* Jody, Recruiter & Rob, Design Technician * Photographers: Jakob & Cole of Nordica Photography * Soundtrack for Reading: “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers *
One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: A day full of love from family and friends with DIY flair all done on a strict budget.
The Info—Photography: Nordica Photography / Venue: The Cammidge House / Jody and Rob’s Outfits: Designed with the help of local talent / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Chosen by the bridesmaids and made by Meghan Rauth at Possibilities Custom Design / Bridesmaids’ Accessories: Cinder & Sage Designs / Food: Made on-site and locally sourced from neighboring farms by Seasonal 56 / Cake-Pops: Made by a family friend who just started her own business, Sunny Munday’s / Wedding Coordinator: Sister Spirits / Flowers: Put together by a family friend with a flare for the botanical / Tent and Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Mason Jars: Picked up for free on Kijiji and painted with blackboard hearts / Photobooth Props: Picture frames scored for free at a garage sale; mustaches made from dowels and craft foam from the loonie store / Guestbook: A family friend painted over a canvas from Ikea that we had but didn’t care for, and our guests signed it instead of a book / Favors: Rob’s sister worked at a nursery, so she ordered the succulents wholesale and we crafted the tags
Other cool stuff we should know about: Besides getting to marry my best friend I had an amazing opportunity to connect with my sister. Years of conflict culminated the night before the wedding. We finally resolved years of turmoil in some blunt words and teary hugs. When my big day arrived, it hit home: I was enjoying the best time of my life. When we arrived at the farm house, it was cloudy and chilly. As I came down the stairs the clouds literally parted and the sun came out. With both my parents smiling, my sister and girlfriends at my one side and Rob at the other… well, at that moment life was simply perfect. Everything was as it should be.
We crafted and we crafted a lot. You name it, we built it. Of special note were our invitations—I think they turned out beautifully. I ordered plantable paper, and we made our own pocket folds, and stuffed them with kraft paper.
Our wedding was not supposed to happen at the Cammidge House. After well over a year of planning, and only three weeks before our wedding, the Fire Marshall in Abbotsford, where we were supposed to get married in a barn, called to say they were shutting down the venue due to unsafe conditions. The only reason we decided to get married on a Wednesday was because that was the only day we could secure the barn—lucky for us, because we still had the pick of the litter for venues.
I had fallen in love with Nordica Photography when I was first engaged. Rob and I had agreed to spend the bulk of our budget on the food and the photographer, as these were the most important things to us. I had contacted Nordica July the previous year, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not fit them in my budget. We secured another couple of photographers. Well, one week before our big day we found out that while we had booked two photographers, the two of them had “broken up” and we now only had one. It was important to us that we had two as we wanted to do very few portraits and we wanted the bulk of our photos to be journalistic in style, capturing those important moments as they happened. We could not come to an agreement with the remaining photographer and had to fire him the week before our big day. With nothing to lose, I approached Nordica again: they remembered me as their biggest fan—ha! Long story short, they heard my plight and were able to accommodate my budget, the compromise being that Rob and I had to agree to do portraits at sunset on the beach—and we are so glad we did. Everything happens for a reason!
Favorite thing about the wedding: How it all came together, despite the trials and tribulations leading up to it, and how all the DIY details looked amazing; the work paid off!
