In honor of our 6 year wedding anniversary, let me take you on a trip down memory lane and give you a glimpse into our wedding day.

When David proposed to me 7 years ago on December 25, 2013, we seriously considered running off somewhere. But, ultimately, we wanted to include our kids in our special day.

So, we decided to tie the knot at the ranch.

Our Wedding Date

We chose September 27, 2014, for a very special reason.  It just happens to be the exact date of our first date, one year prior.  That first date with David changed my life even though I had no intention of ever moving again.

In fact, I told him quite matter of factly on that first date  “You are too old for me and you live too far away!”  He just laughed and laughed and laughed…..

The Wedding Party

David and I have four children between the two of us. My two boys, Jon-Benton and Price, walked me down the aisle.

My daughter, Eve, aka Stinkerbelle, served as my maid of honor.

Naturally, David’s son, Kade, was his best man.

The Invitations

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I did not want something extremely formal, and I wanted the invite to reflect the feel of the ranch.

I was thrilled when I found our wonderful custom wood invitations. The company that made ours is no longer in business, but you can find the look here.

Our invites were made from real wood and designed with beautiful succulents and white roses.

When we sent out our invitations,  I also included a fun RSVP card also made from real wood.

Our guests filled them out and mailed them back to us. This was a great way for our friends and family to participate even if they couldn’t make the trip to the ranch.

I’ve kept all of these cards we received and they sit in a wooden basket in our living room.  It’s fun to flip through them and read the hilarious comments our friends and family came up with to wish us well.

Monica, who you will meet later, likes to tell me “everything happens for a reason”. So here’s a look at her RSVP….

My Wedding Dress

I wanted a traditional wedding dress, but, I was not sure what type of dress I wanted.

So, Stinkerbelle and I went to visit the Bridal Boutique located in Lewisville, Texas.  This is a gorgeous bridal salon not far from where I lived.

In fact, the Justin Alexander dress I chose was the first and only dress I tried on.  The staff also helped me find a dress for my daughter that was simply stunning on her. Not only was it gorgeous, but age appropriate.

I kept the jewelry simple for both of us. I accessorized my dress with a pair of crystal drop earrings, a necklace, and some jeweled hairpins.

Eve wore a pair of similar earrings, a bracelet, and crystal hairpins in her fishtail braid.

The Venue

When David proposed, the chapel on the ranch was under construction.  In fact, because there was a huge hole in the top, a large oak tree was happily growing inside.

But, David was determined to have the chapel completed by the time we were to be married, and he did just that.

The chapel seats 50 guests, but can easily handle any overflow. The shutters on the sides of the structure open up to the outside. So, anyone standing outside could still see the ceremony.

They could also ignore the ceremony completely :).

Instead, they could enjoy a cold beer and chat it up with their friends. 

After the ceremony, Kade, rang the wedding bell now that we were now one big happy family.

The Wedding Officiant

One night while we were planning the wedding, David started laughing “I know the perfect person to marry us. He is going to flip out, but he is the only one who can do this.”

When David asked Billy, better known as Buffalo, to officiate our wedding ceremony, his exact words were…… and I am taking huge liberties in paraphrasing “David, you are completely nuts.”

But, after grilling us and lecturing David “I am serious, this is no joke”, he agreed.

He took a great deal of time to find the perfect words for our day. Buffalo stressed about it for months.

It goes without saying that he did a fabulous job.  In fact, “The Reverend” was such a hit at our service, that he has gone on to marry two more couples these last few years.

Our Wedding Reception

Since we decided to have the wedding at the ranch, why not have the reception there as well?  David’s office, which is also on the ranch, was the perfect venue for our reception. 

David has a great eye for architecture, and probably was an architect in another lifetime.

Many years ago, he found a log cabin in Virginia.  He purchased the entire structure and shipped it to Texas.

His office eventually became a unique version of that log cabin, and includes a full working kitchen and lovely outdoor areas.

It is such a beautiful space to entertain and obviously, was the perfect choice for our reception.

Yes, I am hardheaded….

However, I didn’t want to make an easy choice and have the reception inside the office, safe from the elements.  I wanted to have the reception completely outside and without a tent.

