Burlington, Ontario Wedding from KJ & Co. + Elizabeth In Love

Stephanie Weers
September 4, 2013
Categories: Casual, Real Weddings, Traditional Elegance

By now you’ve probably figured out I’m about as girly as it gets. Pink? Yes. Glitter? Of course. And polka dots? Duh! So when KJ & Co. sent over this pretty little number shot by Elizabeth In Love, I was on cloud nine, to say the least. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I found this: the wedding day photo gallery chock full of goodness all ripe for the pinning. Join me, won’t you?

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From the Bride…As a wedding planner myself, I certainly felt the pressure to plan an amazing wedding, but I was determined for it to be a day that represented BOTH of us, not just everything I’d been hiding away on Pinterest. After our December 2, 2011, engagement we agreed to hold off on planning until the new year but I did ask Dave to sit down with me before that and look at some of the “inspiration” I had been saving, to make sure he was on board. Many of the pictures we both loved continued to be part of the inspiration for our theme over the next 18 months of planning. More than anything, we were looking forward to celebrating with all of our friends and family in one place. It meant a lot to us that so many friends made the trip from across North America.

There were so many decisions to make! Some of them came more easily than others, but we stayed pretty true to the advice I give all my clients; pick details that are personal and meaningful, not what’s traditional or what you see everyone doing. If you love it, do it, trendy or not. I was looking forward to working with some vendors that I had been admiring for a while, and ordering up goodies from several of my fave Etsy shops. While I love all things vintage, it’s not Dave’s style. So a colourful, fun and fresh theme for the day was the best fit for both of us. The invitations were probably our first pick and inspired a lot of the other details. Planning such a colourful event was lots of fun and my mom’s help was unbelievable. Knowing a lot of the staff at Decor & More, where she is director of design and having worked with a lot of them over the years as well, I knew we were in good hands. They totally brought my vision to life. There were definitely categories that were a priority for us, and we invested in amazing photography and cinematography, but we saved by doing some DIY projects like the favours and programs. Not everything needs to be top of the line to be beautiful.

Being pretty sentimental, we chose a venue we visit often, knowing the food would be delicious and we could have our ceremony and reception in one place. Very early on, we asked a good friend of ours to play guitar for the ceremony. While our song choices were unusual (I walked down the aisle to Crazy Girl by Eli Young Band), Jay made such a beautiful arrangement of the music, they fit well. I had a hard time getting out of “planner-mode” the day of the wedding, but as soon as I heard the song playing, I started to cry. I was finally IN the moment.

We also decided early on that having a first look was the way to go. I expected to be pretty emotional the day of the wedding, and I hoped that getting to see Dave early on would calm my nerves. Also our entire wedding party would all get to spend more of the day together. Things worked out differently than expected when we got to the city park for our first look. I was so relieved and happy that it was FINALLY the wedding day after all the planning, that I was excited rather than nervous most of the morning. Dave on the other hand, always happy and laid back, was crying before he even turned around to see me. I had never seen him cry before! Like I mentioned before about “planner-mode”, it was funny how as little hiccups throughout the day occurred, I just brushed them off. Rain in the forecast for most of the day? Oh well, set up the ceremony inside, no point fretting about it all day. Dave’s button popped as soon as I hugged him at the first look and I had decided not to bring my usual (huge) emergency kit, we never bothered to ask others for a needle and thread.

Not only do I hate surprises, I had put together a pretty lengthy itinerary for the day. There were not one, but TWO moments that everyone managed to keep a secret from me. As he finished his speech, Dave pulled me away from the podium as a grand piano was pushed in to the room. He had been taking secret piano lessons for six months in order to play one of my favourite songs. Halfway through the song, I was crying uncontrollably when I realized that all of our guests were singing along and holding lyric sheets. I was dying to know who was in on the surprise and how they had planned all of it. I thought I knew every single detail of the day, since I had been eat-sleep-breathing it for a year and a half! Shortly after that, my brother and some family members surprised us with some old videos they had dug up of family vacations. When I look back on our wedding day, I’m in awe of the photos and our video, how they bring back all the love and emotions we (along with our family and friends felt). So much stress and hard work, but it was truly worth every grey hair and sleepless night to see and hear how much everyone enjoyed themselves and how everything came together for a day that was perfectly “us.”

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