Wedding Fever

I cannot believe that I have been married for ONE WHOLE month…seems like yesterday that my newly acquired husband and I were chatting on MSN (every relationship starts somewhere right!?) until the wee hours of the morning. 

Being this my very first blog post, I thought I would share with you some pictures from our wedding and the events leading up to it! 

The whole process started with this beauty of a rock that my husband (I still giggle when I say the word) gave to me – it’s from his family so there is history to it and I am honoured to have received it; he had it redesigned just for me…I think he did good!

Immediately we I started making plans; venue was already decided – growing up country it was a no brainer that we would be married on my parents farm…this was non-negotiable…maybe this whole wedding planning thing wouldn’t be so hard after all.

Having event management experience I already knew that anything with the word “wedding” in it would also have a very large price tag attached to it; but I was determined to not only satisfy my very picky, glamorous taste but do it with a not so glamorous budget…good thing I also love a challenge.   

With location decided, I began with the photographer; has anyone looked into wedding booking a photographer lately, WOW I am in the wrong business!  I managed to locate Elisa from Images by Elisa; you can find her here – she was EXACTLY what I was after and she fit my budget nicely! 

I couldn't have asked for a better photographer!

Keeping with the rustic country theme we had our meal catered by Dominic at Gusto Catering and it was served up family-style.  I spent the summer scoping out garage sales and Kijiji for a great deal on serving platters and bowls that could be used for the meal, I was after non-matching, country looking dinnerware.

Flowers, gardens and grass oh my! 

I’ll mention now that I decided to place our venue (the tent) in the middle of a corn field, yes, that’s right, the middle.  So in the spring my daddo, brother and fantastic uncles had to be crafty when they were planting the corn in order to leave a space large enough for the tent – they would eventually plant the grass too! 

Measure twice, plant once

If you build it, they will come; grass being seeded

Some serious TLC was needed midsummer

My mom on the other hand spent every free moment of her summer gardening.  I left her in charge of this, my green thumb is non-existent, hers on the other hand…well, flowers were blooming in September that shouldn't have been! 

See all the wonderful hard work!?  I would need about 15 more of these to capture all of it!

The Big Day! 

After some melt downs, and tears (it rained the entire week before) we got married outside on my parent’s lawn.  I opted for a rustic feel, guests sat on cushions and bales of hay, and candles replaced traditional flowers.  My inner five year old came out during the planning process so I decided to make our guest book, welcome table décor, candle holders to light the path, center pieces and  table numbers to name a few; I won’t show them all to you, I’ll follow up with a “Wedding DIY” post!

Here are few shots of the ceremony …

The rustic ceremony setting

My Daddo walking me down the aisle...it was just what I had always imagined it would be

*sigh* ...I could just share pictures with you all day long.

We're hitched!

THE dress was purchased at Taylor’s Bridal; totally recommend; Linda will naturally become your fairy Godmother.  I had a vision when I started looking, and no one was deterring me from that, no one – Sean’s only request was that it was strapless…easy enough since I never even considered anything but!  Surprisingly it didn't take me long to ‘Say Yes to the Dress”; although, I did have to envision what it would look like on me since the size I tried on was just a weeeee bit too big (12 sizes too big); nonetheless I paid and walked out of there with the biggest smile, I was the happiest girl in the world! 

I wore wedges (perfect for walking on lawn), some bling, a feather, and left my hair down to channel my inner country music star!

I also talked Husband to be <giggle> into writing our own vows…it was the perfect touch AND they were absolutely wonderful; better than the traditional vows!  I do suggest getting ahead start, writing them the night before like we did is an unnecessary added stress :)

Reception

Keeping with the fall, rustic, country theme, I slaved in the kitchen for 6 hours made (with the help of some very wonderful ladies) our favours; caramel apples – YUM!  They fit perfectly with the meal that Dominic prepared – they based the meal on what’s was season and purchased everything local; have I mentioned that I love Gusto and that the meal was delicious!?

Husband to be and I also made our wine; fun fact: you should actually start making wine up to a year before.  We didn’t even have a year to plan; it was all happening in 8 months from when he popped the question.

The amazing home-made wine: a red Bardolino; white: Pinot Grigio

Hustle and bustle of our guests

Our tent all lit up!

So there it is, an incredibly short version of our wedding – I will expand on a couple of the DIY’s in a later post (I can’t write about everything on the first day).  I like to think that the wedding looked rustic/country yet elegant and classy; I also like to think it looked like it cost a million bucks!  Wish I could plan another one…any takers out there???