Chris and Laura's wedding in Prince George, British Columbia

The story of our wedding

Chris proposed to me on Christmas, we both love the holiday's so it made sense that he picked such a memorable day, he was even thoughtful enough take make sure my Mom and brother would be there for that morning. Our wedding was a bit of an evolution in compromise. After Chris proposed I started checking with venues, wanting to hire photographers and get going with the planning of our wedding. What Chris and I both found out fairly quickly was they we are not that kind of couple. So we took a breath, said we would wait a little while and maybe revisit setting a date and some details until after our youngest graduated high school. When I finally decided to ask Chris how he felt about setting a date, planning a small ceremony and maybe a backyard reception, he jumped at the chance. We used my mother-in-law's property for the ceremony and reception, chose simple homemade food for the dinner, ordered cupcakes, decided to have family and friends take the photos instead of a photographer, and made our kids into our bridal party. It was a gentle blending between the "backyard BBQ" we started out with and the wedding we brought about, dressed up with simple décor and beautiful flowers. I had one last little bit of magic to bring to our special day. I had been engaged before and while that wasn't meant to be, the dress my mother bought me when I was in my twenties, was definitely the right dress! So while all our guests, family and friend's were being told I was going to walk down the aisle in casual wear, capris and flip flops, I worked my tail off to fit my 40 year old form into my dream dress. It took a lot of work and so much secrecy I thought I would burst (luckily I had my mother-in-law, my brother and his partner/ my makeup artist in on this or wouldn't have been able to keep the secret). Nothing will ever be so clear in my mind's eye, as the look on my husband-to-be's face when I came down the aisle in that wedding dress, and that look alone made everything worth it!