I dreamed of my wedding day ever since I was a little girl and when it finally happened on a gorgeous summer day, in the coastal town of St. Andrews by the Sea, New Brunswick, it was the very definition of perfect.
I’m serious – I can’t find a single thing wrong with the day other than the fact that I didn’t get to try one of the mini seafood chowders served to our guests that I was so excited to try. THAT’S IT!
Did you catch my previous post – Meet Our East Coast Wedding Vendors – Part One? If not, I highly suggest you swim over to that blog post first but in it, I shared that never in a million years would our dream wedding by the sea have been possible without the most spectacular East Coast vendors and small businesses.
Truly – they are the reason everything was so perfect. Well, that and a pretty cool wishing rock I found on the ocean floor in a sea cave in St. Martins that’s rumoured to grant wishes.
But that’s a story for another day.
In my last post, I raved about the Algonquin Resort as the perfect venue, shared how Bella Promessa helped me find my DREAM dress and BELLE by Joëlle made me and my girls feel like princesses. And I showed off our gorgeous wedding invites designed by Halifax Paper Hearts and our custom chocolates by McGuire Chocolate Company.
Here’s a look at the other half of the amazing humans that were a special part of our big day!
Peony & Pear
Where do I even begin when it comes to Elizabeth and Andrew, the incredibly talented humans behind Peony & Pear?
When we started wedding planning, I had no clue where to start when it came to wedding floristry. I had a vision for my bouquet (big and overflowing) and we knew we wanted to keep it as local as possible – but this was definitely my first time sourcing floristry.
But if you read Meet Our East Coast Wedding Vendors – Part One, you remember me praising our event planner and honorary bridesmaid Kate at the Algonquin. Because we don’t call St. Andrews home, I had no idea what vendors were available and who to contact first but Kate did and Peony & Pear was name dropped very early on in the conversation. When she told me that their whole philosophy was ‘grown not flown’ I was sold. I immediately sent Elizabeth an email and was so excited when I heard they were still taking on 2020 brides.
I adored Elizabeth from our first conversation and was so excited to tell her all about my vision for my bouquet, bridesmaid bouquets, corsages and boutonnières. At the time, we didn’t have plans for further floristry but after postponing and proceeding to fall absolutely in LOVE with Peony & Pear by following their Instagram over 2020 and 2021, let’s just say – we levelled up our wedding floristry plan by incorporating a stunning arbor for the rooftop garden ceremony, a custom bouquet to toss (no way I was parting with mine), as well as wild flowers for our table tops that we displayed in antique milk jars I bought in St. Andrews at MacKlem House Antiques.
On the day of the wedding, when Elizabeth and Andrew arrived at our suite with all of the florals – trust me when I say, my heart was full. Everything was perfect.
So perfect – that while we were doing our first look photos on Minister’s Island, I had a bumble bee grazing my bouquet for over half an hour. It didn’t matter how I moved or swung the bouquet – he hung on. You know your bouquet is made with fresh flowers when!
Kelly Lawson Photography
The minute we got engaged, one of the first people I texted, was my darling friend (and favorite photographer) Kelly Lawson. For years, I’d always said, when we got married, Kelly would be our photographer, so not surprisingly – we picked both our 2020 date and 2021 date around her availability. Because she’s THAT good.
Kelly likes to say that she’s your bridesmaid with a camera and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it! She was with us from the start of the day until long after the bouquet was tossed at the dance. She captured every moment perfectly and when our first batch of photos arrived just days after the wedding – I squealed.
Every. Single. One. Was. Perfect.
Did I mention she even got stung by a bee on her bum when we were doing our first look photos on Minister’s Island? And our amazing makeup artist and now friend for life Joëlle, somehow had Benadryl in her bag to save the day? Yup, that happened.
And no – it wasn’t the same bee from the bouquet! Can you imagine?
Kelly – we love you and are so lucky to have you in our life for keepsies!
NWE Weddings & Events
Remember in my post Meet our East Coast Wedding Vendors – Part One how I said there were many magical aspects of our big day that were not part of the plan for our original date in 2020? Hiring a decorator was one of those minor (but actually huge) details I’d skipped. And yes, I have no idea what I was thinking.
It wasn’t until fall 2020 when we met with honorary bridesmaid Kate at the Algonquin about our reception, that it dawned on me – who will set up the decor and tear it all down at the end of the night if we do it ourselves? I quickly realized that no – we were not doing that ourselves, nor were we asking any of our wedding party or family to.
Enter NWE Weddings & Events from Rothesay, NB. Highly recommended by the Algonquin and other friends in the industry, Natasha and her team were a delight to work with. They were organized, efficient, and never made me feel like anything I said or asked was silly.
And though we created much of our coastal decor (we had a lot of oyster shells and driftwood accents), we were able to rent some much needed items from NWE, like our arbour (for Peony & Pear to put their beautiful floristry on) and some flameless candles to decorate the already stunning fireplace in the Van Horne Ballroom. And just like magic, their team swooped in, in the middle of the night to tear it all down and pack it up for us to grab the next morning.
If you’re planning a wedding or event in New Brunswick, trust me when I say you want to work with Natasha and her team! They are AMAZING!
Mark Downey, Tempo-Lite & Sound
One our wedding day, many of us hadn’t danced with our friends in over two years. So we were extra glad we found an epic DJ very early on after getting engaged.
Mark Downey, Owner and DJ behind Tempo-Lite & Sound is that epic DJ. From my first email exchange with Mark, shortly after booking the Algonquin back in January 2020, I knew we’d found the perfect choice and after postponing and staying in touch over email and social media throughout the rollercoaster of 2020 and leading up to the wedding, it was clear we’d found a friend for life!
One of my favorite parts about planning the wedding was music selections! Sure, choosing some of those important songs was a little nerve-wracking (you only get ONE first dance after all) but when I submitted all of our chosen songs and requests for our cocktail hour, Mark made my whole week when he said we had great taste in music!
Mark played a fantastic mix of songs during our cocktail hour and at the dance. And he was as genuinely excited for us all evening as our family and friends.
We had a lot of special slow songs at our wedding that we had requested in advance like ‘Harvest Moon’ by Neil Young, but one of my favorite memories from the dance is when he played ‘Unchained Melody’ by the Righteous Brothers. It wasn’t on our list and I can’t believe I’d never thought of it but that one dance, I’ll remember it always. I remember slow dancing with my husband and looking around us and seeing our friends, my parents, my aunts, uncles, and family all dancing and everyone so in love.
I think about that moment all of the time and it’s truly one of my favorites from the day.
Thank you, Mark for adding so much magic to our day and for helping us preserve such special memories with music.
Calligraphy Morenart
Ask any of my friends and family and they’ll tell you, I was a relatively calm bride in the weeks leading up to the wedding but trust me when I say, those wedding nightmares and middle of the night panic they tell you about? It’s real.
So when Alicia, Owner of Calligraphy Morenart, sent me a DM on Instagram to see if I would be interested in hiring her to do our wedding Calligraphy – the timing could not have been more perfect.
You could say – she was the lifeboat I needed!
One of the final DIY wedding decor items I’d been putting off was printing or designing place cards and table cards. I knew there was no way I could pull off calligraphy and I think in my bridal haze, I was probably planning to rely on Canva. So when I booked a call with Alicia, told her my vision and she shared her ideas – I was sold.
Alicia was absolutely wonderful to work with. She sent me previews of the work, invited me to weigh in on different styles of calligraphy, as well as colours and card stock. And the end result looked SO GREAT! I can’t praise her work enough. If you’re getting married or having an event – you should definitely reach out to Alicia!
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I hope that you enjoyed these posts – it was very easy to RAVE about these amazing vendors.
But I’m not done yet! I’ve got one more post splashing ashore soon where I share all of my tips on how we added coastal touches to our New Brunswick wedding! Coming soon!
And as always, if you’re a bride-to-be, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about planning your special day in New Brunswick. We can’t say enough incredible things about the people and small businesses that made it a dream come true. I’ve made sure to link to each, so definitely check out their websites, social media, etc.
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