Four years ago today, I married the most caring, loving, accepting man, also my best friend. It was an amazing day full of memories with our family and friends.

Today I thought I would share some of my favourite details, DIY and otherwise, from our special day.

Some people would call me cheap, I like to use the term 'frugal'. I can't believe the price of wedding gowns these days....there was no way I was paying $1500 for my dress. So I found my dress at Gown Go Round, a "used" wedding gown boutique in Newmarket. Funny thing is - my dress was never actually used by a person. It is a pure silk gown by Canadian designer Alfred Sung, that was used on a department store mannequin for a perfume advertising display. Essentially a brand new dress that I got for $500! With such a sleek smooth fabric like silk - all I can say is thank god for Spanx.

My mom and I made the birdcage veil from $5 worth of fabric from a store on Queen St W in Toronto. The hair flower I made from a faux white peony and small feathers from Michael's craft store. Since the temperature decided to drop to a mere 2 degrees Celsius, I was so grateful I could wear my Grandma's vintage mink cape. It was so warm!



Our wedding venue was totally beautiful! The reception was held on the second floor of the The Gibson Centre in Allison, Ontario, an amazing old industrial building that was converted into a community, arts and culture centre.

My parents helped me rig up the head table backdrop. It was a collection of white fabric, vintage picture frames, and tissue paper poms. The centrepiece flowers for the guests' tables were a labour of love. Thank you to our wedding party and crazy friends for helping us make all of those paper flowers! My mom graciously assembled them all in pots covered with vintage nautical charts.


Each place setting also had our "glad-iola thank you" favour - a gladiola flower bulb inside a paper box (made from the same nautical charts/maps as the centrepiece pots).

I also loved our cake! My bff and dearest friend offered to make this cake and it was stunning! Such an amazing gift to us. Funny story though - she made the exact same paper flowers for the cake as I did for some of the church decorations, without even knowing it! The bird toppers were something I commissioned to my mom after I saw these on Etsy (the crafty gene runs in the family you can see!).

Instead of a traditional guest book, we had people sign the back of a vintage post card. We now have the post cards in a photo album which is fun to look through and read all the wonderful sentiments.

There are so many other details of the wedding that I could share, but this post would be a novel. Although these little details of the day are some of my favourites, the most special and amazing part of the day for me, was our ceremony. Being surrounded by the love and support of our family and friends was unforgettable. We were also so blessed to have my university a cappella group sing for us, which still gives me goose bumps. My uncle did such a wonderful job officiating the service and bringing such meaning to an important event. I remember standing at the front and looking out at everyone - I really tried to be still, breathe and take it all in. I am grateful I did.



Thank you to all of our family and friends for all of your help that day and before! You made our wedding day truly unforgettable. I cannot believe it has already been four years and I somehow love my man more and more each day.