A quaint countryside wedding dressed in lilac purple...

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 4

At this point, I should probably change all my social media bios to “Claire Eliza, wedding nerd, loves all shades of lavender & lilac”.

I have no problem making the biased statement that you will love this Texas garden wedding filled with the prettiest hues of lilac. While one would assume that the inspiration came from the floral nature of their venue, or perhaps having read on Bridal Musings “lilac is the new blush” but surprisingly the color palette was chosen for the groom’s alma mater! We love extra nods to our grooms – it’s his wedding, too!

Pretty palettes aside, we love all the wonderful encouraging advice bride Christy has to offer. “Be selfish” she says, which is advice we try so hard to normalize here at Bridal Musings. “This is your special day and if you try to please every single person you will be miserable, so do what you want at your wedding.” We absolutely agree, Christy!

Our Love Story

We met at freshman orientation at Abilene Christian University back in 2013 I (Christy) was instantly attracted to Trey and told a friend we had to go up and talk to him and his friend. We found out that Trey was taken, so we all just became really good friends.

Through the years of college, we would hang out in groups a lot and going into Junior year of college we both were in town for the summer and along with a few other friends would hang out frequently since there was not much to do in Abilene during the summer. I had a small crush on him, but just thought we were good as friends and didn’t want to ruin it.

In March of our junior year I asked him to my sorority’s formal strictly as a friend, but this time Trey had other intentions. We had such a good time that night I began to realize there was something there, but thought it was too good to be true. He began to pursue me and two weeks later we were officially dating.

The Proposal

I went to Chicago to visit a friend and early in the week and she told me about plans to go to dinner with her graduate school cohort on Friday. She said that they were meeting at this rooftop patio before to take pictures.

When Friday finally came my friend was running late and was panicking about being so late, she told me to be ready when she got home. Once she got home we quickly left for this rooftop, and when we go there no one was there (and we were supposedly late). We sat down and she told me to wait there while she went to the bathroom. I was confused because these people had no idea who I was, and I felt like it would be awkward if they showed up.

After she walked away, I heard the door open again and out came Trey. I was so surprised I just kept saying “What are you doing here?”. He finally got me to stand up and asked me to marry him. After he handed me a letter he wrote me the year prior when he knew he was going to marry me.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 1

The Venue

Our venue Firefly Gardens was the first venue we toured and I knew the second I walked in it was the one. It was so pretty by itself and I loved that I wouldn’t have to add a lot to make it perfect.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 8

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 7

The Planning & Design

My wedding design was all KC Cloud, I shared our Pinterest boards to show her what I liked, and she executed it far better than I could have imagined. She would always say to trust her and I did and it was so perfect. From the linens to the head table to flowers it was perfect and designed so well.

I chose Macy from Flourish, based on recommendations from KC, she also did an amazing job at taking my vision and executing it. She and KC collaborated and showed me what would look best with my venue and vision and did such an amazing job with it.

Our colour palette was Liliac and gray, Purple was must for Trey because of our Alma Mater’s color’s are purple, so we compromised for lilac and gray just went best with it.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 2

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 3

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 5

The Photography & Videography

I had been engaged for a couple of months and knew I needed to book someone sooner rather than later. One night I had a bride panic and hadn’t liked any potential photographers I had seen. I knew I wanted an amazing photographer because it was my wedding and these photos would last forever.

I wish I could remember the exact way I found Adria, but I filled out her form and she emailed me the following day and told me her husband also went to my Alma Mater. I knew I had found the perfect person for the job and when we met in person it made me even more sure I was picking the right person. I am so glad I found her. Her style was exactly what I wanted and she is just so talented.

I found my videographer based on others I knew had them. I loved their wedding video styles and was super happy to get them for our day.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 10

The Catering

We originally wanted Rasinig Cane’s Chicken at our wedding because it was a place we loved at ate at more than one would admit, but with catering it would not work so we went with the next best thing, Babes Chicken which was so good and it has become on our of favorite restaurants in DFW.

“Our day was truly a dream come true. Everything felt like it tied together so well. We felt so happy having everyone we love all in the same place to celebrate our love and everything just felt like it went perfect.”

– Bride Christy

Favorite Moments

My personal favorite unique memory was my bridal cake, I chose a rice crispy treat cake instead of a traditional cake because Rice Crispy treats are my absolute favorite dessert. I have loved them since I was a kid when my grandma used to make them for me.

We both agree that our favorite moment from our wedding was our last dance. We picked “This Will Be” by Natalie Cole to dance to and it was so fun to finally be by ourselves and soak in that whole day. We laughed and danced and it just felt so magical.

A funny moment was when Trey bit my finger while feeding each other cake after we cut the cake.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 13

Advice to Other Couples

My biggest advice is hire a wedding planner and not just a day of coordinator. KC made my life so easy during wedding planning. I was a full time graduate student and felt like I had no time, I had no idea what I was doing and KC made it so easy. When I felt like I was being too extra or difficult she would remind me I was okay and that It was my wedding.

Another piece of advice I have is to be selfish. Tt sounds bad, but this is your special day and if you try to please every single person you will be miserable, so do what you want at your wedding.

My last advice is to stress up until the day of your wedding. From the moment you wake up do not worry because anything that did not get done will probably not get done and it is okay, your wedding will still be amazing.

Sweet Lilac Countryside Wedding with a Rice Krispie Treat Cake – Andria Lea – Firefly Gardens 12

The Honeymoon

We went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and stayed at Excellence El Carmen. I would highly recommend staying at an all-inclusive on your honeymoon so you don’t have to worry about money while there. The staff was so friendly and I would go back anytime!