Michelle and Russel’s Peacock-Inspired Le San Michele Wedding near Austin, TX

Michele and Russel’s Le San Michele wedding near Austin was gorgeous, with touches of peacock colors (and feathers) everywhere and a few nerdy references! They call each other “penguin”, since penguins find a mate for life. <3

How they met:

Michelle and Russel met at a party, but they had been working together (unknowingly) for 5 years. She had walked by his name plate all the time but never met him! Last labor day, their best man and matron of honor had a get together and they flirted a little. Michelle thought Russel was cute, but Michelle was still emotionally invested in someone who had moved away and Russel was still in the process of healing from his last relationship. But, they became Facebook friends and then on Halloween night, they hung out at a party and really connected. They ended up talking and hanging out until 7:30 in the morning! I hear tell they watched Zombieland and Michelle could tell he was into her. Next, they had a double date with aforementioned best man and matron of honor, and then had their first official date the next night. They’ve been inseparable ever since! They both said they knew right away they had found their penguin!

How they got engaged:

It was exactly one year ago today that Michelle and Russel decided to get married. In her own words: “Russel asked me to marry him after our New Year’s Eve party with my family. My grandmother had passed away on Thanksgiving and we had her funeral a couple weeks before Christmas. At the funeral they told the story of how my Pawpaw had proposed to her; they had been dating for a while and one day when they were talking, he said, “We should make this thing permanent.” and she said, “Ok” That night after the NYE party, we were in bed talking about the future and Russel told me that that story about my grandparents had really touched him and that he would like to follow in their footsteps said, “We should make this thing permanent.” And I said, “Ok.” 🙂 Then he said something along the lines of, “Now that that’s decided, I will officially propose to you with a ring sometime soon.” (It wasn’t those exact words, but pretty close) And he surprised me with that on Feb 26th.” They were in the process of moving in together, so they were doing a lot of tidying and cleaning. After watching a movie, Russel told her he had a surprise for her and said something along the lines of “I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to ask you to marry me, but every moment that we have together is the perfect moment. What better time than when we’re putting their home together?” and she said yes!

Their wedding:

The venue was the beautiful Le San Michele in Buda, where Virginia Fleming and her husband live and open up to brides and grooms for their special day. Designed and built twenty years ago, this venue truly looks like it came from the French countryside. All the accents are blue and wrought iron. Michelle and Russel’s colors were regency purple, blue, green, and ivory, so this venue was perfect for them! We were only on site for about 4 hours, but we managed to squeeze out a lovely first look and some cute shots of the happy penguins. Michelle had both her father and brother walk her down the aisle, which I thought was really sweet. The ceremony was a mostly a traditional Christian ceremony but instead of a unity candle, they poured sand into a communal vase. They wrote their own vows, which I loved. The reception was lovely, with food catered by Me So Hungry, and Christina, the owner, did an amazing job decorating the buffet table! This was the toastiest wedding I’ve shot so far, and it was clear how awesomely loved these two are. Then there was dancing, including hula hoop dancing (!!!), the DJ and friend, Ryan, sang an impromptu song for the happy couple, and both the garter and bouquet were caught by siblings, children no less. They left in a flourish of hand-made streamers…but not before giving us their own unique gift 🙂 Michelle said that it was the perfect day, and if she had to do it all over again, she would do it exactly the same way! That is simply lovely. Congratulations, Michelle and Russel!