I was so thrilled to do the “day – of” services for my dear friends Chris & Kara, as they embarked on the next chapter of their lives together. They are really the sweetest couple, and they have an amazing love story. Check out some of the stunning photos of this gorgeous couple, their wedding, and how she describes it all down at the bottom of the blog!
From The Bride:
About us: Chris and I met at a local summer camp when we were about 14 years old. After a couple of summers of being friends only at camp, we started to hang out during the year and started to date May of 2002. I left for university in Toronto after graduation in 2003 and we decided to do whatever we could to make our relationship work through the long distance. There were moments of doubt and glorious days spent together on school vacations and somehow we made it work. Once I came back home again in 2008, we took a year of living in the same time zone together before deciding to move in together. In June 2009 we found a basement suite and started the next chapter of our lives together – finally in one place! Of course, after 7 years of being a couple we had many questions about when we would be getting married but those curious folks (and I!) were just going to have to wait a bit longer before Chris decided it was time to take that leap…
The Proposal: I have to warn all you readers out there, this is not an extremely romantic proposal story, but it’s mine and Chris’ and I don’t think I’d change a thing about it! January 2010 – hints were being made and I was starting to catch on so I figured that with my birthday only a few days away that I’d be getting a nice birthday gift this year! But, my birthday came and went, then Valentine’s Day passed and I was starting to wonder when that ring was going to present itself! March started to get busy and with our opposite work schedules Chris and I weren’t seeing each other very much. We made a point of planning a date night Saturday March 13th. After work and a couple of social engagements. I came home and started doing the laundry. At the time, our laundry room had a tiny window that looked out to the pathway leading to our door. I saw Chris approaching with a few groceries and he smiled first at our cat sitting in the window then at me. He came in the door, placed the groceries on the laundry room floor and made me stop putting clothes in the washing machine. He started to tell me some wonderfully sweet things and gave me a kiss. At this point I know whats coming (and can’t believe he’s going to propose while I’m doing the laundry!) and he leads me into the spare room of our basement suite where he’s had the ring hiding. Chris got down on his knees (yes, both for some reason!) and asked me to be his wife – and of course I said yes! The groceries he’d bought were for dinner and he proceeded to cook us a delicious dinner! Like I said at the beginning, it wasn’t a huge, overly planned proposal, but it was from the heart, simple, and low key which sums us up in a nutshell.
The Planning: Since we were engaged in March 2010 and knew that we wanted a summer wedding, we decided fairly early on that we were not prepared to plan a wedding in 4 months time. So we opted to get married in 2011. The first thing we agreed on was the location. Having met at summer camp and knowing that that camp had recently been converted into a public park, it was without a doubt a unanimous decision and the perfect place to have our ceremony and reception. Since I now had over a year to put the wedding together, I had lots of time to think about food, decor, music, etc. I did attend a Bridal Show in January 2011 but since I already had most of the major decisions made by then, I found it very overwhelming and slightly unnecessary! Once the date was chosen, we booked the halls at Kwomais Point Park, chose our minister who was a family friend, chose our colours (green for Chris and pink for me!), chose our wedding party, found outifts for the men while Christmas shopping, and started scouring craigslist for good deals on things we could use. I found our candy buffet jars and scoops from another bride, bought an entire roll of tulle for the decor, found a florist with decent prices, ordered bulk gerbera daisies from Safeway (which with a couple of friends created centerpieces and window decoration in the green wine bottles my mom found at the thrift shop), collected picture frames on sale also for centerpieces and got my dad on making collages of photos of both Chris and myself growing up in lieu of a slide show. We decided to save money on a DJ and instead put together a playlist on the compute which one of our groomsmen put together for us. There was a woman at my church who I knew I could trust with making great food so she and her business partner came together to give me a great deal on our finger foods for the reception. My cousin’s husband is a photographer and he graciously agreed at our annual family camping trip to take on our wedding even though they live in Edmonton! My mom made my dress, I wore her veil, and other than the maid of honour who made her own dress, my mother also sewed the other bridesmaids dresses, the flower girl’s dress, and her own outfit! We bought Chris a suit that he would be able to wear again if he should ever need to. Everything was falling into place quite nicely! Around February I was introduced to Ainsley of Idea! Weddings and Events through our friend whom she had started dating and when I discovered that she was a wedding coordinator I asked her if she’d like to assist with out wedding day. Chris and I had most of the choices made and decor plans in place, but it was great to have Ainsley available on the day of the wedding and the weeks leading up to the big day. She helped me pick my hair extentions (more stressful than you might imagine!) and helped with some of the tedious cutting and pasting of the various DIY projects I had on the go. I had a number of family members and friends from out of town who wanted to help with decorating so that became the team that Ainsley was able to direct and manage on the day of the wedding. All in all the planning process was stressful but really not that bad absolutely worth it! We planned a wedding that was just “us”. It was a day filled with love, family, and fun. I would not change a thing about the wedding – except perhaps making it last longer!
As we slowly get back on track with our blogs after this weekends wedding, we hope that you are patient. We are doing our very best to bring you the beautiful world of weddings.
Ainsley's Affairs 