After yesterday’s fairytale sweet and endlessly romantic wedding, Julie + Todd’s Texas affair from Whitney Lee Photography is modern, sleek and oh-so adorable. Sunny yellows, chocolate browns and fresh whites came together at the Mansion at Judges Hill to express the couple’s love of nature and the outdoors. Naturally, the SW girls love the sophisticated bird theme woven subtly into nearly every detail. While Emily is wowed by the intricate feather detailing on the groom’s chubby owl cake and mini-owl mushroom accents on Julie +Todd’s wedding cake from Sweet Tempered Bakery, I adore the delicate bird’s nest safeguarding the couple’s rings and the elegant centerpieces of delicate twigs and branches, all arranged by the groom’s amazingly talented sister! Julie’s airy gown is appropriately whimsical and fits perfectly with the earthy and natural feel of her big day. Special thanks to this Texan couple for reminding us that sometimes simple and sophisticated details and personal touches make for the most stunning weddings!
How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We met through mutual friends in Austin and clicked instantly, but I moved to California shortly after we were introduced. We saw each other when I came home to visit family and became closer over time. Eventually, we started dating long distance and, in order to stay in touch, both decided to carry 3X5” black moleskin notebooks to document our lives. The majority of our books were filled with letters to each other, but also included bits of daily life, like photographs, drawings, ticket stubs, music recommendations (with a mixed CD and playlist) and even question and answer sections like, “What is your earliest childhood memory?” We would mail the books back and forth to each other every couple weeks, always in the same two boxes. Two years later, when we finally moved to the same city, we had 5 full notebooks, totaling 960 pages documenting our early relationship. They are amazing to read through!
Describe the proposal: It was my birthday and we were living in Indiana at the time. Todd and I share a love for nature and would regularly hike in the Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. When we got to the top of a bluff overlooking the lake on this particular, he pulled out the ring from deep in his pocket and asked me to marry him!
Favorite design element of your big day: The invitations. My brother and his wife (Letterpress Delicacies) made the letterpress invitations and they were perfect. Bright yellow birds were pressed into heavy ivory cardstock with chocolate colored text. They also included a map with local landmarks and directions. We loved the texture and feel of the paper and envelopes.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? We wanted the wedding to reflect our love for nature. Natural elements like birch bark were used as well as bird and owl motifs. Our colors were bright yellow and espresso brown.
Describe your wedding flowers: The bouquets (made by Heather, my brilliant sister-in-law and matron of honor) were primarily yellow, consisting of craspedia, roses, freesias and alstroemeria. In my bouquet, we added Guinea feathers obtained through a cruelty-free farm in Texas.
Describe your wedding cake: We really wanted to have cakes that would make our guests smile. The wedding cake itself was a simple ivory fondant draped over alternating tiers of lemon and orange curd filled rosewater vanilla cake. Keeping with the nature theme, we placed locally harvested branches into the cake and little mushroom owls in the branches. The groom’s cake, an upright, chubby owl, was made from chocolate devil’s food cake and frosted with American Buttercream. The delicate feathers were made from rice paper, which had been dipped in white chocolate while the beak and talons were made of soft caramel.
The cake bases were handmade by my brother, Tim. He collected the wood in Berkeley, CA and carried it with him onto the plane to Austin where it was sawed and sanded into beautifully balanced cake stands.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The music. Todd’s brother, Trevor Gureckis, arranged two of our favorite songs for a string quartet. I walked down the aisle to Aphex Twin’s “Avril 14th” and we exited to “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes, which is such a happy song of celebration. He did a phenomenal job taking modern music and adapting it to the classical sounds of violin, cello, and viola.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Fun, sweet and whimsical.
Who was your most honored guest at the wedding? We truly honored each guest at our wedding. However, my mother, who also served as the officiant, deserves extra credit! Not only was she trying to help prepare last minute details, but she was also simultaneously memorizing her readings.
What’s next for you as a couple? We really want to travel!
Congratulations, Julie + Todd! Enjoy your many travels.
LOVE the color palette! YELLOW is so fun!
great wedding and amazing details. whitney lee photography are SOO fabulous. I adore their work
What a stunning color scheme. Combined with the couples use of nature throughout to add personal touches, the event is just lovely. The owl cake had me at hello! I am mad for owls!
I find the paper goods and owl details most noteworthy! What a sweet wedding?!?
What a beautiful Wedding!Love it!
LOVE it! I could just eat this wedding up. Whitney Lee photographed our wedding too and she is AMAZING and so fun to work with.
