Yes, I'll marry you- Strathmore wedding- Lovestruck Portraits

Jan 13, 20238 min read

Sarah & Steve's wedding was a BLAST!!! I LOVED working them for both their engagement photos and their wedding day. I joined the gals at the hotel in Strathmore in the morning while they got their hair and makeup finished up. Sarah brought along her invites which were perfect for her detail shots in the morning. Jenn my wonderful second shooter headed out to capture the guys at the venue. Let me be the first to say.. if you haven't been out to there you need to check it out! The tree lined driveway, ponds, gazebo's and other unique spots make this venue one of of a kind! They held their ceremony next to the pond lol on probably one of the hottest days in July.When Steve saw Sarah come down the isle he was filled with emotion. Their ceremony was one of the most touching heartfelt ceremonies i've had the joy of capturing

After their ceremony we snuck away to take their wedding party photos. We took photos by some of the unique spots around the venue. I loved their fun nature and how romantic they are together. Their reception was in a beautiful tent and their dancefloor was setup so they could dance the night way under the stars. Steve's family is from newfoundland... so if you have ever captured or been to a newfie wedding.... you know what that means!! Sarah had to kiss the cod and drink screech to become an honorary newfie herself. One of my favorite parts of the night was watching the first dances. I most definitely cried ... lol we can blame it on pregnancy's hormones lol.

But here is Sarah & Steves love story and tips......

We were both out for drinks, Sarah was with friends and Steve was out with a date and some friends. It was a random Saturday in May, and both groups were sitting on the patio at the pub, Sarah and her friends were sitting around a table with a firepit which made Steve and his date very jealous. It was a chilly night in May, both groups ended up sitting around the file table together having a few drinks and sharing laughs. As the night goes on, Steve's date and her friends leave the bar, so he decided to stick around, and the smaller group kept visiting and laughing. When the date left, they bonded over online dating horror stories and ended up reviewing and editing each other’s' Tinder profiles. Towards the end of the night, Steve confidentially asked Sarah and her two friends for their phone numbers so they could all hang out again. Sarah was disheartened when this happened as she thought this man was asking only to get her friends number. Clearly Sarah was wrong. It has been nearly five years since this night, and we have been nearly inseparable since that night.

Honestly, we got into a bit of a home-date routine during COVID and it hasn't really changed. So quite often our date nights include dinner ordered in and a new movie. When we do go out though we like this cute little pub we had our first official date at, called Bobby's Place in Calgary.

What is your favorite thing about each other?

About Steve- There is so much to love about Steve, it’s hard to write it all down. He is very kind, caring, passionate, thoughtful, and sympathetic. I love how much of a hands-on parent he is, and how the two boys are his world. I love that he has welcomed me into their lives, and in return I’ve welcomed them into mine. I love that every morning he still texts me good morning, even if I am just downstairs drinking my coffee. I love the little kisses on my forehead or shoulders, they make me feel so special. He validates my feelings, views and opinions, and isn’t afraid to hold me accountable and have those hard conversations. He does the dishes when I make a mess in the kitchen. When I am having a hard day he knows what to say and gives the best hugs. I really am lucky to have such an amazing partner, and I can’t wait to call him my husband.

About Sarah- I love that she is always so thoughtful and thinking about how to help others, how she has accepted and taken on the boys as her own and her obvious love for them. She is a very proactive thinker and therefore always thinking about what makes sense to do next. We have a similar enough mindset that we work very well as a team but differently enough that she compliments my approach. She helps me see logic that I sometimes won’t on my own. She is the ying to my yang, as the cliché goes. On the other hand, I love when she is zany and our little in-jokes. Like starfishing across the bed, for example. I also adore her toes, her shoulders, anywhere I can lightly kiss basically. She makes me excited for the days to come.

Overall, we complement each other’s personalities in every way. We have a great chemistry and work together well. We pick up where the other leaves off naturally and without thought. We never stop laughing at each other, even when the other person doesn’t initially think it’s funny. We support each other, listen to each other and encourage each other to be the best version of ourselves we can be.

How did your Fiancé pop the question?

