What an incredible weekend! We flew to this past weekend for a destination engagement session for one of our couples and figured why not go to Waco while we were there!
We left for Dallas two weeks ago EXHAUSTED! We shot 2 weddings, a 10 hour wedding on Friday and a 10 hour wedding on Saturday which meant we slept a total of 6 hours in 2 days before leaving for Dallas. We passed out on the 3 hour flight, and arrived in Dallas, got our rental car, got lunch at Taco Cabana. We even took a 20 min power nap at this cool coffee shop in Deep Ellum called Fiction Coffee… super awesome, great couches and yummy chai. Soon after we checked into a super cute Airbnb close to downtown where we knew we would be spending most of the time with our couple. We fell asleep at 5:30pm… and slept 11 HOURS! Lord, we needed that. We event watched Marvel’s Madness Multiverse Dr Strange movie at 4am. haha
After catching up on some emails, we headed out to this great breakfast place called The Biscuit Bar. It was too good. We totally recommend The Hoss, The Southern Style Tots, Chicken and Not-a Waffle, and the French Toast Biscuit. All amazing!
We spent the day working from the airbnb and soon headed out to meet out amazing couple! Monday was reserved for Erin and Andrew. We met up with them at the first of 3 locations: Arlington Hall. After that, we went to Griggs Park where they got engaged, and finished at a Trail outside the city that overlooks the skyline of Dallas. To see this session, click here! It’s pretty dope! We finished off the night with them getting amazing food at Ice House off Katy Trail. What an incredible day!
Now I am sooo excited to share about our Trip to Waco, Magnolia Silos and it’s famous Market and Shops. We never really thought we’d ever go to Magnolia… it always seemed like a cool trip, but it had to be an intentional trip… or so we thought. When our couple opted for a destination engagement session, we knew we had to go with it being only a little less than 2 hours South from Dallas.
If you’re planning a trip to Waco, we definitely would recommend an Airbnb either in Waco or in Abbott or Hillsboro, two towns close to Waco. We wish we hadn’t driven 1.5-2 hours the same day we visited Magnolia from Dallas to Waco and back again just because we could have started our day sooner in Waco. We lost 4 hours just driving from and to Dallas the same day. So if you’re gonna do that, account for that travel time, or reserve ahead and stay local. Magnolia actually owns 4 vacation rentals you can look into if you are interested in a full Magnolia experience!
The first thing we did upon arriving in Waco was breakfast at Magnolia Table. This is an absolute must. It’s an awesome kickstart to your day in Waco. You definitely want to get reservations though. We reserve through their website. When we arrived, we found out that there wasn’t any walk up option for the entire week because call ahead reservations were completely booked. As soon as you check in, they give you this super cute passport with some love notes, things to do in Waco, almost like next steps. Which we needed as we didn’t really know what to expect or know where to go next. We hadn’t had time to map everything out so we were winging parts of our trip.
At Magnolia Table you have to try the Campfire Pancakes, their amazing biscuits and strawberry spread and I LOVED the French Toast Crunch. The bacon was out of this world… maybe the best bacon I’ve ever had… ask for it almost burnt and it will be perfect! We took lots of photos. There’s a cool shop and a cold fridge full of a bunch of Joanna’s recipes ready to eat on site. I bought some Pecan Jalapeno Jam with some crackers to share with my mom when we get back! Everything is beautiful as you may already know and guess!
There’s a cool shop and a cold fridge full of a bunch of Joanna’s recipes ready to eat on site. I bought some Pecan Jalapeno Jam with some crackers to share with my mom when we get back! Everything is beautiful as you may already know and guess! There’s books, there’s food, coffee, bags, and everything is on brand!
Okay, on to the Silos! The Silos are about a 6-10 minute drive from Magnolia Table. We actually parked for free right next to a Dr. Pepper warehouse… did you know Dr. Pepper originated from Waco? Yep, found that out. There is parking super close for $10 but if you’re willing to take a short walk, you can find free parking. Upon arrival, the Silo District is fenced in. No admission fee. The Silos can definitely be seen walking up and so is the Silo Bakery.
The Silo Bakery is beautiful, with a line out the door and just inside is a gorgeous display of cupcakes, and lots of wonderful baked goods. If you aren’t buying anything, you can tell them you just want to look and they will still let you in to take pictures look around and head out the door. My favorite part, the names of the cupcakes and the planters in the windows. Oh and the butter sign! I need that in my house!
Once you leave the bakery, right in front of you with a 180 head turn you can see Magnolia Market, Food Trucks, the Silos. Also there’s outdoor sitting areas, there’s tables and chairs, picnic tables, a huge turfed green with corn hole boards. and textile seating poofs.
Be sure to get a photo opt on the turf lawn right at the entrance of Magnolia Silo entrance! Great spots all over!
The store is just sooo wow! You walk in and are immediately overwhelmed with beauty, goods, and smells. Candles, Kitchen good, towel, bags, shirts, you name it… so much goodness. You want to sign up for Magnolia Perks… 10% off your order. You also want to spend over $100 because it qualifies you for free shipping. AND if you order online your first order is 20% off. Here’s my suggestion… Walk through first. It’s exciting but a bit overwhelming. I went in twice… walked through first, looked at everything, then visited all other shops on property then went back to actually hand pick out what I wanted.
Just 2 weeks ago, Chip and Joanna launched “Found and Collected” which is the publics ability to now buy her handpicked items that she had sourced for projects, but now is willing to sell and let go of. Doors, Frames, Chairs, Amazing pieces of Furniture and more. I have a few below that are still for sale and they will ship for free.
Once you leave you exit onto the lawn! There’s yard games, great view of the Silos, and lots of food. There’s food trucks if you get hungry, amazing Sweet Tea… you gotta get the Mason Dixon if you like 1/2 lemonade 1/2 tea. The Yankee and the South are amazing too. Ice Cream, Photobooth, Snowballs, Sandwiches… you won’t be hungry while you’re there. One was named “Maggies” and when we were taking these photos, I was proud to say “Pretty sure they named it after me!”
We met this really amazing family from Kentucky and Waco at Magnolia Table at breakfast who shared so much with us about Magnolia, what we should do and see. They were soo sweet and so helpful. Love that we got a selfie with them at the start of the property!
While we were there, the Magnolia outdoor barn was being used as the set for the Silo Cooking Competition. They were filming episodes of the show the week we went so it wasn’t open to the public but you could 100% see people on set, all the lighting, and prep for the show. Pretty neat! They even use the same lights that we do for weddings! Chip and Joanna weren’t on set the day I was there but supposedly they were the day before and after we were there. Bummer! But all good, we wanted a great experience and still got one!
On the far side of Magnolia district, there’s an incredible church… restored, white, beautiful wood work and the windows are stunning. I secretly wanted to shoot a wedding there while I was there, of course!
Right outside the entrance of the church is a court with 6 shops. My favorite is Ferny’s which is retro super cute with plants and all things greens. Chapter One was pretty cool too, all things books and art. No. 16 was what I call the dude shop, it smelled amazing. The other shops were really neat too, I just kept refraining from buying stuff.
Really really cool part of our time there… was meeting Jimmy Don. Years ago I ordered for our office a sign that said “She Designed a Life She Loved,” having no idea that I would ever go to Waco to Magnolia or meet the man who made that slogan with metal as a beautiful reminder of a dream that became a reality. Pretty pretty awesome.
Magnolia Home is full of larger furniture, beds, couches, and you can see room layouts. Beautiful ideas and helps envision Magnolia items in your home. There’s also the Magnolia Press coffee shop… I didn’t get in there as I wanted to spend my time at Seed and Supply, as well as the other shops on site.
Out on the lawn are some really neat additions to Magnolia. There’s this food truck called “Alabama Sweet Tea” and you pay $9 to get a glass or plastic mason jar. Refills are only $2 while you’re there! What a deal! I’ve been using it literally every day since we’ve been back (of course with washes in between)!
If you’re a gardener, you’ll love the Seed and Supply house… full of really nice gardener gifts! And great ideas for your garden if you live where it’s dry. I kept asking Patrick… “can you make this?” and he would remind me that we live in good ole Maryland with the humidity, snow, weather difference, etc. So some ideas will have to be modified! But nonetheless, beautiful and fun!
Out on the lawn, there’s corn hole, picnic tables, even a mini baseball field with wiffle balls… great area for kids to hang out for sure! If you’re on the fence about going with kids… there’s definitely places they can hang out, eat food, run around. Strollers can get around without problems too. But I will say a playground would be a great feature in the future to add! While we were walking around I met this amazing group of women… all home, DIY, craft bloggers in town for a blogging conference! You’ll see these boss babes below! Oh, and as you scroll… look at the incredible pieces of furniture that were for sale in the Magnolia Market. I wanted to take these two pieces home but they were huge!!
Well guys! There ya go! We did Waco in a day! Drove down from Dallas at 8am and came back to Dallas Love Airport in time for our 7:45 flight. Had we stayed longer or spent the night, we could have done a lot more. We could have gone to the Gaines’ first shop Magnolia Co., Harp Design Co, as well as Little Shop on Bosque. Some locals said to hit up Heritage Homestead, some other antique places, the actual “bears” that are at Baylor University, and the Dr Pepper Museum. There’s so much more to Waco! Cheers to an awesome day trip to Waco after being there photographing one of our amazing couples!!
Good Bye Waco! Good Bye Magnolia! Until Next Time!
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