Braelyn & Shawn Antonides
This intimate country wedding with only 10 guests is almost as beautiful as the bride’s smile (almost). Below, Braelyn walks us through her journey with Shawn.
Tell us a bit about your love story: Shawn and I met in Muskoka, ON, three years ago through mutual friends. From the moment we met we knew it was something special. We got engaged in June 2020 and never thought planning a 2021 May wedding we’d still be dealing with the difficulty of COVID-19.
How did your plans change? We invited 130 people to our wedding and booked a local Muskoka resort for the weekend for all our friends and family. We had a 14-person bridal party between the two of us. Once the date started approaching we began to realize a 130-person wedding wasn’t going to be possible. Two months prior to our wedding date, we condensed it to 100 guests, then a week later to 50. Two weeks prior to the wedding, we had to make it immediate family only (parents and siblings).
What was the best part of the day? My favourite part of the day was the dinner; it was a sunset dinner under a large canopy tent. We did casual speeches and shared some laughs and stories with one another. Like a good family dinner night, but it was our wedding day.
What will guests remember most? I think what our guests will remember most about our wedding day was how good it was to have everyone together (first time in a year that we had all of our families together). It made it that much more special and I think we treasured every moment of it that much more. Since we were so grateful to celebrate on that day, you treasure it even more. At first it was disappointing, but we tried to remind ourselves of the importance of our day, it was about us being there and celebrating us. We plan to have a big party (if possible) next year around our 1-year anniversary at our original venue.
Advice for people planning a wedding? My advice for any bride planning a wedding during these difficult times is to go with the flow. I know that can be easier said than done, but some things are out of our control and that’s okay. I am a strong believer in everything that happens for a reason.
Ceremony/reception location: Muskoka, ON
Photographer: Lenny & Hume Photography
Flowers: Hygge Bloom
Cake: Cupcakes Canada, Loretta’s Bakery
Hair/makeup: ESBridal
Catering: Christine Bib Catering
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