I’m loving this outdoor wedding for so many reasons. Not only is it totally gorgeous and filled with amazing DIY details, but it’s also eco-friendly and that, in my opinion, makes it out of this world cool. This earth conscious couple emailed all their save the dates and invites and donated all the money they saved on stamps to a local charity. Oh, and they even composted all the leftovers from their big day! Add to that the fact that their signature drink was Pimm’s Cup, and you’ve got one smitten wedding blogger. Yum! Jennifer Armstrong Photography captured each and every moment to perfection and you can click here for even more.
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From the bride… Chris and I met while playing on an Ultimate Frisbee team when I was living in London for the year. After five months of dating I had to return to Canada, but we knew we wanted to stay together. It was a year full of eight hour time differences, Skype conversations and flights back and forth before Chris could move to Canada. Four years later, Chris completely surprised me with his proposal. I thought we were going on a casual weekend biking trip around a few of the Gulf Islands. He had sneakily booked us in at a beautiful resort on Galiano Island. He popped the question and my first words were “Are you kidding me?” followed by a quick “Yes, yes, yes!”
My advice to other brides in wedding planning is to throw out any ideas of “rules” about weddings and focus on what is important to you as a couple. Chris and I knew we wanted our wedding to be a big party with a casual atmosphere. We knew that nature, music, wine and making as little environmental impact as possible were all important to us. We also knew that doing this all on budget was essential. We fell in love with Sun Lotus Guesthouse the moment we saw pictures of the site. A wedding in the forest where all our guests could camp overnight — it was our dream! We had lots of creative room to make this place our own and the owners even composted all the food leftovers for us!
I spent much of the year of wedding planning scouring Craigslist and local thrift stores. Collecting vintage flower plates for the dinner, converting flower print sheets into table cloths and painting old picture frames into chalkboards. My family ate more than their fair share of pasta so that we had vases for the flowers. Many of our friends helped out in imbibing bottles of wine to donate corks that we used to make name-card holders. I found free candle holders on Craigslist and other great deals at bridal swaps. Our good friend Jakub designed our invitations. Instead of mailing invitations and thank-yous or giving out party favors, we emailed them and then donated the cost equivalent to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Our tables were named after bands that we had seen in concert and we had quotes about love from one of each of their songs. We both have British heritage which we wanted to recognize so we chose to serve a Pimm’s Cup as our signature drink. It’s a popular summer beverage in England. The mint for this drink came fresh from the garden at the venue. We also had my brother carve signs pointing to important cities in our lives into pieces of driftwood that Chris and I had found along the beach. I wore each of my grandmothers’ engagement rings on my right hand so that they could be with us for the event. The speeches were very informal, and I still laugh about our guests’ unrequested, but appreciated, audience participation. We also had the guests write poems to read out to request us to kiss. Our wedding turned into more of a week-long celebration and it truly was so much fun. We couldn’t have done it all without the help of our family and friends and the amazing eye of our photographer, Jennifer Armstrong, who captured our day beautifully. We frequently look through the photos just to check that it all actually happened, and we feel so lucky that it really did!
Wedding Photography: Jennifer Armstrong Photography / Venue: Sun Lotus Guesthouse / Florist: Leaf and Petal / Catering: Parker Productions / Wedding Dress: Sposa Wedding World / Veil: Caroline Calvert / Bridesmaid Dresses: Alfred Sung / Groom’s + Groomsmen’s Outfits: Taylor 4 Less / Groom’s Hat: Goorin Brothers / Hair: Studio One Hair Professionals (250-709-2195) / Makeup: Matisse Day Spa