Jessica and Mike had a beautiful and relaxed wedding close to nature in Canada. They like to host dinner parties at home – lots of home-style food and loud music – and wanted everyone to feel confortable on their wedding day, just as if it would be at home… Apparently, the bride’s 80+ year old grandmother ended up dancing to the band playing Footloose, so I guess we can call this a success! I love their ceremony backdrop, the idea of using song names for the different tables and the venue with all those windows looking onto the surrounding nature! Photography by Tomasz Wagner, out of Vancouver, Canada.
After Mike proposed, our toughest decision was which province to have the wedding. Once we decided on British Columbia, Whistler was an obvious choice. The Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre was such a fun venue, with attributes like a beautiful outdoor space and the Istken Hall, which is a unique round room made up of all windows that shows off the gorgeous scenery. It would have been impossible to pass up. After that, all the decisions came easily thanks to Jessica Minnie at Petite Pearl Events. She was so integral to making our day easy and special that I can’t rave about her enough. It was Jessica that put us in contact with Tomasz Wagner, whose photos were exactly what we were looking for in terms of style. We didn’t want anything overtly wedding-y, and what we got with Tomasz was beautiful fine art photos that happened to be of our wedding. Perfect. Mike and I love to open our home to family and friends. Jessica Minnie coordinated Whistler Cooks and the Last Scene, our caterer and band respectively. They were so perfect that it seemed as if people were coming to dinner at our home.
Of the whole day, the top moments started early and continued until the band played the last song. An early morning run with my mom will forever be such a great memory, and we followed that up with a huge group of the women both in and invited to the wedding being part of a private morning yoga practice before we started getting ready. I’ll never forget the first time my stepdad saw me in my dress and the look on his face, which was right before I saw the look on Mike’s face and his huge grin. Walking down the aisle to Mark Woodyard playing ‘Longing to Belong’ was beautiful, I only wish it had been a longer aisle. Right after we said our vows and turned to the crowd of family and friends was when it hit me that we were both having such a fun day and then ‘holy cow all these people are here to do this with us, how great is that?!’. After our first dance, the band started playing and got everyone on the dance floor. It was never empty the rest of the night! The only time people took time out from dancing was to hit up the Polaroid Photobooth set up outside, which was a huge hit with all our guests. When we finally headed back to the hotel, a short walk from the venue, we took a moment to look up and see the beautiful clear night absolutely filled with stars and knew that it had been our perfect, perfect day.
Name one thing you regret…
Whistler Cooks did such a beautiful job on the family-style dinner and in particular the salads. We wish that we had thought of cute takeaway containers as there was so much left over that our guests expressed they would have loved to take them home. It’s nice to have wedding food that people rave about and remember!
… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.
Everyone had such a great time, we were just so happy to have a party that was so close to hosting all the people we love to our home.
The word of the photographer.
Thinking back, the whole day mirrored Jessica and Mike to a T. Both were happy to keep the event simple and understated, which really only helped amplify the sense of closeness between all of the attendees. The groom, who was full of nerves, took solace in the brotherly advice of his cohorts and that same support was mirrored, if perhaps softened, in the bride’s room. The ceremony was short and sweet. Anxious excitement melted into tears of joy which then flipped back to smiles and laughter.
Once the formalities were dispensed with, we stole the wedding party away for a quick jaunt through the surrounding forest where the couple could collect their thoughts and bask in the reflection of their newly cemented nuptials. The light peeking through the overgrowth was spectacular and I can still remember how excited I was to see the images on a larger screen. The ethereal greens and flares still vivid in my memory.
The calm eventually gave way to a raucous celebration of drinking and dancing at the Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre. A live band played the group into the night where our very own Polaroid Photobooth was a huge hit.
Thank you, Jess and Mike, for letting me share in your special day. It won’t soon be forgotten!
