Our Wedding: The Ceremony and Reception

On Monday August 1st, Ryan and I celebrated a year together as a married couple. I wanted to post this then but the weekend got away from me. First off, thank you so much for all the love – both on the announcement of our baby on the way and for our anniversary. I am overwhelmed by how many incredible people we have supporting us in our life together! So on my final “wedding Wednesday,” after showing you the first look and all the photoshoot fun, this is our amazing ceremony and reception. Again, all the photos are done by the very best there is – Kelly Redinger. The gorgeous florals you see are all the handiwork of Janine at FABloomosity. And, my Behind the Blush girls kept me looking pretty all night long…even through the sweaty dancing!

To start, here’s a look at how we added some details to the already stunning Yellowhead Brewery space.

The Decor

From the beginning, I started referring to my wedding theme as a Midsummer Night’s Dream. I wanted a soft palette, lots of candles and added lighting and an assortment of florals. So we started with some punches of green. Janine trailed some greenery across certain tables and in the photo booth area, which was amazing! I hand wrote on every envelope for our guests. There wasn’t assigned seating but inside there were some drink tickets, which came in handy after the free beer and wine ran out (very quickly I might add!).

On the main tables, I wanted a really haphazard floral arrangement and so I started collecting various jars, votives and vases early on. Janine made every table look cohesive, even though there were different flowers and succulents throughout the space. I loved it! On the stage, it was my vision to hang some string lighting and then Janine had the amazing idea to fill the picture frames behind with even more flowers. I think it turned out absolutely stunningly. I will always remember taking it all in when I started walking down the aisle. I was completely blown away by how beautifully it all came together.

The Ceremony

Because Ryan and I share a huge love for Ben Howard, our bridal party walked out to Old Pine and I walked out to Promise, my favourite song ever. It suited us so perfectly!  See that’s me reacting to 1) how amazing it all looked 2) seeing all my friends and family surrounding us. It was such an overwhelming moment – in a good way!!Our ceremony itself was very quick. We had a few personal vows but otherwise, it was short and sweet. Just how we like it! Happy tears!! If you are wondering, no…I did not make it through the ceremony without tearing up!  And, of course, as soon as we all walked back down the aisle, there was a celebratory toast waiting for us! Kelly was then quick to steal us away for a few more photos as the sun was starting to set…

The Reception

Our reception was a blast! I had the best time of my life and I know a lot, if not all, of our guests did too. We had a very informal dinner, some speeches and then the first dances of course. My brother and my dear cousin were our MC’s. All the speeches were so incredible. They made us laugh a lot…and me, well cry a lot too! Our first dance together was to the song I’m So Glad I Met You by Royal Wood. My dad couldn’t quite make it through our dance without crying – like father like daughter I guess! And Ryan’s mom was all smiles when she took to the dance floor with her son.

The Dance

The photos are pretty telling – we barely left the dance floor all night! Our DJ Thomas Scott was absolutely amazing! He could read the crowd so well and played every song we wanted to hear.

And if people weren’t dancing, they were probably taking ridiculous photos in our photo booth area. Going through the hundreds of photos was a serious highlight for Ryan and I – some nearly brought us to tears we laughed so hard. Here’s just a few of the more PG ones…people got very creative and a little crazy towards the end of the night, so I’ll leave those in the vault for now… Even our photographers got in on the photo booth action!

And to cap off our night at the Yellowhead Brewery, Kelly had to take a few last minute snaps in the vats. 

And there you have it! Our whole ceremony and reception! Thank you to everyone for making our wedding a dream come true and thank you for allowing me to share it a year later xoxo