Canada

You are currently browsing articles tagged Canada.

An Autumnal Lakeside Wedding: Meredith & Nic

November 14, 2011 in Wedding | 11 comments

Meredith & Nic’s wedding couldn’t be any more perfect for a blustery unseasonable warm changeable autumnal day like today. The warm orange accents with the lakeside location are all kinds of wonderful…

The wedding took place in September at the family cottage on Bob’s Lake, Ontario, Canada.

“The bride and groom were officially married (i.e. they signed the paperwork) early that morning in front of their parents while drinking their morning coffee,” photographer Elissa told me. “That afternoon, they went for a ceremonial paddle around the lake at the start of the wedding ceremony, and after their hand-fasting ceremony they served their guests champagne and went for another paddle.”

“The majority of the wedding was DIY. The bride’s parents folded 1000 origami cranes that was used as decor; board games and lawn games for the guests; no first dance/bouquet toss/garter toss/other ‘traditional’ elements to the reception – just a lot of happy talking and food. It was a daytime wedding and ended when the sun set.”

“The groom’s sister also experimented with lemonade recipes all summer and picked 6 custom lemonade flavors for the reception including lavender lemonade, spicy rosemary lemonade, and ginger limeade.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

City Meets Country – A Natural & Rustic Farm Wedding: Kevin & Lindsay

October 21, 2011 in Wedding | 6 comments

Kevin & Lindsay were married at the bride’s Dad’s farm in Ontario, Canada. Along with his wife Lynne, he spent a year perfecting the properly in order to host his daughter’s wedding. “My Dad built a beautiful deck and added a lovely pavilion that were married under appropriately named ‘the wedding pavilion’,” Lindsay told me. “Kev and I spent the week leading up to the wedding enjoying the country and spending time with our families, it was so nice.”

Although the couple told me they wouldn’t really consider their wedding to be that ‘alternative’, they did try to do a lot of things themselves to make it really special. They also enlisted the help of their friends and family wherever they could. Lindsay continues, “We did try to do a lot of things on our own. Having the wedding at a venue that had sentimental value was the best decision we made. My Dad and his wife got married three years ago on their property in a small, almost exclusively family affair. The setting was perfect, relaxed andsentimental. Although our wedding was a bigger production it had the same feeling of intimacy and informality this kind of setting afforded and inspired.”

“My Dad and his wife had pictures all over the gazebo and porch of Kevin and I throughout the years which was a really fun surprise for us and I think entertaining for our guests to see. Since we love lawn games, we had bocce ball and croquet sets all over the property providing guests with afternoon entertainment between the ceremony and reception.”

“We walked down the aisle to Crosby Stills and Nash ‘Our House’ and after the ceremony, we walked back to the Beach Boys ‘Wouldn’t it be Nice.’ My aunt was the MC for our reception and our wedding party consisted of very close friends, siblings and cousins who are all close with each other. All in all, it served for an informal but intimate day that was so much fun!”

Because the venue was so beautiful and sentimental, the couple kept their decor to a minimum. “The joke was that it was a bit of a city meets country. The colours were neutral and were really only accented by the colour of some of the seasonal wildflowers. Our hors d’oeuvre were things like cucumber gazpacho and potato latkes and the dinner was hearty comfort food followed by pie. We tried to strike a balance between refinement and understated elegance with modest decorating, food, and games that complemented the setting.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

An Anti-Princess, Nerdy & Eco-Friendly Wedding: Josh & Jaclyn

August 31, 2011 in Wedding | 19 comments

Josh & Jaclyn were legally married on July 13th but had their reception on the 16th at Smith & Wilson Winery in Cedar Springs, Ontario. “We decided to have the reception and the ceremony were on separate dates,” Jaclyn told me. “On the Wednesday before the Saturday reception Josh, I, our parents and two close friends went to city hall for a justice of the peace ceremony. It was really relaxed – we didn’t even dress up in our fancy wedding attire.”

“I wanted this because wedding ceremonies always bore me to tears and didn’t want to put our guests through that. It is also a good thing because I got a case of the giggles so bad that tears streamed down my face and we had to pause so I could catch my breath. That would have been so horrible in front of 100+ people!”

