A HOLIDAY WINTER WEDDING

We were living in Ontario when we planned our wedding, and we decided to get married at home in Vancouver in the winter. We knew that the holidays would bring a lot of our family and friends together, and thought it would be a magical time of year to celebrate our wedding as well! We were married on December 28, 2015 in our home city of Vancouver, in Gastown, our old neighbourhood. Between the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years, we brought the most important people in our lives together. Friends and family travelled from all over the world to celebrate our beautiful day. Despite Vancouver being iconically rainy, we miraculously enjoyed a dry and sunny wedding day, and we love to look back on our amazing memories from the occasion.

OUR VENUE

We chose a venue in the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver, because it’s where we used to live. It’s the oldest part of the city, with beautiful lamp posts lining it’s cobblestone streets, and it’s full of amazing restaurants, bars, and nightlife. In our opinion, it’s the most gorgeous neighbourhood in Vancouver, and it will always feel special because it’s where we made our first home together. After visiting a few venues that didn’t quite suit us, we found The Diamond, a gorgeous cocktail bar on the second floor of an old building in the main square of Gastown. The room had old wooden floors, wood tables, and great ambiance. Gorgeous brick walls lay between windows looking over the city, with white twinkle lights strung through the branches of the trees outside. It was small, intimate, and perfect for us.

OUR CEREMONY & RECEPTION

Neither of us wanted to get married in a church, or have our wedding reception in a banquet hall. We wanted a venue where we could do everything in one place, and keep things small, personal, and less formal. The Diamond was the perfect venue for us, and we used it for both our ceremony and reception. We got ready separately in the morning on our wedding day, and did our “first look” and formal photos in the afternoon. We had our ceremony in the early evening, and it was immediately followed by a casual cocktail hour and dinner reception. The staff at The Diamond did a beautiful job transforming the room from an intimate ceremony, to a fun reception. They had a small hidden bar just off their main room, where our guests mingled while the room was changed over. Our ceremony was quite casual, and was officiated by the incredible Karen Ell. We walked ourselves down separate aisles on the perimeter of the room, and read our own personal vows to one another. Our reception was emceed by our hilarious friend Flick Penman, and included a taco buffet, a vegan ice cream bar, and an awesome dance party to a self-curated playlist! We definitely did things in a way that suited us, and we couldn’t be happier with the way it all worked out.

TWO BRIDAL GOWNS

We both chose to wear wedding dresses, and it was important to us that our gowns suited us individually, but also complemented one another. We both knew that we didn’t want to wear white, and we also knew that we likely weren’t going to find what we were looking for in a bridal shop. We decided to have our dresses custom made by Vancouver designer Nicole Guzzo, and she did an amazing job bringing our visions to life. Steph decided on a stone blue colour, while I wanted something gold, and these colours helped shape all of our decor themes and even our wedding cake. Both of our dresses ending up suiting us beautifully, and they also looked really wonderful as a pair. We kept our accessories simple, and wore matching sparkly Betsey Johnson heels, and changed into matching gold Keds for our reception. We picked everything out together and saw each other in all of the fittings rather than keeping it a surprise, but that didn’t take away from the magic of seeing one another in our dresses on the wedding day.

OUR BRIDAL PARTY

We didn’t stick to any rules or traditions when we planned our wedding, and so we organized our bridal party in a way that worked best for us. We decided not to have a flower girl or a ring bearer. We also decided not to have a maid of honour or a best man. Our wedding party consisted of four brides ladies and two brides men! It was important to us to have our closest friends and family members in our bridal party, and so we had a mix of women and men. We didn’t stick to the confines of what is typically normal, but it meant that we had the people who were most special to us by our sides on our wedding day.

