Wedding Pictures
It's amazing to me that the culmination of 14 months of work was over in just one night. I remember reminding myself throughout the event to consciously imprint every last thing into my mind, lest I forget something fabulous. Yet the details are already fading. Somehow, I wish I could do it all over again.I look back at the wedding though, so fondly. To date, it really was the absolute best day of my life. Of course there were minor problems, as there would be in any event this size, but in my mind, it was perfect. It was everything I wanted our wedding to be. Everything I imagined for my wedding when I was a little girl. I feel like, because I had my hand in everything, and strived so determindly to make it our own, it really ended up being a reflection of us. Special. Perfect.
The following are pictures I've borrowed from some of our guests. Huge thanks to them! We don't yet have the commissioned photos from the photographer - which I'm dying to see. I will post more when possible.
For those of you not there, the ceremony started at 4:30, and was located along the South Thompson river in my parents' neighbour's back garden. Gerri and Wally just went out of their way to make everything about their house and yard perfect for our day; we are just so lucky! Gerri even asked for my wedding colours a year before so that she could begin planting her garden correspondingly. Wow. Enormous thanks, again, to them!
Our guests all hid under a giant willow tree until about 4:25 to escape the blazing heat: it was at least 38 C in the shade! Though we had canopies, the setting sun snuck under them, and most guests had to battle the heat through our short ceremony.
Our wedding commissioner, Sherin Jensen, did such a fabulous job. She was graceful and poignant and allowed us to put our own slant on the ceremony: we wrote a poem together which was included in her speech. Thankfully, Sherin was also brief.
Once the chairs were moved into the reception tent, a cocktail party was set up under the canopies. In honesty, I think most guests dispersed in search of shade, and didn't get to enjoy much food-and-drink, but by dinner time the sun was setting and the temperature perfect! In the meantime, our families and the wedding party were whisked off for photos with our photographer, Nickie LaSaga.
The wedding party consisted of my best friend and current East-coaster, Jessica; Riccardo's best friend and fun-loving German, Thomas; my two lovely sisters, Rebecca and Kelsey; Riccardo's childhood friend Andre and more recent friend from Japan, Shigeru; my other best friend and the next-in-line-for-marriage, Kimberly; and last-but-not-least, our amazingly hardworking brother-in-law, Michael. What a great team!! These people battled through equally hot weather the day before in the rehearsal - even when we made them re-do the procession 4 times! All our friends and family, including those above, and also Jeanette and Melanie (two lovely German ladies), spent tireless hours setting up and cleaning up the site! THANK YOU ALL!
For dinner we arranged for Sanbiki Japanese restaurant to cater. Though some items ran a little low (sorry!), the food was amazing! We were extremely surprised and overwhelmingly pleased to receive two very special presents just after dinner: a lovingly researched family tree joining our two families (dating back to 1420 - amazing!!! - this has never been done on my side of the family!) and a properly cast, personalized bronze bell (which came along with a fabulous, hilarious, embarassing performance and poem)! Thanks to those involved, again, for the very thoughtful gifts.
Tressa, my dearest friend from Japan, was kind enough to be our Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening, and did such a fabulous job of it. She made a touching speech, and was really my go-to-gal. I am forever indebted. Thanks again, Trexi!
Just before cutting our slightly melting cake, Riccardo and I were invited to play a game. In the prove-you-know-your-partner game, we faired pretty well, I think; only had to down a few shots for wrong answers! Apparently the cake, which I ordered from Erwin's Bakery, was very tasty - at least our layer was!
Finally, after brilliant speeches and toasts, we got into the disco part of the evening. This was shortly followed by karaoke. Many people warned us that karaoke could ruin the party atmosphere, but I think it only enhanced things. We actually have Bruce, from Odyssey Music to thank for making all of it come together; he managed a fantastic blend of awesome dancing tunes and great karaoke faves! Huge thanks to him, and to everyone who gave karaoke a go.
And in the wee hours, the party final died down (much to the relief of our neighbours!), and the most magical day of my life came to an end.
If you have pictures of our wedding that you haven't yet shared with us, please let us know - we are very eager to begin putting our album together.
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