I am totally obsessed with my own wedding. I know I am so vain and narcissistic but it was truly perfect, but not just my actual wedding day but my shower, stagette, my bridesmaids, my engagement – everything was a dream. Please take my ideas and use them!

My Shower

I orginially thought I wanted a Mad Men themed shower because it is my absolute favourite show and I love Betty Franics (Draper) but it kind of got hard to execute and I slowly fell out of love with the idea. So I moved onto having a champagne brunch and it was the best decision. When my bridesmaids would ask me what I wanted, my only non negotiables were that I wanted a champagne bar and that everyone had to wear dresses, no pants allowed – since I’m fancy like that. My bridesmaid Breanne made all the food and it was amazing. All my bridesmaids went above and beyond and it was honestly one of the best days of my life, you couldn’t dream up better bridesmaids. And anyone out there who says they don’t want a shower, are you crazy?? Do you know how many presents you get?

The food! I probably ate my body weight in waffles. There were cinnamon bun waffles, oatmeal chocolate chip waffles, carrot cake waffles, puppy chow,  lemon poppyseed loaf,  oreo scones and tons more! I can’t even begin to describe how amazing everything was and I think I went to fill up my plate 5 times. It was so cute too because they did a Cinderella theme with the brunch, so the decor was awesome.

Me and my maids.

Opening my presents galore, I got grossly spoiled.

My dress is Prabal Gurung for Target. I stayed up until 3am constantly refreshing twitter to see if it had started to go on sale online and I luckily got one in my size. It was totally worth it, because I think it’s super cute. Overall my shower was beyond perfect, my bridesmaids made a few games for everyone to play that were hilarious and in addition to the mimosa bar there was also a yogurt bar that was greek yogurt and various nuts, fruits and granolas you could mix and match in your yogurt. I wish I could eat it all everyday. I die for brunch, I always say you can eat whatever you want when you go to brunch because it’s special. Just say “It’s brunch!” and you can have whatever you want, no one can judge you.

My Stagette

Originally I wanted to go to Vegas for my stagette because I am obsessed with it. I have been more times then I’d like to adimit. I just think it’s so awesome there, it really has something for everyone and the weather is to die! But in the end I was having my wedding out of town and I thought it would be a lot to ask all my girlfriends travel all the way there for my stagette then travel all the way to B.C. a couple weeks later for the wedding. We ended up driving down to Calgary to get pedicures and then party like it’s 1999. I was a mess but it was my day. Me, me, ME!!!!

This cake! So hysterical, and that was totally me a few hours later. Breanne again, she is the best baker.

I saw shirts just like this on pinterest (of course, because that’s where I spend 95% of my time) and my sister had a friend of hers make them. I love them. The bridal party had those shirts and everyone else wore black and white. It was so fun.

A few of my close girlfriends couldn’t come (one pregnant, three out of town, one sick – they’re all so selfish!)  but it was still such an awesome group.

I really liked it because it was laid back, we went to get pedicures all together and had jello shots (the people at the nail salon were surprisingly good about it), then went back to the room and ate room service until we were ready to go out and just went where ever the night took us. No pressure!

Our Big Day

When Ryan and I were deciding on where to have the wedding we knew we wanted somewhere unique and different, not in Edmonton, and where we could have a small wedding. We tossed around ideas of having it in Vegas, Disney World (of course, because we are Disney freaks), California, a winery, a barn wedding in Abbotsford, but when we found Poets Cove we knew that was it. It’s on Pender Island in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia and it could not be more gorgeous. It’s really romantic, every room has a view and the staff was awesome. Every vendor we used on the island was so great and helpful, and it all turned out beautifully (in my eyes anyway). All these photos were done by Sarah Seinen of Starseed Photography, my long time friend and incredible talent.

Seriously!?!? Have you ever seen anything cuter? I custom ordered his bow tie on from an etsy shop called Silly Buddy.

My makeup was done by my sister Gillian, and it was perfect. Visit her here.

My little sweetie pies, wearing dresses from David’s Bridal.

My dress is Blue by Enzoani and I got it at Novelle Bridal. I had such a good experience getting my dress there, I highly recommend it. My something old was the pearl bracelet that was originally a necklace that my Dad gave my Mom on their wedding day, something new was my dress, something borrowed was a cameo ring that my Grandpa got my Grandma 60 some years ago and my something blue was my shoes which are Steve Madden.

The boys trying to figure out how to tie Ryan’s bow tie.

I walked down the aisle to “So This is Love” from Cinderella.

The setting and the weather could not have been more perfect.

It’s official!

This was so easy and went with the ambiance of our wedding. I just took a big, cheap mirror and sprayed it with chalkboard paint, then stuck it at the end of the aisle. Use a lot of coats though, because every time you erase a little bit comes off.

How cute are these two?! They were so awesome.

We did a cigar and champagne toast directly after the ceremony and it ended up being one of our favourite things of the whole wedding.

Fam Jam.

I love this picture.

This one is also in my top two fav photos.

The reception from an absolute blast. The speeches were so sweet and touching and funny, the music was great, the MC was spot on, the food was delish, the drinks were flowing, all our guests were so fantastic.

The top part of our cake was chocolate peanut butter cheesecake…uhhh yah it was on another level. I have it wrapped in my freezer and I wish it was our anniversary right now so we could eat it. The cupcakes were a mix of chocolate, vanilla and carrot cake. The blue dye was so highly pigmented that the people that ate them had completely blue mouths. The Mickey and Minnie are an obvious nod to our engagement, and our obsession – let’s be real.

So the florist did rose bowls full of baby’s breath, and they were so simple and beautiful – exactly what I wanted for our wedding. The paper roses are handmade by me (and some of my poor girlfriends who I enlisted to do slave labour). They are cut from old fairy tales and if you look closely you can see one of the petals says something about a prince’s ship. They were time consuming but I loved the way they turned out.

We did a sweetheart table as the head table, and it was perfect for us and our venue, especially because we had a small wedding.

I had a second dress (I’m a diva I know), but my wedding dress was so mermaid that I didn’t think it would be as fun to dance in all night because it was restrictive. This was custom made by local designer  Kelly Madden and I was so happy with it!

I can not say enough about these people! Leah and Josh came all the way from Louisiana for the wedding. We met them at Azadeh and Farzad’s wedding THREE YEARS AGO and have not seen them since, just kept in touch over email and text. They are so awesome and we are so lucky to have them. Azadeh has been my friend for seven years and I was a bridesmaid for her as well. Farzad and her DROVE all the way from Virginia – I would rather die. How blessed are we to have such great friends. Everyone travelled to come to our wedding, and that meant so much to us.

My oldest and most hilarious friend Leigh Ann came all the way from California. Love her tons.

The absolute best day of my life! Thanks to everyone for being a part of it! Hope some of these ideas provide some inspiration for brides out there!