Carmen and Bryce met as students at the University of Texas at Austin, stayed friends for nine years, and then didn’t waste much time once they started dating — engaged within the year. By the time they were planning their Hotel Ella wedding, Carmen had already spent time working alongside planner Emily Leach of Bird Dog Wedding, so bringing Emily on to plan their own day felt like a full-circle moment before it even began.

A Vision Borrowed From Slim Aarons and Herb Alpert

Their brief from the start was simple to say and much harder to pull off: fun, colorful, welcoming, sophisticated, and full of unexpected details. They pulled from Slim Aarons’s poolside Palm Springs photography and the energy of Herb Alpert’s most vibrant album covers — the kind of aesthetic that could read as costume if you got it wrong, but on Carmen and Bryce just felt like them.

Cocktails on Hotel Ella’s Porch

The ceremony took place at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, an 1884 landmark in downtown Austin, before the celebration moved to Hotel Ella for a reception that never let the energy dip. Guests spilled onto the hotel’s Greek Revival porch and front lawn for cocktail hour, sipping Paddington Palomas named for the couple’s dog and Cherry Limeades in a nod to a shared fast-food favorite, while a jazz trio played through the golden-hour light.

A Hotel Ella Wedding Reception Built for Dancing

Inside, custom patterns from Cheree Berry Paper & Design carried through the whole night — a ditsy floral on the stationery and a charm print, illustrated with details specific to Carmen and Bryce, blown up to cover the entire dance floor. Colorful arrangements throughout leaned into the same mid-century, Texas-by-way-of-Palm-Springs mood, and the nine-piece band Love & Happiness kept that dance floor full from the first song to the last, including a first dance set to Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

Why We Shot This Hotel Ella Wedding on Film

We shot the day almost entirely on film, with Super 8 video for a handful of moments — which Carmen put perfectly when she told us she wanted something that felt “vintage, timeless, and homemade.” For a wedding built around a mid-century mood from the ground up, there wasn’t really another way to tell it.

Weddings like this one are exactly why we love this work — not just the color and the detail, but spending a day with two people who know exactly who they are together. If you’re planning a wedding in Austin and want it documented with that same warmth and timelessness, we’d love to hear your story.

VENDORS

Photography: Ruét Photo @ruetphoto
Venue: Hotel Ella @hotelella
Planner & Designer: Bird Dog Wedding @birddogwedding
Cakes: Morgan Pearl Cakes @morganpearlbakery
Beauty: Makenzi Laine @makenzilaine
Florist: Clementine Botanical Art @clementine.botanical.art
Photo Booth: Oh Happy Day @ohhappydaybooth
Live Music: Moontower Entertainment
Rentals: Bee Lavish Vintage @beelavishvintage
Rentals: Marquee @marquee-rents
Lighting: Austin Event Lighting @austineventlighting
Draping: Premiere Events @premiereeventstx
Transportation: Around Austin

Planning a wedding in Austin or beyond? We’d love to document yours. Explore how we work and what to expect → Austin Film Wedding Photographers | Ruét Photo