Catherine and Patricio's Elopement at the Empress Hotel

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Catherine and Patricio's intimate elopement at The Fairmont Empress is one for the books. The couple chose a quiet elopement in lieu of a traditional wedding including the upwards-of-four-hundred immmediate family members. This way, they could celebrate in a way that felt most natural to them and also get the look and vibe that they wanted. French Kiss Events helped the couple achieve their vision and-WOW-is it STUNNING. Overflowing, romantic florals everywhere by Verbena Floral Design, blush watercolor nd calligraphy stationery by Caribou Creative and, of course, the striking historic Empress Library location. It's all just so beautiful and we're thrilled to share all the details and moments as captured by Taylor Roades Photography.

What made the wedding special and unique?

Our wedding was special in that it was so intimate and unique to us. We both come from incredibly large families that we are very close to. We knew that to include all of them would easily put our event at over 400 guests, and that just did not feel like it fit the two of us. Patricio and I are both somewhat quiet and reserved and do not love being the center of attention. Also, I've been a wedding blog follower and enthusiast for so long, I knew exactly the vibe and look I wanted to achieve. In order to maintain that feel and do it well, our best option was to keep it small and romantic. We only included our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews for a total of thirteen attending. Barb was able to knock my vision out of the park just via a few phone calls, emails, and a shared Pinterest board. It was as seamless and simple as I could imagine wedding planning being.

Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!

A few years ago, one of my sweet fellow teacher friends left her job at our school to pursue her dream of owning a bridal boutique. I admired her drive so much that I knew I'd buy my dress from her when the time came! It is called Blue Bridal Boutique on the well-known South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. The dress I chose was romantic, delicate lace that I thought was so sweet, but on top of that, it was so comfortable! I felt like I was wearing a nightgown.

What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?

Patricio and I are both Hispanic. His family actually being from Mexico, we included a bilingual book of love poems by Pablo Neruda at the table as our wedding favors. My dad and I are both music lovers, so he had a blast choosing the jazz trio and per his request, they learned a song called "Lucky" by Austin artist, Kat Edmonson, for our father/daughter dance. That dance was a very precious memory. My mom is a librarian, so having our wedding in the beautiful Empress library was a kind of nod to her. My mother-in-law gave me a gorgeous fur cape to wear while we were taking pictures outside because it was a little chilly for us Texans! I wore a diamond cross pin on my dress that has been worn by brides in my family for five generations, all the way back to Ireland. That gave me the feeling of having all the family with me.

What was the most memorable part of the day?

Every detail about the night was memorable. Nothing felt rushed, stressful or forced. The flowers were BREATHTAKING. I loved walking across the street after the ceremony to take some photos in front of the Harbor. The food was amazing - I'm going to try to replicate the salmon and gnocchi dish for our anniversary! After dinner, we sat on the lounge furniture with our nieces and nephews, and impromptu read a couple books with them that we had put in their little goodie bags, which I know we would not have been able to do during a larger wedding. We, of course, are so excited as we continue the celebrations back in Texas with the rest of our friends and family, but the most special thing to us was bringing just our two immediate families together for a special trip to get to know each other better and witness our marriage, and that's exactly what we did!