I did not want to block our view of the gorgeous Texas sky.

Yes, you guessed it.  I had no Plan B.

For months leading up to the wedding, David asked me “Are you sure you don’t want to reserve a tent…..just in case?” 

Nope….our wedding reception would be outside under the stars come hell or high water……

And, that is exactly what we got – high water.

The Reception Decor

I love the giant oak tree that sits directly behind the office. It has a huge canopy and was the perfect spot to put the tables for the guests to sit and enjoy the band.

We didn’t want our guests to be sitting in a black hole under the tree, so I decided to hang lightweight large lanterns from the tree branches using strong cable attached to a carabiner.

I placed a battery operated candle in each lantern that I could control by a remote. Every lantern could easily be turned on and off with the click of a button and without climbing a ladder.

We also served the food buffet style.  This allowed us to use our own tables in the serving line.  Eventually, several years after we were married, these tables became connected together for life.

They now sit in our dining room connected and covered with a gorgeous mahogany top. 

No Plan B…….

The night before our big day, the heavy rain began to come down hard and fast. I stood under the patio at the office staring at those tables, thinking holy sh** – I have no Plan B.

Luckily, we had covered all of the decorated serving tables with heavy duty plastic. But, the tables for the guest seating were soaked.

It poured all night long.

When we woke up the next morning, it was still raining.  It rained and it rained and it rained.

Finally, at around 2pm, the rain suddenly stopped. The sun came out just in time for everyone to run around like crazy people trying to dry everything off.

My Something Blue

When the kids and I moved down to The Hill Country, I knew I would not have time to drive back and forth to Lewisville to get my wedding dress altered.

I found an expert seamstress in San Antonio to alter both mine and Eve’s dresses.

Sofia is a very talented seamstress and she runs the Alamo Heights location of Sew Chic.

I trusted her to embroider the lining of my dress with our wedding date in the the center of a navy heart.  

Our Wedding Flowers

I wanted the flowers to fit with the feel of the ranch. So, I used hydrangeas, succulents, white lilies, and white roses throughout the chapel and at the reception.

For Eve’s bouquet, I used a mix of succulents and white roses.  When I designed my bouquet, I used white roses exclusively, and I mixed in some pretty little rhinestone pieces. 

The precious photos to honor my brother and Daddy and the coin Monica loaned me to weave into my bouquet are my most favorite part of my bouquets.

Both my father and my brother had lost their battles to cancer.

For David’s boutonniere, I also chose succulents I mounted on a wine cork. I included a photo of his father who had passed away 6 months before he met me.

My Something Borrowed

Monica, who I mentioned earlier, knew how much I missed both Alton and Daddy.

She weaved a beautiful coin, known as a shekel, into my bouquet that her father had given her many years before.

Her father had given her the coin with a message “Thirty pieces of silver was the price Judas paid to betray Jesus. I want you to remember every time you wear this that you were bought with a price. As much as I love you, His love is so much more.”

That coin means more to Monica than any other gift Mr. Ken has ever given her.

I was so honored that Monica, as a fellow Daddy’s Girl, loaned me that beautiful shekel to me.

How amazing!!!!

The Photography

Our wedding photos are the absolute best part of our wedding day as they document just how amazing the day really was.

I am so blessed to have been able to hire Crystal Delahoz from Love Me, Photography to capture the details. Monica also works with Crystal, so I am sure that had something to do with it.

Crystal does not typically do weddings, but she agreed to do mine – even though her own wedding anniversary falls near our date. So instead of celebrating her own happiness, she celebrated ours.

I will never be able to re-pay her generosity in giving her time and talent to our day. She and Monica have a fabulous eye for a gorgeous photo.

The photos they took are beyond perfect in capturing our special day on film!

In fact, Crystal is so good, I have used her exclusively to take my kids’ senior pictures.

If you are near the Dallas area or even travel there at certain times of the year, book your senior photos through her. You will not be sorry.

AHHHHHH-mazing.

Our Wedding Music

We hired a gifted classical guitarist, Kevin McCormick . He played music at our ceremony and for the first hour of our reception.

Kevin’s resume is chock full of documentation of his talent.

