The guys started their day at the beautiful Radisson hotel in downtown Saskatoon (not coincidentally, it’s where we crashed for the weekend). I don’t often get to grab shots of the guys getting ready, but since they were just a few floors down from us, I was able to spend a bit of time with them before heading to the bride’s location.

They had an official tie knotter. He did all the ties for the wedding party!

After a bit of time with the boys, it was time for the girls. Check out Jessica’s gorgeous dress!

Getting the dress on was a group effort!

Bridesmaid Jackie was in charge of lacing.

Sassy garter!

Jessica looked amazing!

The ceremony was held at beautiful Rotary Park, along the South Saskatchewan river. It was a hot, bright day!

Cutie pie flower girls!

Ring exchange

Mr. and Mrs.!

Receiving line time!

Bridesmaid Sarah and one of the flowergirls

The princesses!

Saskatoon has so many beautiful locations for photos! This street overlooked the historic downtown, most specifically, the beautiful Bessborough Hotel.

The boys – with a couple of Saskatoon’s bridges in the background.

Location number two was a graveyard. Yes, a graveyard. It was gorgeous!

Jess and maid of honor, Steph.

Gavin with groomsman Rod. Rod was soooo funny!

The bridal party got moved around in a party bus. Cheers!

Location number three – an alley in downtown Saskatoon.

Just around the corner from the cool alley was the historic Land Titles building, which is the oldest government building in Saskatoon – too cool not to use!

Location number four – the historic pumphouse along the river. Super cool little brick building!

Anyway – I LOVE wedding food. But this? This was so above and beyond what I usually get to eat at a wedding. It was AMAZING. The presentation, atmosphere, and food were all top notch. I wish I could eat there every week!

If you’re not hungry right now, you don’t have a pulse.

After the amazing family meal, it was reception time! The venue was the Wild Rose Pavillion at the Lloyd Exhibition Grounds. Glamour & Glitz did a great job with the decor.

Katie is the kind of bride who doesn’t forget anyone or anything. This wedding had the best kids table ever! Besides the usual coloring books, there were also dress-up animal noses, tiaras, fake tattoos, balloons, foam stickers … all the kids at the reception had a blast!

Grand entrance into the hall

Gorgeous cake! By Cakes by Carmen

Centerpiece florals by Grower Direct.

Maid of Honor and Best Man … or as I like to call them, Best Dude and Best Lady.

Writing the thank you list on the fly!

In order to get the bride and groom the kiss, guests had to compose a poem or a rap. So there was some freestyle rapping happening …

During the slideshow …

The shoe game

During speeches

First dance

So they’re slow dancing all sweet and normal ….

… and then the music changes, and they bust out a dance montage!

Daddy/daughter dance. I almost always cry during this part of the wedding day!

Cutting that awesome cake!

Katie’s awesome shoes (from Qupid)

Katie’s dad, Harland, seeing her as a bride for the first time

The adorable flower girls! Yep … I tried to take them home! Oh, and the ceremony was at Southridge Community Church in Lloydminster.

Dan seeing his bride!

They wrote their own vows. Super sweet!

This ringbearer was hamming it up all through the ceremony.

Ring time!

First kiss!

Mr. and Mrs. Smallhorn!

In the receiving line, Katie gave everyone these amazing, full-body hugs. She is just awesome like that.

The men got pocket watches for their groomsmen gift. All day long, one of them would say “What time is it?” and they’d all pull them out. 200 cool points to the groom for this awesome gift idea!

Pocketwatches were from Sears.

As soon as it was time for formals, it started to POUR. Like, monsoon-styles. So we headed to Barr Colony for an indoor location!

How amazing are these girls? Bridesmaids dresses by Alfred Sung, Katie’s dress is Diana by Enzoani.

These are some fine looking dudes. Suits from Indochino.com.

After Barr Colony, we headed to a superfly store in downtown Lloydminster, Socko. That store is so wicked awesome, I could live there!

Dan’s socks = awesome.

The guys offered to move the racks of shoes. Us girls were horrified. Who WOULDN’T want awesome shoes in their photos?

Fun with dressing room curtains!

Part two coming tomorrow!

The ceremony took place at Southridge Community Church in Lloydminster. I arrived a little early, hoping to catch the bride getting into her dress pre-ceremony. I lucked out with the timing and got to bond with the girls as they put the finishing touches on!

Lis is from Guatemala, and her parents and sister were able to be there for her wedding – and her mom laced her into her dress. Always such a special moment!

How gorgeous is this bride? Seriously!

It was cool to see some Guatemalen traditions incorporated into the wedding. This was the last prayer, Lis’ parents praying with her just before the ceremony.

