For Royale Pence and Anderson Price there is much more to Valentine’s Day than kitschy cards, long stem roses, and boxes of chocolate. For them, the holiday marks their first date, the proposal, and their wedding. Although the pair met while they were both juniors at the University of Texas, they remained only friends until the spring of their senior year, when they had their first date, on Valentine’s Day. “That’s why the holiday is particularly important to us,” the bride explains. After a spontaneous, yet seemingly predestined proposal on Valentine’s Day of 2009 at Green Pastures, the two selected the Smith Family Chapel, where the bride attended services as a girl, for the ceremony. Staying true to tradition, the couple held the reception at Green Pastures, and the bride incorporated Valentine’s Day into the event. She explains, “I wanted to play up the Valentine theme but not in the typical pink and red, hearts and flowers way.” Instead, she perched a vintage Valentine’s card at each place setting, and used violet and silver in place of the conventional colors of love, accented by tasteful touches of lace, feathers, and rhinestones.
