Well let me tell you 2020 was quite the year as many of you know. Planning a wedding during a pandemic is a total nightmare. Rules and regulations change daily and you just never know what is going to happen. One of the few blessings, I understood what my clients were going through and how they felt. It honestly helped make things a lot easier knowing that I wasn't the only one feeling this way. Its so hard to put it into words, you spend all this time and energy getting ready for this wedding to have it all come crashing down. I have totes full of wedding décor which I don't know if it will ever get used by me. But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is Love. This may not have been my fairy tale wedding, but it was simple and beautiful. When we decided to have it here in Saskatchewan, The first person I called was my good friend and fellow Photographer Juli and ask if she would be able to come take photos.
We were supposed to get married at a beautiful golf course overlooking the 3 sisters mountains in Canmore. However the Alberta restrictions were and ARE much more restrictive on weddings. We postponed the Canmore wedding but we still chose to get married on our original date. We had a different arch that we had made for Canmore, but my husband felt that we needed something a little different. He knows how much I love the mountains, so he brought them to me. If you can't tell already he's a bit of a romantic.
I spent the whole week before running around getting chairs, and hunting down wildflowers at florist shops. If couldn't have my bouquet that I so badly wanted in Canmore, I was going to make my own. Sadly the word frustrating came to mind more then anything when it came to trying to get flowers. Working in the wedding industry you come to know and love types of flowers that look amazing in bouquets. My original plan was to go to a few local business's that had u-picks, pick my own flowers and just put it together. All the u picks opened 2 days after my wedding so I just asked if they would make an exception and let me come out the morning of, however they weren't very understanding and one sadly quite rude. Luckily the AMAZING gals at Blossoms got a shipment of wildflowers that I was looking for and helped me out. I picked up a few odds and ends that they didn't have at Bills house of flowers. Honestly without those two I don't know what I would have done. July was soooo hot last year and I spent 3 days trying to keep them cool so they would make it to wedding day.
I'm not a huge traditionalist, but my husband is, so we blended our day together. I took a few photos of our details before we started our day. I wasn't sure if I was going to wear my jewelry and shoes I had picked out for Canmore or my cowboy boots. We spent the morning together, made lunch together and got our hair done together. After that we went our separate ways to get ready still keeping it traditional but different. My amazing and long time friend Melissa did an amazing job on my makeup. She was even a Rockstar and helped me get into my dress. There is a really funny story about my dress, so with the gyms being closed at the start of lock down... I may have eaten a little more then one should. So I bought a second wedding dress because there was no way I was fitting into this one. Well the gyms opened back up and I wanted to surprise him as he thought I was totally going to wear the other dress. To be honest the second dress just didn't make me feel like a bride, so I worked really hard and Melissa helped me into that dress! Tossed my cowboy boots on underneath and away I went.
Being a photographer myself I understand the importance of great light. I wanted to have an evening ceremony as the light is so warm and golden. I was pretty nervous all day as it was quiet windy as it is in Saskatchewan, but an hour before the wedding the wind disappeared and it turned out to be a lovely evening. The location is one of my favorite spots in the city as its not very well know, but it gives the perfect country backyard wedding vibe. I've shot many of my own clients there over the years, the light in the evening in this location is magical and you would have no idea it's in the city.
Our wedding was very small, just our close friends, his mom, my dad and sister. It was so important to me & my dad that he be there to give me away. My husband was so surprised to see me in my original dress, I think it was the perfect surprise. Our ceremony was so perfect, we wrote each other custom words of affirmations and endearment to each other. And of course there was a bunch of laughing as I messed up my words and he cracked jokes. LOL Our dog Cricket even created an impromptu dance party midway into the ceremony by sitting on the phone playing the music. Chloe got to hang out with one of her favorite people, Uncle Andy. It was the perfect day even though it wasn't exactly how we imagined.
We headed out for photos of just the two of us and the sun popped out at the perfect time. It was so nice just to have a few mins to just get lost in each other and create some beautiful images that we can cherish. Juli knocked it out of the park and had us laughing the whole time. So Brides in closing don't let planning a wedding scare you in a pandemic. It may not be as many people as you want, or the way you wanted it to look but remember WHY you want to get married. You want to spend your life with the one you love most and that's all that matters. I'm grateful everyday that we still got married, and going into 2021 with even crazier restrictions it's looking like our Canmore wedding might not even happen.
Dress: Wbridals
Suit: David's distinctive men's apparel
Florals: Blossoms & Bills house of flowers
Dress shoes: Marks work wearhouse
Bridal ring : Ben Moss
Grooms ring: Riverdale iron works
Photographer: Juli Labrecque Photography
Hair: Passions Salon
Makeup: Missy Makeover
Nails: Becky Taman
Jp: Laurel Beyer
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