Nelson Guda and Rachel Zierzow

Wedding at the Springs

When Rachel and I decided to get married at Barton Springs, it seemed such an obvious choice. For both of us, the springs is one of the things that keep us in Austin.

When Rachel and I decided to get married at Barton Springs, it seemed such an obvious choice. For both of us, the springs is one of the things that keep us in Austin. We had both been Barton Springs regulars for years, and our second date was at the springs. Looking back, I think I took Rachel to the springs to make sure that she enjoyed spending time there as much as I did. By the time I proposed we had built a large, shared community of friends around the pool, and more than half of our socializing time was at the springs.

When we posted our engagement on social media, several people immediately asked if we were planning on getting married at the springs. And so the decision was made! We planned our ceremony for the end of April 2016, but the spring leading up to the wedding was filled with rain and regular pool flooding and closings. As the date drew closer, we started to get a bit nervous. Two weeks before the wedding the pool flooded and closed yet again. We had a backup plan at a nearby friend’s house, but it wasn’t what we wanted. The pool finally re-opened six days before our wedding, but the creek was high and weather was still stormy all week. The long-term forecast predicted a 100% chance of severe thunderstorms for the entire day. I chose to not think about it. When the wedding day finally came we woke at 4:00 am to a thunderstorm crashing over us. Fortunately the rain ended within an hour, the pool did not flood and the sky cleared off completely by 7. When we got to the springs at 9, the leaves were glistening with little droplets, the sky was crystalline and the pool was gorgeous. It was as perfect weather as you can have in Austin.

We had a simple barefoot ceremony surrounded by about 80 of our close friends and family under the pecan trees on the south hill overlooking the springs. RP Watson and Lance Harris played their ethereal music that is such a staple of the south hill, and we were married by Spike Gillespie. After the ceremony we walked down the sidewalk to the pool, lined up along the edge and jumped in the springs with most of our guests. Our good friends Dave Madden and Sarah Perez made a floating “Just Married” sign with strings of plastic bottles trailing behind that we swam off with. The whole thing was amazingly beautiful. The next day the sky clouded over again, and a week later the pool had flooded and closed once again.

– Nelson Guda and Rachel Zierzow (and Isabel Rivas)

Nelson’s site   nelsonguda.com   Rachel’s Site: CookLoveHeal