A Peach-and-Marigold Color Palette Added Cheer to This Boho Wedding at Casa Cartel in Austin, Texas

After getting engaged on their eighth anniversary, nothing was going to stop Jessika and Nick from exchanging wedding vows on their ninth anniversary. Despite some bumps in the road because of the ongoing pandemic, Jessika and Nick found ways to adapt their wedding so they could safely celebrate their love at Casa Cartel in Austin, Texas. From a color palette featuring various shades of orange and yellow that you can't help but smile at to personalized details like lemon cookies for virtual attendees and action figure cake toppers, each detail at Jessika and Nick's day was steeped in creative personalization. "My biggest inspiration in planning our wedding was staying true to who we are as a couple," says Jessika. "I didn't want anything to be there 'just because that's what you do,' it had to be something we were excited about or held a lot of meaning for us. Everything from wearing a cape and a crown instead of a veil to having a custom cake topper of our favorite fictional characters, you could really see us as a couple throughout the day. We even carefully chose our song selections to ensure they were very special and meaningful to us. Even though we started planning the wedding in 2019, everything paused in March 2020 with the outbreak of Covid-19. I'm a wedding planner, so I had to put all of my focus towards helping my spring clients and our wedding would just have to wait. I was finally able to regroup and put wedding planning back in full gear in May, but now there had to be a lot of changes and an uncomfortable amount of uncertainty as to whether our wedding could still happen. It's crazy to say, but this pandemic ended up being one of the biggest inspirations for our wedding. I now had to think about how every aspect of our wedding affected our guests. We had to cut our guest list from 120 to 50, move dinner to outside, and ensure that not only were the guests in attendance comfortable with being there but that the guests who could not attend still felt included. We live-streamed the ceremony on Zoom, had comfortable face masks that matched our color palette and assigned out all of the seats for the ceremony and reception."

As a professional in the wedding industry, Jessika chose to DIY many of the decor details for her own big day, making the celebration as personalized and true to her style as possible. "I honestly did more DIY than I thought I would, especially since it's something I tell my clients not to go overboard with. I ended up having an entire cargo van full of items for the wedding day, which I truly do not recommend, even though it all turned out so beautifully," recalls Jessika. "I bought all of the vessels for my centerpieces including bud vases, votive holders, and pots with stands. I mostly did this because I wanted to take all of the floral arrangements home with us at the end of the night. With the help of my mom, we planted over 30 succulents as well as larger plants for the reception space. Those were mixed in with some rented bigger plants and really made the vibe of the indoor area match the outdoors." While Jessika DIYed some of the decor, she left the actual floral arrangements to a floral designer who took her vision and ran with it. "The floral elements made my vision and design of the wedding come to life. I had wanted muted and dusty varieties of yellows, pinks and greens. The mix of live and dried florals was a way to embrace the Texas summer heat. From the large installations at the ceremony altar to the individual table arrangements, it was all executed perfectly. There's also my large and in charge bridal bouquet! She was a stunner and full of personality. In my opinion, the bigger the better for your bridal bouquet." 

In addition to DIYing many decor components, Jessika also decided to add some personalized flair to her attire. "By far the best DIY project for the wedding was my cape," she says. "I bought my ceremony cape on Etsy, but I added my own rose gold jewelry accents to the back. This went so well with my dress. For my reception cape, I also bought this on Etsy, but then I had it altered to include shoulder pads and a neck clasp for a more dramatic effect." Jessika goes on to explain how she found a "dream dress that was nothing like I had imagined or thought I would pick. I told the consultant that I wanted to wear a cape instead of a veil. Towards the end of our appointment, she surprised me with a beautiful white satin cape with stunning lace detail. I put it on with my dress, and all of my fairytale, fantasy, Game of Thrones dreams instantly became a reality! To top it off, she placed this magical, golden, crystal crown on top of my head and my jaw dropped to the floor. Sadly, I couldn't afford that cape (because I was certainly going home with that dress and crown), but that didn't stop me from doing whatever I could to make that vision of myself a reality. I ended up purchasing and altering two different capes."

While their wedding day ended up being beautiful, Jessika and Nick had to make some tough decisions on the road to their big day. Notably, they were forced to drastically decrease their guest list as a result of the pandemic. However, in order to make their virtual guests feel included, they mailed out cookies inspired by the phrase "when life gives you lemons" along with their video streaming details. "With the increase in cases and uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, we sadly had to uninvite more than half of our guests," says Jessika. "In addition to making phone calls to let everyone know, we sent out a wedding update card when we mailed our wedding invitations to those no longer able to attend. I wanted to make sure everyone knew that this was a very difficult decision for us. The week of the wedding, we mailed out cookies and another letter letting our guests know how they could watch our ceremony live and still be a part of the wedding. At the end of the ceremony, we made sure to stop at the camera and wave to all of our friends and family that couldn't be with us in person. It meant so much to us to have them watch us say our vows even from afar."

Looking back on her wedding day at Casa Cartel in Austin, Texas, Jessika advises all current to-be-weds to "hire a wedding planner for at least the last few months leading into the wedding day. I wanted to do most of the planning and design on my own, as many couples do, but there's still so much leading into the wedding and especially on the wedding day, you can't do it yourself. You want to be able to go into your ceremony rehearsal knowing that there's someone to guide you through it. On the wedding day, you and your friends and family should be able to focus on having a good time and not on setting anything up or worrying about vendor arrival times. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to let go of control, or constantly think about what time it was and where we were on the schedule, but thankfully my coordinators were there to set my mind at ease. I'm so grateful to have had them managing the day."