After five years together, Sadie and Jonathon didn’t see the point in having a long drawn-out engagement or a huge wedding. Instead, the couple just wanted to celebrate the continuation of their journey in life together with those they loved the most and in the way suited them best – with a non-traditional and meaningful outdoor wedding ceremony and a pizza party!

Special thanks to Keely & Aaron for capturing this sweet Texas wedding and sharing it with us today.

Rustic Texas Wedding

Sadie, 22 & Jonathon, 28

Clyde, TX

Wedding Date: May 5, 2015

Number of Guests: 35ish

Wedding Cost: $4,651.00 (this does not include rings)

Wedding Ceremony Location: The Grove At Denton Valley

Wedding Reception Location: The Grove At Denton Valley

wedding rings on wood

white, red, and green wedding bouquet

bulb lights strung up in trees

groom portrait

bride portrait

bride and groom portrait

bride and groom walking away

Why did you have an intimate wedding?

I’ve gone to weddings and seen huge amounts of people, and the bride and groom looking stressed trying to see everyone. Seeing just how chaotic the day can really be, I knew that, for Jon and I, we wanted it to be the most stress-free day possible. We had originally started planning a huge wedding with a year long engagement, and I just thought “why?”. We’ve been together for five years and it just seemed silly to drag it all out for a whole year, so we had a short engagement instead and a small five hour wedding day with no bridal party. I wanted the day to be about us and I didn’t want to have to stress and make sure everyone else was on time and doing what they were supposed to be doing.

wedding dress hanging in trees
wine colored wedding shoes
groom getting ready

What are some of the challenges that you faced planning an intimate wedding?

We actually didn’t have much trouble as far as planning our wedding. I’m HUGE on decorating and planning events, and I’m super frugal as well, so with our budget I got to think outside of the box, which was even more fun for me as I love a challenge. I had lots of help from friends and my mom and sister, and as far as ideas and opinions go, our wedding coordinator – whom I also rented a lot of our decor from – was tons of help as well.

groom waiting to see his bride

bride walking up behind groom

bride and groom first look

bride and groom first look

Was it difficult to pare down the guest list?

It really wasn’t for us. We had our wedding on a Tuesday because I really loved that the date was all fives and felt it was unique and something to remember. Being on a Tuesday we had a lot of guests who were not able to attend, and to keep it an intimate event, we asked that it be an adult only kind of day, so we had some not attend because of that factor as well.

bride and groom portrait

groom embracing bride from behind

bride and groom staring into each other's eyes

bride and groom walking across field at sunset

bride and groom portrait at sunset

groom kissing bride's head

bride and groom portrait on dirt road

bride and groom portrait at sunset

bride and groom walking down dirt road

Did you have any ‘issues’ with the small guest list from friends and family? If so, how did you address them?

We did and we just explained that this is what we really wanted and it was what we were going to do. In the end everyone loved our day and thought it was perfect.

chalkboard wedding sign

outdoor wedding altar

groom waiting at the altar

bride walking down the aisle

groom watching his bride walk down the aisle

What were the highlights of the ceremony?

We were so worried that it was going to rain the whole day and when I finally walked up to face my husband, a huge rain drop hit the top of my glasses and slowly ran down as myself and Jon watched it go and tried not to giggle uncontrollably. It was something I will never forget and it eased our nerves. I spent weeks writing out our ceremony as I wanted it to be as non-traditional as possible, but still be romantic and meaningful. One thing I wanted to emphasize was that this was not a new start or new journey for us, but rather just another step in our journey together, and that we were there so that our loved ones could witness our love and our commitment to each other. We also used a “these are the hands” poem and it really just moved me to stand there with my husband holding my hands and smiling down at me and squeezing my hands as the poem was read. I’ll never forget the feeling of standing up there with him while our justice of the peace spoke; it really did feel like we were the only two people there and nothing else mattered.

rustic outdoor Texas wedding ceremony

rustic outdoor Texas wedding ceremony

groom putting ring on bride's finger

bride and groom first kiss

bride and groom walking down the aisle

What were the highlights of the reception?

We did a pizza buffet and we were a tad worried it wouldn’t go off like we wanted, but to see that it had been all laid out perfectly made for such an awesome reception! I think cutting into our cake was our second favorite highlight of the reception; it was so, so delicious and feeding it to each other was just so fun.

wedding reception venue

chalkboard wedding sign

wedding reception set-up

white and red wedding centerpiece

bride and groom chair signs

personalized wedding napkins

wedding favors in chevron bags

chalkboard wedding menu

chocolate naked wedding cake

What was the best thing about having an intimate wedding?

I would have to say the atmosphere; it was such a calm wedding and it flew by much faster than I wanted, but during the wedding, there was no stress, no “it’s time to throw your bouquet” or “do this” or “do that”. We just got to hang out with family and friends, eat good food, and enjoy our day. I felt like we were actually present in our day and because there were not many people there, we really got to feel the love from each and every person. And hearing everyone call me Mrs. Prestridge was just such a joy that I felt all giggly and free, and so, so happy the whole entire time.

bride and groom kissing at reception

bride and groom cutting cake

sparkler wedding exit

sparkler wedding send-off

What advice do you have for couples who are considering an intimate wedding?

I would say do what you want to do regardless of what others would like. If you want pizza, have pizza; or burgers or whatever you want! The most important things are the two items you take away from your wedding which are your husband and your photos, so don’t sweat the small stuff.

bride and groom portrait with sparklers

Vendors:

Venue: The Grove at Denton Valley 

Photographer and Cinematography: Keely & Aaron

Makeup: By Jonathon Mendoza at TG & Company

Hair: By Carlos at TG & Company

Food: Papa Johns

Cake: The Flour Shop Bakery

Bouquet: Baacks

Bride’s Shoes: Michael Kors

Bride’s Dress: Asos

Linens and Centerpieces: A Sense Of Bride

Cake Topper: My brother in law Jason Cobb made it with his 3d printer.