Southern Weddings

When a wardrobe stylist/wedding planner is the bride, you can count on some amazing fashion choices at a wedding (hello, bow-back shoes and custom tulle sleeves!). Add in a floral designer mama and a horticulturist aunt, and you’re also in for a real show in the blooms department! Allann had always wanted to get married at her family’s farm, but the logistics proved to be more of a challenge than she had expected. After looking at other venues, Allann and Bill knew that none had as much meaning as the farm, so together with their families (and some incredible vendors), they hauled in everything they needed to create an elegant wedding in their family’s own space. I’m sure Allann’s grandfather, who gave tours of their beautiful property in his white cowboy hat, was tickled pink to see such a gorgeous event on his grounds!

Thanks to Kristen Kilpatrick for sharing this wedding day with us!

Finding my wedding dress was a serious task for me, because I am a wardrobe stylist and wedding planner. My mom and I went to every major bridal gown store in Houston, and I kept choosing tight-fitting, hourglass-style dresses–what I always thought I would wear. When I would put them on though, I just didn’t like how I looked in them. Our next course of action was to travel to Austin to shop with a few of my best friends, my stepmom, and my teenage sisters. As it turned out, my sisters picked out the dress I ended up buying. I kept saying, “No ball gowns!” everywhere we went, but they fell in love with a Lazaro ball gown and insisted I try it. It was stunning and so uniquely different–the layers of the skirt were made up of different tones of cream and ivory over a gold lining, so the gown glowed like spun gold. I designed thin tulle sleeves and had a custom veil made so that the dress had more of a fall feel to it, and so that I wouldn’t be as cold.

Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? We did write our own vows. We tried to write them weeks before the wedding, but both of us wrote the bulk of them alone the night before. I sat out on our back porch on the swing and was truly inspired at that moment to write my vows to Bill. I remember I told him that his arms were the safest place on earth. He said to me, “I promise I will always stand behind you when you need support, in front of you when you need defending, and next to you when all you need is a friend.” I was floored by his poetic words and I think they were the perfect vows for us.

Our favorite detail of the wedding was the custom photo booth backdrop my cousin and matron of honor made for us. She is an amazing artist and created an 8-foot-tall wooden photo booth backdrop, complete with our names, wedding date, location, and painted-on lyrics from some of our favorite songs, including our grandparents’ song, “Pledging My Love” by Johnny Ace. The wedding guests had so much fun standing in front of it taking photos, and some of our favorite wedding day pics are of us in front of the back drop.

What made you choose your ceremony and reception venues? Did they have any special significance to you? I have known since I was a little girl that I wanted to get married on my family farm. When we started to plan the wedding and saw how tough it was going to be to turn a family farm, hay field, small house, and barn off a dirt road into an elegant wedding venue, we hesitated and tried to look at other venues. While they were beautiful, they had no meaning to me, and I didn’t feel any connection with them. We decided we would do whatever it took to make the most beautiful, rustic, elegant wedding happen there in that space, where my great-grandmother could look down upon us. My grandparents, who own the farm with my great aunt and uncle, were so generous and patient with us as we took over their farm and morphed it into a wedding venue. It was so special.

What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? Everything about our wedding was so Southern, from the landscape in beautiful Lovelady, Texas, to the dirt road our little white farmhouse is off of. Seeing my grandfather walk around, showing everyone the property in his gorgeous white cowboy hat was a highlight for me. We loved having Southern whiskey cocktails served at our wedding, like the Whiskey Ginger and Old Fashioned. The carnival-style cocktail hour was another fun thing that we did–we loved seeing all the kids enjoying bottle toss and balloon darts! Many of our guests wore boots with their suits and dresses, and we loved two-steppin’ to George Strait at the reception!

Our florals were done by my mother, Sage, who runs the floral design part of our wedding planning firm, Belle Soul Weddings. She is so creative, and my sweet Aunt Donna is a horticulturist, so the two of them created a stunning color palette and design. Our color palette was burgundy, cream, and different tones of green. The tables and ceremony arch (built by my stepfather) were my favorites. The green boughs were taken from cedar trees on our land, and we also added some seeded eucalyptus.

