Meet Ashley and Ryan…

How adorable are they?! We are honored to share their special day here on The Little Canopy! Ashley, the bride, told us their story and it just swept us off our feet. Take it away, Ashley!

Ryan proposed mid-January and we knew from the start we wanted a short engagement. We started looking at venues, picking out the bridal party, contacting the vendors,… and we quickly realized it was going to be a daunting and expensive task.

Neither of us liked the idea of spending a lot of money on our wedding, while also exhausting us in the process. Ryan is also not the biggest fan of weddings. We decided (pretty easily) that a traditional wedding just wasn’t for us. Fortunately, we had already met Hannah, our awesome photographer, and taken some engagement photos. We decided to simply just get married in the park with only our immediate family.

We were married in Breckenridge Park in Richardson, Texas, a location that Hannah found herself. We sent her some pictures of what we liked, and she said, “I know the perfect spot!” We trusted her so much, we never visited the location before the wedding itself.

Ryan knew he wanted to be non-traditional in his attire, so he decided to wear jeans with a vest. He did invest in a nice pair of jeans from Nordstroms, as well as a nice vest and new white shirt. I was happy to let him wear whatever he wanted, and he loved his look.

The flowers were put together by an awesome florist at Whole Foods in Addison. We simply told them to throw something together for the bride and the maid of honor, and be as creative as you’d like. Way to go, Rodney! They were so beautiful, smelled perfect, and looked amazing.

My brother-in-law officiated the ceremony, which was another amazing part of our wedding. Michael wrote a great speech and was able to speak into what he had witnessed in our relationship. Our family came around us at the end and laid hands on us, and prayed for our new marriage. It was the perfect, small, intimate wedding we had pictured for ourselves.

My advice to brides is that all weddings are beautiful, but don’t let the world tell you what kind of wedding to have. If you want 500 people at your wedding, do it. If you want 5 people at your wedding, do it. I can tell you that my stress went down, and my joy went up when we decided to cut the guest list and focus on our families. You can be more creative when you have an intimate wedding. The “traditional” goes out the window, and you will be able to create something completely unique for you and your groom. I did not get “wedding-ed,” I got married to the man of my dreams, and it is so much more important that we focus on what our marriage looks like, over what our wedding looks like. Your wedding day will come and go, and you will hardly remember it. Take the time to focus on the months and years that lie ahead, and let that be your focus.

Ryan and I are both committed Christians, and we wanted our wedding and marriage to reflect Christ. We wanted our ceremony and the cost of our wedding to also reflect Christ, in that we are good stewards with the money He has given to us, and that our ceremony was constantly pointing to Him.

We love that Ashley + Ryan took the route that was right for them! It’s so refreshing to hear a story that encourages us to remember that the wedding is just one day, but the love you share in marriage is a lifetime. Congratulations, Ashley and Ryan!

Thank you for sharing with us!

Photography Cottonwood Road Photography / Venue Breckenridge Park, Richardson TX / Dress Watters / Flowers Whole Foods

Meet Julia and Blake! This cute couple kept it simple and classy by taking their vows to court. Their sweet story reminds us that all you need is one thing to be happily married – and that’s love.

:: Engagement Story ::

‘Blake took me to a steak house for dinner and gave me the impression that he was taking me out to dinner for Christmas. We had our meal and Blake ordered the largest cut of steak I had ever seen!! He ate the whole thing without saying a single word to me and I thought something was up, he appeared nervous! Then it was time for dessert and the server brought out a bundle of balloons that said something, but because they were placed on the table I couldn’t see what they said and thought it had been placed on the wrong table and it was for someone’s birthday!! I noticed everyone was looking at me and finally the waiter moved the balloons to the floor and I saw that they said “will you marry me?” Of course as soon as I figured out what was going on I started crying and said yes!! It turns out Blake’s mom and sister went to the steak house earlier that day to drop off my ring and the balloons. Looking back now I realize just how sweet the whole thing was.’

Dress: H& M  // Shoes: Steve Madden

Groom’s shirt and tie: JCPenny // Jeans: Levi’s

Location: Smith Center, Las Vegas

Photographers: Jazz & Caramia Caballero of JOA Photography