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After I got married and got my wedding photos back, there was at least a week that I looked at them non-stop. I can not even tell you how many times I watched the slide show. I had to put my computer on mute so Kyle didn’t know that I was just watching it over and over again. Not that he would have cared but I didn’t want him judging my obsession. Clearly I love looking at wedding photos but of course your own are even better. So when I laid eyes on the wedding I have to share with you today, I was surprised when I couldn’t stop looking at it. The couple is gorgeous, the details are beautiful and the photography is amazing. It was absolutely impossible for me to pick just a few images so thus the reason I gave you a little sneak peek yesterday and why I am splitting this one up into two posts! Stay tuned later today for more gorgeousness from this wedding! All the credit for these beautiful images goes to Kim of Maru Photography. The Bride had a lot to say about her big day so I am going to let her take it away!

I was first introduced to Glenn through my older sister, Bethany, who met him at university while rivaling for grades in their first year English class. After dating for four years, Glenn took me on a picnic to Vancouver’s gorgeous Lighthouse Park where, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. We got engaged on May 15, and decided that we wanted to get married in August….of that year. Once we knew we were getting married, we just thought, why wait any longer than we have to? Three months of stress is a whole lot better than one year of it, right?

The most pressing task was finding a venue that had a date open near the end of the summer. We researched a few venues and decided to call the venue (Newlands Golf and Country Club in Langley BC) to see if they possibly had any availability. Normally they are booked for the summer at least 6 months in advance, so we knew the chances were slim, but worth a shot. Incredibly, there was an opening for a Friday in the middle of August, exactly when we wanted! After checking the calendar, we quickly discovered why this day had not been booked: it was Friday the 13th. Thanks to an offbeat sense of humour and a general lack of belief in the superstitious, this could not have been more perfect. It would certainly be an unforgettable day for us and our guests and, considering my terrible memory for dates, I will never forget our anniversary!

Next on the list was the dress. The first store I visited with my mum and sister was a lovely little boutique in Walnut Grove called Ivory Bridal. The store is run by a mother/daughter duo who are absolutely delightful, and the staff who work there were almost as excited as I was to be trying on dresses for the first time. The very first dress I tried was a Blue by Enzoani “Casablanca” gown, and when I walked out I instantly fell in love with it. It was absolutely gorgeous. When they asked when I was getting married and I said August, their reply was, “next year?” When I clarified that it was actually THIS August, as in less than 3 months from now, they quickly accepted this and said they would do whatever they could to have my dress there on time. (It ended up arriving a week and a half before the wedding and fit so perfectly that no alterations were necessary!)

Glenn’s groomsmen were made up of his two older brothers Steve and Jeff (who he looks nothing like!), two close friends, James and Dan, and my sister’s husband, Chad, who he has become great friends with as the four of us spend a lot of time together (and who, oddly enough, people always assume is Glenn’s brother). I had my wonderful sister, best friend, and only sibling, Bethany, as my maid of honor. My next two bridesmaids I have known for a VERY long time; I met Shonah in Kindergarten and we have been best friends ever since, and Kelly who we always joke I have known since she came out of the womb. The other three ladies, Miriam, Liz, and Philine, I have known since my first year of university 8 years ago. We had two delightful little flower girls, Glenn’s nieces, Kaijah and Abby.
We decided the theme for our wedding would be “timeless elegance” and chose to primarily use black and white as our colors with hints of pale pink and dusty rose (I am loving this color right now). With the package we chose at Newland’s, they looked after the flowers and decor; we just decide what we wanted and they made it happen! I love how dramatic and graceful tall table centers look, so we chose to have bouquets of all-white long stem lilies on most of the tables and intersperse them with these gorgeous 2-foot high silver candelabras we found in Newland’s inventory.

We chose to bring color in with my bouquet and the girls’ bouquets, and also with the bridesmaids’ pink shoes, which were such a fun bit of color and sparkle. Our bouquets were so gorgeous with the white calla lilies, hydrangea, and stephanotis, and the pale pink roses. I also loved the little girls’ pomanders that were also done in the pale pink and white.

We tried to do as much ourselves as we could and were so blessed to have an amazing group of people around us who were so willing to contribute. We, along with my parents, designed and made our own invitations using photos my dad had taken of us during our engagement shoot. My parents and bridesmaids were amazing, working tirelessly on these as well as the placecards, table numbers, and guest book which were all done primarily in black and white. My mum was absolutely incredible in all that she contributed to our wedding. For our wedding favors, she baked heart-shaped sugar cookies which she and my mum’s friend Sandra (who also did an amazing job of my makeup) decorated in white with a stylized design of our initials. The looked AND tasted amazing! The night before the wedding my mum decided we should do a candy table as well, so she sent out two of the bridesmaids to buy several hundred dollars worth of candy before the stores closed.

Everything fell into place so easily in the 3 months we were engaged that it was nothing short of miraculous. We could not have done it without the incredible support and hard work of our family and friends. The whole day went by without a hitch and we truly could not have enjoyed it more. Turns out Friday the 13th is the perfect day to get married.

Seriously-Alyssa wins Bride of the Year! Planning a wedding in three months?!? Plus you can tell she was probably super sweet and happy through the whole thing! Now for more photos!

I seriously love it all! I have even MORE goodness to share along with a little background info on the amazing photographer! It will be up later today!