Filming a wedding at The Preserve at Canyon Lake

The Preserve at Canyon Lake is a 15,000 square foot venue on FM 306, set inside a 170 acre wildlife preserve between Austin and San Antonio. It has an indoor chapel with floor-to-ceiling windows, a cocktail courtyard on a private spring-fed lake, and a ballroom with a spiral staircase. All of it sits under one roof or just outside it, which makes for an easy day to film.

Hero photo: The Preserve at Canyon Lake

The spaces and the light

The chapel has vaulted ceilings, wood trusses, a stone arch and tall windows on the water and the hills. Windows on that scale mean an indoor ceremony does not have to look dark on camera.

The ballroom has a fireplace, exposed beams, a bar and the spiral staircase. That staircase is the best entrance on the property. On an April wedding we filmed, the couple made their grand entrance down it at 7:00 PM, and the florals from the ceremony were moved onto it during cocktail hour so they were in frame.

Getting ready

The bridal suite is on site. Hair and makeup arrived at 9:15 AM and needed a little over four hours for ten services. The groom's side arrived at 1:00 PM to get ready, and both were dressed by 2:00. We arrived at 1:00 and had a full hour of getting-ready footage before the 3:00 PM first look.

Ceremony, courtyard and portraits

Guests started arriving at 5:15 for a 6:00 PM ceremony, with pre-ceremony music at 5:45. That couple had no live musicians for the ceremony. The venue played their playlist from a phone, which is simple and works, but it is worth confirming who is cueing the songs.

The ceremony ran twenty minutes. Family stayed seated for formal photos while everyone else went out to cocktail hour in the courtyard, where the bar was set up outside. The courtyard sits next to the lake under oak, cypress and sycamore trees, and it is the best place on the property for candid footage of guests.

• Sunset was 7:58 PM that day, during dinner. If you want golden hour portraits, plan to step out between the buffet and the first dance.
• The cake was set on a round table in a nook off the main hall.

Reception and sound

The DJ set up in the main hall next to the entry pillar and arrived at 4:00 PM. Catering set up near the windows where the ceiling drops. Dinner was a buffet at 7:20, then the first dance and a mother and son dance at 8:10, and open dancing from 8:15.

The bar closed thirty minutes before the end with no announced last call. The last dance was at 11:25, the couple left at 11:30, and the coordination team's time ended at 11:45.

A real day here

A spring Saturday we filmed here (April 2025)

Sample timelines by season

Sunset in Austin moves by three hours across the year, and it decides almost everything else on the timeline. Here is how we would shape a day at The Preserve at Canyon Lake in each season. Times are a starting point; your planner and venue will tune them.

Common questions

Planning a wedding here? Send us your date and we will tell you how we would film it.