Jenn & Jules
When I first met with Jenn we were both so excited to get started on this custom journey. One wedding dress, two bridesmaids and two flower girls. Working with Jenn was so lovely, she was super laid back and allowed me to design her dress vision with ease. I found the most perfect flowered lace which over layed the bodice and created the perfect key hole back. While the rest was the over lay of beautiful turquoise flower girl dresses. Everything came together perfectly, all the dresses fit well and each of the ladies had a gorgeous jeweled belt to give them that much needed something extra special. I spoke to Jenn a few months later when she had her photos sent to me and here is her story from meeting to happily ever after.
How did you two meet?
We first met in the summer of 2017. His dad and him were doing roof work on a neighbours house when they noticed there was a hole in my roof. One day, his dad knocks on my door to show me what they found and explained how it could easily be fixed. I hired them to do the work, which they did - and then some. While on the roof, they noticed that my fence gate didn't work well, so they fixed that as well and cleaned out some of the gutters. We also got to talking about other possible work that needed to be done (isn't home ownership grand?!). They figured my roof had another year or two before it would need replacing and I already knew my windows were in rough shape, so when the next summer rolled around, they stopped by and we discussed redoing the roof as well as the windows. I shopped around, but they had impressed me so much with their past work, that I hired them to do the work. Jules and I did end up talking a few times, while he was working. It wasn't until they were closed to finishing up the windows that he asked me out for dinner. I said "sure", after all, I had promised myself not to turn down an opportunity to a) make a new friend and to b) get out of the house. You see, I had been married before, but my husband has passed away suddenly in the spring of 2017. The dinner went really well. He brought his son, who was 10 at the time, and we had a wonderful time. Of course, at the end of the night, I had a feeling I would be seeing more of the two of them!
How did he/she propose?
We had been trying to get together with Jules' dad, step-mom and younger sister and brother for a while, but schedules being what they are, previous attempts at making plans never seemed to work out. Jules had arranged for us to all go out to dinner together on a Tuesday evening, to the same restaurant where we had our first date. I didn't have a clue, until he walks around the table and gets down on one knee. He had his words planned out, but I think he might have been a tad bit nervous. He at least got the words to say "Will you marry me?". The few times when he mentioned marriage, I had always said that my response to that very question would be "Hmmm, let me think about it.", but I'm guessing I too was a little caught off guard, because I think I might have said yes before he could finish the question!
What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning?
Honestly, we first thought of eloping. Nothing fancy, just Jules, Riley and myself. Then he started realizing that never having been married before, he wanted his family there. So if his family would attend, then mine would too, then cousins, aunts and uncles, good friends...and then we were talking a full-on wedding. Once we came to that decision and a rough estimate on the number of people, we started talking details. It soon became quite clear that both of us were envisioning the same thing. Something relaxed and rustic.
What was your color palette and your style vision?
So many colours to chose from! At first, my plan might have been more mardi gras...purple, turquoise/teal, lime green and silver. That was quickly narrowed down to turquoise/teal and silver/grey.
What unique elements or DIY details did you include?
I Have always enjoyed crafting and my husband is extremely handy, so with the two of us working on a variety of projects, we accomplished a lot of DIY details for our wedding. Started off with our save the date cards (a note card with a wooden pencil with a hand painted tag with our names and the date), our invitations, the seating chart, the ceremony programs, the table scapes, the flower girls floral balls, the jam used as the Thank You gifts for our guests, as well as the decorating of the jam jars.
What was your favorite moment?
Our first look. I had gotten a glimpse or two of him as I was walking from the car to the bridal suite, and I'm sure he caught a glimpse of me too. But the first time you lay eyes on your betrothed a few moments before you say "I Do" is certainly special!
Everything was exactly how we wanted it. The moment he asked me to marry him, I knew that I wasn't looking for your traditional wedding gown, but finding what I initially had in my head was proving difficult and frustrating. When I happened to message A.M.E.G. Designs with my ideas, Amanda quickly messaged me to say anything was possible. She made the entire process of designing and creating a one of a kind dress..which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE...a blast. Choosing my flowers was pretty easy. The deep purple colour of the moon vista carnation was a must, then we combined it with some white peonies, white wax flowers, and greenery. I think one of my husband's favourite things was the jam. He lead the jam making crew, as he used his late grandmother's recipe to make the strawberry, cherries and blueberry jam. This was a close second to the cake I surprised him with. We had agreed to just have donuts, which we had, but this cake was an ode to his favourite pastime... fishing. The cake was created using some of the pictures I had captured of a small family vacation where he caught two very nice sized large mouth bass. The cake was a replica of a large mouth bass jumping. Spectacular.
We had gorgeous weather, which was one of my main worries leading up to the day. But the sun was out, and so were our closest family and friends. We had an absolutely fabulous time. There isn’t a single thing I would change...everything was perfect.
What is one piece of advice that you could give brides-to-be?
Everyone says enjoy the day and don't sweat the small stuff. Its soooooooo true. Relax and enjoy because the day will FLY by otherwise. Also....delegate, delegate, delegate! Yes, it's your day........but that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. Have a plan, and have people you can rely on to accomplish the tasks you need done of the day or the days leading up to your wedding. This is crucial and will free up your time....to just enjoy what will be the happiest and most special days of your life.
Click through and see their magical day unfold!
