Rustic DIY Backyard Wedding in Vancouver
Gorgeous in every sense of the word, this backyard Vancouver beauty will have your heart singing the prettiest of songs this morning. With charming rustic details and love-filled images from ShoeBox Photography, this gallery is filled to the brim with all the things we love here at SMP. See them all here.
From ShoeBox Photography... I have another beautiful wedding for you. This one from Vancouver, BC Canada. A private residence in Abbotsford, BC. (The property actually was once home to the Lead Singer of Nickelback, Chad Kroeger. So that's kinda fun.)
From The Bride...When we became engaged we knew right away the type of wedding we wanted to have. We wanted a very small and intimate gathering with our closest family and friends. We wanted them to have great food ,drink great wine and have the time of their lives. We both love the outdoors so it was very natural that we wanted to have our ceremony and reception under the open sky. We started looking for venues and although we saw many beautiful ones we liked, nothing jumped out at us. I was speaking to a close friend and was sharing with him the vision we had for our day. Without a moment of hesitation he offered us his home. My husband and I knew instantly that it would be the absolute perfect place for us to celebrate the most important day of our lives.
I left my job 6 months before the wedding so I had a lot of time to focus and decide on what was important. We didn’t want to have a traditional wedding filled with things that “you’re supposed to have or supposed to do”. We wanted every moment of our day to be one of joy and indescribable love for each other, and our family and friends. We just knew that we wanted it very organic and simple.
Food plays a very big part in our relationship so we knew who ever we booked would have to be pretty special. We knew that we did not want to have a lot of décor. Our location was stunning in its own right and we did not want to take away from that. We wanted everything to be as natural as possible. It was very important to us to have a full organic and farm to table menu. Living in BC we are so blessed to have local farmers and artisans that have amazing products we wanted to really utilize that. Our alcohol came from a local winery just down the road from where we were getting married. Our wedding favours were strawberry preserves. We drove out to the farm ,picked the strawberries and set to work making our preserves with love. The entire process of canning up to choosing the fabric to place over them was pretty bonding. You really get to know someone when your stuck in the kitchen in the hot days of summer over an equally hot stove. We were happy with the outcome.
We had a lot of friends helping us along the way whenever they could. We had a friend that was a graphic designer so after sending him our ideas he designed our invitations. I found the envelopes online that I absolutely adored. My husband loved the idea of real wax seals so we had them with his initial. We had another friend over addressing all the cards and sealing with wax. It was a great feeling to know that your friends are willing to jump in in anyway to help. This came in very handy when we had to get over 40 light bulbs and turn them into hanging vases. We set up an assembly line so every one had their particular job and within an hour it was done. Having great friends is wonderful!
I planned to do my flowers on my own but fate had other plans for me. I was sitting at my local coffee shop and talking on the phone. I was booking an appointment with a florist to place my order. Once I ended the call the person next to me introduced himself. What are the chances that he would be an up and coming Florist? He showed me his portfolio and I was blown away. We had a consultation right there and the next thing you know he was booked.
The summer here in Vancouver was amazing. One of the best we have had in a very long time The entire month of July it was nothing but sunshine and the start of August was no exception. One week before our wedding it began to rain…and rain…and rain. I was hysterically checking the weather sites every few hours. It was expected to rain all the way up to our Saturday wedding with sunshine starting on the Sunday. I was panicked. Our tent rental company contacted me and asked to set up days earlier than previously agreed as they wanted to keep a bit of our reception site dry.
When we went out to the house for our rehearsal it was pouring rain. We actually didn’t even go through the entire rehearsal because we were getting so wet. Once the rehearsal was finished we began setting up. I have never been so overcome with emotion as I was on that night. Watching my family, my husbands family and a few friends out in the pouring rain, lightning and thunder helping us create our special day.
As we were driving out to our location on our day there was torrential down pour. I was a nervous wreck. About two hours before the ceremony was to begin the clouds started parting. It was beyond perfect! The sun even came out after we said our I do’s. With the help of our family and friends we had the most perfect day! We have said everyday since then that we wish we could relive it over and over.
