Love, Authenticity, and Comedy Celebrated at Addison Grove

One of our friendliest couples ever, Lera and Daniel, said their I Do's in March at The Addison Grove. Although the two were already legally married, they wanted to have a full fledged wedding to celebrate with their family and friends, so they hired Amy Bay as their wedding planner! And she was the perfect fit, since all 3 of them related to each other’s “nerdy” personalities. Especially Lera and Dan, who have an affinity for all kinds of movies, comedy, anime, and cats!

If you remember Austin’s weather in early March, it was freezing cold. So cold, in fact, that Amy had to change the ceremony location from outdoors to indoors just 3 days before the wedding! Luckily, each of our vendors completely accommodated this change with no problem. Especially Native Bloom, who had to install the ceremony arch floral indoors instead. But hey, that was probably for the best so that their staff wouldn’t freeze their fingers off. 😆

To start off the day, Brighter Side Event Lighting and Unique Designs and Events came to install beautiful draping and lighting. Shortly after, Royal Fig arrived and started setting up a yummy Tex-Mex dinner in the kitchen. All of the parts were moving perfectly into place!

Once the bridal party arrived, they started on hair and makeup right away. Lera and her bridesmaids got glammed up by Anastasia Miller just before putting on matching onesies for fun group photos! Meanwhile, Dan and his groomsmen were starting to arrive and took some goofy photos, themselves. Once everyone was ready, the couple did their first look together and even had extra time to practice their first dance. They look so cute! All of these pre-ceremony photos shot by Lauren Slusher Photography definitely show off the couple’s personalities: full of laughs, fun, and love.

And then it was time for the ceremony! They figured, since they were already married, they would process down the aisle together. It was a moment so rare and heartwarming - to be arriving at the altar, hand in hand, together. In their vows, Lera and Dan quoted movies, cracked jokes, made fun of each other, and ultimately professed their love to one another in their own ways. They were truly, authentically themselves, and loved each other dearly for each other's personalities. And that’s real, genuine love (:

After the ceremony, the guests went to the outside patio for cocktail hour, which had several heaters to help people stay warm. Lera and Dan’s friend (and guest) performed live music with the help of 2 other musicians, which helped keep everybody in good spirits. Luckily, the staff finished flipping the space to the reception setup quickly, so they let everybody back inside to escape the cold.

Once reception started, everything was a breeze. Byrne Rock DJ did a great job with music, especially with hyping everybody up for important songs. Lera and Daniel’s first dance was fully choreographed to the tune of "Merry-Go-Round" by Joe Hisaishi, which was featured in an Anime Movie called Howl's Moving Castle. A prime example of them showing their lovable personalities!

Rather than doing a cake-cutting, the couple chose to bring in Tiny Pies on a chic dessert display. And this had an especially sweet touch to it, since a friend of theirs had 3D-printed the custom hexagonal display. This, in combination with the hexagonal ceremony arch and table numbers, made their decor feel cohesive and modern.

Amy Bay really loved planning with Lera and Daniel, even if it was just for a short period of time doing month-of coordination. They are some of the coolest people (even the vendor team agrees!) and we count ourselves lucky to have been a part of it. Congratulations to Lera and Dan for getting married! Again! (: