Real Wedding | Kim + Zach | April 1, 2023
Kim and Zach were wed on a fine Spring day at the Cliff House! Their wedding featured gorgeous florals and many special touches from the bride and groom. We couldn’t wait to share it with y’all, enjoy!
Kim on Meeting Zach:
Zach and I met on Tinder in Houston, Spring 2014, the modern-day love story of course. After 8 years of us chasing jobs, countless moves, exploring America, crafting cocktails, and finally settling down together in Dallas (a city I vowed to never live in) in 2019, we got engaged February 2022 at the Arboretum – a favorite spot of ours.
It was such an easy morning. The weather had been crummy the week before and we ended up with the perfect 74 degree, sunny day. I’ll never forget walking into The Cliff House and seeing everyone working to make our dreams come true!
What did you want the theme of your wedding to be?
We love mid-century modern and being April 1, we knew we wanted simple and modern, meets Hello, Spring!
Are there any vendors you felt were instrumental in making your day special?
To Madison (Boxwood Hospitality), Taylor (Taylor Bryan Photography), Adante (LeForce Entertainment), and Maegen (Something Pretty Floral), thank you, thank you, thank you! You four humans made our day so seamless and memorable for both us and our guests.
Every time someone ask me about my favorite sentimental memory from the day, it’s easily our first look and the moments we shared together before the ceremony started. Zach and I chose to take photos after our first look with some of our closest friends (instead of having a wedding party) and afterwards snuck away to share cocktails together at Tiny Victories with our photographer. It was the sweetest moment to reflect on how far we’ve come in 9-years and relax before everything really started. The photos at the Arcade, in front of The Cliff House, and at Tiny Victories during this time ended up being my favorite too!
We always knew that we wanted a smaller wedding with the people who made us, us, when it came to size and number of people (Step 1). As for location, our first home together in Dallas was in the Design District and we spent so much time walking to Oak Cliff/ Bishop Arts during the COVID-19 Pandemic repeatedly falling in love with the local culture, art, and shopping so we knew it’s where we wanted. When Zach found The Cliff House online, we knew it was a winner right away especially after interacting with the incredible staff at Boxwood Hospitality.
When it came to our individuality, we really tried to think, if we were hosting this at our house, what would we have? The answer was always – our closest friends/family, good food, good drinks, good music, COFFEE (shout out to Night Owl), and clean aesthetics. We also added one of our favorite cities to visit on the table numbers with a note about it on the back of the menu cards.
We LOVED the food and so did our guests! They still talk about it to this day. Although we didn’t get to enjoy the passed d’oeuvres and honeycomb station too much, it worked out because the queso, elotes, and fajitas were incredible, and I didn’t want to stop eating. Chef Justo was so accommodating for our vegetarians as well. We got to try a small piece and we nearly asked for the recipe.
Looking back, what words would you use to describe the day?
Timeless, clean, nostalgic!
Now as far as the most fun memory, two things always come to mind when I reflect on the day – the photo dash and the late-night pizza party with custom sunglasses! I saw the idea of the Photo Dash (the bride and groom have the length of one song to run to each table and snap a photo) on TikTok a month before the wedding and it was such a great opportunity to get a picture with every single guest, and when paired with the perfect hype song, set the mood of the party for the rest of the night. Secondly, we had sunglasses made with ‘The Armitsteads’ and ‘April Fools Day 2023’ that we passed around when Pizza arrived from Neony (delicious and local) later that night! The photos from the dance floor are INCREDIBLE. Our DJ was EVERYTHING!
Over the last few years our best friends have coined the phrase “I got Maysteaded” (a perfect combination of our last names, May and Armitstead) after coming over to our house to watch sports, celebrate life, grill out, enjoy the patio with fresh cocktails and so much more. It’s one of those phrases that you can’t understand from the outside looking in, but you can feel and explain it from the inside out. There is nothing better than celebrating those we love and was so fun to see all of our guest’s Instagram captions the next day with “We got Maysteaded”.
Do you have any advice for future couples?
Stick to your gut and don’t feel pressure to do things that traditionally are ‘expected’ out of you. Whether that is who to invite, what food to have, what on Earth to do with your last name – pick what you want!
Kim and Zach, thank you so much for sharing your wedding day with us at our little white chapel! We wish you nothing but the best in the years to come!
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Vendors:
Photographer – Taylor Bryan Photography
Florist – Something Pretty Floral
DJ – Andante Mayo with LeForce Entertainment
Sweets – A Little Something Cookies & Joy Macrons
Hair and Make-up – Stephanie Nelson Makeup and Hair
Catering – Boxwood Catering
Coffee – Nightowl Coffee
Day of Coordinator – Wandering Events
Dress and Alterations – A & Be Bridal Shop & Altered for the Altar
Rings – David Perry
