Articles of Local Interest

A Touch of the Past in Today's New Braunfels Wedding
By Sandra Lowe Sanchez

Just a bit over a half-hour drive north of San Antonio, brides who imagine a European country-style wedding can make their dream come true.

Sitting on the Guadalupe River, the city of New Braunfels offers couples a variety of settings that are bound to make their wedding a memorable occasion, for them and for their guests. The city boasts that it offers "a bit of old Germany in the heart of the Lone Star State." Indeed, a number of old farm houses and barns have been restored into guest accommodations that provide a taste of the past with quality service that appeals to today's world. Visitors can be married in restored barns complete with German "fachwerk," an early construction method mixing adobe with stone and wood beams.

While the area is a favorite as a wedding destination for brides with family in the area, it is becoming more and more popular with brides from San Antonio to Austin.

"Every venue we have that can be utilized for weddings is usually booked year-round," says Judy Young, convention and visitors bureau director for the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce. "There are a growing number of visitors who come here to get married, especially a second wedding."

A few newer operations have opened in recent years, including an inn that takes on an old world King Arthur motif, as well as others that strive to provide guests a more modern ambiance.

The area offers about two dozen bed & breakfast inns that can accommodate from 15 to about 300, depending on the facility. Inn operators say brides are choosing to have their wedding guests travel for the occasion to take advantage of the quaint, romantic setting.

"We have people come from out of town because what they want to do is make a memory," says Billie Miles, co-owner of the Gruene Homestead Inn. She recalls a wedding where an Austin bride and her party drove up in a horse-drawn carriage and the couple left for their honeymoon in a helicopter that had landed in a nearby field, bridging the old with the new.

Miles says she encourages wedding parties to rent the entire inn rather than dividing up relatives at various hotels or bed and breakfasts in the area. Still, she says that large parties can take advantage of a reservation service called New Braunfels Bed & Breakfast Getaways that works to keep guests in the area's inns. In addition, the Bed & Breakfast Association offers an accommodations referral service and the New Braunfels Chamber has just launched an online reservation service.

German roots

In 1845, Prince Carl of Solms Braunfels purchased more than 1,200 acres of land for $1,111 for a settlement undertaken by the German Emigration Co. Ernst Gruene was one of these first settlers who came over from Germany. But as many of the lots in the area now known as downtown were acquired, farmers began acquiring land in a community four miles north on the Guadalupe River known as Goodwin.

By 1872, Gruene and his sons had bought land in Goodwin, and it was here Ernst's son Henry started a cotton plantation. He built a one-story home on the property which was later expanded, and he built a cotton gin that was powered by the river's water. After that facility burned in the 1920s, it was replaced with a new electric gin. By that time, Henry D. Gruene had built a mercantile store that housed a bank and a post office; Gruene Hall, a dance hall and saloon that was used for the entertainment of his employees, as well as "Sunday Hauses," guest cottages outside his own home where employees could stay with their families overnight after a full night of fun on Saturday.

By the late 1920s, the boll weevil and the Great Depression had wiped out the bulk of the Gruene family's financial holdings. They struggled to maintain the mercantile store but eventually closed that as the Depression loomed. According to one brochure about the district, when the store closed "Gruene became virtually a ghost town."

The new developers

Then in the 1970s, developers started noting the value of the area and buying up property, transforming abandoned farm properties into restaurants and quaint venues. One of those developers was Pat Mollack, who turned H.D. Gruene's old electric cotton gin into the Grist Mill Restaurant.

Wayne Ellison, Miles' brother and an investor who acquired the home built by H.D. Gruene's son, says Bill and Sharon McCaskill also made a significant impact when they purchased the Gruene Mansion Inn, the home originally built by H.D. Gruene.

The McCaskills were looking for a place to renovate and happened on the old mansion by accident. The McCaskills not only restored the original house, which is now used as front office for the guest houses, they built other properties, such as Sunday Hauses and a restaurant, searching over Texas for the old barn wood for the construction, according to inn employees.

Today, the Gruene Mansion Inn Restaurant features towering ceilings and walls lined with tall book shelves and European art, with rooms overlooking the Guadalupe River. "The look they were after was German descent transcending to a Texas Hill Country atmosphere," says Camilo Chavez III, restaurant manager.

Chavez says the restaurant can accommodate up to 300 people, with full service menus available.

The inn next door operates 34 units, each which can hold between two and eight people. Although the guest houses are new, their design, from barn wood to antiques inside make them appear as though they are from another century. Besides serving as a wedding destination, the inn is popular as a honeymoon spot for couples too.

Momentum in restoration

Several years ago, Wayne Ellison was visiting his friend Bill McCaskill, when McCaskill urged him to buy the 1920s' red brick "Gastehaus" built by O.A. Gruene. Ellison did, and the next thing he knew he was convincing his sister and her husband, Ed, to buy property in Gruene.

