1. Real Weddings

Nichole & Eric: An Outdoor Wedding in Magnolia, TX

Nichole Lee has a hard time saying yes. Nichole first met Eric when she started working at an extreme sports complex in New Braunfels. Eric, now a dis

Nichole Lee has a hard time saying yes. Nichole first met Eric when she started working at an extreme sports complex in New Braunfels. Eric, now a district manager there, asked her out, but Nichole didn’t want to get involved with a coworker and said no. Fortunately for them both, he’s persistent, and Nichole, a photographer, finally agreed to go out with him. The Bride Nichole Lee, 22 The Groom Eric Daniel, 27 The Date May 7 Months later, Nichole and Eric were visiting Nichole’s parents’ lakeside home when Eric kept suggesting they take a walk out onto the dock. Nichole was resistant because of the weather. Finally, Eric simply dropped to one knee right in the middle of her parents’ kitchen. “I was so surprised!” Nichole says. “I should have taken the walk to the dock, but the proposal was still wonderful.”

The Couple
The Ceremony Decor
The decor abounded with beachy details. Outside the reception tent, guests found wooden trays holding large shells pained with each guest’s name and table number. The tent glowed with twinkling lights and paper lanterns.
Outside the reception tent, guests found wooden trays holding large shells pained with each guest’s name and table number.
The First Dance
Instead of a guest book, two apothecary jars labeled “Make a Wish” and “Take a Wish” let guests write down their wishes for Nichole and Eric and pick up a sweet sentiment from the bride and groom.
Nichole’s Jessica McClintock strapless white A-line gown featured an ice blue sash.
The Couple
Delicate harp music set the tone for the romantic ceremony. Nichole and Eric exchanged vows beneath an iron gazebo covered with white roses, magnolia, and smilax. Guests sat in white chairs decorated with blue bows.
Nichole’s bridesmaids wore two-piece ice blue ensembles from Jessica McClintock featuring a corset top and a full skirt.
True to the theme, Nichole and Eric's programs were rolled up and placed in small glass bottles partially filled with sand and shells.
Ice blue table linens were topped with seashell-filled glass vases or galvanized pails overflowing with white roses, peonies, blue hydrangeas, and delphiniums, with table numbers painted on sand dollars.
The Transportation
Nichole's bridesmaid bouquets were made of white peonies, white roses, and blue hydrangeas.
The Couple
“For the cake, I wanted an art piece that everyone would look at, say ‘Wow!’ and never see again,” says Nichole. She modified a vanilla almond cake she’d seen in a Hawaiian magazine, covering hers with real rose petals, white peonies, and blue hydrangeas.