From the Archives: When You Specialize in DIY Weddings, You Know Your Wedding is Going to be Heavy on the DIY
On April 22nd, 2017, Aberthau Mansion was host to the wedding of ThistleBEA’s own Breanne Dodge, to husband Jim. The touching ceremony, which took place outside on the mansion’s grounds, was only enriched by the falling rain, and the opportunity it presented for guests and bridal party to use the umbrellas which had been monogrammed for the occasion. The ceremony was performed by the bride’s great-uncle, as the couple had completed the legalities elsewhere, and all four parents also participated.
Fun fact: in many cultures, rain on a couple’s wedding day signifies good luck. In Vancouver, Canada, it just signifies yet another Saturday or Alanis Morissette song. The wedding was LEGO themed, in blue and white, emphasizing the couple’s fun-loving and creative side while still encompassing an elegant touch. Design features included LEGO gel centerpieces of the bride’s design, LEGO candy favors and cupcake decorations, and the bride’s homemade LEGO-decorated shoes, as well as oversized puzzle pieces in lieu of a guestbook. The party favours were distributed by piñata, which caused some trouble as well as a minor injury to one of the guests! Once Breanne broke out a hidden hammer, however, all was well and the candy was soon distributed.
To this day, the family and friends of this duo are raving about the photographers, Jelger & Tanja Photographers, and the videographer, Jeffery from Fluffy Clouds. These amazing photo and video experts knew how to capture the perfect moments while being invisible and working among the crowd quickly and silently.
The bride’s hair was done by Glam Girls while her make-up was perfected by her maid of awesome, Ellis. The rentals for the wedding were all provided by Salmon’s Rentals and Apex Tents and dinner service staff and clean up was provided by Pop Down BC Weddings and Events.
From the Bride:
It’s one thing to help someone plan their wedding and a whole ‘nother beast to actually plan your own!! When Jim and I got engaged (that’s an interesting story, you can read how I asked him on earlier posts in our blog) we knew a few things about what our wedding would look like. It would represent us, our silly wonderful quirky natures, we would eat tacos, and we were going to ensure it stayed on budget. We started planning before I started ThistleBEA and I had no idea that my wedding vision (fun & DIY) would emulate my business. I loved the experience of being the bride but I learned that I definitely prefer the planning and the work of being at a wedding as the planner than being the centre attention. If I could give future brides one piece of advice, person to person, it would be this: Things are going to go wrong on your wedding day, it’s just the nature of weddings. Ignore those things, they’re not important. Concentrate on what’s important, the reason for this party, your love for one another. A zillion things went wrong on my wedding day from some details not being attended to while I was getting ready to my shoes actually breaking as I was getting ready to enter for the ceremony. None of those mattered, because I married Jim, and we had the most important people in our lives surrounding us and celebrating this milestone along side us.