September 26, 2015 - back before 'rona when big weddings were a thing.
We had the wedding of our dreams (oh with plenty of drama, but more on that later). Surrounded by most of our favourite people, we exchanged our vows and became a family, officially. This year marks our 5th anniversary, and boy oh boy has life changed. In 2015 it was just the two of us, living in a small, overpriced apartment in Toronto. We had big dreams of maybe one day having a family, but knowing there was an uphill climb in front of us. At the time of our wedding we were already 3 months into fertility treatment. We went into this with our eyes wide open.
Now look at us. 5 years and 3 kids later. We've moved out of the big city, bought our first home, bought our second home, and are gearing up to move to a village with a population of 11,000. Times have changed indeed!
Let's take a walk down memory lane and relive one of the best, and most expensive days of our lives.
We were married at the Nith Ridge Estate in Ayr, just outside of Kitchener. It's a charming estate with an old farmhouse, large patio, big white tent and gorgeous ceremony space. This pic shows where our cocktail hour was on the terrace, underneath the giant trees. It was so beautiful!
Our vendors were amazing! We used Courtney from Peachy Keen Studio for make-up and Tiffany from Bamboo Salon for hair.
We used Michael Steingard Photography for all our photos. Michael and his wife Kailyn were excellent and helped keep the day rolling along smoothly!
My dress came from David's Bridal, but I told my ladies to pick something that makes them feel good. The only guidelines was pick something black and I think they knocked it out of the park! Same went for the guys suits.
Fun fact - Tom's Best Man (in this pic) left our wedding before dessert was served and we never saw or heard from him again. I have no idea what happened, but we do know he's alive.
Our bridal party was great! It was a long, but fun day! They kept everything light and hid all the crazyness that was happening behind the scenes - total rockstars!
Our ceremony was held at the estate, along the Nith River.
Being pronounced Husband and Wife - finally!
Charmed Flowers did our flowers.
Sweet Cheeks Cupcakes made our cake and candy apple favours for everyone. The candy apples were a huge hit!
The owners of the estate did the decorating in the tent. I had requested red up lighting throughout the tent, and the owner decided to "surprise" us with party lights and I didn't notice until we were doing our grand entrance into our reception. So we had party lights going behind us all through dinner. Funny now, but at the time I was horrified.
We danced to "All of Me" by John Legend for our first song. The DJ was actually horrible and ONLY played the 20 or so songs I requested on their "must hear" list. They refused to take requests and blamed it all on me. We heard the same Bruno Mars song like 3 times through the night. So frustrating.
At the end of the day, our wedding was magical. We tried to make the day about about our family and friends, and I hope we were successful!
Happy 5th anniversary babe!