Mediterranean-Style Texas Wedding by Caroline Fontenot


Happy Wednesday blogettes! The sun is shining, I managed to brush my teeth before 12:00 noon and I actually put on jeans today before sitting down in front my my laptop. I have to say things are looking up especially considering Friday is only two sleeps away. In the meantime I have this sweet Mediterranean style, navy blue and white hued wedding to share with you sent over by the fabulous Caroline Fontenot. The gorgeous bride's gown is so simple and beautiful and the anemones in her bouquet are one of my most favourite blooms. I also have all the fun details from Lauren herself so be sure to check those out below before heading over to Caroline's blog to see all the incredible photos from their night time ceremony and uber fun reception. Catch all you lovelies later this afternoon :) 


{Advice to Future Brides} Remember, it's one day and it's just a wedding. You're there to marry your man, your boo, your best friend for the rest of your life! Things may go wrong so let go of them and have a blast. Don't try and keep up with every single trendy thing you see on the blogs, just do what makes you smile. And most importantly get a videographer, even if it's just a friend with a flip cam.

{Biggest Obstacle While Planning} For us, it was finding a venue that was open for our date - when your fiance is in medical school and he only has two days to pick from it gets a little tricky. We spent a bulk of our time with this in the beginning stage of planning. After that, things started falling into place even though Blake had a Med School exam the day before our wedding in Dallas. He took the exam, made the flight from Dallas to Houston that evening, and got into Houston literally just in time for our rehearsal dinner (and still got a good grade on the test!). Oh, also, trying to get your parents and family on-board for an outside wedding in the middle of December! But, it's Texas and it worked out perfectly. 

{The Details} We had a "Where We Came From" table which was wedding pictures from both our families dating back to 1910. Our vows were taken directly from different pieces of scripture in the Bible. Our officiant was Blake's old YoungLife leader in High School and Blake was a YoungLife leader to three of his Ushers while he was at Texas A and M. Now two of the Ushers are YoungLife leaders in Austin, representing four generations of kids pursued for Jesus. The get-away car was Blake's dad and Papoo's show car which was a 1957 Chevy Bel Air that won "Best in Class" in multiple car shows. The Aggie war hymn, the blue glass pieces for the reception centerpieces (an array of blue glass bottles collected over the six month planning period from home goods stores and thrift stores), the homemade table runners which were off lace table runners handmade by Blake's mom and Mimi, our venue which was The Parador, built in 1928 as the Third Church of the Christ Scientist and later abandoned, has a Mediterranean style with a gorgeous duomo in the center.

{Floral Details} Marsha Wilson with Breen's Florist, was a family friend and she was amazing! My bouquet was made up of white hydrangeas and anemones. The bridesmaids had bouquets of solid babies breath. She used white carnation on two large L and B initials on the gate leading into the garden and for the reception, white hydrangeas, mini cala lilies, Star of Bethlehem, blue delphinium, kermit, cymbidium orchids, gerber daisies, dianthus, green roses, oriental lillies, hypericum and babies breath.

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Photography: Caroline Fontenot / Venue: The Parador / Flowers: Breen's Florist / Dress: David's Bridal redesigned by the bride / Videographer: David from RT Productions / Bridesmaids Dresses: Terry Costa private collection

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Vintage Illinois Wedding by Avery House Photography

A little confession: while you are sitting here soaking in the gorgeousness that is this wedding, I my friends am enjoying happy hour with the incredibly warm and kind Stevi and Matt from Avery House Photography. They are the duo behind my fave wedding I shared with you all last week and again they knocked it out of the park with this phenomenal peach and blue hued Illinois fete. I would have never thought to pair together soft corals, creams and perry winkle blue but Kate, the gorgeous bride, did it in the most perfect of ways. Is her dress not the prettiest you've ever seen? Scroll on to take in all of her insightful advice to future brides. And in case you missed it check out their adorable engagement session that I shared this morning. Enjoy the rest of your Monday, my loves! 


I am seriously lusting after Kate's Melissa Sweet "Fern" gown. The detailing is so romantic!


{Advice to Future Brides} The best advice I can give is to keep some sense of perspective. It is very easy to get caught up in all the pretty details of wedding featured in magazines and blogs but it i OK to pass on some things for the sake of your budget and sanity. The compliment I most frequently heard after my wedding was that I kept all the stuff that mattered and did away with the rest. Yes, custom gift bags to welcome out-of-town guests would have been nice. But those guests had plenty of fun without the added expense and effort on my part. Monogrammed wine bottle labels or candles may have been cute as favors but when I tallied up the expense, I decided that money was better spent on an incredible band. The point of a wedding is to end up married to your honey and celebrate that marriage with friends and family. Focus on those two things and you'll be happy with the results.

{Biggest Obstacle While Planning} My biggest obstacle was most certainly self-inflicted. As a former art student and lover of wedding blogs, I was totally in love with every quirky, creative wedding idea that crossed my path. I wanted to make my own invitations out of antique books and sew old sweaters into wine cozies for my favours. I planned to hand paint our Ketubah and make letterpress stationary as gifts for my bridesmaids. Halfway through the planning process, I had an apartment full of musty antique books (ebay!), frustrated roommates and mountains of work piling up at my job. I had to take a step back and admit that am not, in fact, in the business of wedding planning and cannot expect to tackle every project myself. It was at that point that I started looking to my wedding vendors to do what I had hired them to for - so I could keep the rest of my world from falling apart from neglect. Once I gave up that notion that everything had to be done (perfectly) by me, the rest of the planning process was much more manageable.

{Fun Fact} Jason and I chose to roll the dice and go forward with out outdoor wedding despite looming storm clouds. Towards the end of our ceremony, the first few drops began to fall. Jason broke the glass and everyone shouted "mazel tov!" and as we kissed, not one, but two rainbows appeared above us. While I spent my engagement hoping for a warm, sunny wedding day, we wouldn't have had our rainbows without the rain!
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Photography: Matt and Stevi Savage, Avery House Photography / Flowers: Marie Pauly of Wild Orchid Custom Floral Design / Venue and Caterer: Bloomingdale Golf Club, Bloomingdale, Illinois / Music: Orchestra 33 / Favors: Kelly Siebens, Lillycakes / Stationary: Bella Figura / Dress: Melissa Sweet "Fern" with accompanying cathedral veil / Hair and Make Up: Carla from Appease, Inc / Menswear: Ralph Lauren / Bridesmaids" J. Crew silk chiffon "Sophia" hazel blue / Shoes: Nina / Clutch: Nordstrom / Calligraphy: Calligraphy by Cristine, Cristine Bunting / Papercut Ketubah: Judiac Connection

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