After months of planning and organizing in secret the grand reveal was finally upon us.  Amy Canterbury with Butler Signature Events pulled off yet another amazing event.  Whose party was this that so much time and attention went in to?  All the guests arrived waiting as patiently as they could to see who this beautiful event was for.

Please click here to view or order photos from this event!

The band Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes did a fabulous job entertaining throughout the night.

and the secret is out…

all the family drove and flew in for the occasion!

Please click to view this Surprise Party slideshow!

Getting Personal with Couture Events by Lottie

How to give your wedding a personal touch

My name is Lottie Fowler and I am the owner of Couture Events by Lottie. We are not only an event planning company but we also cater to those who are looking for an overall design and event theme. I must admit I am not much for trends but I do take bits and pieces here and there and use them for inspiration. My favorite part of working with my clients is drilling down to the details that ultimately end up creating the scheme for the day. I LOVE alternatives so I thought I would provide some great alternate examples for guestbook’s and the “send away” toss. Having alternatives on your wedding day gives your guests a “personal touch feeling” and leaves them gushing even after the wedding is over. It gives an opportunity for new moments and memories to be made and engages family and friends to actively become a part of the event. There is nothing more boring than attending a wedding where everything is ordinary and nothing seems personal or intimate in anyway. You end up leaving feeling like you know the couple no more than a wedding crasher would.  As a planner and designer, I hear this from many of my brides to be. They don’t have the time to dedicate to the details and their fear is that, they will just settle for ordinary. I don’t think we’d get calls if we were Ordinary Events by Lottie so in steps the Couture. Here are some ways to tailor your wedding to fit your personal wishes:

Guestbook Alternatives:

Instead of signing a matted photo, why not have a personalized and unique puzzle created like those from Bella Puzzles for guests to sign or write sweet wishes.

Instead of a wishing tree, try a post card or recipe station?

Are you known for being over the top in love with something in particular? Do you over-obsess about your record player and vinyl’s or does the groom-to-be have some mad Jenga or poker playing skills? Get approval first but incorporating items such as a deck of cards or an old record is a great way to add personality.

All girls love china. Check out one of our favorite guestbook alternatives from Martha Stewart Weddings. Choose white dishes for the well-wishes, which show up nicely when inscribed with metallic paint pens. Then later arrange them on a focal wall in your home for a beautiful touch.

Oh how we love Christmas weddings and a wonderful way to incorporate a unique guestbook by having guests sign or wish you well on ornaments. You will have many years of laughter and heartfelt memories each Christmas season to come.

Getting married on a beach? Have wishing stones signed and collect them in jars later for décor.

Are you a southern gal or guy? Have guests type a note to you on a super cool vintage typewriter or place a print on your thumbprint family tree.

“Send away” Toss Alternatives:  Unique Grand Exit Ideas

Nothing beats that first introduction as man and wife but the departure sure comes close. The night is over, your guests are happy, and you are both on your way to the hotel to… play some awesome Jenga. HA! I love thinking up creative ways to send the duo off into the night. Here are a few of our favorite grand exit ideas.

Rice kills birds, and birdseed attracts too many. So… why not toss lavender buds?

Say no to sparklers, say yes to ribbon wands like those found on Etsy.

Out with the bubbles and petals and in with the eco-parti toss! Lovely and won’t harm mother earth.

Don’t want to worry about the cleanup of confetti? Then choose paper airplanes!  It’s fun and makes beautiful photos.

Since venues can be really particular about cleanup, you are usually always safe with choosing noisemakers like slappy hands or blow horns.

With each weekend that passes more excitement grows as we know it means we get to post another bridal session.  We aboslutely love bridals and hate having to keep these gorgeous photos under wraps for so long.  Yes, we are spoiled!  Kendra is a bride who lives in San Antonio, is getting married in Rockport, TX, did their Engagement photos in Rockport and her Bridals here in Dallas.  This is one well traveled bride.  The best part is that her mom is in Rockport and her sister is in Dallas so they have managed to attend everything together.  We have had alot of fun getting to know this family as well as getting to take all these awesome photos of them.  So as I have said many times before, we are so pleased to share with you Mrs Kendra Facundo’s bridal photos.

Please click here to order or view photos from Kendra’s bridals!

Please click here to view her Bridal Slideshow!

When I, Samantha, think of Jon and Stephanie and their family and friends I think of laughter.  There was so much laughing from the rehearsal all the way through their wedding reception.  We don’t always have the privilege of attending our couple’s rehearsal dinners but we did get to attend for Steph and Jon’s and I am so glad we did.  We saw a fabulous slideshow of Jon and Stephanie’s hoodlem lifestyles growing up compliments of Jon’s sister in law.  We got to meet Superfrog as he made a surprise visit to deliver Jon a birthday cake, so their rehearsal dinner was technically a dual celebration.  Jon was quite surprised!  This wonderful evening just set the pace for the the next day which was a blast as well. We photographed our first Ft Worth Reata Rooftop wedding reception and it was gorgeous!  Love that location!  As the party rolled on and the sun began to set we thought we were in heaven.  Here are just a few photos from their beautiful wedding day.

