Melissa & Dave: A Red and Orange Wedding in Dallas, TX

Melissa and Dave met as freshmen at Trinity University in San Antonio. “We actually lived in the same dorm and had a class together that year but didn’t become good friends until our junior year and only began dating seriously near the end of our senior year,” Melissa remembers. The couple moved to different cities after graduation but managed to keep things going long-distance until their eventual reunion. “Though we had been dating for almost six years, Dave’s proposal took me completely by surprise,” Melissa says. “It was pretty informal, which actually characterizes the nature of our relationship.” The Bride Melissa Nelson, 29, museum educator The Groom David (Dave) Gonzales, 30, physician The Date October 8 The planning began for Melissa and Dave with the invitations. “I love Japanese printed paper and, especially, anything that has a floral design,” Melissa says. The invites, with a cherry branch design done in pink, orange, gray, green, and gold, were perfect for the pair’s nontraditional plans. “Our main color scheme was bright red and orange,” the bride explains. “We really wanted guests to have a good time at the wedding and for the reception to be a fun, festive event.” A friend of the bride’s who is a graphic designer worked on the layout and style of the text to match the papers, and the perfect invite was born. Though the couple initially intended to plan the entire wedding themselves, they wound up bringing in an expert planner (and close friend) to help sort out the many details of the day.