Styled Bridal Session at La Estancia Bella, Part 1.

I got the opportunity to work with some of Austin's best wedding vendors a few weeks ago and photograph this gorgeous bridal session. The new venue La Estancia Bella is such a pretty wedding location, I can't wait to see all of the lovely weddings that will happen there in the future! 

To chat about booking your wedding, pretty please fill out this short form. I'd love to hear from you, even if you're not in Austin! You all know I love to travel. ;) 

Also, in case you missed it, I posted a getting ready video from this shoot here. I always love watching the hair and makeup team work their magic. These girls didn't need much help though...

Venue /// La Estancia Bella
Gowns /// Signature Bridal
Flowers /// Texas Hill Country Events
Hair /// Tarra's Hairstyles
Makeup /// Yona Shaw

♡ MALLORIE

DIY Summer Wedding.

I got two gorgeous brides-to-be, along with a makeup artist, and hair stylist to help me shoot this DIY summer wedding. It was so much fun putting together all the recipes and decorations! We really lucked out and got some of the most gorgeous weather you can ask for in Juneau, Alaska...and thank goodness because the garden pictures turned out to be my favorites. I hope you enjoy all the DIY ideas and recipes, I'd love to know if you use them for a wedding or any type of gathering!

DIY napkin/place settings ≫≫ Such a simple and inexpensive do-it-yourself project that would be fun and could be played up in any wedding colors/themes! All you need are white linen napkins (or color of your choice), kraft tags, twine, a white paint marker, and some flowers.

DIY drink/appetizer signs ≫≫ Cut out kraft paper (or paper of your choice) to fit your frame (use the insert to measure) and write your message with a white paint marker. Dave wrote these out for me since he has much nicer handwriting than I do and he added a few fun accents in the corners. We went with "Have a drink!" and "Grab a snack!" for ours, but you could write whatever you like!

We also added a few mirrors, I brought this long mirror for the center of the table, for the cake; and two octogon mirrors to dress up the drink table. If you buy them from JoAnn's, like I did, make sure to download their app for great coupons.

The beer cocktail, summer bruschetta, and lemon poppyseed cake were all homemade and I've included the recipes for you down below! Also, BIG thanks to Holly Wilson who did the lovely makeup and Jasmine Green who did the braid on Allison that I just can't get over. If you're in Juneau and need wedding hair/makeup, make sure to give them a call!

Lemon Poppyseed Cake ≫≫ recipe here. I did the normal recipe in a 12" cake pan, with a little bit of icing (recipe below) on top, and then did a double batch of the recipe in the cake pan and added that on top with more icing and lemon zest for decoration. You could always just do a triple batch right off the bat, but if you have time I recommend doing at least one layer with icing in between, it really makes the cake moist and delicious. Also, make sure to watch the cake, I baked mine for a little over twice the normal amount of time for the mini muffin recipe.

I can't lie, the cake with the icing recipe below turned out so fabulous. It looked pretty and tasted even better, I'm still digging into it (a little too much).

Vegan Lemon Buttercream Icing ≫≫
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/3 cup vegan cream (Blend 2/3 cup coconut milk with 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil. This will equal 1 cup of vegan cream.)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted vegan butter, soft, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons agave
In a medium heavy bottom saucepan, whisk the flour and sugar together. add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking regularly. cook until the mixture comes to a boil and is thickened, about 12 minutes.

Transfer the sugar mixture to a bowl and beat on high speed until cool, around 10 minutes. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and add the butter a little bit at a time. Keep mixing until the butter smoothes out. Then, increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Mix in the honey and vanilla. -- If you stop at this point, the icing is delicious and healthy, but more of a glaze, if you want it to thicken up and have the typical buttercream/wedding cake icing look, add powdered sugar until it reaches the consistency you want.

The bruschetta is really simple, just slice up a loaf of fresh french bread, smear goat cheese on top, add raspberries (sliced in half), and fresh oregano on top. Can be served fresh or baked in the oven at 350 for about 5-10 minutes.

Summer Brew Cocktail ≫≫
A few raspberries crushed in the glass
Splash or two of lemonade (I used homemade, but this brand is great, too)
1 pint of wheat beer (I used Hefewiezen)
--add in the order lested above for each glass. All of the girls that were there for the shoot taste tested this drink and loved it! It's light and festive, perfect for any summer get-together.

Whew! I know I just threw a billion pictures and recipes at you, but I hope you enjoyed them all! Let me know if you try any of the recipes this summer, and if you use them for a get together, make sure to tag me on Instagram, I'd love to see them in action! And if you're in the Juneau, Alaska area and are interested in booking a photo session and/or wedding, email me at info.mallorieowens@gmail.com or fill out this form.

Follow along ≫≫

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