Cassidy is such a lovely woman! She is the type of person who walks into a room and just brings a smile to your face. She has a huge heart for children and youth as well! I am so glad I got to spend some time with her and get to know her better! Without further a due this is her story and advice for future brides!

When did you get Engaged?
June 14, 2017 (Yesss.. 3 months!)

When did you get married?
September 17, 2017, Sunday morning wedding on the beach, brunch reception. All in Naramata, BC.

How did you go about planning your wedding?          First off you need to know, when Alex and I got engaged we were 4 hours apart and 14 hours away from where we were getting married!! I always knew my mom would do most of my wedding planning. She was an interior designer and just knows how to make things look good. So, we decided to have our wedding in Naramata where my parents live. My hubby and I did a lot of Pintresting (He calls it “the website that shall not be named”). We chose our colours first and then from there just bounced ideas off my mom and others who were helping. The venue we used required we use a certain wedding planning company. This was a bummer at first but ended up going over REALLY well! She worked well with our families and got SO much behind the scenes stuff done.

What is the most important thing that had to be right? The food was a HUGE one for us. We had a wonderful catering company (shout out to Joy Road in Naramata, BC!) that even filled the request from Alex that had his heart set on waffles at our brunch wedding! Other than that, I wasn’t too picky. I was also VERY sick the week leading up to our wedding day. I made sure to tell the wedding party that by the day of the wedding, if things weren’t perfect that that was that! Not so sweat the small stuff.

Why did you choose your dress and how much was it? I chose my dress because it was simple, elegant and I really liked the detail in the straps. I wanted something I would feel comfortable yet awesome in as well. I bought it online because I lived far from all my family, friends and any good bridal stores were hours away. My dress arrived in a box in the mail and I jumped up and down with the mail lady at our small-town post office when it arrived! $285 all together… Haha, including shipping!

How much on photography, why did you that photographer? We spent maybe $1,500? I can’t quite remember. We chose Caillum Smith from Preserved Light. His photos were very natural yet modern. He does a lot of tourism photography, so we also knew we were getting someone who had extensive knowledge of the area and how to photograph it. Our photographer was easy to talk to, had fun ideas and was on the same page as us. I really wanted candid, natural moments to be captured and Caillum was all over that!

What was the best part of your day and why?  Our reception. It was a bit overwhelming to know that literally everyone we loved and cared for were all in the same room. Alex’s aunt (who actually set us up!) was our MC. There were SO many laughs, it was wonderful to see everyone together and having fun… Alex and I both moved far from home to live in FSJ, so for us this was like a big reunion. I also loved “the reveal”. We had it in the pavilion at my parent’s house where Alex had asked my dad’s permission to propose. It’s still our favorite place to hangout when we visit

If you could do it all again what is one thing you would change?  My makeup. It just wasn’t what I had pictured in my head. The artist did a really nice job, it just didn’t feel like me. She “toned it down” once and by the time everything was done and then re-done there was no time to change anything else, so I just went with it. So I would tell my past self to speak her mind, be clear and maybe don’t try to accommodate everyone as much.. I also wish I had gotten individual pictures with my mom, dad and brother. We had family ones, but separate would have been nice too.

If you could tell a future bride one thing she needs to do to make her day perfect what would that be? Take it all in. When you are standing with your very, very soon to be husband, take time to really see everyone who is there. When my parents gave their speech, they had us take a moment to look out and just see everyone. This meant a lot to me, like I said above, both Alex and I had already been living far from a lot of our family and friends for some time.
I know you said one… But I think this is also important. Don’t sweat it! On your day there is no point in worrying or trying to change things. I made sure to tell our wedding party and families this. I didn’t want people coming to Alex or me with problems or concerns on our day. Basically, the deal was if it’s an easy fix go ahead and fix it, if not, no big deal. *This would kind of tie in with “the day” but we also didn’t go on our honeymoon until 3 months after our wedding. This was because of work but ended up being the best thing ever! Now having gone through the wedding day, though it was amazing, I could not imagine having to get on a plane the next day!

Make Up: Angela Moody Makeup Artistry

Hair Stylist: Shaylene Carter

Photography: Hope Linzee Photography