‘Rustic without being shabby chic,' – Brittany is a bride after my own heart!
And her and Jeff's gorgeous outdoor wedding in Niagara, Canada, was just that; elegant, charming, stylish, and relaxed – without a hint of shabbiness in sight!
And it was photographed by the amazing Katie Nicolle Photography.
With an orchard backdrop at Kurtz Orchards at Niagara on the Lake, Brittany and Jeff's vision of their day fused the fruits, with foliage inspired by the Tuscan countryside.
But it wasn't just their long tables and marquee venue that were beautifully styled, the bridal party were too. The gents sporting sharp blue suits, the girls in blush Monique Lhuillier bridesmaid dresses, and Brittany, looking stunning in her Sottero and Midgley strapless gown.
There are so many thoughtful, creative, and downright pretty ideas in this this day, we reckon you might want to pinch a few of them…
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Love Story
Ten days into my move from Toronto to Vancouver, a mutual friend invited me out for the night and we started at Jeff’s house. After being introduced, we discovered we had actually grown up living five minutes from each other back in Ontario.
While waiting in line to get into a bar, Jeff held my umbrella for me and the rest was history.
He spent the next few weeks showing me around Vancouver. After living in Vancouver and a move to England, we found ourselves back in Ontario with an adorable puppy and ready to start the next chapter of our lives together.
We got engaged on Christmas Day. After spending the day with both families and about to head to bed, Jeff told me he had one more gift to give me which was a photo book he had created titled ‘The Adventures of Jeff & Brittany’.
The book was a story of how we met and our life together. When I came to the last page it read “although one part of our story is ending the best is yet to come, on to the next chapter….”
He then led me to the living room filled with candles and a projected image of Santorini on the wall.
Jeff claims I had teased him for not proposing while we were there a few months earlier (I doesn’t remember this). He said it’s not Santorini but he hoped it was the next best thing, and got down on one knee to propose.
The Flowers
I am a sucker for romantic, loose florals.
We wanted to keep everything soft and romantic and chose blush, peach, white and sage green as our colors.
Cathy Martin Flowers did an incredible job of creating beautiful garden inspired arrangements filled with garden roses that stood out despite the soft color palette.
The Attire
I always envisioned myself in a lace, fit and flare dress and ended up with a tulle dress with a pearl beaded bodice. I loved the romantic feel of the tulle train.
My best advice is to try on everything (even styles you don’t think you will like) you just never know!
Jeff and the groomsmen went with a fitted Zara suit in the perfect color of blue.
It really complemented the bridesmaids blush, chiffon dresses. I’m so happy all of the girls ended up going with a different style in the same line. I love the look of different necklines to make each girl feel unique.
Our ringbearers stole the show in blue plants (to match the guys) with suspenders and a polka dot bowtie.
At 2 and 3 years old, we weren’t sure how they would do walking down the aisle. Turns out we had nothing to worry about! They skipped the whole way down the aisle, leaping from rose petal to rose petal.
The Ceremony
Jeff and I chose to write our own vows and kept what we were planning to say a secret from each other.
We laughed at the fact that without knowing it we both mentioned how we most look forward to the ‘’everydays’’, taco Tuesdays, cuddling on the couch and taking our Australian Shepherd Eli to the park.
The Photography
Our photographer came to us in a bind and we will never be more grateful.
We preferred not to see each other before the ceremony which meant Katie was given the daunting task of taking family, couple, bridal and venue shots (as well as scouting locations!) all within the cocktail hour.
She did an incredible job.
I had seen Katie’s work beforehand and knew how talented she was. It was so reassuring to go into the wedding and trust she would capture it perfectly for us.
The Inspiration
We knew immediately that we wanted to get married outside surrounded by trees. An orchard seemed like the perfect fit for us.
We loved how our venue truly let us plan the day in whatever way we envisioned. We wanted rustic without being too shabby chic.
Jeff makes fun of me for referring to our theme as “Tuscan, Rustic, Elegance”.