Simply adorable! Love the photography and the delicate details!
The owl groom’s cake is so adorable. The yellow flowers really popped, such a lovely wedding.
love the yellow! great work!
I love love love this wedding. You can tell the couple put a lot of thought into all the tiny details. I especially love the centerpieces, cake, and the little owl on the champagne glass. The photographer did an amazing job of showcasing all of the details!
I LOVE this wedding! The colors are so fun! The couple is so cute and I feel like their personality shines through in their wedding details. The photography is amazing too!
What a great looking wedding. Very grown up and elegant!! These pictures are just amazing! I love the details – from the numbers on the tables (are those chocolate? one can hope!) to those tiny mushroom owls. I am wondering if those were passed out to guests or kept. (I would have kept them to make christmas tree decorations and tucked them here and there – on bookcases, in work cubicles, etc- as simple I-love-you owls).
Great job taking your design inspiration and pulling it off in a way that is both fun and picturesque. That’s hard to do!
This wedding is fabulous; I love the cheery color scheme. The photos are truly beautiful. I had Whitney Lee for our wedding, and she is such a joy to work with. Great work :)
The owl is absolutely huggable!
Those cakes are so CUTE !! What a great idea to have an owl groom’s cake ! Awesome !
I love the simple beauty of this wedding. The brightness of the yellow & the richness of the chocolate brown against the white is a great combination. I would love to have heard the music.
Thanks so much for featuring our wedding!!! It was so much fun and we are honored to see this on the Southern Weddings blog! Also, thanks to everyone for the lovely comments! You are all too sweet ;)
Wonderful work! Would love to know more about your photography. Thanks!
a beautiful wedding! i love the feel of the pictures, the nature and handmade elements and the cuteness between the bride and groom… plus… i love nests! ;)Stunning!
Oh my what a pretty wedding and the photos captured it all. Whitney Lee did an awesome job. Makes me want to get married all over again and have her do our wedding photos.
This was such a beautiful wedding, not just in the details, but in the beautiful people, too. Yours was our favorite wedding at the Mansion. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your day!
SWEET SIMPLICITY!! This wedding is a perfect fairy tale showcasing the couple and their love for each other and nature! I love the nature theme! Every detail from the guest favors and table decorations to the cakes and bouquets is so adorable and perfectly executed!!
I was the coordinator for this wedding, & it was by far my favorite to date! Todd & Julie were amazing! The decor was whimsical, but so elegant. LOVED IT!
Great article. Ilove the owls, so original!Brides, see http://www.creative-theme-wedding-ideas.comfor other theme wedding ideas
this is absolutely stunning! original all the way!
The attention to detail is amazing, and I really dig the nature theme. It’s simple, elegant, and warm. Their groomsmen’s shoes match the owl cake!
ahhhh! beautiful!!!
Your wedding blog was my favorite site to visit to see how each detail was coming along. And now, to see this blog showing the results…Wow! What a great result. It was almost like a fairy tale wedding. The "mansion", the meal, the decor, the bride and groom….everything just seemed to fit together and complement each other building on the nature theme. The great photos help me experience the moment first hand. Kudos to all who made this happen.
Love how nature is interwoven into the theme of the wedding! Everything is beautiful and gracefully done so as not to be too intrusive. Whitney Lee Photography is fantastic too.
This was a beautiful wedding with every detail done to perfection. Yet is was not overdone, just a natural reflection of this couple. The photography was brilliant.
Am loving these yellow rock candy, very sute idea. Thanks for sharing.
I wonder if I can convince my husband to have another wedding so I can use all those sweet ideas! Beautiful!
The photographs were simply amazing..yet you did not feel the photographers presence.The details were also amazing, yellow and brown, flowers everything!
Love the Owls! Great pictures. What a beautiful wedding.
Beautiful and stylish wedding- And great pix!!!
WOW! What a fabulous wedding! Loved the colors and what great memories captured in such an awesome way from the photos! Makes me smile just looking at the pictures! MK
A charming wedding that truly reflected the bride and groom. The amazing photos captured special moments for all to see and cherish for years to come. Well done!
What a lovely wedding. Every detail is gorgeous!
My family shared in the beauty of these two love birds on their wedding day. The wedding was simply enchanting…from each intricate detail of chocolate and yellow to woodland creatures. Todd and Julie were your "picture perfect" couple that embraced their happy day with friends and family…..it was truly lovely. There were surprising treats along the way…..candy, photo booths and "flair" as people danced the night away with the beautiful couple. Loved it!
I love the groomsmen picture!