A beautiful Ontario backyard wedding

While a backyard wedding with 25 guests wasn’t the original plan, it sure turned out beautifully. Colleen, the gorgeous bride (and now mom-to-be!) walks us through the big day.

Tell us a bit about your love story: Josh and I met later in our lives both at the age of 30. While we wish we had met each other sooner so we could love each other longer, we met at the perfect time in our lives when we were at peace with ourselves and ready for that forever love.

What were your original plans for your wedding day? Something bigger? We originally had plans to host 100 of our family and friends, unfortunately due to COVID, in the last two weeks before the wedding we were forced to bring our guest list down to just 25. Although our hearts were a bit broken, We’re glad we got to at least share the day with our closest family and friends. We were still able to go through with the dream location we wanted at least as it was at the home of Josh’s parents.

If you had to change your plans, how did you feel before and after? It was pretty stressful trying to plan a wedding with all the uncertainty surrounding lockdowns and restrictions. Being huge anxiety-prone planners, we like to have things set in place and be ahead of the game, so we were thrown for a loop quite a few times. We felt discouraged and heartbroken at times but in the end we said that we would be getting married no matter if we had 100 people attending or just the two of us with our officiant. Our love and presence was all that mattered!

Will you be having a larger celebration next year? Josh and I are actually expecting our first child in May, so we have a whole new milestone to plan and be excited for. However we are looking forward to the day we can reconnect with all of our extended family and friends and properly celebrate all of the milestones we have missed out on over the last year.

What was your favourite part of the day? My favourite part of the day was when the sun peaked out right at the moment the ceremony began and shone down on us the whole time. An honourable mention also to the post-dinner dancing and shenanigans with our closest friends. They really made it special.

What advice can you give to couples planning a wedding? Do you what is best for you. You are going to feel the pressure to please a lot of people, but ultimately the day is about you and your soon-to-be spouse, and that is all that matters! Make sure you breathe and take time to take in everything around you – the smiles on all of the people who are there to support you, the flowers and decorations you planned so carefully, the way yobackyard weddingur spouse looks. I made sure to do this on my wedding day and I’m so happy that I did.