Each piece of Stephanie’s jewelry had a wonderful history. The pearl necklace was a Christmas gift to Alice, Steph’s mom, from Stephanie’s father when she was a little girl.  The other necklace (you can see Steph wearing in later photos) came from Jon’s family.  Anne, Jon’s mom, wore it at her wedding as did her mother.  Stephanie also wore my mother’s pearl ring.  Alice’s mom’s sister was married to a colonel stationed in reconstruction Japan following WWII.  Their parents went for a visit when family visits were allowed.  Alice’s grandfather was a minister who traveled regularily and he frequently brought trinkets, jewelry, etc to his children from his travels.  The pearl ring was purchased by Alice’s grandfather as a gift to her mother from that trip.  Best guess is that he bought it no later than 1950.

We are so excited to post our first Spring wedding complete with Spring features such as the color yellow and men in bowties!  Jacyln and Andy’s wedding took place in Houston at the Bear Creek United Methodist Church on a beautiful Spring day.  We had fun with the girls getting ready at a hotel just down the road and had fun wrangling this large group of men to take some awesome photos.  I think this might be the largest group of guys we have had to date.  After their beautiful wedding we headed over to the West Lake Club to celebrate at their reception.  There was dancing, laughter, dancing, cake, dancing, dancing and more dancing.  Everyone was having so much fun which you will see in the photos to come.  Please enjoy Andy and Jacyln Dublin’s beautiful photos.

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So a certain Michael Jackson song came on and Jonathan’s fedora made its way to the dance floor.  Started with brother, then went to dad seen above and then to grandpa seen below and then it was off visiting the heads of many people for the next couple of songs.

This for sure is the most unique wedding we have ever done!  I seriously had the hardest time choosing photos for this post as I wanted to include them all!  So many cool details, fun things going on plus a couple madly in love.  This amazing event was planned by the one and only Rachel with Rachel Events and was at the Stonebridge Ranch Country Club.  From the moment we met April and Shelby we knew they were going to be so much fun!  We had a blast on their engagements running around the Texas State Fair then we followed up with April’s bridals which wins the most unique locations By Far!  Then we rocked it at their awesome wedding a couple weekends ago and now we are starting to prepare for a beat all Trash the Dress session.  If I had to choose one word to describe these two is would be FUN!  They know how to have fun and do what they love.  So please dive in and enjoy the awesome wedding of April and Shelby Krause!

Everyone in the wedding party and family wore their converse allstars including the bride and her mom!

All of the beautiful flowers are by Dr Delphinium.  They never cease to impress with their flowers and decor!

Here they created a unity volcano!  So cool!

The also each wrote their own vows and while Shelby chose to wing his (he did an awesome job too), April had another way to express her love…

Let’s get the party started!!!

April created the flags all by herself based on an inspirational post by Rachel Events.

Do you love Guitar Hero?  I bet you don’t love it like these two do.  They had a Guitar Hero match of which April won!  You go Girl!

Cakes by the fabulous Romano’s Bakery.  Super yummy and super cool!

I bet you have seen or heard of the Newlywed Game, but have you ever seen it played with Converse Allstars on a stack of tires?  Well now you have!  Thank you Discount Tire for pitching in these portable chairs.

And then the craziest exit ever…Silly String!  But not only did the guest have a can each, the bride and groom each had a can that they used to defend themselves while they made a mad dash to their getaway car…a Dallas taxi cab!

Please click here to view their Wedding Slideshow!

Don’t you just love Love?  It  is just so lovely!  We were able to meet Jessie in our hudio (home based studio for those not following our insane lingo) and we hit it off on the spot, but it wasn’t until the day of their engagements that we were able to meet Bradley and he truly is her ‘other half’.  We got to see a whole new side of Jessie with Bradley around and it was so much fun!  This was sure the most fun Jonathan and I have ever had with accountants!  We were lucky to have the chance to document this next chapter in their lives and are excited to share it with you!  Enjoy!

About mid way through their photo shoot the eerie clouds that had been hovering over us started to release and it began to sprinkle.  We always are asked “what do you do if it rains during a photo shoot?” Well here you go, we keep on shooting!  If we can use the rain to our advantage to create a cool shot like the one above, we will!  Or, like the photo below we just make it seem like it isn’t raining while letting the couple pose under some shelter.

Please click here to view their Engagement Slideshow!

Sweet and adorable Jaclyn!  We are so excited to finally be able to share her darling bridals!  Her and her hubby, who I think looks like a young Patrick Swayze, like from Dirty Dancing days, more to come on this…were married this past weekend and I can’t wait to tell you how much fun their special day was.  Their photos to come will just be a glimpse.

Jaclyn is just absolutely precious and we have had so much fun with her and her family. So until we release the big day…enjoy these beautiful bridal photos of the beautiful bride!

This is Jaclyn with her dog Toby who was too precious!  He hung out with us during her whole bridal shoot and seemed to be having as much fun as we were!

Please click here to view Jaclyn’s bridal slideshow!