“The inspirations for our wedding were simple, keep it fun, keep it green, keep it us,” the bride continued. They also DIYed a lot of the wedding including the bunting which was made of fabric all donated by the guests. “At the shower guests were informed to wrap all gifts in fabric. I then surprised the guests when they saw all their swatches used in the creation ofover 150 feet of bunting banner. (I went a bit overboard creating triangles.) I am now in the process of using the triangles to quilt a wedding blanket of our bed.”

The couple also made the red & white gingham table cloths, the custom Munny cake toppers, the Lego envelope box, the flower bomb favours, cake stands and the guest book.

Jaclyn wore a Catherine Langolis dress which she bought from The Brides’ Project in Toronto. The Brides’ Project sell second hand wedding dresses and donate all the proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society. “If you can help others with a purchase you were already going to make anyways why wouldn’t you?” Jaclyn asks. “My dress ended up being a donation from a previous bride who had is custom made by a local Toronto Designer. It is also going to see it’s second time at The Brides’ Project. I will be donating it back to help another unique bride to be and people affected by cancer…and the environment. Wins all around.”

Jacyln also had some great tips to pass onto future brides.

“If you are having an untraditional wedding don’t call it a wedding. Call it a party, a get together, an event, a celebration, anything but wedding. I found that people were less creative/inspired with ideas if you called it a wedding. I feel it is because they would think of all the weddings they had been to in the past and just get stuck on those ideas.”

“Pictures can help convey your ideas. My Mum had a hard time envisioning my unconventional concepts because she had never seen anything like that. When I could see that verbal descriptions we not working I emailed her picture of what it could look like. That helped tremendously and the more visual inspiration she had the more she got into the ideas.”

“Prioritize. It will save yourself a lot of stress, time and money when planning your event. Example – we were going to have a photo booth and candy table but we could only afford one. We chose candy table as a cotton candy tree had a lot more impact in the room then a draped off photo area.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

Butterflies, Rainbows, Flowers & Rock n Roll: Irma & Dan

August 12, 2011 in Wedding | 13 comments

Irma & Dan’s Rock n Roll wedding was held at Windermere Manor in Ontario, Canada. Originally from Mexico the bride wanted to bring colour and fun into their big day.

After proposing at Sunfest, the bride’s favourite festival in Canada (check out the video!) they set to work planning their ‘butterflies, rainbows, flowers and Rock n Roll’ themed wedding. “Thank you to everybody that made possible and perfect,” wrote the bride. “Starting with God that gave us a sunny beautiful day, following with our professional vendors Brent Foster Photography who was amazing, human and an authentic artist.”

“Julie-Ann from Windermere Manor for her efficiency and easy going personality. Patti Lofgren from Kettle Creek Weddings for providing the most beautiful service in the ceremony and making clear our deep love for Jesus. And Ana, my sister, Maid of Honor and bestest friend ever.”

“My sister woke up at 5am on our wedding day to finish the centrepieces and to decorate the hall.  She rocks my world. My sis is my most important support and everything she has done for us is amazing. I love her to death event hough she never closes the doors of the cabinets in the wash room! Thanks to everybody’s good vibes, love and blessings. That is why our life is so easy. We are around good people that has peace to offer. No party poopers in our lives at all!”

The bride wore a dress Sears which she got in an outlet store for just $70. She also made her bouquet herself from paper butterflies, “I made my bouquet with florist wire and dollarama butterflies,” Irma told me. “I love butterflies and I didn’t want a real flower bouquet as many are so expensive. I was either going to bring a single calla lilly (my Mom’s favourite flower) or a bouquet made by myself with butterflies incorporated to it. Then I saw a magazine with a bride that had a bouquet of floating butterflies, and since I had thought about something similar, I decided to give it a try with my own materials and creativity.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

A Batman Engagement Shoot: Crystal & Darren

July 26, 2011 in Engagement | 21 comments

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Gratton of Ophelia Photography while she was over in London on vacation. Amongst many things, we spoke about Lisa’s desire to create something a little different and fun around her engagement shoots and this Batman-inspired session proves her point nicely!

Lisa told me how the groom, Darren, who was initially quite nervous in front of the camera really came to life as soon as he put on this Batman suit! Well it is every little boys dream to be a superhero isn’t it?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,