Posted October 29, 2014 | by Cassandra | in Personal

Our Wedding | Brad & Cassandra

This is our wedding day…and we are so excited to share it with everyone. First of all, we would like to thank our photographer, Karla Rosalin of Karla Rosalin Photography, for these amazing photographs that we are so, incredibly thankful for. She really did go above and beyond and we are ecstatic at how everything turned out. Obviously, there was a lot of pressure photographing a fellow photographer’s wedding day, but we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We took the reins to edit or own photos, which put us under pressure, as well, with editing the work of a fellow photographer! I hope she knows that she is stuck with us, and I should probably carry on with our own wedding blog, or I will end up with a book about how AMAZING Karla is :)

Our wedding took place between Kelowna and Merritt (and off towards Princeton, BC) at a beautiful Guest Ranch. We had so many amazing vendors, which we will list at the end of the Blog. Many of our photos were taken at Seven Half Diamond Ranch, just across the highway, which was the best last minute photo location decision we could have made! Aspen trees, a trophy fishing lake, a heard of horses and even a driveway arch of antler sheds…no location could have been more PERFECT for us!

We’ll start off with the guys getting ready :)

We were so happy with how the guys attire came together. They all cleaned up pretty good! The groomsman’s cufflinks we made by Brad…closer to the wedding, we realized that the Wrangler shirts we picked out had snap buttons, which we liked…bbuuttt, of course now they couldn’t wear the cufflinks…oopppsss. We also ordered custom made flasks for the guys…they were late and didn’t arrive in time for the wedding. I improvised and printed off a photo of it to put in their gift bag. Just when you thought you were sooo prepared and thought everything through!

Here are the girls, at our cabin, getting ready…oh but first, the detail shots Karla got at the barn!

Not planned, but Ty (our youngest son), snuck up from the lodge where the guys were getting ready and here is the first time we saw each other…our “First Look” :)

As wedding photographers, Brad and I just LOVE the “First Look”. This is where the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony. To us, its a much more pure moment when its just the two of you, where your not worried about who’s watching, tripping down the aisle or anything else. Its not for everyone, but we are so glad we did it this way…such an emotional rush for us…especially with almost 2 years of planning and the countless time that I wanted to show Brad my dress…but he declined every time and it was such a great way to reveal the big surprise :)

The guys “misplaced” the boutonnieres, so when Andy, the Best Man, found them, he rushed them over to us.

Brad & I decided fairly last minute to do gifts for each other. We were supposed to open them separately while getting ready, but with so much going on, things didn’t go exactly as planned. Brad brought mine to our photos…I, on the other hand, did not get the memo. He did good…very good…he picked it out himself and it is so prefect :)

This is Brad looking at an issue Karla was having with her camera…meanwhile taking a photo of him with her other camera…LOVE it!

Back at the Ranch, all of our incredible guests gather for our ceremony! We still can’t believe how beautiful the weather was (well, a few more clouds would have been nice for photo sake, but we can’t be too picky, I suppose :). Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for cows…I will have a pet one one day (which Brad promised during our vows, but crossed his fingers (yes, there’s a photo). I couldn’t believe when I noticed our ceremony backdrop had COWS! This was not planned, nor had they ever been there in our previous trips to the ranch…it was meant to be :)

Our ceremony was performed by our Best Man and Maid of Honor. It was so incredibly light, fun and memorable, we just can’t thank them enough. It was so great to see all our guests smiling and laughing in all the photos afterwards. We also kept things unique with a branding of a piece of wood, instead of a “signing”. Dustin, a groomsman, who is a farrier by trade, custom made a brand for our wedding day. We had talked about the idea (also the idea of a chicken release, or a cow release instead of a dove or butterfly release lol), but it ended up being a surprise. The brand is the logo I created for our wedding with an “H” in the center! The brand is a keepsake for us and the piece of wood we branded is being made into something special as well!

Oh, the details!! With a crazy, independent and ambitious bride and almost two years to plan the wedding of my dreams, the details maayyy have gotten a little out of hand. Thank goodness for my amazing bridesmaids who helped with everything I asked and our Dad for the countless hours he let us use his wood shop. So much building and creating and collecting! And a big thank s to everyone who helped put my vision together on the day of…it looked PERFECT!

With the sun going down much too early nearing the end of September, we snuck away for a few more photos with our horses. These were very important to us, seeing as we share a love of horses and, of course, my horse, Boo Boo being my first love and together for 20 years, I had to have photos with him on this day.

And our RECEPTION begins!!!

Instead of clinking glasses for us to kiss, we had a Kissing Balloon Game. Guests could pop a balloon and read the message inside…below, someone popped the balloon that said Bride & Groom Spiderman Kiss :)

We aren’t exactly sure why, but Ty burst into tears during Andrea’s speech. I think after Andy’s speech, he just couldn’t make it through Andrea’s too. Such an emotional moment for all of us! We have the best friends & family EVER!

Tyson and Jordan performed our First Dance song. The song was Kip Moore, Hey Pretty Girl and though Ty was worried he wouldn’t be able to muster up the courage to sing it at our wedding, he did AMAZING, with the help of singer and friend, Jordan Dean. The video is posted at the end of this Blog Post :)