Holy Guacamole! I’ve finally had time to compile The Wedding Guide! This includes a complete list of all the vendors we used as well as my tips & tricks for a successful event. You even get to see their wedding video. Get ready for an overload of beautiful pictures!
You might remember that I planned our daughter’s wedding. Every single detail. I did hand it off the last week to a wonderful planner to implement and run the event. After all, I had another duty – Mother of the Bride. I am grateful that Taylor and Jeff are letting me share this process with you. After all, it was their wedding, not mine. So I will keep all details to planning and selection. Their love story is not mine to share so I hope you will understand that this blog post is not personal.
All vendors selected are detailed at the bottom of this post so be sure to earmark this one so that you can use it as a reference guide when you need it. A couple of things to note: Taylor and Jeff got engaged in August 2017 and married in May 2018. I had a solid nine months to plan this wedding which was plenty of time. They are also high school sweethearts and had been dating 7 years by the time they got engaged. All to say, we were not shocked when Jeff asked for her hand. We spent a little time thinking about a destination wedding in the Texas Hill Country (Camp Waldemar) because this is such a special place for Taylor. After much thought, they decided on a traditional Dallas wedding with the ceremony at a church and reception at the country club. To get the Texas Hill Country component in, we shot their engagement pictures at Camp Waldemar.
And yes, it was on May 19, 2018 which was the date of a small wedding across the pond. How funny that the other Kappa Kappa Gamma chose this date as well. We laughed and embraced it by simply saying ours was the “Dallas Royal Wedding”. Taylor had a Bridesmaid sleepover at our house after the rehearsal dinner and all the girls watched the royal wedding when they woke up.
Lastly, a HUGE thank you to Pete, Laura and Gerald James, the wedding party and all the wonderful wedding guests, family and friends who joined us to witness this special union. I loved working with all of the vendors that I selected and highly recommend them. Be sure to check out my vendor list at the bottom of this blog post. Hint: Start your entire wedding planning journey by visiting Junior at The Garden Gate FIRST. He is a wealth of information and so helpful with the entire process!
I hope you find this Wedding Guide helpful. As always, feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions.
Enjoy! xoxo- Tanya
P.S. You will make a budget and you will go over your budget. I don’t regret a cent that we spent. It was all well worth it and we would do it all again!
The Wedding Guide
Engagement ring and wedding bands custom created by J Pratt Designs. Click here to see details on the process.
Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations – Bell’Invito. Click here to see how we created the wedding invitations. Details about the Save The Dates can be found here.
Getting ready together. All robes are from Soma. See this blog post about bridesmaids gifts.
Taylor’s wedding dress and veil – custom designed for her by Patti Flowers Design Studio. Blog post here with all details about how and why we used her. Patti is hands on during the dressing process and you will see that in the wedding video. Plus, be sure to notice how well that dress moves during the wedding ceremony and reception.
Mother of the Bride dress custom designed by Patti Flowers Design Studio. Click her for the blog post about the process.
The moment the bridesmaids and house party first saw Taylor in her wedding dress. Watch this moment on the video too. Priceless! All dresses by Watters. Details here on how we made our selection. Watters also created Taylor’s rehearsal dress. Click here to see the design.
OMG! Have you ever seen anything cuter? The boys ring bearer outfits can be ordered here. The flower girl dress can be found here.
When the workouts pay off. Details here on how I trained to get ready for the wedding in a short two months!
All tuxedos from Culwell & Son. We opted for white pocket squares instead of boutonnieres. It’s a much cleaner look and doesn’t look like you are going to prom.
Taylor and Jeff DID NOT see each other before she walked down the aisle. All of their pictures together were taken immediately after they walked out of the church. Be sure to watch Jeff’s face when he first sees her walk down the aisle in the wedding video below. Such a special moment!
Transportation for the entire wedding party – Wynne Transportation
Junior at The Garden Gate created this beautiful hydrangea wall where guests would pick up their escort card. The reception was a seated dinner with dancing, photo booth and a lively after party. Calligraphy by Lana Prather.
Floral design – Junior at The Garden Gate. All rentals from Lawson Event Rental. Click here for how to incorporate rentals into your reception plan.
We used this custom photo book as the guest registry. Click here for details. Taylor and Jeff love looking at the personal messages the guests left for them. It makes such a special keepsake.
Wedding cake and Grooms Cake – Dallas Affaires. Between both cakes, we offered three flavors the the guests.
Dance floor with custom monogram – DFW Dance Floors. Band for the reception – The Project. They were AMAZING and kept everyone on the dance floor the entire evening. Click here to see how we made this decision. We used Absolute Entertainment to book the band.
We opted for a full bar and had specialty drinks too honoring “HP” Highland Park High School and “BU” Baylor University.
Lighting design adds to your party. Absolute Entertainment is who did our reception lighting and they included subtle lighting during dinner and amped it up for the dancing and after party!
Late night food is a must for this party crowd. We had Shake Shack burgers served on trays and the waiters passed them around the dance floor. I’m pretty sure they were devoured in five minutes!
