Big weddings may be on hold for a while, thanks to COVID-19 restrictions, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think big when it comes to special touches, elegant features, and fun surprises. This wedding was enjoyed by 300 people, but you can offer the same type of memories to fewer guests. We love the custom-designed cocktail bar, flambe’ desserts, and mariachi band and think the signature cocktail and doughnuts upon departure for guests would be a hit at any wedding.

Just because a wedding reception is held at a home, doesn’t mean it can’t be lavish. If a larger wedding doesn’t work while social distancing is in play, unique details and sweet surprises do work and can be incorporated into any size reception. Trevor Tamlyn and Haley Hall’s March 2018 wedding was one for the books. You might have called it a toned-down, Texas version of a Mexican mojiganga parade: a mariachi band filled University Park streets with music; a Monvieve cathedral-length veil billowed in the wind; rose petals fluttered; and a procession of 300 strolled from Highland Park Presbyterian Church to Haley’s childhood Spanish colonial home where white azalea bushes and servers with silver trays holding coupes of Champagne lined the sidewalk.

From the front yard to the courtyard to the backyard, everything was draped with floral or greenery. The home’s original mission tile pattern was replicated for the dance floor and imprinted on the custom cocktail bar, which wrapped around a centuries-old oak tree filled with Spanish-inspired candle lanterns. A classic wedding cake was placed on an antique Spanish table and hundreds of lights filled the clear tent positioned along the terra-cotta tile roofline.

Need more inspiration? There was also a mariachi band, Champagne at the entry, and a specialty cocktail called the Tamlyn Twist, featuring fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and tequila garnished with an edible flower served via a custom ice luge. Liquid-nitrogen desserts were set on fire and churro doughnuts were made onsite for the guests’ departure. Says Haley, “It was beautiful, traditional, and romantic.”