Our Wedding

I’m not exactly sure how to describe the best day of my life but I’ll do my best. I really can’t express how special the entire weekend was but here goes nothin’…

Welcome Show

We kicked off our wedding weekend with a live show at The Townsend. The South Congress listening room was completely packed with friends, family, fans, and ALL the love. It was such an incredible, electric night that I will never ever forget. We played with our band and invited friends and family up to share the stage and their songs. The amount of love within our music community in Austin absolutely blows my mind, and it was so wonderful being able to show our out-of-town people a small taste of what our life in Austin is really like.

The Wedding

We got married at Mercury Hall, a venue right in the heart of South Austin. It was a crisp, but Sunny day in January (the Texas weather gods blessed us). We had a small wedding of about 75 people. It was very important to both of us that we were very close with every single person in attendance. We wanted to show each guest our love by writing everyone a personal, hand written note (took forever but was so worth it). We placed the love notes on everyone’s dinner plates so they got a fun little surprise when they found their seats for the reception. And we also each wrote a surprise note for the other which we got to read when we sat down to dinner.

Of course the music was also very important to us. We knew we wanted to incorporate some fun musical elements and invite friends to play, but we didn’t want any of our friends to feel like they were working. We knew we wanted a mixture of live & recorded music so we settled on a really fun musical mixture…

Ceremony:

We opted for recorded music for the ceremony (ironic for a wedding singer, I know). We curated a playlist of prelude music with a selection of our favorite jazz ballads. Jordan, our close family, and bridal party all walked out to a version of Shenandoah by Jordan’s favorite guitarist, Bill Frisell, and for my entrance, I walked to Alpenglow by S-Carey - a very special song for us. I literally still can’t listen to it without crying. Finally, for our processional we danced out to Never Too Much by Luther Vandross.

Cocktail Hour:

Following the ceremony under the oaks, we had a full on jazz jam during cocktail hour. Any friend that wanted sat-in and played a song or two. And of course we played a few songs together too. I don’t think anything has brought me more happiness than getting to sing with my husband right after getting married!

Dinner & Special Performances:

As guests walked in to dinner, we had very special dinner playlist going with a collection of our favorite songs from lots of different genres and decades. It felt like we had made a mixtape for everyone to enjoy while they ate some delicious Texas BBQ. We had our first dance to Something to Look Forward To by Ari Hest and it was truly such a special moment. During toasts, we had each planned a special performance. We both knew this was happening but had NO idea what the other was going to do. Actually - Jordan did give me a hint in the very last sentence of his vows and I immediately knew in that moment. But before that, I had literally no clue what he was going to play.

I went first and performed an original song I had written for him for that moment called You Can’t Take it Back (lol). I actually never planned to write a song or sing at my own wedding, but it just happened and we went for it. Next, it was Jordan’s turn. He played one of my all time favorite songs, Little Girl by Nat King Cole as a duo with his dad. Oh - his did is also an incredible guitarist and taught him everything he knows. It was so so special and one of my favorite moments of the whole day!

Dancing:

We ended the reception with a good friend spinning vinyl records for dancing. We specifically told him we wanted deep cuts only and didn’t want to recognize a single song he played. And honestly, it was FIRE.

Now, I can truly understand all the excitement, nerves, anticipation, stress, and pure joy that my couples go through now leading up to their wedding day. It was the most amazing experience and I will be dreaming about this day for the rest of our lives.

Highlights: Surprise performances, jazz jam cocktail hour, handwritten notes for each guest, and marrying my man!!