Guy and I were engaged in Paris May of 2017 and quickly set the date for our nuptials for February 4th, 2018, a short 8 months later. This seemed like plenty of time but how quickly the clock spun down.
Have you ever sorted through the memories and moments that pinpoint an exact juncture that changed your life's trajectory? I can.
Everything started about 5 pm with Guy and me in Paris. I had just ridden a bike through the city not realizing I would end up in the thick of Paris downtown traffic…. and I was frazzled. And then I was engaged lol…. I turned around after messing with my camera to set a timer to take a picture with Guy in front of the Eiffel tower. Guy took a knee and the next thing I knew I was engaged! I found myself planning the happily ever after that our friends and family would come to celebrate.
Guy and I agreed on a few things right away…. we did not want to go into debt having this wedding and we wanted to do it our way; throwing traditional weddings out the window and creating our own tradition and incorporating things that we found beautiful.
The planning really started with Spike Gillespie, who is a wonderfully vibrant woman that owns Tiny T Ranch in Garfield, Texas. Spike graciously offered up her beautiful property for us to have our celebration. The Ranch is adorable with the cutest little chapel and an enclosed pavilion, as well as a guest house and Bridal suite. Not only did she extend her hand with the property but she was our officiant at the wedding as well.
Throughout the entirety of planning, we were blessed over and over by friends and family offering to do things for the wedding. Jodi Esquell made our wedding cake; Mark Hayes provided an entire back line for our wedding reception; Sean and Julie Rosenbaum did so many things, I couldn’t possibly keep up. Jasmine Carriker hand- made jewelry for the bridesmaids and mothers of the bride and groom. These are just a few out of dozens of amazing people that came together to create our special day.
But back to the planning….
The first thing we did was square away our wedding attire. Guy knew from the first moment we spoke that Bykowski Tailor & Garb would make his wedding suit, which he chose to do in an old-world style with a long coat. Guy has been a long time customer and fan of these two amazing artists and we couldn’t have been happier with the entire experience start to finish. My wedding gown was lovingly and creatively made by Benson Roberts III, also known as Atelier Benson. His vision came together in a way I still can’t express other than it was so beyond perfect and it fit like a glove. With our local clothing designers chosen and some sort of idea of the look we would have we decided our wedding would be Bohemian.
Let’s be honest, people don’t RSVP like they used to. With that in mind as well as your unforeseen wedding expenses we decided to throw caution to the wind and embrace the “Keep Austin Weird” theme. With our Bohemian setting decided on we announced that we would be doing a pot luck. We used a wonderful and free app called Sign Up Genius. I sent links to friends and family and I started receiving sign up notifications. YES! PERFECT!
An Artistic Wedding
Guy and Jeska.
Their Story