The BEST photo booth is MirMir. This is the first vendor I booked as soon as we secured our date, ceremony and reception locations. Their pictures print onsite as well as download via text. Your guests are going to share their pictures and these are AMAZING! Plus you will get a link to all the pictures from the evening. Reviewing them is hilarious!
Light up crowns, tambourines and cheer sticks all came out to the dance floor to add to the fun. These were ordered from Flashing Blinky Lights. We also had white flip flops in baskets around the dance floor for those ladies who were ready to ditch their high heels. You can get white flip flops here.
As guests departed, they could take some custom make cookies home with them. Custom cookies by Cookie Whipped.
photo: Caroline Jurgensen
Wedding Video
video: Summer Films
Wedding Resource Guide
Ceremony site: Park Cities Baptist Church
Reception site: Dallas Country Club
Bridal Gown designer: Patti Flowers Design Studio
Hair: Jessica Tigert / Make-up: Courtney Yarborough
Bridesmaids and House Party dresses: Watters
Groom and Groomsmen Attire: Culwell & Son
Photographer: Caroline Jurgensen
Videographer: Summer Films
Stationery, Invitations and Save The Dates: Bell’Invito
Calligraphy: Lana Prather
Floral: Junior at The Garden Gate
Wedding Cake and Groom’s Cake: Dallas Affaires
Caterer: Dallas Country Club
Band: The Project / Booked through Absolute Entertainment
Lighting: Absolute Lighting
Transportation: Wynne Transportation
Rentals: Lawson Event Rentals
Dance Floor with custom monogram: DFW Dance Floors
Photo Booth: MirMir
Late Night Food: Shake Shack
Light Up party supplies: Flashing Blinky Lights
Custom Cookies: Cookie Whipped
Wedding planner: Tanya Foster / Natasha Walton-Diaz
Hashtag: #jamesbound
Enough can’t be said for the spectacular planning that made this all possibles! Not one hitch in the giddy up. Thanks Tanya! Spectacular! Just can’t say it enough
What Pete said! Thank so much for sharing this very personal day with your virtual friends ! Every detail was perfect!
Tech Note from Pete:
Not seeing all the pictures? Seeing little boxes with “X” in it instead? Internet Explorer has a problem with many pictures today. Try another browser like Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Or just check back later today if IE is your only option.
Wow…lovely video. It all looked super glamorous! 🙂
Loved reading this post and reliving this magical night! ❤️
Everything is simply STUNNING. It looks perfect!
Absolutely gorgeous wedding! Thank you for sharing this very special day with us. XO~
Such a beautiful event! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous pics of this special day! You all look gorgeous‼️
Just a little correction – it’s stationery vs stationary. 😉
Thanks Laura!
It’s corrected.
xoxo- Tanya 🙂
Such a special and fun day! Your planning was flawless. And although the pictures are GORGEOUS, there is no way that it would be possible to capture all the magical moments of the day.
Absolutely gorgeous wedding and Taylor and Jeff look so happy! Thank you so much for sharing and for all the details!
Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your families celebration! The reception did indeed look amazing.
One comment. The link referencing choosing the band leads to a page discussing wedding bands (rings), not wedding bands as in music, FYI.
Sorry about that Dave. It’s fixed and the link is correct.
xoxo- Tanya
What a stunningly beautiful wedding. Tanya, the only word I could think of to describe Taylor’s and Jeff’s special day is “perfection”. Not a detail was missed and what a memorable day for you all. You and Taylor did an exceptional job. Thank you for sharing such a special occasion. All the best with many blessings to the beautiful bride and handsome groom. ❤️
Literally no words. Just beyond, breathtaking, absolutely mind blowing gorgeousness and such helpful tips and guidance. Reason 47392919 why you had me at hello and we love you!!! Thank you for opening up and sharing your beautiful family and special day with us. May their lives always be so beautiful together. Ok, guess that is a bunch of words!!!
This is beautiful, every detail. Thank you for sharing your great moments and memories with us.
How wonderful to share these tips with your readers, Tanya! A glorious wedding with not one detail being overlooked! Praying for God’s ample blessings on the newlyweds!!
Beautiful! Well done TS~
WOW! What a fabulous event! I’m sure Ray was smiling down! Congrats on a beautiful wedding. All the planning was evident! Thank you for sharing.
MOST FUN NIGHT! And this is GOLD in terms of fabulous resources for any Bride! We are a LONG way off…but I will save this post FOREVER…the first place I will start when the Big Day come to our family!
Wow! What a beautiful wedding with such a gorgeous bride and handsome groom. Thank you for sharing as my daughter and her Fiancé, both Baylor alums, are getting married in Houston this November and this was great inspiration! You did an amazing job pulling everything together.
A beautiful celebration of a wonderful couple with very detail done to perfection! Wishing them many years of love and joy!
Love your family!
Alicia
What a stunning wedding! The video captured a perfectly beautiful day! Kudos and congratulations to your daughter and son-in-law, Tanya!
Very well done and planned, excellent timings too Tanya. Congrats to you and your family!