It’s ironic that Katie Beal met Tyler Brown at a Dallas drinkery dubbed The Home Bar: the two are quite the daring duo. “I think we both have a sense of adventure,” says Katie. The adventure of a lifetime began that evening when they instantly hit it off while students at Southern Methodist University (she was majoring in markets and culture; he in finance and anthropology). “We ended up talking the entire night, and after that, we were pretty much inseparable,” she says.
Five years later, Tyler surprised Katie with an appropriately adventurous neighborhood scavenger hunt proposal – beginning with a clue hidden in a shrub — that led to the Idle Rich Pub, where he had first confessed his love for her (family and friends were waiting to celebrate).
When saying “I Do,” the two stayed close to home — they chose Katie’s Midland, Texas, hometown, and the same church and reception spot where her parents wed. Katie wasn’t overly concerned with color details or decor. “We really just wanted it to be a fun party for everyone,” she says.
With help from planning company DFW Events, fun took the form of a May 4, 2013 wedding with nods to Cinco de Mayo like a mariachi band, blood-orange margaritas, Mexican floral wreaths, sombreros, bright flowers by Flowerland, a Mexican-themed photo booth, and a confetti sendoff. Cakes by Leslie Rabenaldt included a fun-fetti filled wedding cake and a near-exact replica of Houston’s Astrodome for Bellaire, Texas-born Tyler. A highlight of the evening? An ice-cream truck and live artist Susan Moss Cooper, who painted the reception as it took place.
But there were special sentiments, too. An heirloom diamond heart necklace had been reproduced as special-occasion gifts for women in Katie’s family – and all had been given away. But “the night of the rehearsal dinner, my grandfather gave me the original heart that my great grandfather gave my great grandmother,” Katie says.
She donned it with her Kenneth Pool gown, along with a garter made with lace from her grandmother’s dress, and she received her great grandmother’s wedding band from Tyler.
Post ceremony was a large party that led to hours of dancing and celebrating. But still, Katie says, the most memorable moment was saying their vows. “That was our moment together that night,” Katie says. “We both reacted so differently to it. Tyler was crying and I couldn’t stop laughing.”
When the fiesta finished, the two honeymooned in Paris and Rome before packing their bags to set off on their next big adventure – a new life in the bright lights of New York City. Bon voyage!
Make sure and click over to our FACEBOOK page to see even more great photos from Katie and Tyler’s Wedding!
