The two of us and our families convened in Houston for our wedding. We didn't think it would feel like much more than a family reunion and group dinner, but it was more fun than we ever imagined it could be. It is now the weekend to top. Needless to say, we were so fortunate to have been able to share the weekend with our fabulous family.
Here are some pics of the fun:
Check out Anthony's mom's boyfriend in the straw hat. His outfit made my day. He had birks, gold toed socks, a grateful dead tie, the hat and topped it all off with a USA-Cycling patch pinned to his jacket. I like to imagine that he's stifling a giggle about some inside joke in this shot.
Our officiant, Ron Ramey, did a great job.
My side of the family post-ceremony.
Trying to help Uncle Greg tie his tie while my maid of honor, aka the Best Woman, looks on fearful that the veil she worked so hard to attach to my head, will move.
The finished tie project. Not bad.
My brother and I before the ceremony.
Our hotel goody bags with chocolate covered almonds and pecans, thanks to Cyndi at Bicycle Paper Designs.
For anyone looking for wedding vendors in Houston, we lucked out and were able to work with a crew of fantastic folks. We had a small get together of 27 of us and wanted an intimate and relaxing vibe. Along the way, we learned that planning even a small wedding requires such a degree of attention to detail that numerous times we questioned why the heck we were having a wedding instead of eloping. We are not the type of couple you would call wedding savvy and we needed all the help we could get to make the weekend event feel fun, relaxed and laid back (and not cost an arm and a leg). In the end, I can speak for both of us and say that we were so glad we did what we did, the way we did it. The following list of folks helped make it possible:
First and foremost, we loved our photographer, Holly Hoyt (who's pictured below with Anthony). She helped us from the beginning by answering a very random email I sent her inquiring about wedding venues in Houston. Not being familiar with TX at all, we had no clue where to start when planning a wedding from Tennessee. I saw a thumbnail picture that directed me to her website, liked her photos, and figured she'd been to more weddings in Houston than I had, so I emailed her with questions about cool places to get hitched in TX. That was the start of a great connection. She took some amazing photos of our weekend and made all our guests feel involved. Somehow, I think she was able to learn everyone's name in the first hour. Everyone commented about how much they liked her and by the end of the weekend, it really felt like she was a part of the Hawken/Angevine wedding family.
You can check her out at these sites:
Our wedding planner for day-of help was Kelly Balfour of Eventology. The peace of mind we had from having her take care of all the little details was great. She brought her own personal crystal toasting flutes for us and upon short notice, the day before, she even found and purchased a photo mat for all our guests to sign.
Our wedding pastor was Ron Ramey: http://www.weddingpastor.com/
Lori Holley did our flowers and took lots of time helping us figure out what we wanted: www.specialarrangements.net/ She made finding the right flowers to flow from casual backyard wedding to our dinner at the very modern, chic Bistro Alex seem effortless.
Melody Kelley at Harmony Strings provided music and helped us pick pieces we liked. They were able to play LZ's Stairway to Heaven and The Turtles' Happy Together songs and when our ceremony was over, they stayed and played while we snapped group photos.
The folks at Bicycle Paper Designs made our invitations, itinerary cards, place cards, and labels for our bags of candy. Cyndi always took lots of time to make sure every order was perfect down to every comma.
Hotel Sorella was where everyone stayed and the on-site Bistro Alex is where we ate after the ceremony. Being a bit picky about food, we figured it'd be some generic, fancy, but edible food and we were wrong. It was really, tasty fare. The pastry chef made us a strawberry short cake type wedding cake that was a nice end to the meal. We were happily surprised at how good the meal and service ended up being.
Transportation to and from the hotel and airport was via, AFC transport at www.afchouston.com/ They did a great job getting everyone shuttled in and out of town and were very easy to work with from afar.
Transportation to and from our rehearsal dinner and ceremony was arranged via Annette at the Original Trolley Company. Annette's professional and prompt approach, and the excellent drivers made this a streamlined issue. Our limo driver had to back out of a, long, serpentine, skinny gravel driveway and didn't bat an eye.
We had a good Friday day night meal here: Cyclone Anaya's.
A few of us (including Anthony for his first massage ever) got massages and pedicures at a spa next to the hotel: www.lifetimefitness.com/lifespa/
Our wedding venue, Vargo's, with charmingly loud peacocks and pretty lush green grounds made us feel like we weren't in a big city sprawl: www.vargosonline.com/
All in all, it was a good weekend and we emerged the happy, newly wed, Mr. and Mrs. Angevine.
Beautifully written Kristi. Now you are wearing another hat as a talented Blogger :-) As always, you make your mother proud!
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