Austin Wedding Officiant: Something Old, Something New

The Winfield Inn in Kyle

Well it was another glorious, super-busy wedding weekend for me. I had a rehearsal Thursday night, two rehearsals and a wedding on Friday night, two weddings on Saturday, and a wedding on Sunday. Before I tell you about the weddings, let's take a minute to talk about the PLUS SIDE of rehearsals!

Rather often I will perform a wedding without having attended the rehearsal. There are all sorts of reasons for this. Some weddings are so tiny that a rehearsal isn't necessary. Some venues, like Chapel Dulcinea-- which is free-- don't have rehearsal slots available the day before, since the chapel is booked for multiple weddings seven days per week. Some folks are on a super tight budget, and I charge extra for rehearsals so that's one way to save a little money. It's not a bad idea either, if they're getting married at a venue I've worked at a million times before like Barr Mansion, the Winfield Inn, Allan House, or Hamilton Twelve to name but a few. And, too, if a couple is working with a coordinator, like the ever delightful and efficient Keri Wooten at Leave the Details to Me, or Deidre Brown at Detailed Weddings & Events, or with a venue that has a full time planner-- well then it's fine for that person to run the rehearsal and I can just plug in the day of.

However... I can now reveal for you a whole NEW reason to have a rehearsal and insist everyone attends. I showed up for a rehearsal on Friday night at La Hacienda the RV Resort & Cottages (where I performed a wedding this past summer) not realizing that I was supposed to be at Hacienda del Lago, which is a good thirty minutes away. I was so thankful that I was late for the rehearsal and not for the wedding. I was also grateful that the couple was totally chill about my mistake, and we had our run-through anyway, even though it was an hour later than we'd planned.

So there you go, folks. When you're debating whether or not to have a rehearsal, or to have everyone at the rehearsal, consider the location, figure out if there's another nearby location with the same name, and plan accordingly.

Now, about the weddings themselves. Well, as ever I am here to proclaim how much I love my job. This weekend was a great mix of old and new as I found myself performing two of the ceremonies at favorite venues with which I am well-acquainted, and the other two at brand-new-for-me venues.

Wedding Number 1, on Friday night, was held just before sunset at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. That place is just gorgeous. Bride and groom were utterly calm and the wedding started precisely on time. They even memorized their vows (though I always, always, always insist on keeping a back up in my book, just in case.) For readings, they had a friend deliver-- absolutely brilliantly I might add-- this wonderful Frank O'Hara poem, Having a Coke with You. And then I got to speak these lines from Robert Frost a little later on in the ceremony:

Two such as you with such a master speed

cannot be parted

nor be swept away from one another

once you are agreed

that life is only life

forevermore together

wing to wing and oar to oar.

Well, the nice part about arriving late for the second rehearsal on Friday night was that it was so dark I could enjoy the lights at Hacienda del Lago

Wedding Number 2 was held at the aforementioned Hacienda del Lago, which is out by the Oasis and Lake Austin Spa. If you take 2222 all the way out to 620, then keep going straight across 620, the road turns into Bullick Hollow Road, and that leads to a part of the world I didn't even know existed. Hacienda del Lago used to be a private residence-- belonged to a UT football coach is what I heard-- and now it's this totally groovy wedding venue. I can't believe I never heard of it before. I sure hope I get to work there again, soon.

The Inn at Pearl Street

Wedding Number 3, which was right on the heels of Wedding Number 2 (requiring me to drive with pure precision, no hesitation, and a mindset designed to will all lights turn green as I approached them) was at another new-to-me-place, Austin's Inn at Pearl Street. What an AWESOME boutique hotel, hidden in plain sight. Just off of MLK at Pearl Street, this four-building affair hosts all sorts of nooks and crannies packed with wonderful art and tchotchkes from around the world. Jill, the owner, is super nice and super hands on helping with the weddings she hosts there. The wedding was held in the little courtyard, which is surrounded by Live Oak trees covered in a gazillion little twinkly lights. I hope I get to do more weddings here, too.

Couple Number 2 and Couple Number 3 shared something interesting in common-- both couples had been together for more than twelve years and all of them were under 35 years old. Yep, that's right-- young love taking the leap. Couple Number 3, still in their 20s, actually had been high school sweethearts who met in 10th grade English class. Often my wedding ceremonies include a bit of the story of the couple, and that was true for both of these couples. Very fun to recount early dates that involved doing homework together or going to Schlitterbahn.

The Winfield Inn-- not really my home, but I sure feel at home here.

Our beautiful bride before the Winfield Wedding

Couple Number 4 -- that final wedding weekend was on Sunday at the Winfield Inn in Kyle. I've done so many weddings out there that heading up the front walk almost feels like I'm heading home. Robyn and April are the coordinators out there and they always have it going on, totally organized, usually assisted by a gaggle of interns. Such was the case on Sunday. And this is an example of why it was okay I didn't attend the rehearsal-- we have such a good working relationship that we can speak the necessary shorthand to get me exactly where I need to be in the processional.

This couple, though we hadn't met in person before the ceremony, felt familiar thanks to the miracle of Skype. They were coming in from the West Coast to get married in Austin, so we used vid-conferencing to get acquainted. It also was a nice bonus to know that the mother of the bride and I had taken a knitting class together. (I very often knit right before a wedding, during that little period of time I show up just to be there. It's a nice way for me to sort of meditate, and I think it has a calming effect on all present, too.)

Here are some more excellent pictures from my excellent weekend:

The Inn at Pearl Street

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Cute idea-- near the guest book there was a bowl full of skeleton keys on key tags. Guests were invited to inscribe the tags with "keys to a happy marriage."

I LOVE bouquets made from old brooches. Isn't this smashing?

The art at Hacienda del Lago is really cool. I think they call it Neo-Grecian.

Another great aspect of my job-- I am a craft queen and at weddings I see the coolest crafts.

Another cool craft idea-- the bride made these flowers for all the attendees. I wore mine as a boutonniere. Some wore them in their hair. And, see below-- Vera wore hers on her collar.