Race & Religious Wedding | Justine + John

Wedding Planner: Mise En Place Events  |  Ceremony + Reception: Race & Religious |  Videographer: Wildfire Cinematography   |  Florist: Petals + Stems |  Cake: Royal Cakery |  DJ: Aaron Lane |  Ceremony music: Harry Hardin | Second Line Band: Kinfolk Brass Band | Caterer: Brack May | Taco truck: La Cocinita | Calligraphy: Emily A Howell  | Coffee: Smoke Eaters | Decor: Event Rentals | Live painter: Taylor Anne

Describe your wedding in three words
Magical, heartwarming, truly the best night of my life!

Wedding color palette
Mauve purple with lots of greenery

How did you and John meet?
We met during our first year teaching at Pinkston High School in Dallas, TX. We both taught tenth grade and quickly bonded over stories of our students. At the end of every day, I would race my student’s out of the classroom to reminisce with John about the meltdowns, the stray dogs, or the magical moments when the lesson worked. Coworkers quickly turned into a strong friendship that led to the partners we are today.

How did he propose?
On a casual Tuesday evening, after a dinner in Dallas, I came home to settle in with my book unaware of John’s plans. Secretly, John snuck into the backyard to transform their garage into a winter wonderland, complete with Santa himself, recreating my favorite holiday. When I went outside I quickly noticed the “snow” covered yard and knew something was up. John and our dog Cirxus (seriously our dog even knelt next to John) both proposed to Justine asking to make their partnership last a lifetime.

Most memorable moments from your wedding day
Too hard to pick just a few, but these are the big ones! Getting ready at the magical R&R and just hanging with our closest friends, we had so much telling each other about our getting ready experiences the next day. Waiting to walk down the isle. The most excited nervous I have ever been, I counted sheep to stop from crying! Sharing our vows and love for each other in front of all our friends – seriously my heart was glowing with love for John. The pure fun of the second line and getting to surprise our guests. Sneaking upstairs right after our ceremony to share our first few moments as husband and wife together- just us and take a deep breath together, we did it!! Dancing the night away with our friends, there was so much dancing and I loved it. Mostly though starting our first hours as husband and wife surrounded by all the people who mean most to us.

Where did guests travel from to attend your special day?
East Cost, West Coast, Texas, and United Kingdom

Cake flavors
Three layers of yellow cake white chocolate icing. Two of the layers had lemon curd filling and one layer had fresh strawberries. We also served beignets and mixed berry hand pies.

First dance song
“You Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman