1. Real Weddings

Lee & Jeffrey: An Outdoor Wedding in Dallas, TX

Neither Lee nor Frank (Jeffrey) expected any romance to blossom during a night out with some friends. Both had recently gotten out of long-term relati

Neither Lee nor Frank (Jeffrey) expected any romance to blossom during a night out with some friends. Both had recently gotten out of long-term relationships and neither was looking to embark on a new one. But as Lee puts it, “The minute we started talking, it was like the world stopped. We ignored everyone that night and spent the whole time talking.” The Bride Lee Sample, 25, retail manager The Groom Frank (Jeffrey) Nelson Jr., 26, owner of an insurance agency The Date April 23 The next morning, Lee called her mother and announced that she’d met the man she was going to marry. That afternoon, Jeffrey picked her up for their first date, taking her to his family’s ranch to see the horses. City girl Lee chose a cashmere sweater, designer jeans, and stiletto heels for her date attire but laughed her way through the farm date, and from then on, the two were a pair. On a surprise getaway to Lakeway in Austin, the couple were on Jeffrey’s boat when Lee suddenly looked to see him get down on one knee: “All I could do was start screaming!” she remembers. “Jeffrey told me later that he thought he’d done something wrong. He only knew everything was okay when I put on the ring.”

The Location
The bride’s cake was a square, five-tiered amaretto cake decorated like Limoges porcelain.
Iron cones covered with moss, baby apples, roses, hydrangea, and gold organza ribbon hung at the end of each row of gold chiavari chairs.
Alternating pink and green table linens were topped with tea lights and cylinders filled with green apples, pink and green hydrangeas, tulips, peonies, ranunculuses, and roses.
Lee's bridesmaid dresses were designed to echo her gown’s delicate details, including the ribbon-wrapped waist. The two-piece, peony pink ensembles featured an organza overlay on top and a floor-length silk dupioni skirt.
The Programs
Lee and Jeffrey exchanged traditional vows in an outdoor ceremony on the front terrace of Arlington Hall, overlooking Turtle Creek.
The Couple
The Groom's Cake
The bridesmaids' peppy, preppy hues were set off by the brilliant bouquets -- pink peonies, ranunculuses, and roses for the bride and even bolder arrangements of parrot tulips, hydrangeas, peonies, and roses for the maids.
Afterward Lee and Jeffrey departed in a white British Daimler for the tony Hotel Adolphus, their last stop before a week of lounging on the beach and snorkeling with sharks in Maui.
The Bride
Jeffrey’s custom-made boots were a wedding gift from Lee.