Wedding Date on Apr 23, 2016

From The Bride: Richard and I met 10 years ago (almost to the day) in high school. We happened to be going to universities close to each other. Over the years he has proven himself time and time again to be the greatest man I know. After 8 years of mostly long-distance dating, Richard invited Carissa to his family's home in Australia for the holiday and proposed on Christmas Day. When it came to planning our wedding, we had quite a feat! There would be so many cultural elements with Richard's Scottish heritage and my family who grew up in the South. All I knew was that I wanted people to think, “wow, that is so Richard and Carissa.” The easiest decision was the location. However, having the wedding at our family’s ranch was a lot of work. People warned me in advance but I didn’t pay much attention because I just wanted our wedding to be special. And although it was twice the work, I am so glad we held it there. It has been a special place for our family and now we have our wedding memories we will cherish and remember every time we go back. I love that I got ready in the my Mimi’s bedroom who lived there for years. My bridesmaids spent the night with me at the ranch the night before, and it was just a special place to get married and I felt so loved and lucky and supported. The other thing I knew early on was that there was going to be various cultures infused in our wedding details. My maternal side of the family all live in Texas, but my husband’s family is from Scotland, and I knew he would wear his family tartan. My bridesmaids wore boots while the groomsmen wore kilts. We had a bagpiper play while I walked down the aisle. A deputy was on site wearing a cowboy hat, and he was asked to take many selfies with my husband’s cousins. I thought about incorporating this into every detail of the wedding, like having Scottish thistles in my bouquet. Each of our families got a little taste of a new culture. Richard is a chef and I started this blog as a means to share my own recipes, so I wanted to incorporate that element into our wedding as well. We had southern style barbecue for dinner and for wedding favors, we created our own spice mix and bottled them up for guests. Our guest book was “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child. Our wedding colors were Pantone Dusty Blue and Pearl Blush, complemented by Navy Blue and Grayed Jade. As I mentioned before with the work that was put in, this was largely a DIY wedding. Most of our decor was inspired by the wildflowers and nature on the ranch property. The wedding day itself was perfect. The ceremony was so unique. My aunts created a backdrop only they could have imagined. The window pane hanging down even resembled a cross. Our officiant was a friend of the family, and he did a fantastic job including everyone in our ceremony. Richard and I took dance lessons in advance so our first dance to “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green would stick out in our guests’ minds. Richard and his mom did the Scottish dance, “Gay Gordons.” My mom is quadriplegic from a car accident she had when she was 25, but not only did she “walk” me down the aisle, she danced a choreographed mother/daughter routine to “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson. She is so amazing and inspiring! Aside from the ceremony and first dances, my favorite things about the night were learning new Scottish dances, doing the Texas two-step and watching the fireworks. When Richard and I tried to move around to talk to guests, everyone was dancing. And that’s how it was the entire night! I received compliments from guests that it was the most memorable wedding they had ever been to. Those compliments mean the world to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better day!