real weddings

Jeff and Alli always envisioned that they would have an outdoor wedding, and spend their special day celebrating with their closest friends and family in a fuss-free fashion. As you can see from the images from Wild Eyed Photography, the couple’s summer wedding was everything they hoped for and more. The ceremony and reception took place in Jeff’s parents’ backyard, and the event was full of meaningful DIY elements, including wedding signs that Alli’s sisters painted, buckets of wildflowers that her mom arranged and twenty pies made with love by Jeff’s grandma. Lawn games, cocktails and dancing the night away under the stars were just some of the highlights from this romantic, heartfelt celebration.

From the Bride… “Jeff and I wanted a wedding that reflected our love of family, friends and laughter. We worked really hard to make everyone feel welcome and for the day to be relaxed and fun. Since many of our guests had to travel for the wedding (I’m from British Columbia and the wedding was at Jeff’s country home in Ontario), we made sure that accomodations and travel was simplified as much as possible. We loved the big yellow school bus that escorted guests from hotels to the wedding and reception!

Having an outside wedding was always our dream. We took it as a good omen that it poured rain the day before the wedding, but was beautifully sunny on the day itself–especially since we didn’t have a back-up plan. The big white tents set up on bright green lawns (groomed meticulously by Jeff’s dad) created a stunning contrast, and buckets of wildflowers arranged by my mom brought it all together. We were really hands-on with wedding preparations, and our families were just such an incredible help. Jeff’s parents hosted the wedding in their backyard, my sisters hand-painted wedding signs, my mom slaved over the stunning wedding cake, Jeff’s grandma made twenty pies from scratch for dessert, and Jeff’s uncle played guitar while I walked down the aisle. All of these personal touches from the people we love most made our day memorable.

I think we would both agree that our wedding day is our favourite day so far. There were so many laughs–from our personal vows where Jeff pledged his culinary skills for life and life-sized Jenga games with cocktails before the reception, to our parents’ speeches that brought back the past (and a Glow-worm), our day was so full of joy. Perhaps one of our favorite moments was dancing the night away under the stars, and looking forward to a lifetime of love and happiness together.”