and classy. We searched around at some other locations but ultimately we knew our hearts were at Union Pine and well, you know what they say, follow your heart!

Yes, photo booths are all the rage, but Picstop PDX takes it to another level. Their booth is gorgeously hand built and self-sufficient so guests can come and go as they please and photos are displayed for everyone to enjoy during the event. Our guests pasted one of their photo strips in a guest book for us and kept the other strip. This took care of a favor as well as capture moments we never would have seen. Love having this unique guestbook on our table for all of our friends to enjoy.

We also kept things “us” by ditching a wedding cake for our favorite Moonstruck Truffles instead and having our first dance to Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There” (yes…the Free Willy soundtrack).

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Olivia Strohm Photography
Venue – Union/Pine
Floral Design – Cheryl Thiessen Designs
Catering – Elephants Delicatessen
Bartending – Merit Badge
Dessert – Moonstruck Chocolate
Live Music – Christopher Thiessen
Invitations – Fossil Letter Press
Makeup & Hair Artist – Helena Albanese
Wedding Dress – Kayloe
Groom’s Apparel – Ralph Lauren
Groomsmen’s Apparel – Will Leather Goods
Rings – Mociun, Meander Works
Rentals – Classic Vintage Rentals
Photo Booth – Picstop PDX

 

Congratulations to Hillary and Michael, and a special thanks to Olivia Strohm Photography for sharing their day with us. Can’t get enough of this wedding’s warm industrial vibes? Then you’ve got to see this artistic industrial wedding at The Doyle Las Vegas!

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