the best wedding weekend EVER

Thankfully a picture is worth a thousand words because when it comes to our wedding, I still can’t find the right ones to describe how it felt and how much it meant to have all our family and friends in one place to celebrate with us. Of course our wedding day was special but the days surrounding it were just as fun and memorable. As friends and family started to trickle in from as close as Antigonish and as far away as Scotland, Saskatchewan and San Francisco, I was continually reminded of how lucky we are to have so many people who love and support us. We didn’t just have the best day EVER but we had the best wedding festivities EVER.

I’m particularly thankful that my best friend Elaine brought her camera. She had to lug it here all the way from Scotland and what’s more, find the enthusiasm to keep clicking at six months pregnant. I am so very glad she did because I was able to put my own camera down and fully immerse myself in the experience. I love every single photo my talented best friend captured. These images are incredibly special not just because they’re of our wedding weekend but also because Elaine took them and they’re our wedding weekend through her eyes.

The fun started on Thursday when we started decorating our venue – Glasgow Square. You can plan, dream, pour over Pinterest boards and craft your heart out for months but nothing really prepares you for the excitement of seeing all your hard work come together. With every passing moment we spent at Glasgow Square I got more and more giddy with how things were shaping up. The whole time we were planning our decor I had the words fun, whimsical and party in mind… it was amazing (and a relief!) to see that it worked out and looked even better than I had envisioned.

There were a lot of boxes to load into the car.

Carefully hanging our strings of globe lights. Thanks to Janine (Glasgow Square‘s absolute gem of a coordinator), we managed to get them up without a hitch. A bit of stress maybe, but no hitches.

My bridesmaid Karen who showed up matching the decor. ♥

We sourced our table flowers from Lakenman’s Farm in Pictou. We were thrilled to support a local business. In the morning before we arrived at Glasgow Square we went to Lakenman’s to cut our flowers only to find that they had already harvested them and they were waiting in boxes for us. We couldn’t have been happier with their service and quality. The flowers were so fresh we actually ended up with a handful of bees joining us for the celebration.

Dave, bless his heart, hand-dyed almost 200 napkins hot pink and black. His mother and aunt ironed them for us. It was simply amazing how many people chipped in to help us. My mom made all the table runners (all 25 of them!) and we worked as a team to get the tables set up. The HOORAY wall was one of my favourite decorations. I think it had a lot of visual impact and was easy-peasy to make. The photos are engineer prints ordered from Staples and they were only about $5 each! My bridesmaid Lori sewed up the gold circle garlands. I’m telling you, it took a village to get this wedding looking so good!

Making a few last minute changes to the seating plan.

People kept asking, “Why gold dinosaurs?” My answer was, “Why NOT gold dinosaurs?!” A special thanks goes to Dave’s parents Sue & Aurele for spray painting them for us. And to my mother Lillian for making the table flags.

I bought these gold letter balloons about 24 hours after Dave proposed. I didn’t even know our venue but I knew these balloons had to be a part of our day.

It was so fun to see everything come together but even better, was hanging out with our family and friends. Everybody helped out with a smile and it was wonderful. My Mom deserves a special shout out for all her crafting help. She and Dad were up to their eyeballs in glitter for weeks before our wedding. I think she’s still finding glitter around the house!

My good and talented friend Chris designed a few posters for us. The socks on a chicken poster was my favourite.

Karen + Helium = Hilarious.

The night before our wedding was the rehearsal. We got married at Stella Maris in Pictou and although we weren’t nervous, it was still good to get a solid run through done to quell the how-exactly-is-this-going-to-go? questions.

After the church rehearsal, we had a party at The Palace Theatre for our bridal party and out of town guests. Dave’s parents generously hosted and decorated the get together. It was a great chance for all our friends and family to mix and mingle while chowing down on some delicious lobster rolls, The Pork Shop sausages on a bun and a couple of kegs of beer from the Tatamagouche Brewing Company. Making sure our guests had delicious food to enjoy was very important to us. Barry & Camille of the Stone Soup Cafe catered both our rehearsal party and the wedding and they did an incredible job. They worked with us to source as many of the ingredients as possible from local producers. Together, we proudly showcased the variety and quality of the food and drink Nova Scotia farmers, brewers and winemakers are producing.

Yes, our wedding had a hashtag.

Stripes were the unofficial theme of the weekend.

We also hired Kent and Mike (The Truckin’ Fur Trappers) to play a few tunes for a more party-like atmosphere. Yep, they play the drums and a ukelele.

Big hugs from best friends as the night draws to a close. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

Then, all of a sudden, WE WERE GETTING MARRIED! My lovely bridesmaids arrived early to get the big day started. I gave them all sheepskin slippers from Lismore Sheep Farm. As you can tell from Lori’s expression, the slippers went over well!

My dear friend Denica. I was so happy to have her as part of our day. She did my hair for me and it turned out beautifully.

Pam Hansen did my bridesmaids’ hair and all of our make up. She’s a magician I swear. She’s amazing! Incredible! Talented beyond words! I would recommend her in a heartbeat. In fact, she’s so good, I’m hooked. Since the wedding I’ve been seeing her on a regular basis for all kinds of fun things – manicures, haircuts, eyelash extensions. She’s the one responsible for turning me on to all these fun beauty routines and I wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s so much fun and I had no idea that getting your nails done could be such a boost.

Cousin Derek arrived with coffee and cooked us bacon. Awesome.

Crossing things off our to-do lists and writing thank-you cards for all our wonderful vendors, friends and family who helped out along the way.

While the girls were inside getting pretty, the boys were outside shooting skeet. Karen went outside to try her hand at shooting and Elaine took these photos which will always and forever bring a smile to my face!

Dave’s cousin Erika wrapping up the groomsmen’s gifts.

We ordered our bridal bouquets and boutonnieres from McKean’s Flowers in New Glasgow. We met with Suzanne to discuss what we wanted – whimsical and unstructured with loads of colour. We wanted to incorporate pheasant feathers in the guys boutonnieres. Did she ever deliver! It was so exciting to see the finished results on the wedding day. Our flowers were absolutely stunning.

Our photographers were an extra special part of our day. We were incredibly fortunate to have Cole and Jakob of Nordica Photography shoot our wedding. We were over the moon excited to have them document our day. Their photos are nothing short of magical and our celebration was pretty magical so we knew they would be the perfect fit. We weren’t disappointed. I was so pleased that Elaine caught Cole and Jakob in action. There were so many highlights but having them here definitely tops the charts in my books.

And this is where Elaine put her camera down, leaving the rest of our Best.Day.EVER to the talented duo of Nordica Photography. Stay tuned to see the official wedding photos soon!