May 13, 2021

Mountain Wedding at Lake Louise • Stephanie & Greg

T h e L o v e S t o r y

Stephanie and Greg actually met in high school but we didn't start dating until they were 22! Greg came to her high school in grade 11 to play for her high school's baseball academy, but at the time, they were seeing different people. They kept in contact causally, since they had a lot of mutual friends but there was no romantic spark. It wasn't until 2016 and he texted her out of the blue to get a drink, and then things changed. They met up for Stephanie's birthday, and she thought they were maybe going to start something casual. Turns out that was not the case.

T H E P R O P O S A L

06.13.2020

They were a few months into the pandemic at this point and Greg asked Stephanie to go for a date night because the restaurants were finally reopened again. She was obviously super excited just to get out of the house but had no idea that it was going to be their engagement day! It was a nice afternoon so he asked her to go for a walk in Prince's Island Park before they went for dinner. It wasn't until they walked down by the river and she spotted Greg's best friend with a camera that she knew something was up. After noticing his friend she turned back to Greg and he got down on one knee while his best friend took pictures. It was also midway through the proposal that Stephanie noticed her best friend was hiding in a bush taking a video. She was totally surprised and felt like she blacked out while it happened! Then right after they celebrated together at the River Cafe. The perfect day.

T h e D r e s s

Greg and Stephanie always knew they wanted a short engagement, and being a wedding photographer herself (here's a link to her website, she's amazing), knew it was going to be hard to find a date to get married because most of her "ideal dates" were taken by other people's weddings. However, because of the pandemic, she had a lot of people reschedule their August weddings so they decided that they would get married the same summer they got engaged! This also meant that Stephanie needed to go to a dress store that could accommodate such a quick turnaround. She chose to come to us, Cameo & Cufflinks, because of our large off-the-rack selection we offered and she figured that she would most likely need to choose something off the rack. However, Stephanie was blown away when she found out that C&C could get a customized dress from Lis Simon within their quick timeline. Like most brides, she went into the store with one idea of what she was going to wear and walked out with something completely different. She thought she would choose something lacey and tight-fitting and walked out with a satin A-line that was the exact dress she didn't know she needed. Stephanie also could have taken the off-the rack option, but to elevate the dress even more, she got the top of her chosen dress customized and had buttons from top to bottom added in the back! Lis Simon offers so many different customizations, and they're a local Calgary designer — win-win.

T H E W E D D I N G

08.07.2020

Stephanie and Greg got married at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Their goal for their wedding day was to make it classic, stress-free, and meaningful. They didn't put a lot of money or effort into their decorations because the mountains and the Fairmont are incredible enough on their own. However, each thing that they did incorporate was special and meaningful to them. For example one of the feature decorations they used was a big mirror with a quote on it that was from Stephanie's grandmother's house from when she was a kid. They had handwritten cards for each of the guests sharing how special they were to Stephanie and Greg, and how grateful they are to have them in their lives. Stephanie's brother performed the ceremony, and Stephanie carried her grandmother's broach on her bouquet. Their colour scheme was blush pink and navy, as they are the couple's favourite colours and they knew they would always love them. The reception didn't have many "traditional parts" of a regular reception. They had such a small guest list that they omitted things like introducing the wedding party or a bunch of speeches or a bouquet/garter toss. Stephanie, Greg, and their guests just had a delicious meal together (provided by the Fairmont) and a super relaxed, socially distanced, dance afterwards.

What was one of your favourite moments from your wedding day?

My husband and I chose to exchange private vows before our ceremony and this was the best decision ever. I balled like a baby but it was so perfect to have a moment together before everything started. As well, doing our vows this way and traditional vows during the ceremony allowed us to say everything we wanted without any fear or nervousness of having an audience (even a small one).

H o n e y m o o n

The pair did a little "mini-moon" the weekend after their wedding at the Nordic Spa in Kananaskis, but their plan is to do a proper honeymoon in Italy someday.

W o r d s f r o m t h e b r i d e .

Where did you find inspiration while planning? Honestly, I took a lot of inspiration from other weddings I had been to or photographed myself. As well, Pinterest is everyone's best friend during wedding planning!

How did you find your vendors?

Mostly Instagram, I had followed our photographer for a while, and long before I was engaged I knew I wanted to inquire with her about our wedding one day. As well, we had some friends use her for their wedding and engagement photos as well!

Cameo and Cufflinks was recommended by a friend who had gotten married years earlier.

Do you have any tips for future brides?

My best tip for brides is to have someone who will remind you to enjoy it. I don't know if this is just my personality, or if it was because we were only engaged for 7 weeks... but I felt like sometimes I was so caught up in what I had to do or the emotions of like "oh my gosh this is my wedding day" that I forgot to just breathe and enjoy it. Thankfully I had the world's BEST bridesmaids who took several opportunities to just be like "Hey girl, look at this, this is incredible, enjoy it!" So ask someone to do that for you! Your wedding day is going to fly by and you don't want to miss it!