1. Real Weddings

Amy & Cole: An Outdoor Wedding in Austin, TX

Three years ago Amy and Cole were set up on a blind date. The sparks didn’t really fly: Amy was living in Denver, and it just wasn’t the right time. T

Three years ago Amy and Cole were set up on a blind date. The sparks didn’t really fly: Amy was living in Denver, and it just wasn’t the right time. Their matchmaker was onto something though -- when Amy moved back to Austin two years later, the two reconnected and hit it off. The Bride Amy Pitt, 27, counselor The Groom Cole Thompson, 36, artist and educator The Date March 31 Before long, they were spending the weekend at Cole’s family’s house on Canyon Lake, just sitting around watching the sunset, when “out of nowhere a ring -- and a proposal -- appeared,” Amy remembers. The two soon began planning a wedding to take place just five months later at the bride’s parents’ home.

Amy and Cole’s ceremony programs were created in the same style as the invitations, which the bride says truly “set the tone” for the wedding. “They were a classic style with a modern, creative twist,” she says. The invites were hand-calligraphed in the wedding colors.
Half of the pool was covered to create more space for the celebration, and the part that was left open had flowers floating in the water. Large white lanterns added a soft glow to the space.
The three-tiered cake had bottom and top layers of lemon raspberry mascarpone adorned with fresh orange poppies, while the middle layer was Italian cream.
“The lighting and linens played a major role in developing different areas of the reception,” Amy explains. Beneath the tent, the dinner tables were covered in marigold taffeta with a sheer gold overlay.
Amy and Cole had trouble finding a site at first, though they knew just what they wanted -- something with indoor and outdoor possibilities, where they could have both the ceremony and the reception, in the Austin area. Amy’s parents’ home on Lake Travis was the perfect spot -- and particularly sentimental, as it was where Amy was living when she and Cole began dating.
Cole wore a single, flame-colored calla lily on his lapel.
Amy and Cole wed in a courtyard overlooking the pool, with the hills, lake, and sunset behind them. Their family, who acted as the house party, stood around them. “We didn’t have traditional bridesmaids and groomsmen,” Amy explains. “Instead, we had our parents, siblings, and their spouses.” The friend who had initially set up Amy and Cole gave a reading that she had written herself, combining famous movie moments about love, life, and relationships. The couple also had two other close friends read scripture while they were taking communion.
Amy carried a bouquet of gold and orange-hued calla lilies down the aisle.
During the cocktail hour, Amy and Cole’s guests enjoyed their signature sip (which matched their palette perfectly) -- a cocktail dubbed the “Texas Sunset.”
The groom’s cake was a chocolate-raspberry truffle cake covered with a mosaic of chocolate pieces.
Amy let her bridesmaids choose their own tea-length dresses that matched the wedding palette. Their color options ranged from pale gold to orange and red.
Amy and Cole’s guests sat at tables named for places where the bride and groom had traveled -- and some they hope to travel to in the future. Half the tables held centerpieces made up of clusters of glass cube vases that were lined with leaves and filled with single blooms.
Amy wore a strapless, candlelight ivory, Judd Waddell gown that had a scalloped lace bodice. The gown featured “stripes” of lace from bust to hem. “With my veil, I looked and felt like a Spanish princess!” the bride says.
The groom’s love of all things chocolate inspired the favors -- a chocolate bar of all different chocolate candies with personalized bags guests could fill to take home.