Cutie pie flower girls!

Calvin’s first look!

Decor by Happily Ever After Events – http://www.happilyeverafterevents.ca

This was another nice tradition I haven’t seen before – the couple kneeling, and both sets of parents on the pulpit for a prayer.

Instead of a sand ceremony, the couple combined coffee beans and wheat – symbols of their cultures.

Right after the ceremony, the couple cut the cake and shared with all of their friends and family who came to the ceremony.

The bride and her sister

It was actively raining here, but this wedding party was still up for outdoor photos!

The reception was back at Southridge Community Church. It was small, intimate, and gorgeous!

I LOVE these dresses so much! They were quick to make and turned out fabulous – and cost under $5 to make including notions, sash and fabric flower. The secret is to shop the $1/metre bin at your local Walmart’s fabric section! Again, the pattern for these dresses is Simplicity #2586. Each dress took about a half day to make (with distractions like a small child, dog, the phone, blackberry and e-mail), and I was able to use the same pattern for the two different sized models (patterns come with multiple sizes in one envelope – the one I purchased fit sizes 6 through 14).

I should maybe explain – I have a thing against bridesmaids dresses. Generally, I hate them. I hate the fabric (nearly always satin that wrinkles and shows every bulge – even ones that aren’t really there!), the unflattering silhouettes, the matchy-matchyness, the need for a strapless bra, the way the tops keep sneaking down and constantly need to be pulled back up, and the fact that they will never be worn again. Price range for bridesmaids dresses when purchased from a bridal shop? $75-$375. Then, often, you have to pay for alterations, at $25-$100 per dress.

So, if you’re a crafty bride, or you have a crafty relative who would love to sew your bridesmaids dresses as a wedding gift to you, making your own bridesmaids dresses is a GREAT idea.

The pattern was $10.15 online, I used 3 metres of fabric for the dress with sleeves and 2 metres for the sleeveless dress, plus 0.25 metres of orange satin for the sash and flower. A spool of thread at $3.00 that I didn’t use the complete spool of. Total cost for two dresses = $18.65 ($9.33 each) including pattern. Not including pattern, $4.25 each. If you had four bridesmaids, you’d be looking at $6.79 each including pattern. And because you’re custom making each dress for the bridesmaid, no alterations are needed – especially with a pattern like this one, where it’s supposed to be a loose fit. At $6.79 each, if the dress never gets worn again, no big loss.

Brides, cut your girls a break. Choose a bridesmaids dress with wide straps or sleeves, so they can wear a comfortable bra. Pockets are nice, too – and also give an additional option for posing the hands during photos.

Bridesmaids dresses I’ve actually liked from my own weddings over the years …

That is all.

I liked these dresses because they were made of soft, t-shirt like fabric. They didn’t wrinkle or bulge. They were comfortable. They had straps, so the girls didn’t have to keep tugging them up. Even with three different body types – hourglass, square and a pregnant bridesmaid – they all looked great. AND the dresses were actually something you could wear again!

If you’re not crafty, and don’t have a nice, crafty family member, what to do? Well, look beyond the bridal shop! Here are some great finds from my favorite retailers. Hover your mouse over the images for cost & name of dress, or click to be linked to the website.

Urban Outfitters:

Ruche:

And what about if you have a plus-sized girl or two in your wedding party? Well, think practicality. Bigger girls need more support, and a strapless dress ain’t gonna cut it in the boob department. Also nix anything with a low-cut back.

Torrid has some fun dresses, all in plus-sizes.

Love this little-black-dress:

And, surprisingly, some dresses from Sears. Sears is much cooler than they used to be, but they’re still very affordable.

The New Vintage is our local Vermilion-Marwayne-Lloydminster twist on the current hot trend of rustic/vintage weddings. We had an amazing team of creative minds who all brought their A-game to this project, and it turned out even better than we’d all hoped!

I personally LOVE seeing inspiration shoots of all kinds – especially for weddings. The thing is, though, a lot of the time, they’re just not financially feasible to do on a large scale – like for a real wedding. And that’s where we wanted to be different! Everything at our shoot is something you could use in your own wedding planning and design, whether your budget is $5,000 or $500,000. There are a lot of DIY projects that can be replicated for just pennies – or a few dollars – and we encourage you to use these ideas at your own wedding or event!

We pulled nearly everything from our houses and closets; or borrowed them from family or friends. What we didn’t already have, we tried to find at our local thrift stores!

I’ll do my best to supply you with the source information for everything we used.

This is our head table for two. The linens were layered – ivory tablecloth, burlap, ivory damask satin, purple satin, and then the lace. The tablecloths and fabrics came from the Happily Ever After stock; the lace was picked up at a thrift store and then dyed to look old using coffee (tea works, too). Rather than a floral centerpiece, Kaylie created the floral focal point you see on the right. The chrome candlesticks are available through Happily Ever After, and the crystal candlestick is from my personal collection – originally from Bowring. The wine goblets were another thrift store find at $0.50 each. The chairs we pulled from the third floor (not accessible to the public) of Craig’s, which is this amazing jumble of off-season merchandise, antiques and clothing racks – however, it would have looked just as good with regular chairs, slipcovered with ivory fabric.

Boutonniere by Grower Direct. The mannequin is from Craig’s amazing collection of antiques.

Cupcake table. The wooden boxes are from my personal collection – I literally pulled them out of old buildings on my farm. Linens by Happily Ever After. The cake stand, candy dish and pie lifter are all antiques from Kaylie’s or my personal collection. Candlestick is available through Happily Ever After. The lilacs are from my garden; burlap roses are by me; additional florals from Grower Direct but designed by Happily Ever After. The frame with “Oh, Sugar Sugar” is from IKEA. The mini-cupcakes were made by Kaylie Franklin.

Another view of the cake table.

The antique cake stand – borrowed from Kaylie Franklin’s mother-in-law for this shoot. We topped each cupcake with a single lilac blossom. Super quick to do, and free, since nearly everyone knows someone with a lilac bush or 12 in their yard!

Sign design by me, frame from IKEA.

Bouquet and boutonniere are by Grower Direct in Lloydminster (designer Audina Hardstaff).

Guestbook area. Lilacs from my yard, mason jars from my basement, burlap roses were made by me as well. A very quick, easy and cheap DIY!

Guest table. Centerpiece and linens by Kaylie Franklin of Happily Ever After. Purple cases are from my collection.

Table setting. Menu by me (layered champagne-colored paper over purple cardstock, then used glue dots on the back to secure a strip of burlap. Plates are vintage from Kaylie’s mother-in-law’s collection; cutlery was from the thrift store.

Guest table. We used two antique theatre chairs from the Craig’s collection of antiques (but again, this would look just as good with ivory chaircovers and a coordinating chair tie). Linens are by Happily Ever After. Burlap “Love” banner is by me – yes, another DIY!

Bring in the models! We used real, local people for our models – Kelsie Peterson (who also did the make up), Kendall Albert, Lexi Stangeland and Hannah Segboer. Your wedding party wouldn’t be made up of professional models, so why would we want to use professionals in our shoot? We’re keeping it real!

The beautiful Hannah rocking a flapper-style dress from Ang Fohry’s personal collection. Ang, who is the owner of Kenneth Blair salon and who did all of the hair for our shoot, has AMAZING stuff. She reports that this dress is actually new – everything else was vintage. The flower in Hannah’s hair is also from Kenneth Blair. Loved it!

Lexi is wearing a dress I sewed specifically for this shoot. The cost of the dress, sash and fabric flower? About $5. I always hit the Walmart fabric section for their $1/metre bin, and once I bought an entire bolt of this gray fabric. I did the same with the orange satin fabric used for the sash and the flower (we used the leftover fabric on the cake table). I’ve been hoarding it for years and finally got to use it! The white sheer fabric you see in the orange flower used to be curtains. The pattern for Lexi’s dress is Simplicity #2586.

Kendall is wearing his own clothes, with suspenders I pulled from my husband’s closet. Kelsie is wearing another one of Ang Fohry’s amazing vintage dresses, with her own hot pink heels. Her birdcage veil is from Michael’s craft store; I dressed it up with a fabric flower I made from scrap fabric.

I LOVE these two! They are a couple in real life; they have amazing chemistry.

Our guestbook area! This was truly a group effort. The lace we used is actually a long, vintage-y veil from Ang Fohry’s collection. The antique suitcase and mason jars are from my collection. The frame is from IKEA. The furniture is all from Craig’s collection of antiques.

Rather than a traditional guestbook, we decided to go with individual flat cards and envelopes. I created these using squares of scrapbook paper. When the scrapbook paper was too bold to write on, I used gluedots to affix a sheet of plain champagne paper over top. The scrapbooking paper I found at Long’s Value Drug Mart in Vermilion; it is “Citrus Stack” by Premium Stacks, $28.99 for 48 sheets. Each sheet made four cards, so the cost of these is about $0.15 each. I used the same stack to make invitations – you’ll see those later.

Additional flowers are from Grower Direct but designed by Happily Ever After.

Lexi’s blue dress was a $3 find at Community Closet in Vermilion. Kelsie and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Antique tea cups are from my personal collection; antique scale (on window sill) is from the Craig’s personal collection.

Lexi’s amazing outfit and luggage are from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Fur shawl also from Ang Fohry’s collection.

Lexi and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kelsie’s dress was a $4 Community Closet find. Veil is from Michael’s. Necklace is from Torrid.com. Gloves are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kendall is wearing his own clothes.

Lexi and Hannah’s dresses are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kelsie’s dress was a $4 Community Closet find. Veil is from Michael’s. Necklace is from Torrid.com. Gloves are from Ang Fohry’s collection. Kendall is wearing his own clothes.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this look on Hannah! Clothing and luggage are from Ang Fohry’s collection. The rockin’ zebra heels are Hannah’s own.

This old-hollywood look is timeless – I’d love to see a whole bridal party with this hair and make up!

Chandelier from Happily Ever After. Kelsie’s dress was hand-made by me; veil is from Ang Fohry’s collection.

For the dress, I purchased the satin fabric at Craig’s. I can’t find the pattern at the moment, but I modified the heck out of it, so it wouldn’t do you much good regardless! Total cost of this dress is around $50.00.

A top view of our guest table. Centerpiece by Happily Ever After. Bronze candlesticks were thrift store finds; crystal candlestick and purple vases are from my personal collection.

Kendall’s clothes are his own.

Lexi has an amazing face that can be totally modern, or totally vintage, depending on how she’s styled. Love her versatility! Lexi is wearing an amazing 1920′s dress and a veil from Ang Fohry’s collection.

I loved the use of color on Kelsie – in her hair and in her make-up. Vintage doesn’t necessarily mean neutrals!

Our handsome man! Kendall is wearing his own clothes. Kelsie picked up the hat for him at H&M for $5. I love a bargain!

Invitations! I layered plain white cardstock, burlap and scrapbook paper, with a little bit of ribbon, to create these. I used the same scrapbook paper as the guest cards (details above), cardstock from Staples, and burlap from Craig’s fabric section. The purple paper is actually from the dollar store – a pack of 48 for $4.00. So, the paper for each invitation cost me between $.10 and $0.40 each depending on the paper used. The envelopes are Brown Bag Envelopes from ClearBags.ca. The bit of ribbon is from Walmart – you can get a spool of about 6 metres of ribbon for $1.00. The burlap is about $4.80/metre and you can get a lot of squares out of a metre! I think having everything the same is boring, so mixing it up with coordinating colors of scrapbook paper made me happy.

After we wrapped up the indoor shoot, we headed to the Vermilion Heritage Museum for some outdoor photos. For this section, the dresses were all made by me, and Kendall is still wearing his own clothes.

I LOVE these dresses so much! They were quick to make and turned out fabulous – and cost under $5 to make including notions, sash and fabric flower. The secret is to shop the $1/metre bin at your local Walmart’s fabric section! Again, the pattern for these dresses is Simplicity #2586. Each dress took about a half day to make (with distractions like a small child, dog, the phone and e-mail), and I was able to use the same pattern for the two different sized models (patterns come with multiple sizes in one envelope – the one I purchased fit sizes 6 through 14).

We started off at Shantelle’s parents’ house in Frog Lake.

One of Shantelle’s sisters tying dad’s tie

Shantelle’s dress was GORGEOUS

Shantelle’s niece was pinning boutonnieres

Another niece played flowergirl. She was so cute!

Shantelle preparing the dress

Getting laced in

Just about done getting dressed!

Ready to go!

The church (Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church) … and the angry skies!

Inside the church

Ted getting his first look at his beautiful bride

Shantelle coming down the aisle

Pew decorations

There’s the cute flowergirl again!

Cute kids everywhere

Flowergirl stealing the show!

Ring exchange

First kiss!

I love the moment AFTER the first kiss

Unity candle lighting

Making it official!

A little moment while the witnesses sign the register

Coming back up the aisle as husband and wife!

Shantelle and Mikayla

Shantelle and mom

We headed over to the Frog Lake Pow-wow ground for some photos. I figured that even if it rained, we could be under a roof but still be outdoors.

Lovely ladies!

Wedding party!

The boys

Bride & groom

Second location: old buildings across from the Frog Lake General Store

Next location: the lookout south of Elk Point.

After photos, we headed to the reception location, which was the Allied Arts Centre in Elk Point, Alberta.

Ted’s mom made the gorgeous cake!

Lovely decor

I loooooove this one

Father-daughter and mother-son dance

This is one of Ted’s nephews, high-fiving with an uncle!

That flowergirl was stealing the show again!