Intimate Summery Backyard Cottage Wedding

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Sometimes when we receive sentimental wedding submissions such as this backyard beauty, our photographers who were present (in this case, Rachel Ann Media) give a more heartfelt description than we ever could…

“When Bryan and Kastine got engaged, Kastine could immediately imagine their wedding in the courtyard of her childhood home in Harlingen, Texas. How special is it to have an intimate wedding in the place where you grew up?

By the time of the couple’s engagement, they were living in San Antonio, while her family in Harlingen had converted their home into a care home for elderly women. However, with thoughtful planning by the bride and her mother, her dream became a reality!

The wedding was a beautiful intimate wedding with less than 50 guests. The courtyard was decorated with rustic bohemian flair with beautiful white wooden benches, while the aisle was lined with tree stumps, greenery and pops of yellow sunflowers.

Bryan and Kastine said their “I do’s” in front of a macrame altar also adorned in florals and greenery. After the ceremony, the bride and groom proceeded to dinner and dessert while they mingled with their closest family and friends.”

Our Love Story

We both worked at Chili’s and it was love at first sight!

For our proposal, we were exchanging Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve and he was supposed to wait and propose later on in the week but he couldn’t wait!

The Dress & Attire

I loved the way lace wedding dresses looked and I loved the way princess dresses looked, so I chose the perfect dress that had lace and still sparkled. He chose to wear a casual suit, no jacket, just the vest in navy to match the sunflowers and white roses to keep it more rustic rather than traditional.

My mother and grandmother dedicated a room for me and my best friends to get ready in. There were different vanities and on the walls were pictures of me and my cousins and best friends hanging on the wall when we were little.

The Style & Decor

Our wedding style was boho and our colors and flowers were made up of white roses and sunflowers. We chose to have a small backyard wedding with close family and friends at my (bride) parents’ house. We used Pinterest for most of our decorations.

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The Planning

The most important thing for both of us was the memories! Choosing a photographer was a huge priority. We did decide to skip on a DJ or musicians. Instead, we created a playlist on Spotify with some of our favorite love songs.

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Advice to Other Couples

Ask for help! We could’ve never put our wedding together without the help of our families and friends. This can be such a stressful event when it doesn’t have to be! Keep calm and ask for help. We were blessed to have our family extend their home to us and our friends to help set up during the wedding day!

Favorite Moments

During the father-daughter dance, my mother and husband spontaneously joined us and it made the moment that much sweeter.

While taking our pictures after the first look, we had such a great time with our photographers, they really knew how to make us laugh to get those genuine pictures.

The Cake

Our wedding cake was two tiers, lightly frosted with white frosting to create a rustic look with sunflowers sitting on the first tier.

The Honeymoon

We started out our honeymoon at South Padre Island and enjoyed the beach. Then, we stayed at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio and did tourist-y things throughout downtown. We spent the rest of the week on a staycation at home enjoying the beginning of the rest of our lives.