Show Us Your Life - Wedding Reception & Honeymoon

I'd have to say that our reception was awesome!

We were very fortunate with our location. It was at a B&B near Schulenburg, TX that also has a renovated barn. My dad was in the process of building a house for the owners, and we had seen the place being remodeled for a while, and really wanted to have it there. The owners are incredibly giving and helped make the day spectacular. If you are in the area (1/2 way between San Antonio & Houston on I-10) and looking for a getaway, they have some other B&Bs as well.

We were also very fortunate with the weather! Fall in south central Texas can be tricky. It could be 90 or 60; sunny or rainy; you never know. Being that it was mostly outside, I was a wreck for weeks. I began checking weather.com 10 days before to see what was going to happen. They were predicting rain. To be on the safe side, we rented a tent also. Luckily, it was not needed. It ended up being one of the most gorgeous days. If I had specifically requested this day, it couldn't have been better. The temperature was perfect, probably in the 80s, the sun was shining, it was great!

The entry




Planters at the barn

One of my favorite parts of the reception was the glass jars. My grandma (mom's mom) passed away over two years ago. She was one of those people that collected and held onto everything. When I decided to have it at the barn, I wanted to do something with Mason jars, and I knew just the place to get them. We raided my grandparent's garage, and I got all the jars I needed. Josh created a "handle" out of wire. I tied ribbons on them in our colors. And we hung them on shepherd's hooks that my dad had donated the rebar, & Josh's dad made.

The shepherd's hooks lined the path from the house down to the barn. In the glass jars I put candles, so the path would be lit at night. I then used some of the jars as centerpieces, alternating candles and flowers. My 3 other grandparents are still alive, and able to be there, so I was happy that my grandma was able to be there in some way.

Grand entrance

Our cakes were delicious and made exactly like we wanted them!

Yes, those are pheasant feathers. From pheasants that Josh killed himself. I'm so proud.

These are our Landscape Architecture friends from Texas Tech

Our Texas Tech guests

All of our guests

The barn from the house at sunset

Beginning of the dance. In the Czech/German culture (I believe, but could be wrong), we do what's called a grand march at weddings and at the end, everyone circles around you until the song is over, and then the bride and groom do the first dance.

My dad & me

Last June, my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Josh's parents celebrated their 30th this year. I had been wanting to do something special, but really hadn't thought of something unique, so I had let it go. A few weeks before our wedding I happened to find out that at my parents wedding they danced to George Jones' Walk Through this World with Me. When I heard that, I knew what I wanted to do. So, after Josh & I danced, my dad & me, Josh & his mom, we had the DJ call our parents out on the dance floor and we dedicated that song to them.

My brother & me

Josh's brother caught the garter, my sister caught the bouquet

The barn at night!

Our getaway with sparklers.

We didn't go too far though. We stayed the night at the B&B, so all we had to do was go inside!

For our honeymoon, we went to Vancouver, British Columbia. We wanted to do something a little different. We have both been to the Caribbean, and various places in Mexico. Plus, we live in South Texas and really wanted to go somewhere cooler.

I handed the reins over to Josh to plan the trip after we decided on the destination. And when I say 'handed the reins over', I mean it. I wanted him to surprise me everything. I didn't find out where we were staying until we got to the airport at 5:00 Sunday morning. Yes, that's right. 5:00 AM, the morning after our wedding! We had to leave at 3:00. We only got about 2 hours of sleep. And believe me when I say it was just sleep. We were too exhausted for anything else!

We got some good sleep that night though and woke up bright-eyed Monday morning. Josh really didn't plan anything specific, so we played it by ear. Our first hotel was the Sylvia Hotel. It was the coolest hotel! It's older, but has really great character.

Downtown Vancouver on our walk to the aquarium.

The aquarium was really cool and perfect because it was cloudy and drizzly

Isn't this just gorgeous?

We are both landscape architects, so we loved walking through the city. It is so clean and pretty.

The Sylvia Hotel

Our view overlooking English Bay

We got a kick out of seeing a DQ in Vancouver!

We really enjoyed seeing all the rooftop gardens (and the amazing views) from the Vancouver Lookout tower.

In the middle of the week, we checked out of the Sylvia, and headed to Whistler. Our rental car guy gave us some good advice on places to stop along the way.

At Lighthouse Park

Shannon Falls

The view from our hotel at Whistler

When we came back into Vancouver the next night, we stayed more downtown at The Blue Horizon

The view from our room

On Friday, we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Oh my gosh! I am not one for heights. Or one for moving while up high. But I faced my fear and crossed the bridge. I took off in front of Josh, just trying to get across as fast as I could. I get to the other side and he calls out to me to turn around. I do, and he starts jumping up and down to make the bridge move more than it already is! I was ready to kill him!

We had a lot of fun there, but I was so happy to be back on non-moving ground! I did a quick recap of our trip here and here. I'm not sure why I didn't finish the rest of the trip. I may have to go back and do that now.

Josh and I have already decided that we are going to go back to Vancouver some day because we had so much fun and the weather was awesome!