In January, 2018 Ren & Ivan hosted an intimate winter wedding full of evergreen boughs and amazing spices perfuming the air
Ren and Ivan married on the back steps at Heart House restaurant. They had been legally married the evening previous at the rehearsal dinner, which allowed Ren’s aunt and uncle to officiate the ceremony on the day itself. The couple were thoroughly prepared for the possibility of rain with plenty of umbrellas, due to their outside location, but the sun came out in time, creating an extremely beautiful setting without even a coat necessary for the bride! Ivan’s best man and Ren’s dude of honour were their sole attendants.
Since the bride works in film, she was able to find most of her décor at set sales for very steep bargains. Her most impressive find was a set of three identical wedding dresses (although one had a giant wine stain on the lap due to the scene it was used in) for only fifty dollars total. She had the clean ones altered – giving her a back-up wedding dress! – and used the lace from the third for the alterations.
After the ceremony, the guests were treated to specially made hot apple ciders, of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties, paying tribute to the couple’s love of spiced food and drink. Various types of spiced cake were served, including plain gingerbread, rum cake, and chocolate ganache, as well as orange buttercream. The cake-topper, which was handmade by the bride, was in the shape of two olives shaped like the couple’s heads – a reminder of a sweet moment earlier in their relationship when the groom drew an olive picture, which he captioned ‘Olive me loves Olive you’. Since it was too difficult to have ice cream cake at the reception, Ren had also surprised Ivan with one at the rehearsal dinner – with the original olive picture printed on it. Naturally, their first dance was to ‘All of You’ by John Legend. The reception finished off with a late-night snack of grilled cheese sandwiches.
The guests were seated at a mixture of round and rectangular tables for the reception. The intimate head table was adorned with evergreens, and above hung fabric and suspended curtain lights. The couple also hung snowflakes which had been hand-crocheted by the bride. Centrepieces were house lanterns with fairy lights inside. Jordan almonds, which traditionally represent five wishes for the couple, served as favours.
A do-it-yourself photo booth with Instax Polaroid cameras also featured at the reception. The backdrop was constructed out of an old projection screen, spare fabric, lace, hand-hung baubles, and more crocheted snowflakes.
From the Bride:
When we started planning our wedding, we had no clue what was involved! We hired Breanne to help guide us in the months leading up to the wedding, and to take over on the day. She was always available to answer questions, and brought up important details we hadn’t even considered in our meetings. Knowing that she is a crafty individual herself, it was easy handing over all the personal touches we had lovingly crafted for out wedding, confident that she would display them beautifully. We were not disappointed!
When Breanne picked everything up early in the week of our wedding, it was a huge relief and meant that I could let go and enjoy spending time with friends and family who had traveled in for the event instead of stressing, tweaking, or second guessing myself. Her calm manner and confidence as she made note of all the bits and pieces and what I had in mind put me at ease. She also shared her itinerary with all the vendors ahead of time and handled all communications with them in that week leading up, so everything went incredibly smoothly.
Ivan saw the venue on the wedding day before I had a chance, and when we met for our first look pictures, one of the first things he said after the initial romantic stuff was “Have you seen everything set up? It looks AMAZING!” There were so many little details and bits and pieces, I couldn’t even imagine how it would all come together in time on the day, and I have to say it completely exceeded my expectations!
As for the running of the day, Breanne was incredibly thoughtful and thorough. She made sure we had some cocktails and appies while we were doing our group pictures, tissues for speeches, and even helped me change into my second wedding dress after my first got muddy during pictures. She is professional, kind, creative, level headed, and wonderfully organized. Nothing was overlooked!
I cannot recommend ThistleBEA highly enough. My new husband and I so appreciate everything Breanne did for us in making our wedding truly exceptional and there is not a single thing we would change if we were to do it again. You wouldn’t believe all the compliments we received on everything ranging from the decor, to the atmosphere, to how unbelievably smoothly everything went.
If you are on the fence about whether or not you need a wedding coordinator, we assure you that Breanne and ThistleBEA are worth every penny and more!
