Our Wedding: November 3, 2018
This is our wee little white church! This church is located in Pembroke, Ontario and is actually part of an outdoor museum and heritage village. It fits about 80 people comfortably, but we managed to squeeze about 90 in. ;) We loved the intimate feel of the space along with the character.
This log cabin is right across the pathway from the church. Shawn’s grandma was actually born in this house, which made this ceremony location extra special for us. My bridesmaids and I used this cabin as a place to primp and hang out before the ceremony started.
We lined the entrance to the church with small potted cedar tree (that we re-used in our reception venue later in the evening) and popped up this sign made by yours truly. Well if I’m being truthful, Shawn constructed the signs out of leftover plywood and door trim we had in our basement, and I painted them white and wrote on the text with a gold foil pen. I think it turned out great!
The church had a tiny little entryway that we dressed up with one of our engagement photos framed, along with a bouquet, a sprig of winter greenery and an IKEA lantern and candle.
We wanted to keep our florals simple and slightly rustic with lots of roses, pops of blue (our accent color) and filled out with winter greenery. We worked with Carla from Capital Florist in Ottawa, Ontario and we loved how all of the arrangements turned out.
For the pews we kept it super simple with baby’s breath tied with blue satin ribbon. We had to keep the pew decor streamlined because it was such a small space!
Loved loved loved that we were able to actually use this old wood burning fireplace at the back of the church. Really helped to set the intimate mood for the ceremony. :)
We hired a violinist and a guitarist to play us down the aisle and accent the ceremony. I walked down the aisle to Moon River.
This was right after the ceremony. :) Please pay special attention to this absolutely gorgeous floral hoop (again made by Carla from Capital Florist). Instead of bouquets, all the bridesmaids carried smaller versions of this floral hoop.
Bridesmaid dresses were satin (with pockets!) from David’s bridal and I picked up these dusty pink shawls for $10 each at Ardenes. We went with light gray suits and brown leather loafers from Moore’s for the guys - tip, if using Moore’s ask them to tailor the jackets and pants in a slimmer fit. We found they were originally too boxy/dated looking.
Despite the smiles and happy faces we were all freezing it was such a cold a day!
For the ceremony and outside photos I wore a cropped cashmere sweater (oddly enough I found this at Dynamite on a random shopping trip) over my wedding dress and accented my waistline with this pretty pearl bridal belt. I also finished off the whole look with a pearl veil from the same Etsy shop. I also gifted each bridesmaid a gold hair comb (linked here) from the same Etsy shop - they made great bridesmaid gifts!
This table was placed directly at the entrance/exit of our reception hall. While we put favors at each place setting on each table, we also set out a box of extra favors and this proved to be a BIG hit. It took us a long time to decide on what we wanted to give out as wedding favors, but we finally settled on these individual pressed coffee bricks that came in an assortment of fall flavors (think apple pie, cinnamon donut, hazelnut cream, etc.). We were able to get a discount on a bulk order which made it a much more affordable option that even small bags of chocolate almonds for each guest would have been (one of our original options). The coffee bricks were already wrapped a pretty gold foil, but we tied some blue ribbon around each one as well to tie them in with our theme just a bit more. ;) We used Zavida Coffee Roasters for our wedding favors and they were super accommodating.
For our table centerpieces we get it simple with IKEA lanterns surrounded by wreaths made up of winter greenery, eucalyptus and white roses.
And again for the head table we kept it simple and dressed the table with a full garland of winter greenery accented with white pillar candles for a pretty sparkle.
Our first dance song was “All About Your Heart” by Mindy Gledhill. Listen here.
Behind the scenes…
My first wedding dress fiting - I ended up adding very thin satin straps about a week before the wedding.
Our wedding invites - we got the design off of Etsy and changed the color in photoshop to suit our blue theme.
Trying on my veil for the first time. ;)
The day before our wedding heading off for a pamper day. ;)
I had just finished our wedding signs! Took photos for parental approval. ;)
These are the wedding day care packages I made for my bridesmaids - the bags themselves were $2 each from Dollarama, and I just ironed on these stitched letters ($1.50 each from a fabric store) for their first initials onto each. Then I filled each with snacks, drinks, nail polish, a bath bomb and other goodies.