HAIR & MAKEUP

We took on a lot of things ourselves when it came to our wedding, but one thing that we didn’t want to do ourselves on the big day was hair and makeup. We had the wonderful Vancouver makeup artist Faye Smith and her team do our hair and makeup, as well as our brides ladies, and our moms. It was important to us that everyone feel comfortable and confident, and we kept all of the looks polished, but not too formal. Steph and I both had braids incorporated into our hair styles, and were sure to have our makeup complement one another. We’re so happy with the way that everything came together.

OUR WEDDING HOTEL

We chose The Victorian Hotel in Vancouver to stay at on our wedding night, and we also used it as our location to get ready before the ceremony, as well as take some of our bridal photos. It’s a beautiful, old boutique hotel that has been completely renovated, and it suited us perfectly. The manager was also lovely enough to give room discounts to our friends and family, and a lot of our wedding guests stayed there as well. The manager also offered us a great rate when we went back to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary in 2016.

CAKE & DECOR

Our magical winter wedding was made complete with some beautiful, simple decor. We decided not to use any fresh flower arrangements, but chose pieces that added a little festive warmth to the venue. We covered the room in candles, decorated the tables with gorgeous lanterns and winter branches, and added only small touches where we wanted, as The Diamond was already so gorgeous! Our vegan cake was actually baked and decorated by Steph (have I mentioned how many incredible hidden talents she has?), and sat on a custom made wooden cake stand. We found a lot of our smaller decor pieces from Etsy, and personalized everything the way we wanted, like ordering a Mrs & Mrs sign for our chairs. We also made a lot of decor ourselves including table place cards featuring our favourite Broadway musicals (yes, we’re nerds!), and a framed seating chart using extra fabric from Steph’s gown. Rather than having a guest book, we made a photo guest board, and had everyone take polaroids to pin on the board with a message written on the back. We had a lot of fun getting crafty and organizing the decor ourselves!

OUR RINGS

When Steph proposed on the sidewalk in NYC, she proposed with a place holder ring, and told me that she wanted me to pick out my dream ring when we got home. Every lesbian couple is different, but we both wanted to wear engagement rings. When we got home to Toronto, where we lived at the time, we both picked out beautiful vintage diamond rings on Etsy. I wanted something simple and classic, and I chose a traditional solitaire diamond with a white gold band. Steph wanted something more intricate, and she chose a three stone setting with round cut diamonds and a white gold band. For our wedding, we each chose different bands that would suit our engagement rings, and exchanged them during our ceremony. A lot of same-sex couples don’t wear wedding rings, and we don’t wear ours all of the time. But to us, they are a powerful symbol of our love and commitment, and we are so happy to have them.

OUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

We were picky when it came to a lot of our vendors, and for that reason many of the people we hired were people that we already knew. Our amazing photographer Sara Rogers, was one of them. We knew that we wanted somebody who would make our friends and family members feel at ease throughout the day, but also someone who would capture our wedding in a way that truly suited us. Not only did Sara do a fantastic job of capturing our ceremony and reception, she also planned the perfect locations to take our bridal portraits including the busy Gastown square, and the roof of a downtown parking garage (seriously amazing). We are so incredibly happy that we placed the utmost importance on finding the perfect photographer, because we absolutely love our wedding photos. They are the perfect capture of the most beautiful day, and years later they are still incredible to look at.

Did anyone else get married around the holidays!? Let us know in the comments what time of year you got married, or what time of year you’re planning to have your wedding!

The post Our Lesbian Wedding in Vancouver appeared first on Lez See the World.

On this particular trip, we were spending a few days with a close friend who lived in Brooklyn. He worked at our favourite restaurant called Pure Food and Wine, an upscale raw vegan restaurant in Gramercy Park. We had been many times before, and it was our happy place, our favourite place in the world, in fact. The restaurant was truly beautiful and was often frequented by celebrities (I say was, because it unfortunately closed in 2016). It had a gorgeous garden courtyard and the friendliest staff. The food was sophisticated and incredible, and splurging on a meal there was always a highlight of our trips.