For a Tuscan feel we decided to have guests sit at long rows of tables. To break up the tables, we alternated between having rows with flower arrangements and rows with garland trailing down the centre of the table surrounded by peaches and candles.
A rosemary swig was added to each place setting. The venue did an incredible job of putting together an elaborate charcuterie board for guests to enjoy during cocktail hour. It not only looked beautiful but was also delicious!
We incorporated several rustic elements. From wine barrels covering as our podium and cocktail tables, to a barn door as a bar table top and beautiful live edge walnut wood tables used throughout.
Foliage was placed on all of the tables and our talented groomsman, Matt, engraved sayings into wood blocks provided by my family’s lumber company as a special décor touch.
Simply Beautiful Décor’s chandelier and gold trim charger plates added a touch of elegance. A lace overlay was used down the center of the head table to contrast the natural live edge.
Behind the head table we had a beautiful wall of greenery with a tree branch. Blooms taken from the ceremony arch were attached to the branches.
The Decor & Details
We decided to do the decor ourselves which had me lost at times.
A few years ago, before moving to England a co-worker told us it seems like you are both moving for the right reasons “love and adventure”. We liked the saying so much and decided to incorporate that into our decor.
My talented bridesmaid did a wonderful job creating signage for us. We filled the venue with framed photos of family, friends and our travels and a chalkboard artist created a really unique ‘love story board’ for us depicting our life together.
Budget Tips
We bottled our own wine and highly recommend it. Not only does it cut cost in half but it’s actually a fun process!
We also decided to do all of the stationary ourselves to save costs, we may have even printed a few invites at our work!
Favourite Moments
Some of the best moments we had are the ones we didn’t plan, our hilarious MC, a dog crashing our ceremony and our good friend performing the best rendition of Slim Shady.
The love we felt for eachother and from our family and friends is something that will stay with us for a long time. We will never be able to thank our wedding party enough!
One thing we really wanted was an epic dance party. Thanks in part to our DJ and our wedding guests, who truly brought the party, we definitely got that!
The whiskey bar may have also helped matters.
The Refreshments
Jeff’s mom and aunt are talented bakers and created cupcakes for us.
As a wedding topper we had look alike bobble heads which are now sitting on our bedroom dresser. It’s been pretty interesting waking up in the morning and seeing your miniature self staring up at you.
The Honeymoon
With all the wedding costs and planning, I couldn’t wrap my head around having a honeymoon.
Our five year anniversary came up a month before the wedding and Jeff surprised me by booking a trip to Hawaii for our honeymoon.
We left a week after the wedding and I’m so happy we went. It was a great way to reminisce about the day and celebrate our married life together before heading back to the real world.
The Music
Jeff and our groomsman have one thing in common – they all have a man crush on Jeff Goldblum. As a nod to that, the guys walked down the aisle to John Williams “Jurassic Park soundtrack.”
Our main dance floor was in the reception tent. Directly outside the tent we strung lights on the orchard trees, added fire pits, lanterns and a removable dance floor, to create a night time ‘’lounge area”.
I’ll never forget dancing our ‘’second’’ first dance outside under the string lights.
Advice for Other Couples
My best advice for brides is to always remember everything WILL come together on the day. Let’s be honest, marrying your best friend, surrounded by family and friends, you could have the wedding on your front porch and still have a great time!
Take time to find vendors you love and who you have a good connection with and then step back and let them do their thing.
Things may go wrong but you will be so wrapped up in the magic of the day you won’t even notice. We had really looked forward to releasing dream lanterns at the end of the night but unfortunately a fire restriction occurred on the day.
We plan to host a party with our family and friends to thank them for all of their support and release the lanterns on that day instead.
Any excuse to relive the day!
Isn't it gorgeous? I'm just obsessed with the different tablescapes, and Katie Nicolle's photography just gets me every time! Um, and how amazing is that proposal story – Jeff, what a romantic!
Thanks so much to Katie Nicolle Photography, and of course the lovely Brittany and Jeff for sharing their wedding day with us!
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