Wedding Wednesday: April and Will

Wedding Wednesday is BACK!  We are excited to bring a wedding story to our readers on Wednesdays. We have started something new in 2013.  Our brides are helping me write their wedding story!  We hope you will “tune in” on Wednesdays to read about each bride’s unique and beautiful wedding.  Feel free to Pin, Tweet, and post our blog to Facebook.  We also love to read your comments!

One of our favorite weddings is April and Will’s. We fell in love with every detail of the Holland-Pearce wedding from the save-the-date to the reception favors.

April and Will are both from Beaumont.  They attended high school together and became friends and lab partners.  They also attended college at the University of Texas in Austin where they fell in love.  The couple decided to hold their wedding ceremony in their hometown. “We wanted all our family and friends to come together to Beaumont where our friendship and ultimately our love for each other began”. 

April planned her wedding down to every detail with help from her mother, Becky.  April chose peach and champagne as the colors for her southern style wedding.  We are so pleased she chose HH Design House to help create her wedding dream!  Our first project together was to create not one, but two monograms for the couple.  One would be designated a “pre-marriage monogram”.  “It had an H and P intertwined signifying the Holland and Pearce families coming together.  After the ceremony, we still used that same monogram, but it was slightly different in that it was our married monogram.”  The “April and Will” monogram would be used after the ceremony symbolizing their union.  It incorporated their first initials with their now shared last initial “P”.  It was used during and after the reception.

April and Will’s save-the-date cards were designed by HH Design House.  Trees were a motif used throughout the wedding. On one side the announcement included a photograph of a Live Oak draped in Spanish moss. This tree stands outside the Beaumont Country Club where April and Will’s reception was held.  The other side featured the couple’s names in Hayley’s calligraphy along with the custom pre-wedding monogram.  These were mailed to guests in a clear plastic sleeve.

Invitations to the Holland-Pearce wedding were also written in Hayley’s calligraphy in a soft black letter press on ecru cotton paper.  A layer of gold leaf patterned velum was placed on top of the invitation and secured with a champagne belly band.  The bellyband included a “pre-wedding monogram” foil stamped in peach pearl. It also held the matching RSVP card and reception card.  Inner envelopes and champagne lined outer envelopes were addressed by hand by Hayley.  Both RSVP envelopes and outer envelopes were topped with a special “pre-wedding monogram” postage stamp.

As guests arrived in Beaumont, they were greeted with a welcome bags designed by HH Design House.  The canvas bags had a champagne tree printed on the front.  Inside the bags were Texas treats, bottled water affixed with labels designed by HH Design house, and welcome packets.  The welcome packets, also designed by HH Design House, included a sweet note from the couple along with itineraries for the guests during their stay in Beaumont.

After much much MUCH planning and preparation, the big day arrived!  Will met April at her parent’s home before the wedding to see his beautiful bride.  “We decided to do a first look. As I was coming down the stairs at my childhood home, Will’s back was towards me. I tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around, the sweet look he had on his face is something I will never forget.”

The wedding party included friends and family of the bride and groom.  The maid of honor was Ms. Carline Squires who went to law school with April.  The best man was his father, Mr. Dennis Pearce.

“Will and I wanted our ceremony to not only be special, but also a reflection of us as a couple. We wanted our ceremony not only to be a celebration of us coming together, but also acknowledging and praising God for the countless blessings that He has provided to us as a couple. We had my music minister from my home church and his wife, who was my church choir teacher as a child as well as a family friend sing my favorite hymns that my mom used to sing to me as a child and that I grew up singing. My brother played the piano and sang a rendition of Great is Thy Faithfulness. My cousin from my mom’s side and aunt from my dad’s side both gave scripture readings. Will and I also had our first communion as husband and wife, which is something my parents did when they were married. My pastor from my home church officiated the ceremony. My “something old” was a locket that my dad had given my mom when they were dating in high school, which was attached to my bouquet with a picture of my mom, dad, and brother.”

Each guest held a program designed by HH Design House with the “pre-wedding” foil-stamped peach monogram signifying the unity of the Holland and Pearce families.  April and Will’s names were written in hand calligraphy.  The program was ecru with a champagne backer.

“My taste is traditional and all things southern. I initially wanted our reception to be at my childhood home that my parents designed and built. My dad simply had a huge grin on his face and said, “your mom and I are flattered, but do you see how many trees we have in our yard?! How are we going to tent that?” I immediately got a dose of reality and realized maybe not so much.” Instead, the couple held their reception at the Beaumont Country Club where April had spent countless summers as a kid.  April still wanted to incorporate a part of her home into the reception. “My mom and I found some 20+ year-old molding in our attic that was used in the house when it was built. We had it painted and had slits put in. This served as our place card holder for our guests to find their names and tables.”  The escort cards were hand written in calligraphy by Hayley.  “Our tables were named after Texas trees. The reason being is that before my dad went to Texas Tech for college he gave my mom a pecan tree. That same pecan tree is in our backyard at my childhood home right down from the magnolia tree Will gave me before he went to medical school.”

“I also loved when Will and I got to see the reception space for the first time. All our guests were downstairs for cocktail hour. Will and I arrived upstairs and got to see everything and share a special moment overlooking the golf course before joining our guests downstairs.”  The couple danced to “Love Me Tender” sung by Madelyn, one of April’s bridesmaids. “It was priceless and meant the world to us.”   Guests danced the night away.  April and Will even provided peach flip flops for tired dancing feet!

The guested dined on Chopped Hearts of Romaine Salad, Summer Peach Sorbet (of course!), Beef Tenderloin, Spinach Madeline, A&W’s Favorite Potatoes, and a bouquet of asparagus.  Wedding cakes were served as dessert.  The wedding cake topper was purchased by April’s mother when April was a little girl.  April hopes to pass it on to her future daughter.  The groom’s cake was a surprise! “ It was the UT Tower (we both went to college there) with an orange P in the windows. Usually when UT wins a national championship the tower is lit up orange with a 1 lit in the windows. I decided to do a P for Pearce.  He had no clue and the look on his face was incredible!”

As the couple left for their honeymoon, guests tossed flower petals in the air from petal boxes designed by HH Design House.  The guests received warm cookies and milk in favor boxes.  Cookies and milk are Will’s favorite snack.  Each box was monogramed with April and Will’s “Pearce Monogram”,the wedding date, and a simple statement “Sweet Dreams”.

“It definitely took a team to pull off our dream wedding and I couldn’t be more thankful to my mom for her countless hours of planning, arranging, meeting, brainstorming, and most importantly her love and support. And, my dad for making it all happen and being the patient, supportive, and loving dad that he is. This wedding definitely could not be pulled off without our amazing vendors and friends: Hayley Hardcastle, Ashley Garmon Photography, Vanessa McKellar, Jonathan Andrew Sage, Bryan Gilbert, Nicole Saba, Debbie Bando, Kay Palumbo, Something Special Bakery, and The Griffins." 

We loved working with April and Will to contribute in making their wedding day a Sweet Dream come true!