Danny and Maya were married at Cedar Bend Events, just 25 minutes outside of Austin. They chose their venue because they wanted an outdoor wedding and this place was beautiful! “We both really wanted the wedding to be outdoors and to embody the relaxing feel of a backyard barbecue”, wrote the groom. “Our original plan was actually to have a family barbecue style event and handle all of the food/catering as a family, but that proved too difficult logistically, so we opted for a wedding venue that could provide the same relaxed feeling.”
“Throughout the planning process, we consciously chose to ignore any rules that were inconvenient or contradicted our values”, he continued. “For example, when it came time to decide on a dessert, we opted for catering from Amy’s Ice Creams instead of expensive wedding cake(s). When we were choosing friends for our wedding party, we disregarded the traditional gender guidelines, because some of my best friends are women. It felt inappropriate for my BFFs to stand with Maya just because they are women, and Maya felt the same way about her male BFFs. It took a little extra work to color-coordinate everyone, but it ended up looking great!”
The couple DIYed most of the décor elements for the wedding, and Danny, being a graphic designer, created all the paper goods. “I am an illustrator and do a lot of type and design work at my day job”, he said, “so from the beginning I knew that I would want to do all of the graphic design and illustration for our wedding invitations. We both love indie comix, animation, handwritten lettering, embroidery, and cats! So those were a few of our stylistic inspirations for the stationery design.”
“My favorite part of the day was walking out at the beginning of the procession and seeing 150 people that I love and care about, all in the same place for the same purpose; it was truly a profound moment and, as cheesy as it sounds, I do think it was one of the happiest moments of my life.”
“Prior to the wedding day, I had been dubious about the value of having a wedding ceremony at all, given the stress of planning and the exorbitance. But that moment during the procession really clarified the purpose and value of weddings in my mind. Weddings matter because they highlight the importance and power of the community in relation to the couple, and because of that, the community’s sacrifice in travelling to be in one place is the authority that gives the couple new status as a family.”