My advice to any newly engaged couple is this... Pick a few things that are most important to you and your fiancé and stick to making them happen. Let everything else go. Remember that the day is about the two of you celebrating your love, nothing else, so no matter what happens it will be the most perfect day in itself. And on your special day take everything in. The sounds, smells….everything. It will be your day and nothing will ever compare.
From The Bride...When we became engaged we knew right away the type of wedding we wanted to have. We wanted a very small and intimate gathering with our closest family and friends. We wanted them to have great food ,drink great wine and have the time of their lives. We both love the outdoors so it was very natural that we wanted to have our ceremony and reception under the open sky. We started looking for venues and although we saw many beautiful ones we liked, nothing jumped out at us. I was speaking to a close friend and was sharing with him the vision we had for our day. Without a moment of hesitation he offered us his home. My husband and I knew instantly that it would be the absolute perfect place for us to celebrate the most important day of our lives.
I left my job 6 months before the wedding so I had a lot of time to focus and decide on what was important. We didn’t want to have a traditional wedding filled with things that “you’re supposed to have or supposed to do”. We wanted every moment of our day to be one of joy and indescribable love for each other, and our family and friends. We just knew that we wanted it very organic and simple.
Food plays a very big part in our relationship so we knew who ever we booked would have to be pretty special. We knew that we did not want to have a lot of décor. Our location was stunning in its own right and we did not want to take away from that. We wanted everything to be as natural as possible. It was very important to us to have a full organic and farm to table menu. Living in BC we are so blessed to have local farmers and artisans that have amazing products we wanted to really utilize that. Our alcohol came from a local winery just down the road from where we were getting married. Our wedding favours were strawberry preserves. We drove out to the farm ,picked the strawberries and set to work making our preserves with love. The entire process of canning up to choosing the fabric to place over them was pretty bonding. You really get to know someone when your stuck in the kitchen in the hot days of summer over an equally hot stove. We were happy with the outcome.
We had a lot of friends helping us along the way whenever they could. We had a friend that was a graphic designer so after sending him our ideas he designed our invitations. I found the envelopes online that I absolutely adored. My husband loved the idea of real wax seals so we had them with his initial. We had another friend over addressing all the cards and sealing with wax. It was a great feeling to know that your friends are willing to jump in in anyway to help. This came in very handy when we had to get over 40 light bulbs and turn them into hanging vases. We set up an assembly line so every one had their particular job and within an hour it was done. Having great friends is wonderful!
I planned to do my flowers on my own but fate had other plans for me. I was sitting at my local coffee shop and talking on the phone. I was booking an appointment with a florist to place my order. Once I ended the call the person next to me introduced himself. What are the chances that he would be an up and coming Florist? He showed me his portfolio and I was blown away. We had a consultation right there and the next thing you know he was booked.
The summer here in Vancouver was amazing. One of the best we have had in a very long time The entire month of July it was nothing but sunshine and the start of August was no exception. One week before our wedding it began to rain…and rain…and rain. I was hysterically checking the weather sites every few hours. It was expected to rain all the way up to our Saturday wedding with sunshine starting on the Sunday. I was panicked. Our tent rental company contacted me and asked to set up days earlier than previously agreed as they wanted to keep a bit of our reception site dry.
When we went out to the house for our rehearsal it was pouring rain. We actually didn’t even go through the entire rehearsal because we were getting so wet. Once the rehearsal was finished we began setting up. I have never been so overcome with emotion as I was on that night. Watching my family, my husbands family and a few friends out in the pouring rain, lightning and thunder helping us create our special day.
As we were driving out to our location on our day there was torrential down pour. I was a nervous wreck. About two hours before the ceremony was to begin the clouds started parting. It was beyond perfect! The sun even came out after we said our I do’s. With the help of our family and friends we had the most perfect day! We have said everyday since then that we wish we could relive it over and over.
My advice to any newly engaged couple is this... Pick a few things that are most important to you and your fiancé and stick to making them happen. Let everything else go. Remember that the day is about the two of you celebrating your love, nothing else, so no matter what happens it will be the most perfect day in itself. And on your special day take everything in. The sounds, smells….everything. It will be your day and nothing will ever compare.