written by Christie L. Smith
photography by Daniel W. Torres Photography
When Amanda Spakes and Corey Blissit were seniors in high school, each of their families went on the same cruise at the same time. But they didn't meet. All through high school in Houston they lived 45 minutes apart, but they never knew each other. It wasn't until they both moved to San Antonio for college their junior year that the meeting that seemed destined finally occurred - at a mutual friend's 21st birthday party.
"It was definitely love at first sight," Amanda says, "We ran in the same circle of friends, and both of us were thinking about leaving San Antonio until we met." Corey was videographer for the party, but started slacking off a little bit in his duties once he started talking with Amanda. Turned out when the video from the party was viewed, Amanda was in most of it.
A first date at Texas Roadhouse followed. "During dinner, I told him I had a dog, and when he took me home, he asked if he could meet my dog. I thought it was a ploy to get into my apartment," she says. So she went upstairs, got the dog and brought the dog down to meet Corey. Dog and man immediately approved of one another, and with that Amanda and Corey's relationship took off.
"We were exclusive from the beginning. At one point we took a break, he wasn't sure he was ready to get serious, but he quickly realized he didn't want to let me go," she says.
Getting engaged was a low-key affair. "There wasn't an engagement surprise," she says. Rather it was a mutually agreed upon decision. The couple went shopping for an engagement ring together, and then drove to Houston to let both sets of parents know what they were planning. But an engagement can't happen without a little bit of romance, right? And Corey delivered. On their way home from Houston, they stopped at a Texas Roadhouse - where their courtship had began. During dinner Corey officially proposed, and Amanda officially accepted.
Planning the wedding came next. Since Amanda is a wedding coordinator by trade, she thought it would be very simple for her to plan her own wedding. But in fact, she found it more difficult planning for herself than planning for other brides.
"Since I'm a wedding coordinator, I wanted something different," she says. So a little bit of Texas mixed with a lot of elegance gave her the look she wanted to achieve. She used a mix of teal and fuchsia colors, with accents of brown, green and white. Her bridesmaids, who came from several different cities, wore tea-length teal gowns and held fuchsia bouquets. The groomsmen wore tuxedoes with teal vests and fuchsia boutonnieres.
The outdoor wedding was held at the Marquardt Ranch in Boerne, where Amanda works. It was perfect, Amanda says. "You could hear the water running in the Guadalupe River and birds chirping."
The sit-down dinner was catered by Casa Sol Catering, who Amanda feels did an excellent job of showcasing some of the local cuisine.
"We had people coming from all over, and I wanted to give them a taste of Texas," she says. So she chose a salsa bar with six different salsa's and a quesadilla station included in with her appetizers of bacon-wrapped shrimp and bacon-wrapped chicken served with Monterrey Jack cheese and chipotle sauce. Dinner consisted of, stuffed pork tenderloin, green beans almandine and rosemary roasted potatoes. Each guest was given a wedding favors of a cookie in the shape of the great state of Texas with a "B" on them. It was a nod to Corey being a "real Texas guy" she says.
The most romantic moment of the day came during her and Corey's first dance. It was to local artist Aaron Watson's "Shut Up and Dance". "If you knew us, you'd know that the lyrics describe us to a ‘T'," she says. The lyrics talk about struggling to makes ends meet, concluding with these words, "Replace all our worries with some romance, Tell me you love me, we'll shut up and dance."
Texas Sound System provided music, mostly Texas country with a few ‘funky' tunes thrown in. "He did a good job of keeping the crowd going," she said, "everybody was always on the dance floor."
But the most touching moment came when Corey's parents hit the dance floor - because Corey's father was extremely ill with liver cancer. Everyone had been unsure if he'd be well enough to attend the wedding, so emotions ran high when he was able to dance with his wife. Less than two weeks later, he passed away. Both Corey and Amanda treasure that memory of Corey's dad at their wedding.
The thing that Amanda enjoyed most was the special surprise at the end - a helicopter whisked her and Corey away to San Antonio airport. The pilot had landed earlier and had mingled some with the wedding guests - but none had been aware that he was there to ferry the bride and groom off to the start of their honeymoon. After an overnight stay at a hotel near the airport, Amanda and Corey took off for a six day, five night honeymoon at Rivera Maya in Mexico. The all-inclusive resort was "fantastic" Amanda says.
Amanda and Corey reside in San Antonio. Her advice to future brides; "Communicate well with your vendors, let them know exactly what you want - otherwise you may not get it."
