Carmen and Doug were initially dreading the wedding planning process, but when they realised that didn’t have to do the traditional stuff, it became so much fun! “I had these images in my mind of priests, Hilton convention centres, big shiny bridesmaid dresses and drunk cousins”, Carmen said. “Then I realised that our wedding could be whatever we wanted it to be, and I found the whole process really fun. Drunk cousins made an appearance, of course, but it was still fun!”
Their ceremony was officiated by the groom’s brother at Mercury Hall, Austin. “He has a really witty, dry, irreverent sense of humour and we told him to do whatever he wanted, knowing we wouldn’t be disappointed”, she continued. “He put together a hilarious little diddy with references to my beauty pageant past, Doug’s video game addiction, and some really funny ancient and biblical wedding traditions. We did the ceremony under a big live oak tree. At some point in the planning process I found some pictures of a couple who made a succulent wall to get married in front of. I sent it to my mom and asked if she be interested in making one herself, and much to my surprise she said yes. It ended up being A LOT of work on her part, but it was really gorgeous. Thanks mom!”
“I wanted a rustic south western feel for our wedding, but I also feel in love with this vintage inspired beaded dress that was glamorous as all hell, so we threw it all together and made it work. I also wanted the florals and décor to be unique and kind of strange, nothing standard or too pretty. Our centrepieces were cactuses and big air plant,s and my bouquet had desert flowers in it. My husband really likes building things so he made all the wood table numbers and name tags. We didn’t really have a theme when we began but somehow it all fit together!”
“The other thing were were influenced by was our hair!”, she laughed. “I’m pretty damn proud of my red hair and I love my husband’s curls. So I had the idea of creating a wedding logo that was just our hair. Doug asked a graphic designer in his office to make us one and he did an awesome job! We used our hair image on the invitations, thank you cards, programs and bar menu. Since we had an outdoor wedding in the middle of June in Texas, I knew it would be scorching hot so we made the fans double as programs that said ‘marriage is cool’. I’m still patting myself on the back for that one. Also, the wedding band we had was a friend of the family and had also played at my parent’s wedding. That was really special.”
“The best bit about planning our wedding was really exploring our sense of style and getting to throw the best party imaginable!”, Carmen concluded. “Our biggest regret was not getting a videographer, we even declined a free offer to video the ceremony. That was dumb. The only other thing I’d like to say is to other brides and grooms: Do what YOU want to do. Also buy more whiskey than you think you’ll need!”
