The Wedding Dress, pt. 3: The Reveal and the Day

When I was growing up, I never had an idea in my head of a wedding. I never had it in my head that I would get married at all. If my Barbies or dolls got married, it was usually a lesbian wedding and involved unicorns and dragons. It usually ended in complete destruction of the world I had set up, because fairy tale weddings always had the bride carried away by a dragon, right?

I’m happy to report that my actual wedding had no such conclusion. It was perfect.

I already revealed the dress, because I was too excited to hold back the dress for me to write a post. Instagram was also filled with pictures of our wedding. A lot of our wedding was DIY and I wanted to go over a few more details from the week leading up and the day and then tell you about our awesome minimoon in Niagara Falls.

Decorations for the wedding reception were created by my friend Rob and I. The night before we went to the space and got everything pretty for the day of.

Each table had a paper table cloth and a tissue paper flower with a tea light in the centre. The stage, where we put the head table, had a string of lights and tulle, as well as balloons covered in tulle and tied with ribbons and fake flowers. These balloons also appeared throughout the space, as well. We also had little paper wedding bells above the bar.

This was the prototype we created for the wedding. They weren’t helium-filled, but were hung from the ceiling with clear fishing wire.

Here I am playing with a wedding decoration after a few. 😉

Dale and I made the favours for the wedding reception, as well:

We gave a little DIY Yahtzee game with dice and little pencil along with a bunch of candy: York peppermint patty, Hershey’s Hugs, Maple toffee, Tootsie Roll, and a Chocolate Loonie. Totally random candies from a bulk store.

Our ceremony was a mix of non-traditional and traditional. We are not religious but we chose to do a handfasting, which is a Celtic and neopagan tradition.

We felt connected to the significance of having our lives bound together physically and symbolically through marriage. Our parents each bound our hands and then tied a knot together. We wanted them to take part in the ceremony in some way even if it wasn’t a traditional giving away of the bride by the father of the bride. In this way, our two families are connected by the bond they created by raising us and blessing our union.

 

Our vows were a little different from the usual to have and to hold for richer and for poorer. Helen Sweet, our amazing officiate, had a lovely set of vows that fit with who we are with each other:

I, Andie, choose you Dale as my spouse, to be no other than yourself.  Loving what I know of you, trusting what I don’t yet know; With respect for your integrity and faith in your abiding love for me; In all that life may bring us, I join my life to yours.

While I didn’t cry all the way through the ceremony, my voice caught in saying these words and looking into his eyes.

And then we made out. Fully encouraged by Helen, who said she wouldn’t tolerate anything less than making out.

And the ceremony ended with a family hug with the kids. A perfect way to end it.

Here are some post-ceremony pictures:

   

Our ceremony took place in Allan Gardens Conservatory in the main atrium under the banana tree. It was an important place for us as our family pictures took place there a few years prior.

Helen Sweet, our officiate, was booked through All Seasons Weddings. She was an excellent speaker and truly wonderful to work with. We adored her.

Our reception took place at Social Capital Theatre, where we perform our monthly show, Holodeck Follies. It was catered by KAMA Restaurant, Indian buffet, with a late night pizza snack from Panago Pizza.

For our wedding cake, I made a small gluten free vanilla cake with blueberry coulis and vanilla buttercream. To match our gold colour, I dusted the top with gold sugar dust.

Nerds with Guitars played our wedding with excellent covers and some original songs.

I’ve purposely kept a lot of people out of the pictures and focused on Dale and I. I won’t post pictures without permission from individuals. I do want to give you an idea of my neice’s dress, though, so here is a detail of the back.

She was truly adorable in the dress and such a sweetie. She was pretty pleased to be able to take the dress home and be able to wear it to school for special occasions.

Here are some fun pictures from the reception enjoying the music and having fun.

Our day was absolutely perfect in every way possible. It was wonderful celebrating our love in our own special way.

We were lucky enough to be gifted a Scandinavian and Russian cruise from Dale’s family for the wedding through Celebrity Cruises. Along with that, people were incredibly generous and gave to the Daily Bread Food Bank and gave us enough for a mini honeymoon in Niagara Falls and spending money for our cruise. We’ll be going on the cruise in May 2016. Tons of time to sew up a vacation wardrobe!

In Niagara, we spent some time being tourists and visited the midway, the falls, went on the boat under the falls, visited a wax museum, went to the bird kingdom, and got old timey pictures taken of us.

Here are some fun highlights from our minimoon:

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Gunslingers:

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Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Andie Wells

Read the full series:

April: The Wedding Dress, pt. 1: The Design, the Muslin, the Fabric, and the Outfit

June: The Wedding Lingerie

The Flower Girl’s Dress and Sash

July: Wedding!

The Wedding Dress, pt. 3: The Reveal and the Day

 

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