Real Wedding | Morgan + Chris | September 27, 2020
One year ago we celebrated Chris and Morgan’s spectacular day at The Laurel. A celebration filled with pretty pastels, the sweetest first looks, and plenty of love to go around, we will forever be honored to host couples like this one!
For their first anniversary, we were able to hear from Morgan and Chris about their love story and their favorite parts of wedding day. Cheers!
From Morgan and Chris:
Chris and I met during our first year at The University of Houston College of Optometry in 2015. Chris was a third year student and we met during a welcome event prior to school starting. It wasn't until the spring of my first year of school that we began to get to know each other better, and eventually Chris asked me out! We dated throughout the rest of school, getting to know each other and traveling to visit one another during a 2 year period of long distance while we completed our clinical rotations. After that, we were finally able to move to Dallas to start our careers.
Then, on February 12th 2019, CHRIS POPPED THE QUESTION! He proposed at my parents house, where he set up pictures of us throughout the years and walked me through our memories together. He then had set up a surprise party with friends and family to celebrate our engagement! Then COVID came around and caused us to postpone our original May wedding to September in order to keep our guests safe, which led to our eventual wedding date of September 27, 2020.
We wanted our wedding to have a classic, relaxed feeling with neutral florals and pops of peach, pink, and blue as accents. We wanted everyone to feel like they were walking into a beautiful space that was open and inviting without feeling too stiff and rigid.
The Laurel had everything we wanted in a venue and we were so lucky to find it! The Laurel has a beautiful chapel with wooden beams and pews which were a must when we were searching for a venue. The other key detail we were looking for was a mixture of indoor and outdoor functional space for our guests to be able to mingle throughout the reception. It was a bonus that The Laurel provides a day of coordinator to help throughout the planning process and to make sure everything runs smoothly on the wedding day. Not having to worry about a single thing and just enjoy the day was something I am so thankful for! Carly was the best! With our postponement we actually ended up working with both Julianne and Carly throughout the process, and they both went above and beyond to make sure everything ran smoothly.
It was such a fun day getting to have all my bridesmaids get ready together while laughing, reminiscing and drinking mimosas. Chris and his groomsmen were able to enjoy the groom’s suite and watch football (perks of a Sunday wedding in the fall!) Once we were both dressed and ready, we had a first look in the chapel where we were able to have a moment to ourselves and read the handwritten notes that we had written to each other on our wedding day. This moment was really special to us and it really made it feel like we were actually getting married that day! Then my dad got to come in and see my dress for the first time and watching his reaction was everything that a girl hopes for.
Chris: My favorite moment was the first look because that’s when it felt the most real that I really get to marry this amazing woman, and then the next one was the private dance at the end of the reception with just us because we didn’t have to worry about the logistics of everything and could just enjoy being with each other.
Morgan: My two favorite moments were our private last dance to just soak up the last few moments of our perfect day and just getting to see all our favorite people all in one room. It is truly an unforgettable experience thanking our guests and looking around the room, seeing the family and friends that have grown us into the people we are today. Especially since we had all been through quarantine and we had not seen some of them for a long time!
For the reception, we put together a seating chart using pictures of each guest and either the bride or the groom with their name and table number attached to it. This was more of a feat than we initially anticipated because we did not have a picture with about 20-25 our guests, so we had to stalk a few people on Facebook to find a picture of them to print. It turned out beautiful, though, and our guests love their take-home picture.
We would describe our wedding day as full of love, full of laughter, and one of the best nights of our lives.
I know everyone says this… but have fun with the wedding planning as much as you can! Utilize the resources from your wedding coordinator with finding vendors and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it! Wedding planning is stressful, but it is much easier with the help from your spouse (whether that is moral support and listening when you need to vent or being in a more hands on role with choosing vendors and more specific wedding details). Lastly, if one thing doesn’t go perfectly NO ONE WILL NOTICE and you will still have the best night of your lives.
Morgan and Chris, we are so thankful we were able to play a part in your perfect day. We wish you all the best in years to come!
Vendor Team:
