It’s not everyday you have the opportunity to propose to the love of your life on live television, but for this cute as can be groom, it most definitely happened… and it was awesome. (Seriously – I dare you not to cry.) So, how do you follow up the world’s greatest proposal? With a wedding that is boasting a dreamy woodland setting, perfectly imperfect florals from Blooms & Posies and so many touching moments captured by Lisa Crispo Photography, you’ll be visiting the gallery time and time again. See it all right here.
From the Bride… On Valentine’s Day 2011 my best friend surprised me and himself by proposing live on our local breakfast television show. After the very unexpected proposal, we both knew that we wanted an outdoor, intimate, relaxed wedding. We searched for months for the perfect venue and finally came across the Kortright Centre for Conservation. We really tried to use local and eco vendors as much as possible.
My dress was custom made by Adele Wechsler, who specializes in eco couture designs. As much as we were eco-conscious, we still wanted to have printed invitations, so we found a local earth friendly stationery shop, Papier Lapin, who worked with us to create our invites and favor tags. Our florist from Blooms and Posies created the most beautiful in-season bouquets, spice (rosemary and sage) inspired boutonnières, and antique mason jar centerpieces. All the décor was created either by my or from Renée Cote; she created a beautiful basket of seeds to throw instead of confetti or rice as we walked away together. Renée also created tags for our beautiful Japanese wishing tree we had set up instead of a guest book. She also created stunning burlap bows and decretive pinwheels. We had the most wonderful intimate ceremony in the middle of the forest; we wrote our own vows and had it officiated by my aunt Michele.
I do have to share one very special wedding moment: my husband (then fiancé) and I agreed that the gifts we exchanged on our wedding day had to be $10 or under. When I received his gift, it was a beautifully-wrapped box in birch bark paper, and when I opened it, there was a handwritten note on pages torn out of a book I knew very well. It was from a book I had given my husband many years ago when we were just dating. I gave him this book because he would write little notes about wishes, dreams, and things he would like to accomplish and leave them all around his apartment. I was tired of picking them up and finding places for them, so I figured he could now keep them all in one place. In his letter that he gave me, he told me that he could rip out these pages from the book because his most important dream came true: marrying me later that day. I was a mess, and so was everyone else in the room, even the photographer. I could see there was something else in the box, so I dug a little deeper, and there was a metal, hand-crank music box that played “Here Comes the Bride.” Needless to say, we were all in tears!
Wedding Photography: Lisa Crispo + Gisella Perri of Lisa Crispo Photography / Wedding Venue: Kortright Centre for Conservation in Woodbridge, Ontario / Floral Design: Kim Boin of Blooms & Posies / Wedding Cakes: Vince Piscopo / Wedding Invitations + Favour Tags: Papier Lapin / Fiddle: Hayley Ryerson / Guitar: Ryan Maguire Saunders / DJ: Johnny Flairboy Garbutt of Q107 / Décor: Renée Cote of A la carte by Renée + DIY by the Bride / Wedding Dress + Head Piece: Adele Wechsler / Bride’s Shoes: David Dixon + Shoe Company / Hair: Courtney Bower of Civello Oakville / Makeup: Madison Bower / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Tommy Hilfiger / Bridesmaids’ Shoes: Naturalizer / Men’s Attire: RW&CO / Men’s Ties: Tommy Hilfiger / Men’s Shoes: Sanuk