Archives for August 2014

Pure Glamour Wedding at The Driskill with Barbara’s Brides

August 26, 2014

Oh, what a wedding this was. Casey took months to decide to hire me. Her mother in law had worked with me years earlier on her own daughter’s wedding and knew I could help give Casey peace of mind on pulling it all together. Casey had such fantastic taste and as an interior designer she had a clear idea of all the elements. She just needed reassurance that all she was hoping for would happen while she was busy being the bride. Although there is no such thing as a true “day of” planner, we do offer brides the chance to start handing the details over to us as well as contacting us with the countless questions that come with planning a wedding. Many thanks to http://www.lastpetal.com for working so closely with Casey on her vision. I love all the photos captured by http://www.jennydemarco.com showing a romantic evening with bling dripping from the pillars, the bride’s stunning bouquet and dancing through the night.

I love the Driskill and have had countless weddings there, but this is definitely one of my top 5 Driskill weddings.

Happy planning,

Barbara http://www.barbarasbrides.com

Beautiful, Relaxed and Fun Barr Mansion Wedding

August 24, 2014

I loved working with Jayme on her wedding at Barr Mansion. She was such an easygoing bride and she wanted her wedding to reflect that. Not an ounce of stuffy and filled with fun flowing ribbons, her family’s favorite desserts and ending the evening with a pinata. The entire evening had laughter, wonderful family and friend moments and a packed dance floor thanks to DJ, Stafford Jones.

Abby with Stems captured Jayme’s design vision perfectly. http://www.stemfloral.com

I loved the photos that Paige Newton shared with me and I am glad I can share them again. http://www.paigenewtonphotography.com

Are you planning a wedding or recently engaged? Contact us today and see if we have a good connection. We have been planning weddings with couples for over 20 years and love that each wedding is new and different. barbara@barbarasbrides.com

Stunning and Timeless Austin Driskill Wedding

August 20, 2014

This wedding was one of our all time favorite classic weddings. We planned long distance with only a few Austin visits. Having trust in your planner is very important to keep your stress level down. I love it when a bride knows basically what she wants, but the bottom line is comfortable with me working with her vendors to create her wedding vision. All brides are different and they each have a different interpretation of what “pretty” is. I was tickled when a photographer told me she loves working on my weddings because “I do pretty really well”. That may seem simplistic, but don’t all brides want their weddings to be pretty? I had a recent bride actually thank me during our consultation when we were talking about all the timeless elements she wanted and I had so many ideas for her. She had been upset at other interviews because she was finding it challenging to find vendors that were not on board with her classic vision for her wedding. Yes, there are a lot of trends out there, but the bottom line is this is the bride’s day and if she wants elements that we’ve seen hundreds of time before it still boils down that the bride just loves it, so it is my job to pull it together and help her balance it out.

Please enjoy some of my absolutely favorite classic photos from a Driskill wedding with Pam Hults http://www.alaviephoto.com

Thanks to http://www.bouquetsofaustin.com for doing what our brides want in such a beautiful way.

Happy planning,

Barbara www.barbarasbrides.com

Gathering Austin Wedding Planner Information

August 20, 2014

It has been challenging re-building my blog since so much content was lost, but then I realized that I remember the content of wedding tips and of course my actual weddings. So although the posts are repeats to some overall they will be new for all newly engaged couples looking for a wedding planner.

For my first non-wedding post, I thought I would share how you find a wedding planner when you are not sure where to start in the planning process. I know it sounds bias, but the best place to begin your planning is with an Austin wedding planner. Whether you want just a little guidance with “day of” assistance or full service planning, Austin has over 75 wedding planners of all levels of experience, broad range of personalities and various vendor connections. Start by asking recently married friends who they used, ask your venues for their preferred vendor lists when you go in for site visits and research online wedding sites for actual bride reviews.

Here are over 60 of our reviews from “the knot” from our past brides, grooms and family members online http://www.theknot.com/Vendors/Barbaras-Brides/Profile/WCS/191/228304/profile?sid=nTl7xSZuIc6hGzt7g9l5Mw#reviews

We have also participated in venue bridal shows. One of our favorites was when The Driskill hosted a fabulous bridal event with their preferred vendors creating beautiful settings as teams in all the different rooms at The Driskill. We were very fortunate to have the Driskill Ballroom to decorate. Here are some photos from www.millphotostudio.com by Tyler Schmitt

Thank you to Stephanie with http://www.bouquetsofaustin.com for their beautiful work with me on this event. Love working at The Driskill and you will most likely see a great deal of Driskill posts coming up since I work with Driskill brides so often.

Happy planning,

Barbara

www.barbarasbrides.com

Winter Chill Wedding at Austin Four Seasons with Barbara’s Brides

August 19, 2014

Planning long distance with our couples has become more and more common. Austin is a fantastic city and sometimes a couple visits and decides it would make a great wedding location for them. Other couples may have attended UT or lived here as kids, either way it is wonderful to create an amazing Austin wedding for them even if they live out of state. We planned long distance with Elly and Chris trying to keep their Austin trips to a minimum and doing what we could via e-mail. They only needed to make 3 trips to Austin to work with me creating a wonderful Austin wedding.

We had a very unseasonable cold front come in the week of the wedding and added a beautiful lined tent to the outside scheduled dinner under the stars which was very important to the couple. All the other details worked out very well by moving the ceremony inside the Four Seasons lobby and creating an absolutely stunning party room in the San Jacinto ballroom. So many fun details captured thanks to our photographer, Ashley with www.ashleygarmonphoto.com even with the challenges presented by family members stepping into the aisles during the ceremony and during the prime photo opportunities. I have become even more focused on no tech weddings so the professionals can do their job well for the couple.