For our wedding I wanted it to be really bright and fun and not super traditional. I wanted flowers to be our main decor so we got A LOT of them. We asked Fabloomosity to incorporate pinks, reds, and oranges with lots of greenery and they totally brought our vision to life, better than I could have dreamed of. We had tables built for our ceremony and huge floral arrangements on them that were later transported over to the reception.

We knew the most important thing for us was to have our families there to celebrate which we are so grateful was able to happen with the increase of people allowed for outdoor celebrations. Our ceremony took place in my grandparents’ gorgeous backyard, where my parents were married 35 years ago. Due to the new Alberta Temporary Commissioner program, my brother was able to marry us which was incredibly special for both of us. Afterwards, we went to my parent’s backyard where we had a big, beautiful clear tent set up for our reception. The best part of our intimate backyard wedding was that we were able to enjoy quality time with every single person there.

I convinced Nate to wear a bright floral tie and he ended up loving it. We didn’t want a traditional Maid of Honour dress for my sister, so we found a super fun, sparkly dress from Needle & Thread. I am still obsessed with my wedding dress (from Delica) that was a high-low style and allowed me to show off my girly Loeffler Randall wedding shoes.

We knew from the beginning of the pandemic that no matter what, we would be getting married on August 8 – even if it was just the two of us. I saw a quote on Instagram that said “love is not cancelled” and that was what I remembered throughout the wedding planning process. We planned several versions of our wedding with our wedding planner and are so happy with how everything turned out.

We were prepared to have a BBQ for our dinner but were so happy when we found out caterers were allowed in the reopening plan for COVID. We hired Mercer’s Catering, who blew all of us away with their food. My personal favourite was the bacon wrapped perogies appetizer and the gourmet donuts served with caramel and chocolate sauces. They were the hit of the wedding.

The best part of our intimate backyard wedding was that we were able to enjoy quality time with every single person there. Our original plan was to have around 100 people and although we missed having our extended family and friends there, this wedding was extremely special in its own unique way. If I could go back to the beginning of wedding planning, this was exactly how I would have done it.