Our Wedding Day {Wedding Wednesday}

We got the wedding photos from our photographer, Tony DiLorenzo last week – and I love them. I’m so glad we took the time to find a photographer that we liked to work with and who took amazing photographs. It’s been like reliving that amazing day all over again.

We got married at WaterStone Estate in King Township, Ontario on May 10th, 2014 – the first beautiful weekend of spring weather we’d had.

The day before, we decorated the hall with mercury glass, moss covered letters and beautiful centerpieces made by my brilliantly talented mother. The room itself didn’t need much decorating – it looked great with the stone fireplaces (in this hall and in the bar), wood floors and natural light coming in from all the windows.

My mother, sister and I had quite the time looking for my dress, but then we walked into a boutique one day and there it was in the window – never worn before, in my size and 30% off during a holiday sale. It was serendipity.

My mother did the bouquets too and they turned out amazing – garden roses, hydrangea, ranunculus and dusty miller.

Garrett looked so dashing in this dark three piece grey tux, complete with a pocket square I made him last minute (just an unhemmed square of black silk) and a boutonniere made by my mom.

I have to admit that I was really nervous before the ceremony – not because I was marrying Garrett (there is nothing I’ve been more sure of in my life) – but because standing in front of all those people and saying such personal things made me have that fluttering feeling. Even Garrett with his normally steely resolve admitted that it made him nervous too. A good friend of mine sent me an email that morning (she must have known how I’d be) that said that when I get up there, think about how at the end of the day he was still the guy I hang out with at home watching TV in my PJs – and she was right.

 It wasn’t long before guests were filing in and taking their seats.

As my dad and I made our way around the building and down the pathway to the outdoor chapel, my veil (which I made myself!) was determined to wrap around us in the gale force winds. We both couldn’t stop laughing.

We wrote our vows to each other and said them in front of all our family and friends…but really everyone just faded away when we were saying them and the only thing I thought about was him holding my hand and the words he was saying – especially the promise to remove all the spiders from our house.

 And before we knew it – we were husband and wife!

Our guests headed inside for a cocktail hour of signature drinks and hors d’oeuvres, while the wedding party joined us out in the field for photos. I loved these ones taken near one of the horse jumps.

My ladies – every single one of them means so much to me and it was awesome to have them there to celebrate with us.

 Garrett and the boys.

We headed up to an old barn on the property for some more photos and were met by this adorable ginger barn cat.

 He wanted to see what all the commotion was about.

One of Garrett’s groomsmen thought it was a good idea to pick him up – and then suffered an allergic reaction for half the reception!

Garrett, always the animal lover, had to hang out with him too. I was careful to only get close enough for an ear scratch, because no one wants a puffy eyed bride.

We had so much fun with the photographers and videographers, getting some fun and playful shots, as well as the serious ones.

Then they did some shots of just Garrett and I, which I’m so excited to have now. All our photos of us before have been selfies and staged pictures taken by friends and family. It’s great to have some more “candid” ones.

After the photos, we joined the rest of our guests inside. It was so nice to walk into a room with all the people we love, all together in one space.

Our favours were these jars of local honey and packets of wildflower seeds. I cannot wait to share all the details on them.

The speeches were all great. We opted out of having an MC and instead had both of our mothers come up together to say a few words. Then we let some of the wedding party up. My brother had us all laughing – he is always the comedian in the family, with a devilish grin the whole time.

My sister / maid of honour / best friend had me tearing up in the first sentence when she introduced herself as my sister. No one knows me like she does – that’s what sharing a room for so many years does to you.

Garrett’s best man Brian was sure to get a couple of laughs in there too for his speech and gush about the bromance they have. The ongoing joke that weekend was that he was Best Manzilla because it was determined to get everything just right – and we were so thankful for that. He was such a big help on the day and leading up to it, as was the rest of our amazing wedding party. We really are lucky to have such great friends and family.

Our cake turned out lovely, thanks to some help from my mama to put the flower on it. The topper is actually the one that my Great Aunt Marian used, and then my parents used it 30 years ago and now we’ve used it too. The stand reminded me of something from Downton Abbey and if it wasn’t so massive, I’d find an excuse to keep it and serve stuff on it every day…even just grilled cheese sandwiches.

We headed outside between dinner and dessert to catch the sun setting over the hills. There were hiccups (every wedding has them) but I can remember standing there at that moment and thinking that it was perfect.

Our first dance was “The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra. Garrett says his inspiration for the dance was this scene from the movie Witness with Harrison Ford (which also has one of our favourite songs to sing to each other in it).

Dancing with my Dad to “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. He had me crying happy tears within the first 20 seconds.

 Garrett grabbed his mom and joined in.

Then the music picked up and we danced with all our friends, including the Oil Thigh, a Gaelic song that has been the cheer of Queen’s University for 123 years. Between me, my sister, our cousin and all my friends, there was over a dozen of us there to represent. I’m sure that the rest of the wedding guests thought we were nuts, but I loved that we got to have a little college pride together that night.

It really was a fantastic night and we got so many lovely messages and phone calls from guests the next week telling us they had such a great time – which is what we wanted all along…a fun party to celebrate us joining in matrimony with all our loved ones there.