God’s Mountain Wedding from Well, Hello Photography

Abby Capalbo
November 7, 2013
Categories: The Blog

I don’t think I could love this wedding more if I tried. Actually I know I couldn’t. It’s filled to the brim with details so darling I could squeal, and a couple so adorable I just want to squeeze them. I basically want to spend all day with these gorgeous images from Well, Hello Photography, and I might do just that. See all the pretty here.

From the Bride, Annie…The first time Duncan took me to God’s Mountain seven years ago my jaw dropped and I fell instantly in love with its eclectic beauty. The white washed stucco buildings on the property reminded me of being in Greece or Italy and the warm evening breeze made me feel drunk with romance. Rows of Riesling vines lead away from the main guesthouse and toward the towering rock faces that surround the property. Tiny strings of lights lit our way as Duncan’s good friend and now proprietress of the Mountain showed us to our room. We zigzagged through the main house past walls of books, cases full of tiny figures and dishes and curious tools, past antique accordions and typewriters, through hallways where faces in huge oil paintings watched us. I felt like we had gone back in time. Each of the 14 rooms in the house was different from the last and each was decorated with more countless antique objects. That was the beginning of our love affair with God’s Mountain and we have been back every year since. We even moved to the Mountain to work on the property cleaning rooms, working in the vineyard and helping with whatever else needed doing–just to be there. Last summer on our visit to God’s Mountain we sat in the vineyard and Duncan proposed to me over a sunset and a bottle of local wine. This very special place became even more special and we knew we had to have our wedding here.

Our venue didn’t need much in the way of decoration so we kept it simple. This worked in our favour as we were on a tight budget. We wanted rustic romance for our wedding so we had friends and family rescue used glass jars from their recycling bins for us. We put a candle in each one and hung all 88 of our collection with jute from the tree branches surrounding the reception and dance floor areas. It looked like fireflies in the trees. Duncan made hand painted signs with recycled wood scraps found in our neighbourhood. We made little envelopes and filled them with lavender for our guests to shower us with after the ceremony instead of rice. I made terrariums using gathered moss and twigs from our local hiking trail, and crafted some crepe paper flowers to pretty them up. We used olive branches from around the property to wrap around banisters and local peaches as a centrepiece.

Sarah, the owner and spirit behind God’s Mountain’s eccentric style, had been a dear friend to Duncan for years and through our time spent there, had become like family to me. It seemed only fitting to have her perform our ceremony. We wanted everything about our wedding to feel personal and intimate. We even had our pug Louise as our ring barer. We had all of our photos taken before our ceremony which meant that afterwards we got to enjoy sparkling wine, canapés, and cello music with our guests.

Our favourite part of this magical day was the time we spent with our guests sitting around one long communal table. Local, seasonal, and organic food from nearby farms was expertly prepared by our caterers. Paired with our favourite Okanagan wine and a beautiful view of Skaha Lake in the background, it was an experience we will not forget. I made our wedding cake myself and it felt good to offer our guests a sweet ending made with so much love.