Kamren & Mike | Botanical Garden & Juliet Wedding

As the wedding day crept closer, the rain that had been teasing Austin all week finally focused its energy to drop a torrential downpour right when Kamren and Mike were planning to say their vows amidst the roses at Zilker Botanical Gardens. They switched to a covered pavilion at first; then, realizing it would be worse than expected, chose the only enclosed building, the Garden Center. By the time I arrived, rivulets of water sluiced down my windshield; the normally bustling park only had the cars for the wedding party in its lot.

But no matter. This was perfect: we had the entire gardens to ourselves. After a quick, beautiful ceremony (officiated by Spike), the rain quieted down a little bit. The couple’s family moved ahead to Juliet Ristorante and Kamren sacrificed the hem of her coral wedding dress for photos. All of Austin was quiet; the pedestrian bridge, which is normally full of joggers and dog-walkers, was ours for the taking. And Juliet — a space I’d been wanting to take photos inside for ages (look at that décor!) — was open to our discretion.

These two came all the way from LA to get married; their families are from New York, they’d always wanted to visit Austin, so they chose Austin as a destination spot. Luckily, the rest of the weather was beautiful for their trip, and I think we made a once-in-a-lifetime set of photos for their wedding pictures.