Classic Southern Wedding in Texas

McKinzey and Mike tied the knot in a classic celebration at an historic venue in Austin. Brittany Jean Photography captured every moment and Eclipse Event Co. helped their vision become a reality! From Eclipse: “McKinzey and Mike wrapped their classic elegance vibe into a nice package at the Texas Women’s Federation. The traditional Southern charm feel of the venue lent itself to their overall theme, but it also had a fun backstory since Texas Women’s Federation is located in the heart of West Campus at The University of Texas at Austin, where McKinzey went to school.”

A classic Southern wedding in Austin, TX

The Proposal

“In January 2016, we traveled to Augusta to see Tedeschi Trucks Band as a birthday trip for Mike…or so I thought. Tedeschi Trucks is one of Mike’s favorite bands – and now mine – but they’re also special for us because it was at their concert that we first said “I love you.” At the show in Augusta, I didn’t suspect a thing. We had front row seats in a really great, small venue and had fun chatting with all the friendly people around us. I made a routine trip to the ladies room before the show, and Mike handed out specially printed business cards to everyone in our section explaining that he was going to propose during a specific song and we’d love it if they could take pictures and send it to his email, which he provided.

The show went on as usual and we were having a ton of fun. The show ended and the band came back for their usual encore. The lead guitarist switch guitars and began playing, but Mike knew that guitar meant they wouldn’t be playing the specific song he’d requested with the band’s manager months before.

With the crowd standing all around us and everyone singing along, we were in our own little bubble as he pulled me tighter and whisper-yelled in my ear that “Things don’t always go as planned, but I wouldn’t want to have anyone else by my side but you. Will you marry me?” He pulled out a very sparkly ring and I immediately started sweating and my heart raced. I vaguely remember saying yes as everyone around us clapped and took photos and celebrated right along with us.”

The Wedding

“Our wedding was all about FUN and ease. We wanted our guests to be as comfortable and laid back as possible so we could all have a great time. We wanted to keep everything simple and focused on the point of the day – celebrating with our favorite people!

Beyond the logistics and creating a smart flow to the day, I wanted classic, soft colors and always wanted to use blue and white. They’re essentially the color scheme of my whole life, so why not for our wedding?! We wanted to keep things pretty and elegant without being too fancy.”

The Attire

“I went into wedding dress shopping with an open mind. Since I’m pretty petite but also have a bust, dresses are tricky in general. I wanted to avoid anything strapless, and I wanted something with a bit of volume in the skirt, but nothing too fancy or overdone. Just a classic shape with modern details, hopefully.

We went to a really sweet, perfectly curated bridal store in Houston and pulled at least 12 dresses to try. The first one I wanted to try on – and already my favorite – ended up being The One. The lace bodice was beautiful and the mauve/taupe color underneath everything brought so much warmth to the dress. It gave it something a little unique and fresh without getting too trendy.”

Favorite Moments

“Our entire day was truly magical and easy and fun. Mike and I both said that we felt the most relaxed, and the most present during our ceremony. We both expected to feel little butterflies or perhaps like we were putting on a show standing in front of our guests. But with one of our best friends as our officiant, and standing together under the chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy), it felt like we were just talking to each other.

The other favorite moment may be at the very end of the night when our band unexpectedly pulled Mike and I up on stage. We danced in a line with the horn section, and looked out over our entire wedding and all our best friends who stayed to the very end. It was incredible to be plucked off the floor and step back from the crowd to see the big picture of our day and really savor the moment.”

The Flowers & Cake

“Since our venue had the most gorgeous pale blue walls and lovely, huge arched windows, we didn’t want to make the space too busy with extra colors. I went with simple white flowers with lots of fresh greenery and texture, and plenty of candlelight to keep the whole look soft.

This. Cake. Mike and I are serious dessert people, and bad wedding cake just wouldn’t do. We didn’t want to get something that just looked pretty, but tasted dry or artificial. We used Whole Foods Market for our cake because their bakery team is really incredible and also very affordable. Their cake tasting process is also super smart! We chose 3 cake flavors and 6 frosting/filling flavors to taste and they all came separately so we could mix and match as we pleased.

DIY Pink Ballroom Wedding

This worked out really well because we ended up finding a combination that we may not have requested at the start. We chose a lemon olive oil cake, which kept it SUPER moist and the faint lemon simply augmented the other flavors but you couldn’t have picked it out. The filling was raspberry preserves that tasted incredibly fresh and bright, with a creamy vanilla buttercream frosting. More than a few people said it was not only the best wedding cake they ever had, but the best CAKE they’d tried, period. That was a huge victory for us.

Instead of favors, we opted for a fun late-night snack with Voodoo Doughnuts. Our amazing team at Eclipse picked them up and handed them out on our dance floor in the fun pink bakery boxes.”

Special Details & Traditions

“We wanted our ceremony to be as personal as possible. We had Mike’s lifelong friend, Ben Becker, officiate our ceremony. He made everything so thoughtful, with the perfect balance of religious significance, personal detail and humor! We’re not very serious people and wanted our marriage ceremony to reflect that. Ben managed it perfectly.

We’re also lucky enough to have very talented musicians as friends and family. During our ceremony, our friends Spencer Berman and Aaron Terkel played the guitar, keyboard and melodica. And during cocktail hour, my cousin Aaron Goldfarb played guitar, including the Friends’ theme song, which is definitely our favorite show of all time.

We included a few special wedding traditions, and started a few of our own. I wore the same pearls that my mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin all wore on their wedding days, which meant so much. We also created our chuppah cover out of the wedding dress worn by my mother and grandmother, giving the dress new life as a new heirloom our family can use in weddings to come.”