Texas Twosome: Our First Look!

Where did I leave off??? Oh right, we were dressed and ready to head towards our first look!

Our photographer sent his assistant to position Mr. P under the arbor at our ceremony site with his back turned to wait for my arrival. God, he looked sexy in that tux!


And I may have been sneaking a peek. I hadn't seen him all day. I was very excited to be reunited and get this day started!


The photographer grabbed me and followed me out of the house toward my almost husband!


I had a bit of an entourage. I love this picture because you can see my dad, uncle and my step-dad all following behind to catch a glimpse of me and Mr. P.


I couldn't seem to wipe that silly grin off my face for the rest of the night.


Reunited! At last! Followed quickly by lots of our usual awkwardness mostly likely caused by the multiple cameras pointed in our direction.


I know for sure Mr. P is thinking, "Damn girl, you look sexy" in this picture. That's what I'm going with anyways.


Don't you just love first looks? This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole day. If you're even considering it, I say go for it. And this advice comes from someone who was adamantly against it when she started planning her wedding.

Up next, we strike a pose. Or a million poses!

*All photos taken by Nathan Russell

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Get Hitched!
Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!
Texas Twosome: The Girls Get Their Hair Done!
Texas Twosome: We Set Up!
Texas Twosome: The Men Get All Handsome!
Texas Twosome: I Become a Bride!

Texas Twosome: I Become a Bride!

It was finally time for my beautiful bridesmaids to put on their dresses and for me to become a bride! This part of the day is definitely told better by pictures, so here we go! (This is a super heavy picture post)

I grabbed my dress,


gathered all my girls' gorgeous blue dresses


and collected all my accessories.

My vintage-inspired blue topaz necklace and earrings to match my engagement ring,


my gorgeous veil and my "something borrowed" garter,


my awesome shoes (notice something different?),


and my handmade bouquet (with my "something old" Grandma's engagement ring for the 1950s attached)!


My mom helped me in to my dress.


Then she fastened my necklace around my neck


and I put my earrings on.


Then I attached my veil,


slid my garter up my leg,


and sprayed some perfume.


Now came my difficult decision of the day. I had to decide which shoes I wanted to wear. If you remember, I originally bought some Steve Madden shoes, but then decided they were too tall for the dress. So then I bought some new ones and glitterized them. But on the day of the wedding I still couldn't decide which shoes I wanted to wear so I brought them both with me to the venue. I figured I decide once I got my outfit on.

Hmmm...which shoe should I wear?


Steve Madden's it is!


And now off see my almost-husband!

*All photos taken by the fabulous Nathan Russell

Up next, our first look!

Miss something?

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Girls Get Their Hair Done!
Texas Twosome: We Set Up!
Texas Twosome: The Men Get All Handsome!

Texas Twosome: The Men Get All Handsome!

After we finished setting up, it was time to head inside to get dressed. The venue had separate rooms for the girls and guys to get ready in.

Nathan Russell Photography

Nathan Russell Photography

Nathan Russell Photography

Nathan Russell Photography

I love that all the guys helped each other with their ties and boutonnieres. I don't think it took very long for the men to get ready, so they had plenty of time to make use of the TV in the room by watching the UT game that day.

Nathan Russell Photography

Thankfully we had two photographers so one was able to capture some great shots in the men's room while the other photographer hung with the ladies. It's so nice to see the guys all dressed up because they're usual dress is t-shirt and jeans.

Up next: The ladies get all fancified!

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Girls Get Their Hair Done!
Texas Twosome: We Set Up!

Texas Twosome: We Set Up!

We opted not to have a wedding planner or even a day-of coordinator from the beginning. We knew we'd be able to do it ourselves, with the help of family and friends, and didn't want to spare the money.

Setting up was a bit of a challenge since it was still pretty windy outside and we weren't completely sure it was done raining for the day. But everyone quickly banded together and got things done.

Table centerpieces were set out,


the cake table was set up to wait for the cake that would come later,


the seating arrangement lollipop trees were displayed,


and the sweetheart table was adorned with decorations.


My fabulous friends also decorated the arbor, set out our guestbook tree, flip flop basket, program basket and hung the twine for our pictures and well-wish papers. I am so thankful for our generous family and friends. We finished setting up in a little under an hour and then it was finally time to get dressed!

Miss something?

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Girls Get Their Hair Done!

Texas Twosome: The Girls Get Their Hair Done!

The morning of the wedding I woke feeling at peace with the world. I know most brides wake up excited or wake up nervous. I felt neither of those emotions – just peaceful. I don’t know if it really sunk in yet that I was getting married that day. This is where the day starts to become a blur.

I hopped in the shower and then my sister and I finished organizing everything that needed to be moved to the venue. We waited for the rest of the girls to arrive so we could head to the salon to get our hair and make-up done.

My awesome Co-MOH, Leesa, offered to pick up breakfast tacos (yep that’s right, two days in a row!) for everyone and she brought the fixing’s for mimosas too!

As we all relaxed in the super cute lounge area of the salon, we were called one by one to start the make-up and hair stuff. We were there for about three hours and had about 5 or 6 different girls working on us.

I look a little Frankenstein-ish in this photo...trust me, the end result was much better!

Next, we’re off to the venue to set up and get ready!


I think I was starting to get a bit more excited so I decided to have a little sing-a-long in the car with my mom on the way to the venue.

Miss something?

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!

Texas Twosome: The Day Before We Got Hitched!

We were only one day away for the big one now. What better way to start they day off than with some delicious breakfast tacos!


My mom, step-dad, sister, uncle, Mr. P and I headed to our favorite taco place, Amigos BBQ, for fuel before we started on our busy day.

I spent the rest of the morning buying booze for the wedding and rehearsal dinner and putting the finishing touches on the cakes.

Then it was off to the nail salon for mani/pedis. (I actually had a friend offer to do my fingernails for free so I took her up on the offer the night before.)


This was my very first pedicure and it was definitely a success. I am super duper ticklish, especially on my feet, so I feared that I would kick the lady in the face or something. Thankfully that did not happen. Note to self (and others): It is a bad idea to wear skinny jeans to get a pedicure. What was I thinking?

After our nails were all finished we headed home to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Mr. P's dad offered to host it at his house so we had everyone meet at our house so we could caravan out there. It was about an hour away and we didn't want anyone getting lost.

Mr. P's dad and his wife really out did themselves with the party. They had a western theme going with red and white checkered table clothes, horse saddles, boots with flowers and even and ranch sign with Mr. P's and my initials. And they served delicious BBQ. Yuummmm!




We had some late arrivals so decided to chow down before we practiced and it was delicious!

Once everyone arrived it was time to line up and get to the rehearsing. Our wonderful officiant, Guy ran the show for the rest of the night. (Just a small side note: we don't normally all dress like cowboys, we just thought it would be fun to ask everyone to get into the Western theme for the night.)



We really enjoyed having the rehearsal dinner because it gave our families an opportunity to meet and mingle. It was a gorgeous evening (although majorly windy) and at the end of the night Mr P. and I went our separate ways. We wouldn't see each other again until our first look the next day!

*All photos are personal photos taken by friends and family

Miss Something?

Texas Twosome: The Week Before We Got Hitched!