Wedding Blog

My best friend and Diva of Honor, R (an avid WB reader!), got married last weekend at a cute little cottage in Port Carling, Ontario. I found out that lots of Canadians have “cottages” on the lake and I was instantly jealous! This was a very intimate family and close friends ceremony on the lake, filled with lots of DIY goodness! She used mostly homegrown (literally!) and local resources and tried to stay as eco-friendly as possible.

The day started out in beautiful Bracebridge, where we chowed down on Tim Horton’s (my new favorite thing ever!).

Typical…licking my fingers

Isn’t her hair beautiful? Bridesmaid E did a fabulous job!

Then, it was time to go get dressed and take some pictures outside. The photographer hadn’t shown up yet, so I took my trusty 1990’s camera and snapped away!

The bride with her mom and gram. That day, in that moment; you had never seen a more proud mother of her beautiful daughter.

To get from our cottage to the ceremony cottage, we took the big yellow school bus! No limos for this low-maintenance crew!

The vows were said and we all watched while my best friend married a wonderful man. I hid some kleenex in my bra (classy, I know) and I’m glad I did. Who cares if I pulled it out in the middle of the ceremony…. I needed it! Watching and listening as they made their lifelong promises to each other was such an honor to witness.

Miss Dumpling is second from the left.

R is a very low-maintenance bride. I don’t think I ever saw her get stressed out once. She was just so happy the entire day, which made everyone else relaxed and comfortable.

Now for the DIY portion of the re-cap!

She made the gorgeous arbor from the ceremony herself, using vine and sticks found at the cottage and hydrangea flowers from the front yard. For something extra special, she tied thin strips of white satin ribbon all around the vines.

Instead of doing flowers as the centerpiece, she took pieces of wood from their backyard and cut holes in the top to serve as candle holders. All of the tables were named after fish they had caught in that lake over the summer. She found great ribbon in their accent colors, green and white, at Michaels on sale, and used card stock to make the table names. Clever idea, eh?

The place cards for the guests were hung on a brown satin ribbon and fastened with mini clothespins. Each featured the table name, their name, and instructions on the back on how to upload their photos to Flickr. She totally took that from Weddingbee, and says thanks to the Hive for all of the creativity! By the end of the night, the guests used the clothespins to attached their name tag to their shirts. It was a great way for everyone to get to know one another!

The bridal party’s place cards were made with apples that she picked from her own tree! Isn’t this the most awesome thing you have ever seen?

For the favors, she used local maple syrup with a tag that read “Love is Sweet,” printed on recycled paper.

The cups at the open bar were made from corn!

In lieu of a traditional cake, the bride enlisted her aunt to make cupcakes and a small top layer for them to cut. Homemade has a new meaning at this wedding! Notice something sticking out of the cupcakes? They’re gummy worms! The cake topper is a bride “reeling” in the groom… all part of the fishing theme. Too bad we totally stuck it on there backwards.

Lots of dancing, singing, toasting and speeches went on into the early, early morning. Our make-up wore off, we kicked off our shoes and drenched ourselves in stinky bug spray, but we had the best time.

There were lots of shenanigans going on at this reception! By the end of the night, we were all pretty tired from all the dancing and partying, so as a special treat, some of the kids passed around candy trays. Sweet Tarts, Twizzlers, Nerds…. it doesn’t get any better than that!

Thank you, R , for letting me be part of your special day. It’s such an honor to call you my best friend. Congrats!

Has your best friend gotten married?