One of the many reasons we went with November 8 for our wedding was because I really wanted a winter wedding, but didn’t want it to be too cold for photos outside. But I was starting to get pretty nervous because even up to Friday night when I went to bed there wasn’t a single snowflake on the ground - even in Edmonton where it’s pretty common to be dashing through the snow on Halloween.
So I thought we would be resigned to having a brown, leafless, icky background for wedding photos until....
We woke up to a winter wonderland! It probably wasn’t that welcome of a sight for those driving a long way for the wedding, or for those more accustomed to warmer climates like Vancouver and Toronto, but I was really happy.
I’ll do a second post on outfits, hair & makeup and decor; there are several stories to tell that I don’t want to condense.
Obviously, the day was wonderful. The worst things that happened was that we ordered way (way WAY) too much cake - which we donated to a local shelter - and that I danced so hard I broke my shoe.
Our venue was the beautiful Freemasons’ Hall downtown. I would encourage EVERYONE, no matter the occasion, to consider booking the hall for their next Edmonton event. Ken and Angel are wonderful hosts who bent over backwards to make our special day possible.
They hosted our ceremony and reception, catered, and did 99% of the set up and take down, outside of what we brought in ourselves. Also, everything was the fraction of the price of other halls in Edmonton and none of them offered the beauty of the 80 year old hall nor the service.
We did our photos at the Alberta Legislature, where I now work and where Ian and I had our first date. Since we were trying to do the wedding as affordable as possible, it was easier for us to take the train (there was a station next to the hall directly to the Legislature).
When we got to the Leg we were disappointed to see that the steps were being occupied by a rally - purely because of selfish, photographic reasons, of course - but after shooting in a different location, we came back around to find that the crowd had mostly dispersed, and all that were left were a few people, as well as LED tea lights in the shape of a heart. We couldn’t pass up that photo opportunity!
All of our photos were by Jordan Verlage. Being a photographer himself, Ian was the one tasked with finding a photographer for our wedding and we loved having Jordan document our day. As an award winning photojournalist, he captured everything beautifully (and stealthily).
Mine and my bridesmaids hair was done by the wonderful Krista Dee, who I was so happy to have drive up from Calgary to spend the day with us, along with her hubby and little one Solanah! She did a great job and my hair withstood wind, snow, dancing and more.
Our DJs - who I give credit to when our guests say it was the best wedding they’ve been to - were Krista and Devin of Newley Sound. If you ever need DJs for anything, I highly recommend snapping these two up! They are an amazing duo, and the kind of folks where it took us 3 hours to do a consultation meeting because we were too busy chatting to get down to business. Special props to Krista, who was DJing at 35 weeks pregnant. They're also as weird as us, which is a nice bonus.
Instead of a dance with my dad, he and I opted to sing and play Stand By Me, while Ian and his mom danced. My dad and I have always bonded over a love of music, and I loved being able to do this with him.
Following the parental dance was our first dance as husband and wife to Chances by Jill Barber.... which then immediately went into Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.
I was so grateful to have my best friends Bailey and Heather, as well as my little sister Maryanne, standing beside me as I said my vows. And it was great to see Ian’s best friends Tom and Nicola beside him; since they live in BC, we don’t get to see each other very often (I actually met Nicola for the first time the day before).
All in all, it was the most amazing day. I can’t believe it’s already been a month and a half since we tied the knot!
