Real Weddings

Austin couple's chic Hill Country wedding is elegant end to long-distance love affair

Shortly after meeting on popular dating app Tinder in 2015, Austinites Karen Rockwood and Mitch Evans knew they’d found true love. “We went on a date and one week later we told each other, ‘I love you'. Within a couple of months we knew we were headed for marriage,” Rockwood says.

After only one year of dating, fate threw the couple for a long-distance loop when Evans was transferred from Austin to New Jersey for work. Despite the distance, the couple continued to date with Evans flying in on weekends to visit.

During one of his trips to Austin on December 1, 2016, Evans decided to plan a big surprise for Rockwood. After picking Evans up from the airport, the two headed to Rockwood’s home. But before entering the front door, Evans dropped down on one knee and proposed.

“That’s still my favorite porch. It’s the same house we live in now,” Rockwood notes. “After he proposed, we walked inside and all our friends and family were waiting. It was perfect.”

Engaged for one year, Rockwood and Evans were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church on October 28, 2017, in Fredericksburg, Texas, in front of 200 guests. After the nuptials, the entire wedding party walked five blocks to a reception at the National Museum of the Pacific War, popping champagne bottles along the way.

With help from wedding planner Sarah Avigne of Mrs. Planner, the outdoor event featured chic, modern decor with a palette of neutral colors. Simple yet elegant floral arrangements from Austin-based Posey Floral were made with greenery and eucalyptus, and white flower blossoms graced banquet style tables sourced from locally owned Panacea Collection.

Guests enjoyed a dinner buffet and cocktails before taking to the dance floor. Late-night snacks from Whataburger, including burgers and Taquitos, kept partygoers fueled as they danced the night away under twinkling lights strung high above.

Wedding planner:Sarah Avigne of Mrs. Planner
Ceremony venue:St. Mary's Catholic Church
Reception venue: National Museum of the Pacific War
Calligraphy and invitation design:Averi with an Eye
Florist:Posey Floral
Furniture rental: ThePanacea Collection
Groom's cake: Frances Money
Photography:McKenzie Baird

Rockwood and Evans were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church on October 28, 2017, in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Austin, Rockwood Evans wedding, February 2018

Photo by McKenzie Baird

Rockwood and Evans were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church on October 28, 2017, in Fredericksburg, Texas.

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Ain't Love Grand

45-year love story sparks spectacular sunset wedding on Lake Travis

Photo by Cory Ryan

Andry Starbird and Dennis Roth met in New York City more than 40 years ago.

Andy Starbird and Dennis Roth’s romance began when they were living in New York City. A mutual friend invited each of them to a Labor Day party with the intention of setting them up. Neither one was particularly enthusiastic about attending the gathering, but both reluctantly went.

Starbird says, “I walked in the room, saw him, and thought to myself, 'I’m going to spend the rest of my life with this person.'”

They talked for hours into the early morning, and shortly after the party, they moved in together. The couple resided in New York City for about 35 years before deciding to retire in Austin.

“We considered ourselves married from about a year after we met,” says Roth. “But we always said we would do it if it was legally recognized.” When same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. in 2015, Starbird and Roth decided to wait a year to wed on their 45th anniversary.

Starbird and Roth were married on September 7, 2016, in an intimate ceremony with 50 guests at The Oasis on Lake Travis. Noting that a number of the guests (and even band members) got emotional, Starbird says, “I think it was just very nice for us to finally be recognized as a couple and no longer feel like we were less than first-class citizens.”

After the ceremony, guests enjoyed a cocktail hour while the couple took photos. Their photographer, Cory Ryan, suggested they take one of them kissing underneath the Oasis sign out on the main road.

Starbird recalls, “I leaned in to kiss him, and we heard screeching tires from across the road. I said, ‘Look at that ... we’re stopping traffic!’”

The reception took place on the third floor, known as the Top of the Oasis. Dinner included choices of roast beef, sun-dried tomato and goat cheese stuffed chicken, and pepita-crusted snapper.

Matchmaker Band, an award-winning Motown, funk, and soul ensemble, provided the music. Fittingly, Starbird and Roth had their first dance to “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”

Considered the historians of their families, Starbird and Roth designed a special wedding guestbook for their friends and family to sign with photos beginning when they first met through their relationship up to that moment.

When they were searching for pictures to include in the book, they came across an old photo from around 1920 of two men embracing each other. Neither Starbird or Roth knew who the men were besides the fact that they were somehow part of the family. They used the photo as the book’s cover to honor everyone who wasn’t able to be there to celebrate with them.

On the back of the photo was a handwritten inscription: “Ain’t love grand.”

Ceremony venue:The Oasis on Lake Travis
Reception venue:The Oasis on Lake Travis
Florist:Central Market
Catering:The Oasis on Lake Travis
Cake:Blue Note Bakery
Photographer:Cory Ryan Photography
Band:Matchmaker Band

Andry Starbird and Dennis Roth met in New York City more than 40 years ago.

Photo by Cory Ryan

Andry Starbird and Dennis Roth met in New York City more than 40 years ago.

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