For many Southerners, summer camps are places to meet lifelong friends, make wonderful memories, and spend time in nature. And for Margaret Murray, the one she loved growing up—Camp Waldemar, in Hunt, Texas—was the only place in the world she wanted to get married.
Margaret and her sisters were the third generation of their family to attend the storied sleep away spot. “The camp was a major part of her life,” says event designer Ashley Freeman Bonner, owner of Ash Event Co. “When the couple approached us, their vision was clear: They expressed a want for the wedding to evoke the warmth and familiarity of a camp setting.”
Margaret and Brent Peus fell in love during the pandemic, so their September 2023 wedding also served as a reunion of sorts for many of their friends and family. And every detail of the celebration included a distinctive nod to Waldemar and their Texas setting. That meant a rehearsal dinner held in the Waldemar dining hall; a welcome party at the nearby Crider’s Rodeo & Dancehall, complete with live music and country-and-Western attire; a day full of traditional camp activities on Saturday for guests, including a pickleball tournament and water slide; and a black-tie ceremony held in Waldemar’s outdoor chapel overlooking the Guadalupe River followed by a reception on the camp’s field.
“It was a celebration that truly captured the essence of who they are as individuals and as a couple,” Bonner says.
