Lisa Woods 4/22/14 Lisa Woods 4/22/14

Tressa + Ryan

How they met... Ryan and I met while we were in the Peace Corps in Rwanda. My group arrived about four months before his did, so I got to meet him when he was just a newbie! We dated for the two years we were there and had the most amazing adventures and experiences together! We got engaged about 8 months after coming back home to the States. "Ryan's family and friends live in the Seattle area, my family is all over Texas, and our Peace Corps friends are from all over the country. Since we knew the majority of our guest list would be out-of-towners, we wanted a venue that was right in the heart of town so people could experience everything we love about Austin while they were here. We also both really wanted an outdoor wedding, so Mercury Hall was the perfect choice.

Since we spent the first two years of our relationship living as volunteers in Rwanda, we knew anything too lavish or over the top would not be representative of our personalities or our story. We wanted the whole thing to feel like a slightly dressed-up dinner party. Mercury Hall makes that kind of vibe super easy because it's adorable on its own, and anything we added was just a sweet little touch that didn't make anything feel too dramatic."

THE TEAM

Venue : Mercury Hall Florals: A Flower Basket Dress: Sarah Seven at Serendipity Bridal DJ: DJ Ray with Live Oak DJ Catering : La Barbecue Dessert: Tiny Pies Coordination: Cara Overhoff with Your Wedding, Your Way Cara was an absolute life saver for us! We had made a few rookie planning mistakes throughout the process, and when she started working with us it was like everything was miraculously fine. She read our personalities perfectly and was so easy and so much fun to work with. I cannot say enough good things about her and Stefanie with YWYW.

Lisa Woods 4/5/14 Lisa Woods 4/5/14

Chelsea + Taylor

How they met.... Chelsea: Taylor and I met at a Gateway Community Church college night. I was the girl that got there late and he was the super tall, very cute guy I got introduced to as I rushed in the door. He was the guy who cracked me up and distracted me all night and I was the girl actually laughing at all his jokes ;)

Taylor: We met at church. She was cute, I made her laugh.

Favorite part of the planning process.....

Chelsea: I am a wedding planner for a living (I work for The Simplifiers) so I thoroughly enjoyed most of the process. I'm a very creative person so I loved dreaming up a theme, DIY projects, floral, mismatched bridesmaid dresses, etc and then seeing it all come to fruition on the wedding day. On the day of the wedding my dad and I got about 20 minutes to ourselves before walking down the aisle so we walked around the reception barn space and talked about how amazing it all turned out. I couldn't have done it all without all our family and friends and that makes me so happy and grateful. I could cry right now thinking about everyone's involvement and how much it meant to me.

Taylor: Food tasting. Hands down.

Tell us something fun about your wedding or about the two of you as a couple:

Chelsea: Taylor and I are obsessed with animals. BAD. We send each other images of cute puppies or other baby animals on an almost daily occurrence. Our first date was spent at the Austin Zoo and I like to think that it was seeing how much we equally loved animals that really brought us together, as silly as that may sound. I even bought him a traveling petting zoo for his birthday last year complete with fluffy bunnies, a chinchilla, hedgehog and baby chicks. (Told you we were obsessed.)

Taylor: We literally danced for two and half hours straight on the night of our wedding. We seriously didn't leave the dance floor once. Cindi at Heritage House said she had never seen a group dance so much and that we "danced our feet off". Anytime we're stressed out we crank up some music and dance around the living room to get it out of our system.

Favorite part of the wedding...

Chelsea: Taylor's face as I walked down the aisle.. incredible. Dancing with everyone I love. Spending time with my dad before he walked me down the aisle, moments like that are priceless.

Taylor: Seeing Chelsea walk down the aisle. Also, when we walked out of the chapel and got a couple of minutes to ourselves to just celebrate.

Chelsea:

We had already visited a ton of venues before we came across Heritage House and were pretty exhausted by the whole process. But, when we arrived at Heritage House Cindi, the owner of Heritage House, was there to greet us and immediately brought us back to life again. We felt like we were at home, but better. It was the only place that made my mom cry and just felt perfect. The bridal cottage even had a lovebirds theme, perfectly fitting in with our theme we had already chosen!

I had always thought about having a spring wedding (what girl hasn't?!) but we just couldn't bear to wait four extra months to get married! Clearly, that didn't stop us from having a fresh, spring-like affair. We chose pale pink, light mint and glittery gold for our colors and had birdcages adorned with gold painted candles and lush flowers via Rosehip Flora. We even forced our bridal party into springtime clothing but they were troopers, of course.

So much of our wedding was full of DIY projects created by the bridesmaids and myself. Taylor's twin sister, Rosie, spearheaded all of the projects and we are forever indebted to her for that!! We had a crafting day full of mimosas, cheese plates and every glittery project you could imagine. We are still finding glitter all over my parents floors but who doesn't need some extra sparkle added to their day, right mom and dad? ...right?! :) Everyone I love played a huge role in creating the decor for the wedding and that made me feel so loved and appreciated.

Taylor: I played the role of caretaker of Chelsea throughout the detail choosing process. All I know is that it was really pretty.