Planning a long-distance wedding isn’t always easy, but this adorable duo didn’t let a few thousand miles (or more) get in their way. Instead, they enlisted the help of some of Ontario’s finest vendors, including the amazing Hazlitt Vintage Rentals and The Little White Dress, and drew upon their own crazy talented DIY skills and creativity to throw the sweet, vintage wedding of their dreams. All captured by Young Hearts Photography, the gallery is literally overflowing with magical moments for us to enjoy. Click here for more.
Click here for the FULL wedding!
Oh, and we’re not done yet. We have a breathtaking film from Nataschia Wielink Photo + Cinema to seriously sweeten your Monday. Enjoy!
From the Bride… To say that I was anxious and overwhelmed at the thought of planning a wedding remotely while living overseas was an understatement. Our family and friends would be coming from all over the world for our wedding, and I wanted it to be a perfect reflection of us. Luke is from Australia and I’m from Canada, but we now live together in Hong Kong. This meant that not only would there be a lot of traveling involved during the planning process, but also a lot of emailing, using Skype and relinquishing control to others (which I don’t do well). I was so overwhelmed with the thought of planning the wedding that we were engaged for nearly 5 years, looked at locations in 3 different countries, and had planned and canceled three different dates, before we finally settled on Canada as our location. Since our entire love story unfolded in Asia, we felt it was really important to bring all the things we love about our “home” to our families who have not yet been able to visit us in Hong Kong. With friends and family scattered all over the world (and some who hadn’t seen us since we’ve been together) the most important thing for us was to have every single detail express who we are and help those that only knew us individually to understand our love and connection.
To help be my eyes, ears and my super hero in Canada I enlisted the help of wedding planner Kate Vanderlugt of The Little White Dress, and from there our wedding visions grew into a dream come true. She not only understood our vision and brought it perfectly to life but she became a great friend in planning process. It was all the little details that made our day unique and that was what I focused on. Luke was a superstar groom. He designed our invitations, made our cake topper, molded and painted our photo booth props and became a master of the sewing machine! He sewed our vintage floral napkins, our linen table runners, and all the ties for the groomsmen – as well as embroidering them! Our venue didn’t allow our guests to throw anything as we walked back up the aisle, so I made little paper flags with lots of fun sayings and our initials for our guests to wave. I also enlisted the wonderful Selena from Hazlitt Vintage Rentals to complete that vintage travel vibe we were going for. She had just the right pieces – from tables and suitcases to the tandem bike that we used for photos! For dinner, Luke and I felt it was especially important to bring our favourite tastes of Asia to our guests, and we then followed it up with a yummy dessert bar with my favourite homemade squares that my mom and grandma baked. Our guests’ favourite part of the evening had to be our photo-booth-turned-guest-book. I created a scrapbook station with tons of stickers and letters and such and the guests had fun all night taking photos, having them print out and creating funny pages to help us remember the night.
Although there were a lot of frustrations leading up to our wedding, it truly was a day that far exceeded even my wildest dreams. I kept saying, leading up to the day, that although it was the day that I got to marry my soul mate it was so much more than that. It was also being able to be with and share in the love of all those closest to us whom we seldom get to see as we celebrated such an important moment in our lives. I have to thank Kate from The Little White dress for really understanding our vision and making it come to life. And I also need to thank Young Hearts Photography and Nataschia Wielink Photo + Cinema for capturing the day — the happiest of memories that we will have forever.
Wedding Photography: Young Hearts Photography / Wedding Venue: Bellamere Winery in London, Ontario / Event Planning: Kate Vanderlugt of The Little White Dress / Floral Design: Village Vines Florists / Wedding Cinematography: Nataschia Wielink Photo + Cinema / Wedding Cake: The Cake Box / Officiant: All Season Weddings / Vintage Rentals: Hazlitt Vintage Rentals / Wedding Invitations, Cake Topper, Photo Booth Props, Napkins, Table Runners + Groomsmen’s Ties: DIY by The Groom / Paper Flags, Heart Garland, Bunting + Bridesmaids’ Jewelry: DIY by The Bride / Hair + Makeup: Nova Vita / Bridesmaid Dresses: Dessy (Color: Firecracker)