Texas Wedding at Red Corral Ranch by Michelle Boyd

This casual yet fun Texas wedding by the lovely Michelle Boyd will for sure fancy you. At the ceremony, guests were encouraged to pick a seat rather than a side - something I just absolutely love! Lots of DIY elements were incorporated into this wedding.. just see for yourself!

From the bride: Our wedding took place on the Red Corral Ranch in Wimberley, Texas on a late summer evening. Chris and my father (bride's father: Mark Phillips) along with other close friends and family arrived on the ranch in the morning to start personally setting up the chairs and ceremony site. They hung curtains along the entrace to a canopy of trees where the guests would sit, then propped an amazing old rustic mirrored window against the pokey country fence as the backdrop for the ceremony. The rest of the wedding party and families arrived in the afternoon. My mom, bridesmaids and I arranged flowers for the centerpeices and set up the cupcake table display. The theme of the wedding was rustic chic. I based many of the ideas off of the venue's natural setting (a ranch with cabins and a big red barn) along with using a color palette of lavender, lemon, antique gold and ivory. I loved the feel of having an informal yet stylish and FUN wedding. Chris and I had been together for the better part of 7 years so this was indeeed a celebration! The ceremony took place outdoors and the reception was inside this giant red barn. The barn was fully renovated with air conditioning, plumbing, stained concrete floors and (my favorite) tons of twinkle lights. Outside we had a firepit for roasting smores and a couple of horseshoe pits for some competetive fun. Inside we served delicous texas bbq and had an awesome retro rockabilly band from San Marcos (The George's) play. So, we ate great food, threw horseshoes, roasted marshmellows, laughed, danced and the band even held a hula hoop contest at the end of the night. It was an amazing evening. Finally, at the end of the reception, our guests lit gold sparklers and we exited the barn into the beautiful hill country night. I loved SO many things about that day. In no particular order, here are some details: I personally shopped at thrift stores through the course of 8 months and found old small vases and doilies to use for the centerpeices. I also used a few photos of Chris and I together as part of our decorations throughout the reception. We had fans for our guests to use and one side said "I'm a Chris FAN" and the other "I'm a Jenny FAN". We had cups that our guests could use and take home with a design matching the invitations and the fans that read"Oh Happy Day, Jenny and Chris 9-2-2012". The rustic mirrord window used as our backdrop was a gift from my parents and is now used in our home. My maid of honor baked and desiged our cupcakes including our large cupcake (the cake we cut). All of the signs throughout the site were homemade. My caketopper was a 1920's porcelin bride and groom that my mother found for us at a vintage store. My father got ordained specifically to marry us. He had never performed a wedding ever. It was so sweet and funny and wonderful. My 17 year old brother played our ceremony music. He played 'Walk the Line' as the groom and his mother entered the ceremony followed by the rest of the wedding party. He then played 'Never Goin' Back (fleetwood mac)' for the bride's processional and 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' for the recessional. Chris and I danced our first dance to "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, performed by The George's. When Chris and I were taking our "first look" photos he asked if I had found anything in my boot. Since I hadn't, I had to then and there remove my boot to find he had written me a note, folded it and tucked inside. It was written in blue. He was making sure I was fully covered in those traditions:) The most funny and embarrassing moment of the day/night was when Chris was slipping the ring onto my finger and announced "she's a wee bit tight!" meaning my ring of course but that didn't stop EVERYONE from completely cracking up including myself and my father. oh dear. Lastly, I LOVED loved LOVED my wedding dress which I ordered off of the website "Recycled Bride" and it fit perfectly. It had been a sample dress in Olympia, WA and was sold to me at a non refundable yet incredibly low rate. LOVE. So, that's it. Of course non of these visions and details would not be possible to relive and describe if it weren't for my AMAZING and BRILLIANT photographer, Michelle Boyd. She and her lovely husband shot the entire day and night. Michelle has an amazing gift and talent of making it so much fun to be in front of the camera. She made me feel beautiful and us feel so important. Her work alone has breathtakingly told our story of that day. *sigh*