He has played all over the country and you can listen to his musical talent here.

Our Wedding Video

We hired Aaron Yates and his staff from Kerrville Photo to capture our day on video.  Aaron and his staff did an amazing job and I highly recommend his services.

They covered the entire day seamlessly, and filmed us so professionally that we did not even know there was cameras hanging around.

Not only did we get a huge amount of footage to watch whenever we want, Aaron created a wedding trailer that sums up our special day perfectly.

You can watch our wedding trailer here.

David’s Ring

I wanted David’s ring to be special. I found Michael, a very talented jewelry designer. He created David’s platinum wedding band. Michael’s thorough attention to detail made this process extremely easy.

David’s ring is one of a kind as it contains my fingerprint. The inside of his band is also engraved with a special handwritten note to him from me.

Our Wedding Cake

David and I chose one cake, and the bakery was the the easiest choice we made. Sophie’s Bakery in Fredericksburg is the best bakery in The Hill Country.

We selected David’s favorite flavor – carrot cake – and she designed and decorated our cake using succulents, mercury glass garland, and birch bark ribbon.

Our cake sat on an antique wagon David found during his travelling days. \

We cut the three tiered beauty with a gorgeous engraved cake serving set and used some pretty monogramed cake forks to try a slice. For the champagne toast, we used some beautiful handmade flutes.

Having Some Fun with Our Friends….

When we got married, most of our friends were not mutual.

We needed a fun way for our friends to get to know each other and get to know David and me much better.

David and I designed some laugh out loud beverage napkins for guests to use to learn more about us.

The Facts

• Jennifer and David’s time of birth is only 8 hours apart in August….if you don’t count the 18 year, 13 day difference. Astrologically, Jennifer claims to be a Leo, but insists David is a Cancer.
• Jennifer and David’s wedding date and time is exactly one year from their first date. They each had a shot of Tequila prior to the date.
• Jennifer has travelled to one other continent during her lifetime. With the exception of Antartica, David has visited them all and been arrested on four.
• Jennifer was suspended from high school her junior year. David was suspended yearly from the fourth grade on. He was also expelled during his freshman year of high school, and then again in college.
• Jennifer’s favorite hobbies include tennis and gardening, while David enjoys riding motorcycles and guns. Earlier this year, Jennifer’s team competed at sectionals in the 40 and over 4.5+ division in San Antonio. David shot a hog.
• Both Jennifer and David have advanced degrees from college. David uses his daily. Jennifer does not.

Instead of using a traditional guest book for our guests to sign, we found a custom wedding puzzle.

Our guests left us a message on each piece of the puzzle. You can put the puzzle together and frame it somewhere in your home.

Or, just leave the individual pieces separate and store them in a glass jar or basket.

Our Wedding Favors

For serving drinks, we used another piece David found during his travels.

Now, we use this piece as a sofa table in our living room.

When our friends visited the bar, they received a navy and silver koosie marked with our wedding date and “The vows our done, let’s have some fun”.

Also, because it was still a little hot in Texas, before the ceremony we handed out bottles of water decked out with our custom wedding labels.

They also took home a personalized shot glass marked with our date and planted with a baby succulent. Many of my friends have commented that their succulent is still alive and well today.

The Send Off

It is always fun to see the bride and groom leave the reception. Our exit was totally “faux”. We didn’t go anywhere, but I wanted the photo.

I found some 36″ long sparklers and some personalized tags that I attached to them. I placed them in a large vase for our guests when it was time for David and I to “leave”.

If you watched our wedding trailer until the end, I laugh and say “I did it by myself”. Our friends lit the sparklers using the personalized match box right on cue, but David had disappeared.

So I walked the line by myself. Luckily, the long sparklers lasted awhile.

Once someone found David mingling at the bar, we did the whole thing over again.

Our day was unbelievably perfect. Thank you so much for allowing me to take a trip down memory lane with all of you.

Most of all, Happy Anniversary David!

Here’s to at least a BAZILLION more.

This post does contain affiliate links.  This means if you click on certain links and purchase a product I recommend, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you do make a purchase through my links, thank you so much for supporting my website.