Rob and I got married July 8th 2017, and it was the best day ever. We had a camping wedding weekend out in Hinton, Alberta surrounded by all of our family and friends. It took a while for us to write out this blog post, but since so many of you allow us into your day to share your story, we thought we should share ours with you too!
Our Wedding Team
Venue: Cougar Creek Campground
Wedding Dress & Bridesmaids: David’s Bridal
Groom & Groomsmen: pieced together from Le Chateau and The Bay
Flowers: Mar Wes
Photographer: Nicole Marie Photography
Mobile Bar: Old Fashioned Mobile Bar
Transportation: Tocky 2 Tours
Band: Dahlia Wakefield
DJ: Informal Sounds
Wedding theme and colours (explain the reason behind your decision):
Our main goal was to have fun, be us, and be outside, so we chose to do a weekend camping wedding. Being outside we wanted nice neutral, earthy tones that go well with the setting. We also wanted to be comfortable and have fun so Jennine chose a dress that was really lightweight and easy to move around in, and Rob chose to not wear a full suit – we really feel like this helped us enjoy our wedding to the fullest.
Your top 3 best moments and why:
Oh my gosh, this is actually impossible to pick just 3 moments – the whole weekend was perfect. So instead we’ll just do it by sections of the weekend.
Pre-wedding & Post Wedding
Jennine – I loved getting things ready and working on last-minute decorations with my family. I also loved when my bridesmaids showed up because it’s not often that we get to see each other – especially at one time! It was also great having a breakfast the next day – my uncle made my Grandma’s crepe recipe that I love, and we had some more family and friends help make a traditional French breakfast, it was awesome.
Rob – I had a lot of fun when my groomsmen showed up a couple days early – they bought us Nintendo shirts, we went hiking – yes in the Nintendo shirts, and we had a games night with drinks. It was fun to see everyone the next day for breakfast too.
Getting Ready
Jennine – Waking up in the morning knowing I was about to marry my best friend was an amazing feeling – but I was also more nervous than I ever thought I’d be, so the morning is a little fuzzy haha. I did love getting ready with the girls, playing some music, having breakfast with them. I also loved it when my family showed up, and my mom helping me with my wedding dress.
Rob – I was busy putting together the last details until 30 minutes before the ceremony haha so I was running! Even though we were busy, it was fun having the guys around that morning – and oops I misplaced their breakfast in a different cabin, sorry guys! Overall though, it was just exciting knowing we were about to get ready.
Ceremony
Jennine – My Dad opening the doors and leading me down to where I saw Rob for the first time, and how emotional he was. It was something I’ll never forget. I also really loved that we had my mom and Rob’s dad be our witnesses.
Rob – I swore I wasn’t going to cry, but I couldn’t help it when I saw her – I don’t think I took my eyes off of her the whole ceremony. I really liked having our parents witness too.
In Between
Both of us – One of the best decisions ever was to take a pretty big break in between and go cruising to a photo location in a party bus – and my Dad chasing down the bus because we forgot the alcohol. We had so much fun with the wedding party during this time. Then when we came back, Rob surprised me by getting my Grandpa’s guitar fixed. When he passed, he left me his guitar, I tried learning but broke the strings and I had been meaning to get it fixed. Well Rob did and brought it to the wedding so a part of Grandpa would be there too.
Reception
Jennine – Awe man, I’m the worst at picking favorite moments – the reception was amazing, it was just so much fun seeing everyone. My dad, family, and friends made an amazing meal. Our moms, family and friends decorated like crazy while we were gone and it was so perfect! The DJ and the band had everyone dancing and having fun. Our first dance and having Rob step on my dress. My dance with my dad, we started out to an acoustic version of Sweet Child of Mine, then broke out into fun dancing to Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones (a concert that my dad and I went to together), then have way through everyone joined us. I loooooved having the disposable cameras, it just offers a funny perspective of the day. I could seriously write out a huge list of things, I just had the best time.
Rob – Our first dance to Chasing cars – I was really nervous for it, but as we were dancing I just loved being there in the moment with her. I had a lot of fun trying to make my mom emotional during our dance, but she just wasn’t cracking haha. Having everyone come on the dance floor and celebrate with us was really special too. With all of the drinking games, shotgunning, the day eventually became a blur but it was so much fun. Having a tequila heart to heart with my groomsmen until 4 in the morning probably wasn’t the best idea but made for a funny memory.
Wedding song, explain choice for song:
Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars. When Rob and I were both teenagers we didn’t know each other at this point, but the weird thing is we were at almost all the same concerts without even knowing it – we literally could have been standing next to each other and not even know. So we wanted something that reflected that genre of music and that would blend well with our current life.
Your top 3 favorite wedding details (cake, flowers, dress, band, etc.) and why:
Both of us – I’m starting to realize I ask everyone really tough questions because I just can’t answer this. I loved everything at our wedding – Rob and I put a lot of thought into every detail that went into it. I loved my dress, how at the end of the night it was a perfect shade of ombre dirt haha with a touch of pine cones and twigs for added effects. I loved all the decor and my flower crown – my Mom made a lot of the decorations and my crown. The flowers were so pretty, I’m such a sucker for flowers. Our band and DJ rocked it. The food was awesome. The staff at Cougar Creek worked their butts off and made the day perfect. The mobile bar had everyone entertained. If I had to pick one thing though, it’s definitely our ceremony site as a whole, it was so pretty. Rob liked that he got to wear his watch, and his Charlie socks (yup Charlie’s face all over his socks haha)
Any advice to those that are planning their wedding?
Do what you want! We cut out a lot of traditional things, like speeches, cake cutting etc. We didn’t even have a head table, we just sat with everyone which I loved. We really made it into the day we wanted.
Also think about how you want your day – are you prepared to have your dress get dirty? to be a little cold? will your dress/suit allow you to have fun? what’s your personality like? If you stay true to yourself, you’ll enjoy your day that much more. Also don’t stress over little things – I must admit, we stressed a lot over decor items and half of them stayed in boxes because they were forgotten and it didn’t change our day one bit haha.
And for the girls, if I could change one thing I wish I had hired someone to do my hair – I was so nervous and stressed in the morning that it was really hard to get everything done, I think it would have been a lot more relaxing to have my hair done for me.
Also, hire a day of cordinator so you don’t have to put it on other people – sorry but thank you to everyone that helped! And sorry to Rob that he has to be running in the morning haha.
Honeymoon:
We didn’t have a honeymoon right after – we did go to a music fest though. Later in that winter we went to Puerto Vallarta.
And of course, you get to have a peek at the not so pretty, but pretty amazing disposable photos
