The other day I announced the winners of the Love You Back project, but I also wanted to give huge applause to the other two entries that made up the final contenders. Both were completely inspiring. Presented in no particular order, we have Aly & Eric, who made a three dimensional board, filled with lovely textures and sweets. I completely fell for the wedding dress fashioned from lace remnants.
Next we have Stephanie & Chris. They had me when I heard their song “Home,” and read their heartfelt story. The dress, the location and all of the culinary details add up to pure wedding delight.
In the bride’s own words…*our story began 15 years ago; we met when we were 11 years old, in middle school. Chris was the cool new kid, and I was the shy girl in the back of the class who went unnoticed by him. When he began to acknowledge me, he tried to get my attention the way a typical young teenager would – by teasing me… relentlessly.
Years passed, and when we became friends, we gave it our all. His teasing turned into blatant kindness: he would carry my books to class, help me with my book bag, and shower me in cute little stuffed animals (which I still have) and flowers. We did our homework together, and were practically attached at the hip. Our friendship blossomed into love when we were fifteen years old, and we’ve been together ever since.
We’ve traveled the world together. We’ve helped each other become stronger, better people. We’ve endured hardships and rather than falling apart, we’ve thrived; and we owe it to what we’ve created together. Most importantly, our relationship isn’t a dependant one. We maintain our individuality, while complementing and encouraging each other and allowing ourselves (and consequently our relationship) to flourish.
As we’ve been planning our wedding, which is on July 28th, 2012, we have decided to make it a fun and frivolous affair. We want people to laugh and dance, and we want to be surrounded in those we love most (which includes people from the east and west coasts, and every province between).
We’re having the reception at the Iron Goat, in Canmore, and are currently debating having the ceremony on the patio, at the Goat, or finding a wild flower-filled field for it. We’re going to have an acoustic version of the song “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sung by a friend of ours from high school during the ceremony, as the lyrics represent our relationship so beautifully. “Home is wherever I’m with you…”
I could go on and on, as you can probably tell, so I’ll just give a few more details: I come from a family of food lovers, so the reception is going to be a delicious one. My dress is the Vera Wang Harlow on my inspiration board, in ivory. We’re going to have wheat, from a grower outside of Calgary, in lieu of some of the flowers – in honour of the prairies. We’re also going to have lavender from Kelowna, where Chris’ mom and step-dad, as well as much of his family live. We’re jarring honey or homemade jam for favours. They’ll be labeled “Spread the Love” – corny, yes, but we really do want to spread the love.
As for us, Chris is an IT Security Consultant, and I’m a food writer/blogger and social media/marketing consultant. We love to travel, ski (him), cook and bake (me), rock climb, hike, and bike. We’re also somewhat beer and wine connoisseurs, but not snobs. We also take way too many pictures… of everything.
So that’s our story. Actually, it’s more of a snippet of our story. I should have written a novel and just dog-eared the important bits for you. The moral of said story is that we’re crazy in love, have been for almost half our lives and we’re unbelievably excited to share our wedding day with our families and loved ones. It would be an honour if we could have this step in our adventure beautifully photographed by you, and I truly appreciate the opportunity you’ve given by creating this contest.*
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