Bride of the Week | Jessica & Mojo | Spring at Whonnock Lake

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Who : Jessica and Mojo

Where : Whonnock Lake 

When : June 15th, 2013

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How long were you dating your groom to be before he proposed? 

We had been dating for four years and had been friends for a few years before that.

What was your single most favorite moment from when he proposed?

Everything! We had gone up to Penticton with a group of our friends for the weekend and Moj proposed one night on the beach. Apparently everyone knew what was about to happen except for me. In fact, when Moj asked me to come walk down on the beach with him, I actually said no, because I didn’t want to get my feet dirty. When the girls started telling me to just go walk with him, I started to realize something was going on. It was a really special moment and it was fun having so many people to go celebrate with after!

How long was your engagement before you said, “We do”?

600x600_1390001242770-16423810152759831070724502495713600x600_1390001259618-534907101527607096107241081756901We were engaged for about 10 months. Ideally, we would have liked to have at least a year to plan our wedding, but our dream venue had an unexpected opening and we jumped at the chance to snatch it up!

Many thanks to Teryn Lee Photography for  the images – We had our engagement session in Fort Langley and at the old Albion Ferry dock.

Tell us a little bit about the wedding you’re planning: style, theme, feel, and colors?

More than anything else, we really wanted our wedding to be a reflection of us. We knew from the get go that it wouldn’t be an overly formal or glitzy affair. We wanted it to have a relatively casual and laid back feel. We ended up going with a bit of a chevron theme, and our colors were mainly navy and coral.

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What unique element did you have at your wedding?

We had personalized beer cozies for favors and “guest libs” mad libs for our guest book (which made for some pretty hilarious reading). We also named our tables after some of the bands we have seen in concert together… we have been to a lot of concerts over the years, so it was hard to decide!

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Did you DIYing any of your details?

We did a lot of the details ourselves, although I wish we had time to do a bit more. I made my own chevron table runners, because I couldn’t find anything like what I wanted at the time. We also purchased all the bud vases at thrift stores and then spray painted them to look like milk glass. Other projects included the cake topper, the table numbers and seating chart, our photo booth backdrop and some of the props.

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What part of the wedding were you most looking forward to? Did it live up to the dream?

I was really looking forward to the party!! More than anything, we just wanted to celebrate with our friends and family. It definitely lived up to our dreams in the regard. It was such a fun night and it was so great to be surrounded by so many people we love.

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On the flip side, what is the ONE MUST HAVE item/detail/service that you would recommend to each and every bride-to-be that would meet?

I’m fairly organized and was really looking forward to planning our wedding, so we didn’t hire a wedding planner, but we did hire a day-of-coordinator (Jackie at Happily Ever After Weddings), who was worth her weight in gold! I tend to be a worrier, so it was so nice to be able to leave everything in her hands and just really savor and enjoy the day!

What was your most favorite moment with your husband at your wedding?

I think my favorite moment was getting to kiss my husband after we were officially “husband and wife.” I also really liked when we sneaked off to do some sunset photos down at the lake. It was nice to just be out there just the two of us (and our photographer) enjoying the view.

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 Who or what has been most helpful and/or inspiring in the wedding planning process?

It can be borderline inspiration overload, but I got so many great ideas from browsing Pinterest.

 

How did you pick your ceremony and reception venues? What do you love most about each space?

We were looking for something local (we were living in Maple Ridge at the time), where we could have our ceremony outdoors and could bring in all our own vendors for the reception. Our friends had their wedding at Whonnock Lake a couple years earlier and we knew it would be the perfect place. The ceremony site is beautiful with all the trees surrounding the patio and the dock on the lake made for some pretty sunset photos. I also really liked the high vaulted ceilings in the reception hall and the row of windows looking out to the patio.

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Tell us about planning with your fiancé. Has it gone smoothly? Is he more involved, or hands-off?

Moj was awesome through the whole thing. He put up with my ever-revolving door of ideas, scoured thrift shops with me for vases and helped me spray paint everything.

 

Which part of your wedding have you been most intentional about planning?

We were really careful with our day-of timeline to make sure we left ourselves enough time for everything. We didn’t want to feel rushed.

Any advice you’d like to pass along to fellow brides?

Don’t get too caught up in trends and how weddings are “supposed to be” and just focus on doing something that’s authentically you and you soon-to-be-husband.

If you had to pick three top priorities for your budget, what would they be and why? Are your fiancé’s priorities different?

Our top priorities budget-wise were venue, photography and catering. I think we were pretty much in agreement on those.

And now the “where are they now” questions 

What are you most looking forward / Enjoying about marriage?

I like that we’re officially a family now. It’s nice to be able to refer to Moj as my husband, instead of my boyfriend. We’re just enjoying living our life together and planning lots of adventures… we plan to do quite a bit of travelling in the next few years.

What big changes/additions have you made as a family since saying “We Do”?

The biggest change we made was moving into our new place in August!

For those of you that are entrepreneurs or have a passion for specific project/causes, tell me what your speeding your time and energy on, since you no longer have wedding planning to occupy your time … links etc. please.

We definitely got bit by the DIY bug while we were wedding planning, and now we’re focusing that energy on making our new house a home. So far we’ve painted, finished a custom built-in bench and shelving for our dining room, revamped our old dining room table into a farmhouse table and completed a bunch of other small projects along the way (including making some pillow covers out of the leftover fabric from our wedding table runners). We still have lots more ideas we can’t wait to try.

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Many thanks to Terynlee photography for the amazing images, check out her blog for more images from this beautiful wedding

Larissa Meade
Principle Designer for Bridal Beginnings

Client Reviews and Testimonials 

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