ceremony venue: Queen's Park

We're having our ceremony at a small park near my childhood home in Victoria, BC.
Our 50 guests will be seated near the tree on the left-side of this photo.
I can't wait to marry the love of my life in a park that was so special to me growing up!

reception venue: Sea Cider Farm + Ciderhouse

Our reception venue is a beautiful organic ciderhouse in Saanichton, BC, Canada.
We love their vintage farmhouse style - but it is a bit more modern than your typical rustic venue.
Not to mention their various varieties of cider are deeeeeelicious.
We'll even be working with the staff to create a signature cider cocktail. 

inspiration boards/etc: 1st one made by me:)

dessert table:

My mum is going to make a variety of cakes and treats, including chocolate chip cookies, vanilla pound cake, chocolate hazelnut cake, lemon curd tart and ginger molasses cookies!

decor:

My dress:

hair/make up:

bouquet:

bouttonieres:

wedding party:

Groomsmen will be wearing charcoal grey linen pants, white dress shirts, skinny black ties & matching grey linen vests. So hard to find inspiration pictures for that! This is pretty close, however the linen pants/vests have a much less formal feel to them.

I love the slightly mismatched look of BM dresses so I asked my girls to buy their own dress, in grey. I love seeing each of their unique style show through in their choices! The girls ended up with these 2 dresses, each picking a fit that suited their body best! 

I asked them to pick shoes in "dusty" shades, like blush pink, nude, dusty grey/blue/green etc.

groom:

My handsome fiancé will be wearing a light khaki 3 piece suit from Indochino.

The original ring that my fiancé Patrick proposed with!

We were backpacking through Eastern Europe for 3 weeks and he was afraid to carry the real ring in his backpack in case A) it got lost, B) I saw it or C) someone stole it! 

the island in the middle of Lake Bled, Slovenia

This little island is where my best friend proposed to be on our 2 year anniversary :)

We had been backpacking and I had absolutely NO idea it was coming... it was a total surprise. I am one of those weird engaged people, I don't like talking about our moment too much because it feels so private and wonderful that I don't want to ruin it by sharing it with everyone. Sorry - needless to say, it was perfection.

our first photo together after getting engaged... SO HAPPY. We were cycling around the lake after coming back from the little island and we ran into Spanish tourists that begged to take our photo for us. So silly but fun!

After exploring and cycling around the lake, we came back to our lakeview hotel room to have a celebratory dinner in true backpacker fashion. Mini bottle of Slovenian sparkling wine, organic fruit, melba toasts and local cheese. I couldn't have asked for a better meal to celebrate becoming engaged to the man of my dreams!

Once we returned back to Canada, Pat gave me my REAL engagement ring...

These photos don't even begin to do this ring justice. It's a .45 carat Internally flawless diamond in a 4-prong 18k white gold solitare setting with a very thin, modern band. Patrick picked it out all on his own and it's absolutely perfect... :)