On Thursday April 17th, Steph and I woke up early in our friend, Greg’s Brooklyn apartment. Steph said that her and Greg were going to go out and pick up breakfast, and she told me to go back to sleep. I woke up a little later to delicious vegan Brooklyn bagels, and we spent a quiet morning hanging out. In the afternoon, the three of us headed into Manhattan to go to Pure Food and Wine. Steph and I had a lunch reservation, and Greg was working his shift. He served us an amazing meal, and Steph and I had a perfect afternoon in our favourite place.

After lunch we stepped out of the restaurant to go for a walk. Immediately to our right was a classic New York brownstone, and a young man sitting on the steps with a guitar on his lap. Steph slowed her steps and paused outside the building, holding my hand and flashing me a smile. The guitarist was playing our song ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright Eyes. It was a song I had played in a class I taught, when Steph and I first met at the dance studio in Vancouver, and we’ve always considered it ours. When I realized what song the guitarist was playing, my face lit up and I smiled back at Steph. We stood and listened, and never did my mind jump to the conclusion of what might happen next. I simply enjoyed this perfect New York moment. Time really seemed to stand still, and when Steph lowered herself down onto one knee with tears in her eyes, my hands flew to my face in disbelief and I started to cry. I remember her saying something about how we’ve always talked about getting married one day, but the rest of it is a beautiful blur. I think I knelt down on the sidewalk beside her and cried and hugged her. The world truly melted away and it was just us.

What felt like minutes later, but was probably only several moments, the song ended and the guitarist stood up while Steph introduced him as her friend, Arkady. He then introduced his wife Christina who had been standing behind us taking photos. It was then it dawned on me that Steph had arranged this beautiful surprise, and it had all been a big secret kept between everyone but me. We turned around and looked back to the restaurant, where the staff were standing outside cheering and applauding. Our friend Greg was beaming holding a tray of champagne, and Steph was giggling with excitement. We walked back to the restaurant and celebrated with lots of tears and laughter, while everyone told me how wonderful it all went. I asked Steph who else knew that she was going to propose, and she laughed and told me that everyone did! She had told her family, my parents, and my best friend; and of course everyone in the restaurant knew. She explained how she had been planning this for months, and had enlisted Greg’s help with the finer details. That morning she told me to sleep in so they could discuss the plan while grabbing breakfast. I am still impressed that she managed to keep such a major secret from me. We share everything with one another and it was incredible that I never found out. It was the most perfect and beautiful surprise, and I still tear up when I think back to that day.

I know there can be so much pressure around having the perfect proposal, but in my opinion it doesn’t matter where you are or who else is there. In that moment, everything else disappears and it’s just you two. It’s a moment that you will remember for the rest of your lives, and it’s so special.

The rest of our time in NYC was a flurry of excitement and giddiness. We called our families and friends to share the news, and celebrated our engagement by winning lottery tickets to the musical Hedwig, and meeting Neil Patrick Harris on our last night in the city. It was perfect.

Somehow, it took us years to return to New York after that trip, and Pure Food and Wine isn’t there anymore. In a way, that makes it even more special that it all happened the way it did. We did finally visit NYC again in the Fall of 2018, and we decided to return to our special spot to relive this beautiful memory. The restaurant has closed, but the building is still there, and the magic of that New York street felt just the way it did on that Spring afternoon in 2014. On our last day in the city, we made our way there, and spent some time soaking up all the memories. So much has happened and changed since that day. We are older, stronger, braver, more fulfilled, more ambitious, and now we’re married. The one thing that hasn’t changed, is how in love we are, how sure we are that spending our lives together is what we’re meant to do, and how committed we are to being the best partners we can be for one another. I hope we continue to return to New York, and always find time to stand together on that sidewalk, remembering what it felt like to choose each other. Remembering how it felt to laugh, and cry, and embrace, and make one of the most beautiful memories that we will ever make together.

Engagement photos by Sara Rogers Photography.

The post Our Engagement Story – A Lesbian Proposal appeared first on Lez See the World.