Sarah’s birthday was coming up and we had Steve's kids for the weekend. As such, we had some small presents to give to her, mainly from the two kids. At this point in our relationship, it’s been a few years so there was some anticipation as to when we were going to get engaged. Steve intentionally downplayed his plans and told her that the night with the boys was the extent of his plans for her. Sarah was disappointed when nothing happened, but Steve was working on getting the best surprise reaction. On her actual birthday, after work Sarah went and ran errands, while Steve rushed home to prepare for his surprise. When Sarah returned home and finished putting groceries away, she went downstairs to see if Steve was going to come eat dinner. He told her to sit down, that he had to tell her something. Then all of a sudden, he had his guitar and proceeded to sing a love song he wrote specifically for her. Afterwards, he pulled out a small box, got on one knee and popped the question.

Any other fun details about your love story?

We’re just fun people, so our love story is just fun to begin with 😊

What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

There were a couple of different parts of our wedding day that really stuck out. We’re both romantics, and so the first moment where we locked eyes as Sarah was walking down the aisle is something neither of us will forget.

We both really love our parents, and so our parents dance had a lot of emotion and personal moments.

We also just really loved our reception in general. We literally had something for everyone, yard games, mad libs, card games, photo booth, dancing, skits etc. It was just a fun time, the last thing we wanted was another boring reception, so we put a lot of planning into making the night fun.

Our venue was a dream, it was outside under the stars in a tent in the country. What more could an Alberta girl ask for. It was amazing to be able to do our ceremony, reception and photos all in one location. We made sure to have snacks, drinks and activities for guests while photos were being taken which helped with the party vibe throughout the night.

The party. This is really what our wedding was about, the celebration and the party. We danced and drank until wee hours in the morning. I think we planned to be shut down by 1:30, but ended up extending the party an extra few hours so we could dance barefoot under the stars just for a little longer.

Did you go on a honeymoon?

We didn't do a big trip after our wedding, but we did manage to sneak away to the mountains for a few nights. After the wedding, we had family visiting for a few weeks so after everyone flew home we packed up our car and small tent trailer and hit up Kananaskis country for a few days. We wanted to get away, but also wanted to be budget friendly since we just finished paying for a wedding, so we decided to go camping which we both love and then took a day trip to the Kananaskis Nordic Spa so we could really just enjoy our time as a married couple. We do plan on making a trip somewhere warm in the near(ish) future though!

How did you feel on your wedding day?

There was a lot of anticipation if we could be honest, with some moments of stress but in the end, everything worked out how it needed to. But we made many precious memories of our families officially meeting and coming together to celebrate.

There was a giant sense of relief knowing that all our planning had paid off and everything was coming together. We took a lot of pride in the work we put in for our vision to come to life. Overall, we felt very joyous and thankful and now have so many photos we can look back on and remember the moments.

The few tips I have for Brides and Grooms about planning and the day of it would be:

- Have faith it will all work out and come together, as long as you have each other, someone to legally marry you, a witness and your marriage license the rest is just extra.

- Hire a videographer if you can, we love having a wedding video.

- If you have family who can’t attend, look at doing a live stream of your wedding. We did a Facebook live which seemed to work well.

- Stay organized when planning, have some sort of wedding binder where you keep EVERYTHING

- Hire a day of coordinator if you can. We had a family friend offer this to us, and it was the greatest gift knowing that we had someone to deal with any day of or day before issues that may have popped up.

- Explain expectation to wedding party. This one may seem silly, but we found out that not everyone understood what we would need or want from them. Which ended up making us feel bad because we didn’t want to be “those” people who had unrealistic last min asks. So, make sure if you want your wedding party to take a day off work to help set up, you tell them. You want them there to take down the morning after, you make sure they know that.

- If you think it’s too early to book something you are probably wrong. This one I can’t stress enough, it really is heartbreaking to have a vendor you really want to work with already be booked on that day.

- Just breathe and take a step back and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and that the day really is just about the two of you, no matter what anyone else says.

- If you can, during your reception take moment to remove yourself and your partner from the wedding. Take a step back and look and what is going on around you and all the fun that is being had. These people are there because they love you and want to celebrate, don’t forget cherish those moments.