Eva & Tyson

Eva, Senior Organizing Manager of Sierra Club &  Tyson, Registered Nurse at St. Davids Hospital * Photographer: Lauren McGlynn (APW Sponsor) * Soundtrack for reading: “That’s The Way Love Goes” by Janet Jackson *

The Info—Photography: Lauren McGlynn / Venue: The French Legation Museum in East Austin /Caterer: Me So Hungry / Officiant: Best friend, Lindsey Barnes / Flowers: Cheri Grant at the Gala Gal (centerpieces by Eva & friends!) / DJ: Edwin Morales / Dress: Made by local Austin Designer Chia Guillory / Shoes: Seychelle “I dos” / Earrings: Michelle Goni (bridesmaid) family heirloom/ Suit: Hugo Boss / Shoes: Cole Haan Wing Tips / Bridesmaid Dresses: J Crew (Starla’s was handmade by Grandma Vicki!) / Groomsmen: Banana Republic

Other cool stuff we should know about: The wedding was very much a community affair, from hundreds of handmade fabric flowers sewn by friends and family, to the Dads hanging all the lights the night before, to the officiant who is one of our best friends! A local designer made the dress, and we bought the fabric from this great little fabric specialty shop, Silk Road Textile, which is located at a great little art studio in East Austin. The food was from an East Austin specialty food trailer, and they served up Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwiches which were a hit! The DJ was one of my oldest friends from college, and he tore it up! Our families got along amazingly, and we danced the night away.

One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: Ceremony and celebration of love, through and through, that turned out to be one hell of a party.

Favorite thing about the wedding: Eva—It’s so hard to chose just one favorite thing, but if I had to I would try to sum it up by just saying all the love in the air (is that one thing?)! Tyson and I felt every minute was amazing, our families loved each other, our friends came in from different parts of the country, and it was just all around a big giant party to celebrate our love! Tyson—I was really excited to see Eva, because I had not seen the dress yet and it really was perfect. It was the best day of my life and the most fun! The dance party at the Longbranch Inn was absolutely amazing!

Alix & Shawn

*Alix & Shawn*

To build on yesterday’s conversation about Why A Wedding, we have Alix, whose wedding in LA’s Natural History Museum makes me want to hug the world. But what I find particularly fascinating about Alix‘s Wedding Graduate post is how she talks about figuring out what a marriage is when your parent have been divorced for as long as you can remember. And, taxidermied animals aside, the part of this post that makes me gasp with delight is this line, “The thing is that the experience of getting married is in some ways indescribable. It is as if you walk through this invisible door and something happens, but you can only see it by looking back through the door at where you were before.” Because that’s how it was for me, too.

From the beginning planning our wedding was strange for me in that the whole idea of marriage had been so foreign my whole life. My parents were divorced before I was one, so I had no memories of them together. While I always believed in commitment, I was not raised with the concept of marriage and for most of my life I did not imagine I would get married.

It wasn’t until the past few years when Shawn and I started attending our friends’ weddings did I begin to see the significance of marriage and actual weddings themselves. When Shawn asked me to marry him it was as if this weight I had been carrying around my whole life without realizing it was lifted from my shoulders. I had found the one person I wanted and he had found me.

So we embarked on planning this event, this huge party tied down to tradition and loaded with emotional significance. Despite my excitement, it was difficult for me at first. While there were the usual stresses of choosing venues and wardrobe and staying within our budget, the hardest part was feeling like I was alone.

I didn’t feel like I had that core group of friends or a close family to help me through the process. It wasn’t that the people close to me were absent, I just didn’t know how to ask them to be a part of the experience with me. Then I found APW and all the intelligent, thoughtful ladies who inspired me and helped me through the process with their own stories. I was no longer alone.

When I started to imagine our wedding I imagined an intimate outdoor affair where we would be surrounded by those closest to us in the midst of nature. This was my dream. Shawn on the other hand was adamant about having an indoor wedding. He warned me about what happens when it rains on outdoor weddings. I proclaimed that it never rains in sunny Los Angeles.

Ultimately, we agreed to have the wedding indoors, in the Natural History Museum. If we weren’t going to be married outside, we were at least going to be married surrounded by taxidermied animals. Needless to say, it poured on the day of our wedding. The skies opened up and let down a flood of water, and in a way it was one of my favorite parts of the day as we still had the fury of nature in the middle of the city. Read More…