Maria and Mark got engaged and immediately began planning their special day and settled on a Texas Twisted Ranch wedding. The New York couple realized they didn’t have to travel too far for the perfect destination wedding. Maria says they chose this destination because it was a “more central location for all families and a chance to give our families a unique wedding theme, which in our case was an outdoorsy country wedding.”

After choosing Twisted Ranch as the place to host their destination wedding, it was time to tell their friends and family the news. Maria reports that her guests “met our decision with a lot of excitement, which seemed to elevate expectations of the food and attire.” She then admits, “some were worried about the hotter weather and isolated ranch area, but we ensured them we wanted to provide a more unique experience and if guests got too hot, there is an indoor area. For those that just can’t be pleased, you don’t want to feed their negative energy.”

With the help of Eureka Photography and Gala Girl, the couple was able to create a timeline for the wedding about month prior to the special day. The couple says, “This helped us contact vendors about specific timing, which really helped everyone be accountable for this coordinated effort. We did provide the timeline to our guests and wedding party in a nice little infographic, which helped prep them on what to expect.” Maria adds that Google Sheets and staying organized in a notebook was helpful as it “helped us reinforce our memory on what we experienced, plus made us look very organized when speaking to vendors, which gave confidence to our vendors that we knew what we were doing, even if we didn’t.”

The couple even had time to make do-it-yourself welcome bags and hangover kits. Maria says, “the hangover kits were a preemptive measure, but they were fun to make since we expected our guests to drink.

Overall, Maria says planning is a breeze with the right vendors and it adds to the overall experience for a destination wedding. Maria goes on to say “choosing a destination helps hone-in on the theme and area you’ll have at the wedding. This also provides your guests (and yourselves) a chance to share in a more unique experience. “

Maria has lots of great tips for anyone planning a destination wedding:

• Make sure you keep in periodic contact with your vendors to keep the dialogue fresh. Try to make decisions for your guests, rather than leaving it open ended, such as blocking a hotel, creating a guest itinerary on your wedding website and sharing contact numbers/emails.

• Lastly, we suggest coming in a week before the wedding and spread out meetings with vendors to get everyone on board. Even better, if you have a day-of coordinator, plan a meeting in advance with all vendors together. It’s a monumental task to organize an event and there will be some unexpected issues that will come up, but if you have a solid foundation and an organized event, you’ll have confidence on how to address them.

Vendors: Wedding Location: Twisted Ranch Weddings, Photographer: Eureka Photography, Ceremony/Reception Site: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Florist: Cheri Grant, Stationery: Basic Invite, Fedex, Cake: Austin Cakeball, Hair & Makeup: Adore Makeup Boutique, Groom’s Clothing Designer: TheBlackTux, Bridesmaids/Groomsmen’s Clothing Designer: TheBlackTux, Other Vendors: Say Cheese Photography, ExecuTesla, Uptown Valet, Austin Charter