Kyla and Jackson’s original wedding date was planned for October 2020 and for over 150 people. They felt that Covid gave them the perfect reason to downsize their guest list and move up their date! They planned their beautiful 30 person wedding in just a few weeks and it was the perfect day. Kyla had a very specific vision for the day with a moody palette for florals, black candles and neutral textures. With Jackson’s career expertise, he designed all of their custom stationary. We can’t get over the colors and the intimate setting!
How did you meet?
It’s a bit of a funny story… I was serving at the local restaurant in our small town, and decided to join a friend for drinks after work, this is a true ‘right place at the right time’ kind of story. My now husband had just returned from traveling to Istanbul and was meeting friends for drinks as well. The girl I was having drinks with was a mutual friend and called him over, we chatted for a bit and the rest is history.
What is your proposal story?
For my birthday, I was gifted a private boat tour on the Seine River from my now husband. We arrived in Paris on a rainy day, fearing it may get cancelled. My nervous husband racked his brain for a plan B, but the rain cleared just in time for it to go on! A spilled bottle of wine later and some miscommunication on timing with our French boat driver, we were engaged in front of the Eiffel Tower! We toasted as the sun set and the lights began to twinkle in the city of love! A true fairy tale engagement!
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding (your vision, color, style, and location choices).
We would describe our wedding as “modern, moody, garden vibes”. Originally, we had planned an indoor fall wedding but due to Covid, decided to bump our wedding to July and have it outside during a lull in cases. We chose the Bonnycastle Garden at the Manitoba Club in Winnipeg, MB because it best suited the feeling we wanted and the food and service we knew was impeccable. We chose this location because it had a good mix of traditional meets contemporary. Under the Edison bulb string lights, surrounded by warm brick, and lush greenery it created the perfect environment for the style we were trying to achieve. For our colors, we went with a modern pink pallet balanced with black candles, and brass/gold accents to create the traditional and moody vibe we were trying to achieve. We added in a soft seating area that incorporated a contemporary feeling to bring the original vision we had inside, outside. My husband is a graphic designer, so we invested a bit more into quality print with gold foil for our menus and place cards, complete with a custom logo that represents our two backgrounds coming together.
Tell us about your attire choices.
For our attire, we tried to go for contemporary that accented our wedding color pallet. For the bridesmaids, they wore the Slip Wrap dress by Babaton ordered from Aritzia in the color Navy. I chose to go this route because it was affordable, quick, and really met the vision I was trying to achieve. The groom and his groomsmen wore charcoal grey Tiger of Sweden suits from Danali in Winnipeg. Service and experience was exceptional and the suits looked fantastic paired with a MacKay tartan pocket square and thistle boutonnière to pay homage to the grooms Nova Scotian heritage. The dress!! I picked my dress to suit the venue! Luckily, we were still able to take photos inside the MB Club so my long dramatic train still worked even though our wedding was now outside. I purchased my dress from Bliss Bliss Bridal Boutique in Winnipeg and I went with the designer Essence of Austrailia. I chose an ivory-colored dress with beading and lace accents coupled with sparkly tulle and a long train. It sounds dramatic, it absolutely was.
What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?
The most important thing to us was creating a comfortable atmosphere for our guests and try to veer away from the traditional wedding. In doing this, we chose to focus on food and drinks. We created two signature cocktails and splurged on the red wine.
What were your favorite parts of the day?
The grooms father being the officiant was so special. His father before him (the grooms grandfather) was a pastor and married many young couples, so for him to be able to follow in his footsteps and marry us meant so much. A very special moment was when the groom stood up unexpectedly to toast to the memory of the brides mother and all of the bridal party came over to comfort me. Another fun memory was when a guest bought the entire wedding party cigars from the Manitoba clubs new cigar room to enjoy in the garden!
Tell us about your wedding flowers.
Our wedding flowers were from Academy florist in Winnipeg and they totally nailed the vision! As we have mentioned multiple times, we really wanted flowers that were traditional but also emulated contemporary. The colors were, light-rich pinks and deep burgundy tones with greenery to accent the flowers.
Tell us about your wedding cake.
Neither of us are cake fans so opted for our favorite donut from bake world in steinbach! My husband has a severe peanut allergy so we wanted a dessert that would be peanut friendly and fun!
What did you do for favors?
A huge thing for us, especially during the pandemic, has been playing card games! Again, with my husband being a graphic designer, we were very drawn to the beautiful design of theory 11 cards which featured work from some of our favorite artists. We chose a different deck for each person, often catered to their personality or interests! For example, the grooms dad loves boating on lake of the woods so we selected a deck that features a beautiful nautical theme!
Please describe any DIY, handmade, or personal details.
Apart from our custom-designed cards and menus, we also featured signature cocktails! A paper plane (equal parts amaro, lemon juice, bourbon,and aperol) and a classic canadian Caesar! We love to host, so this was a personal touch we felt was important!
Did you include any family heirlooms or special traditions?
As mentioned, we included some nods to the grooms Nova Scotian heritage. I wore her mothers locket inside my wedding dress and had a photo of her along with her favorite flower-a hot pink Gerber daisy displayed on the guest book table. This was an important touch. For me as I lost my mother at the young age of 9 to cancer. It was a special way to honor her presence at the wedding.
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
Our advice would be to keep it personal and true to who you are as a couple, this is your big day so make choices for yourselves and not for others. By doing this, you will really appreciate your day and your family and friends will appreciate the little touches you added. For the couples planning a wedding during a pandemic, we empathize with you-if you have to cut down on attendance, it doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. We found that a smaller, more intimate gathering ended up being a blessing in disguise. It was less stressful and allowed us to spend quality time with all of our guests.