Describe your wedding cake or dessert. My mother baked our wedding cake, of course! She also runs the cake and pastry section of Belle Soul Weddings, our wedding design firm. Bill’s favorite cake is red velvet, and I wanted a naked cake, so she gave us just that: a red velvet naked cake with barely-there vanilla buttercream icing. It was three layers and sat on top of a round tree slice that my grandfather cut for us from a tree on our land. She decorated the cake with grape bunches, cream roses, greenery, and our wooden Mr. & Mrs. cake topper.

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. When we met, we were both so drawn to each other. We flirted for months and told our friends about each other. Finally, Bill invited me to a music show that a mutual friend of ours was having. When Bill gave me his phone number, I didn’t have my phone or a pen on me, so I remembered the number by repeating it over and over as I walked to my car. I put it into my phone and texted him right then! Our first official date was on November 7, 2012 at Raven Grill in Houston. We have been together ever since, and we both knew early on that this was something different and more special than either of us had ever experienced before.
Tell us all about the proposal! We were having dinner at Bill’s mother’s house in honor of his 30th birthday, and at the end of dinner, he opened all his presents except for one, which was in a huge white box. He pushed it over to me and said, “This one is for both of us.” I thought, okay, it’s something for the apartment. I opened it, and inside the large white box with tons of tissue paper, I found a tiny black ring box. Bill reached for it, picked it up, got down on one knee, and revealed the most beautiful diamond, given to him by my grandmother. He said some of the sweetest things I have ever heard, and then asked in a shaky voice, “Will you marry me?” It was the best moment! I felt so happy, so excited, so loved, so at peace knowing how lucky I was to have Bill as my partner for the rest of my life.
When did y’all get married? November 8, 2014
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? About 120
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding and why you chose them. Choosing the music at our wedding was such a fun part of planning. We even made a CD of the day’s music as a favor for our guests. We are both big music lovers, and have always have had a penchant for old music. I chose to walk down the aisle to a live instrumental version of Ray Lamontagne’s “All The Wild Horses” played on violin and guitar by our dear friends. We danced our first dance to Sanders Bohlke’s, “You,” an unreleased track I only know about because he did the music on an independent film I worked on in Austin. It was such a special song and perfectly fit the mood of the night.
If you are comfortable responding, what range did your wedding budget fall into? $25,000-$50,000
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Our advice is try to stay connected to what it is really all about: the two of you, your love, and your commitment to your life together. It is hard to stay present during all that planning. Hire a wedding planner if you can, and let them take the weight off your shoulders so that you can just experience the good stuff. Take time for yourselves to reflect after the ceremony. We stole this idea from friends of ours, but after photos, we had dinner alone on the porch while everyone else had soup and salad at the reception. Another thing I would tell brides is to hold your ground about things, even when your family might not agree right away. They will come around, or they won’t, but it is about you and your partner planning the ceremony and celebration that makes you feel good. Honor them and remember them, but stay true to your heart.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life? We are both entrepreneurs and love planning out the next steps in our businesses. We are so excited to share these two wonderful families that we have combined, and we feel so lucky to have just pure awesomeness coming from both sides. We can hardly wait to start a family of our own and share that experience with our extended family and sweet friends.

Photographer: Kristen Kilpatrick / Videographer: Compass Initiative / Planner, Florals, and Cake: Belle Soul Weddings / Venue: Private residence / Caterer: Larry’s Catering / Rentals: Any Occasion Party Rental / DJ: Patrick Osayande / Envelopes, Programs, and Calligraphy: Nib and Pixel / Invitations: WJ Ford and Associates / Bride’s Gown: “LZ3215” by Lazaro / Bride’s Earrings: Kate Spade / Bride’s Headpiece: Avigail Adam / Hair Stylist: Candice Hollub of Sunkissed and Madeup / Bride’s Makeup: Taylor DeClercq at Sunkissed and Madeup / Bridesmaid Makeup: Jen Marine Makeup Artistry / Bride’s Ceremony Shoes: Nina / Bride’s Reception Shoes: Michael Kors / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale, Dessy Collection, Alfred Angelo, Ceremony by Joanna August, BHLDN / Menswear: Tommy Hilfiger from Men’s Wearhouse / Groom’s Tie: Michael Kors / Photo Booth Back Drop: Jordan Ashby of Artsy Ashby

Written with love by Marissa