Part three of a seven part series of the ins and outs of planning and executing a decor heavy DIY wedding
Heather and David’s DIY wedding at Performance Works started for their guests with their ceremony which was hosted directly outside the venue on the risers, with the couple and their wedding party at the top.
This ceremony was one of a kind. In such a cool way. If you haven’t been to Performance Works, outside the venue there is a gangplank from the venue onto a grassy knoll with a few steps down. When I first saw this, I thought “how theatrical would it be for a bride to walk down that gangplank for her ceremony?” and I was SO RIGHT!
When we first met, Heather wasn’t sure if her wedding ceremony was going to happen at these risers or further over in the park, and I am thrilled that this is what they decided on. It worked so well! What I didn’t expect when we were planning out this ceremony was that instead of situating guests on the risers for a good viewpoint, they gave them all an amazing viewpoint with the couple and their attendants at the top, the middle riser for the signing table, and the third riser sat the couple’s immediate family. At the base of the risers sat the guests with their backs to Performance Works. The best part about this set-up was that instead of those glass doors that the venue features as the backdrop, for Heather & David’s vows we had a lush grassy hill. It really helped us achieve the total feels that the couple was going for.
The processional was logistically one of the more difficult parts of the wedding, aside from the set-up and tear-down. While the family and the groom’s side of the wedding party made their entrance from the rolling doors of the reception room, the bride and her attendants made their way to the ceremony via the gangplank above the guests. Not to mention that the live music was located in yet another spot.
To make this processional work, we worked through the rehearsal multiple times and had all three of our leads (myself, Winnie, and Sonaiya) at different points to ensure that everything was synced perfectly. I was with Heather and her attendants, Winnie was with the family and groomsmen (aside from the father of the bride, who was stationed with me), and Sonaiya was with the musicians. And from each of our points we couldn’t necessarily see what was going on with anyone else so we also had to record times at the rehearsal. Thankfully, ThistleBEA invested in walkies to ensure weddings like this went off perfectly.
Don’t forget, we were also in a public park and responsible for keeping random wanderers from bombing photos or taking away from the couple’s wedding. So after each of us finished with our processional duties, we sneaked out through doors not near the ceremony and stationed ourselves strategically.
The ceremony was filled with beautiful touches, like a shibori blanket for the flower girl, the MOH’s daughter and bride’s niece, to sit on so she could play; a religious officiant to honour their families’ beliefs but who honoured the couple’s as well; phenomenal florals from Our Little Flower Company (but we’ll get more into those soon!); a song sung for them as a gift while signing the registry; and just so many little touches that really made their ceremony a unique thing. It’s been a hot minute since I cried during a ceremony, but this one 100% brought on some tears.
Next week, we’ll be moving onto the reception. If you’re patiently waiting, don’t worry, we’ll be getting into the nitty gritty of the decor and how everything was executed on part 5 in four weeks!
Photos below all captured by Amy Teixeira Photography
Check out the other posts in this series!