A holiday inspired wedding might not be on your radar, but I guarantee one look at this day from Justine Milton and you’ll wholeheartedly reconsider. It’s flowing with festive DIY details (hello, cute pinecone bouquet!) and completely budget-friendly to boot. Grab your morning coffee and see how this couple rang in the New Year with more images in The Vault.
From The Bride… The whole idea behind our wedding was to have a huge celebration of our love for one another and bring in the New Year with all of our friends and family. We wanted it to be very laid back and relaxed with games and ice hockey, and we really could not have been any happier with how it turned out!
Steven and I are very adventurous and have a passion for being in nature, whether it is canoeing, kayaking, hiking, ski touring or fishing and hunting. We felt that it would be cool to bring that out in our wedding through writing our own vows and the overall décor of the wedding venue. Most of the decorations were handmade by myself and Steven using birch bark and pine cones collected from our various canoe trips to Churchill Rivers in Northern Saskatchewan, which was represented by a small canoe paddle displayed with the toboggan. The birch bark was used to wrap around mason jars and pine cones for my bouquet. With that being said, we really wanted a DIY wedding not only because of our meager budget of $4,000 but to really represent whom we are as a couple.
We also wanted our ceremony to involve all of our family and friends with the smudging ceremony and have it represent what it means to us. The smudging ceremony symbolizes the start of great new beginnings, it is a ritual that cleanses the mind, body and spirit. Recapping our wedding together, I think our favourite parts of the day were sharing our vows with one another surrounded by all our family and loved ones.
The hockey and ice skating was awesome. It was great to get outside and play, that was half the fun of having a winter wedding. The polaroid photo booth with the silly props for our guest registry was ridiculously fun, we were able to capture some great moments and felt that it was a fun way to keep track of everyone who came out! We loved the Go Pro mounted to a 40 ounce bottle of Appletons rum, it was used to film all of our guests partaking in the fun, plus we got some great footage of peoples grimacing faces.
The vintage ski, donate by my grandmother, reclaimed into a shot ski really represented our passion for the mountains. The Minute to Win It games to get Steven and I to kiss, the speeches our family and friends prepared for us and of course pigging out on all the Boston Pizza! We counted down to the New Year with fireworks and sparklers, and danced until we couldn’t stand anymore.
Photography: Justine Milton Photography | Wedding Dress: 1960's Vintage | Rings: Spence | Makeup: Dana Pereira | Hair: Courtney Phillips | Venue: Shawnessy Barn | Boutonnieres: TieFly | Bridal Boutique: A Vintage Affair | Furniture Rentals: Shawnessy Barn | Groom's Ring: Ash Hilton On Etsy | Hair Accessories: A Vintage Affair | Red Metal Lanterns: Ikea | Silver Barn Lanterns: Target