Kayley & Darian

03/16/21 EVENTS NEWS

Ponoka, AB

"Darian and I first met when I was 14 and he was 17. I snuck out to a high school party with my older friends and he just happened to be there. We didn't interact much that night, other than appearing in a few photos together. Two years later he found me on Facebook and proceeded to "slide into my DMs". When he found out that I was only 16, he immediately stopped talking to me. Flash forward another two years later, I was freshly 18 and Darian reappeared in my DMs, asking me to go for tea with him. While I didn't normally go on dates with boys who slid into my DMs, I remembered meeting him years ago and I couldn't resist how sweet he looked in his profile photo. We went on a date and it was perfect (to say the least). When he dropped me off afterwards, I sprinted upstairs to tell my Mom that it was the most romantic date EVER and that I was for sure going to marry him. Six years later, I can't believe he's now my husband!

The dress shopping experience at Novelle was incredible. When we walked in, we were blown away by how beautiful the shop was. I knew exactly what I wanted for my dress: lightweight, romantic and effortless. Sure enough, the moment I walked into the store, I immediately saw my dream dress on the rack- it was everything I was looking for and more! The consultant understood that exact look I was going for and though I knew which dress was mine the second I walked through the door, but it was so fun to try on different styles. Novelle was super accommodating for my height (6'0") and I was able to order my dress extra long! When my dress came in, it fit PERFECTLY and as a tall girl , perfect lengths are hard to come by.

Our wedding day turned out exactly the way it was supposed to. Initially in the beginning stages of the pandemic, our July 14th wedding was cancelled due to social gathering restrictions put in place. We kept our date and our venue (Pine & Pond) in hopes that restrictions would ease and we could still get away with a smaller 50 person wedding (original guest list was 120). Sure enough, the universe answered our prayers and we were able to have our small outdoor wedding with a total of 46 guests. Our dream was always to have a small wedding. But, as many brides know, your guest list typically grows larger than planned.

The day before our wedding, it rained....along with the day after. However (yet again), the universe answered our prayers and gave us sunshine and 20 degrees on our wedding day. The entire day went beautifully and when I look back at pictures, I can't help but swoon over every detail. Some of our favourite decor elements of the wedding included the full greenery ceremony arch, fresh lavender pew markers, gorgeous harvest tables decorated in greenery and lemons, our wedding photo table (the original wedding photos of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents!), and our welcome sign (hand painted by Darian himself). It was incredible to see our Italian wedding dreams come true!

The most special part of the whole day was seeing our closest friends and family all come together in one place, celebrating love and connection. After the pandemic has pushed us all apart for so many months, it was so beautiful to come together and connect with our loved ones. We could not have asked for a more perfect day and we are so grateful to the universe that everything turned out the way it did.