At the time, Ed and Billie Miles were school administrators in San Antonio, looking for a retirement project they could undertake together. When Billie was visiting her brother, she felt like she had found that project. "Billie saw it and fell in love with it," Ellison describes.

The Miles purchased an 8-acre farm less than a mile from the center of Gruene. The farm, originally known as the Eichenrodt property, had a number of old barns on it that were built using "fachwerk" construction.

Billie recalls her first instinct was to tear them down. "It was in real bad shape," she recalls.

But her husband, who appears to have a knack for restoration, wouldn't hear of it. "This is what attracted us to do these projects, really," he says, sliding his hand over one of the walls in a converted barn. "These are old mud walls."

Ed Miles was unable to restore the cypress floor on one of the barns, so he cut it up and made furniture and a bathroom cabinet from it. "I couldn't repair it right, so I took it up."

The couple acquired an old rundown farm house and had it moved on the property, restoring it with quaint rooms in the upstairs attic as well as on the floor level. Another old barn was transformed into a restaurant and party venue. And Ed built a gazebo where a number of couples have since taken their vows.

In 1998, the couple leased the restaurant property to Chuck Yarbrough to operate a restaurant. That arrangement has allowed the Mileses to provide food through accommodations for wedding parties. The restaurant itself can accommodate up to 100 people, but with tents, it can serve even more.

"We have weddings inside and out. We have eight beautiful acres here to play with," says Billie Miles.

Yarbrough says he works with guests to ensure they have everything they need. For example, he works with well-known New Braunfels' favorite Naeglin's Bakery when a wedding cake has not been already ordered. And he has relationship with other vendors to help meet the needs of out-of-town guests.

Second time

While some of the larger venues can accommodate large parties, a number of the smaller bed and breakfast getaways are building a niche for themselves in smaller weddings. Such is the case with Aunt Nora's Countryside Inn, a bed & breakfast in nearby Canyon Lake.

Iralee Haley and her husband bought the property as their home eight years ago and converted the cottages for guests, with a Country Victorian decor. Haley herself says she often acts as a same-day coordinator at the weddings, which are typically under 40 people. Her husband built a gazebo that is accessed by a small bridge that crosses a pond. The couple usually rent Aunt Nora's Sweet Cherry Cottage for the bride to get ready. The bride exits the cottage and is escorted to the bridge by the family member giving her away. The groom meets her there and the two walk over the bridge to the gazebo where the minister or justice of the peace is waiting.

Haley says brides choosing her inn for a wedding are typically older, between 30 and 40. Sometimes it is their second marriage. At one recent wedding, it was the bride's 10-year-old son who escorted his mother to the bridge.

"They're going for privacy," she says about those who choose her four-acre inn as a venue to hold their wedding, adding that they are seeking a place that is serene but quaint. "Here it is very elegant, but simple."

Aunt Nora's offers wedding couples a variety of options and costs are therefore adjusted. Haley's son is also a minister, and she often calls on him to conduct weddings.

Other venues

The city of New Braunfels also features a number of options that offer couples serenity and beauty in one location. The chamber's Young says many couples hold their wedding at the waterfront gazebo at Landa Park. The park, known for its spring-fed pool, also features Landa Haus, a property remodeled just two years ago for events. Arrangements for the venue can be made with the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

The New Braunfels Conservation Society runs Conservation Plaza, which consists of a number of historic buildings. The property features a rose garden, complete with an arbor. Young says the property makes a beautiful spot for couples to hold their ceremony, particularly when the roses are in bloom.

For those wanting a church wedding, a number of churches also cater to out-of-town couples, including First Protestant Church in downtown New Braunfels, the town's oldest church.

"This is one of the few churches that still has Gothic style," says Mary Ann Specht, First Protestant's secretary. Couples enjoy the setting for its historical look inside and limestone rock exterior, she says.

New Braunfels also features a number of vendors who are familiar enough with the area venues to design products to fit the decor. For example, Kyra Brandt owner of the Comal Flower Shop, says brides have asked her to incorporate the European decor featured at the Gruene Mansion Inn Restaurant into their floral arrangements. She has come through, sometimes incorporating the antique rose theme featured in the restaurant's paintings into the bride's bouquet or creating arrangements reminiscent of the grapes and the deep burgundy colors used in the restaurant's decor.

At the Gruene Homestead Inn, the restored farm, Brandt recalls a rehearsal dinner there where she created arrangements with wildflowers.

While Young suggests advanced planning, she adds that the vendors in the town have worked well together, accommodating couples on short notice as well. She recalls a retired couple recently came into the chamber and indicated they wanted to get married that day. This was their second marriage, both having been widowed, and they were traveling in a recreation vehicle.

The chamber lined up Naeglin's Bakery to provide the cake, Comal Flower Shop to provide the flowers and a judge to perform the ceremony. The couple went back to their RV to change and the ceremony was held at the gazebo in New Braunfels Main Plaza.

"Within an hour, we had them set to go," Young says.