1. Real Weddings

A Rustic, Vintage-Inspired Wedding at the Inn at Wild Rose Hall in Austin, Texas

Mindy Dyke (25 and a client-care specialist at an animal hospital) and Marcus Brix (25 and a research analyst at CattleFax) planned a romantic, vintag

Mindy Dyke (25 and a client-care specialist at an animal hospital) and Marcus Brix (25 and a research analyst at CattleFax) planned a romantic, vintage-inspired affair for their spring wedding in Austin, Texas. “Aesthetically, I wanted the day to have a romantic, boho feel to it,” Mindy says. “It ended up having more rustic and vintage touches than I had originally envisioned, but I think it all came together and represented us very well.” 

The pair, high school sweethearts, chose a palette of teal, mint and gray and created many DIY touches, including the stationery, to add a personal note to the day. The Inn at Wild Rose Hall provided the perfect backdrop for the wedding, with its beautiful natural setting and quirky details that gave the venue lots of character. The day started with a ceremony in the Wild Rose Hall gardens, where Mindy and Marcus exchanged vows under a canopy of lush shade trees. The couple’s officiant wore a GoPro camera during the proceedings, capturing every moment of the intimate affair. 

The reception took place under an open-air tent which provided guests with beautiful views. Mint tablecloths injected the decor with an element of playfulness, while arrangements of garden roses, dahlias, succulents and eucalyptus displayed in antique vases—all of which Mindy and her matron of honor designed themselves—brought old-world elegance to the tablescapes. Twinkling lights strung across the tent’s wooden beams infused the indoor-outdoor space with warmth and ambiance, while details like tree-slice centerpiece pedestals drove the rustic motif home. Smokey Mo’s barbecue was served for dinner, much to the guests’ delight, and Mindy and Marcus sent them home with make-your-own bags of assorted sweets from their candy bar. 

“It’s so important to be madly in love with the person you come home to every day," says Mindy. "We’re lucky that after nine years together we’re crazier about each other than we were as teens. We make sure to enjoy life at every opportunity, and we tell lots of lame jokes.” —Libby MacCarthy

Marcus took Mindy and their two dogs on a hike up Lair o’ the Bear in their new home of Denver, Colorado. Once they had almost reached the summit, they paused to give the dogs a break. As Mindy began taking pictures of their pups, Marcus knelt down on one knee, saying he’d hurt his ankle and couldn’t go on. “I turned around to ask if he really couldn't get back to the car, and he pulled out a box and said, ‘I can't go on without you in my life.’ It took me a few seconds to grasp what was going on, and then I just stared at him,” Mindy says. “He looked at me, waiting for a response, but all I said was ‘Do you have a question to ask me?’ Then we laughed, and he asked me to marry him.” Marcus gave her with a diamond solitaire engagement ring with a diamond band, the center stone of which had belonged to his grandmother.
Mindy’s bridesmaids wore chiffon dresses in a mix of gray, mint and teal hues from Target. She let each woman choose her own dress style, which was then paired with jewelry and sandals that matched Mindy’s. The groomsmen wore classic gray J.Crew pants, white dress shirts with mismatched suspenders and brown dress shoes.
Mindy and Marcus exchanged vows under a wrought iron wedding arch draped in vines, greenery and soft pink and white blooms. The aisles were lined with with cedar and topped with mason jars of flowers and eucalyptus.
Marcus and Mindy included their dogs, Stubbs and Riley, in their ceremony by having them walk down the aisle with their flower girl. Stubbs was decked out in a bow tie made by Mindy’s matron of honor; Riley sported a floral wreath, made by Mindy, with fresh greenery, spider mums and bright pink carnations.
Mindy and Marcus wrote their own vows for the ceremony, and the Piano Guys and Vitamin String Quartet provided the sound track with instrumental covers of some of the couple’s favorite songs.
The reception took place under an open-air tent. Mint tablecloths brought playfulness and whimsy to the reception decor, while suspended vintage mirrors and a antique vases delivered charming, old-world flair.
Mindy and her matron of honor designed all the wedding’s flower arrangements, ordering the blooms from FiftyFlowers.com. “My favorite flower is the king protea, so that was the focus,” Mindy says. “Along with proteas, we had succulents, pink cabbage roses, white dahlia-style cremons and silver dollar eucalyptus.” The flowers were artfully arranged in vintage, tarnished silver vases and a variety of glass vessels atop tree-trunk slices and alongside petite potted succulents.
After a delicious barbecue dinner catered by Smokey Mo’s, Mindy and Marcus treated guests to a slice of cake. The pair went classic with the confection: vanilla, decorated with textured layers of buttercream.
Mindy’s mother put together a knockout candy bar for guests to nibble on all night, filling glass apothecary jars with some of the couple’s favorite sweet treats. “Marcus is a big candy lover, so this was a must-have,” Mindy says. “We had a bunch of leftover candy and took a lot on our 10-day honeymoon to Alaska.”
At the end of the night, Mindy and Marcus's family members and friends sent them off in a blaze of sparklers.