We first met this sweet couple last Fall and they had a unique request for their wedding, a surprise wedding! Needless to say, Laura & Carl’s special day involved a few secrets here and there, but in the end, the guests were thrilled with the memorable events of their surprise wedding.
From the bride:
At the time of our engagement, we had been together for 13.5 years. Many people had been expecting us to get engaged and married for quite a while so we both wanted to do something that was different, fun and exciting. We wanted to create an unforgettable evening for our guests where they would be just as excited as we are! A surprise wedding had this magical exciting appeal and we instantly knew that this was the ideal plan for our wedding.
It was so much fun coming up with the elaborate plans of how to surprise our guests. After countless ideas were discussed, we decided that it would be most fun to have our guests invited to what they would think is a “surprise” engagement party for us. This way guests would not ask us any questions because they thought that they would be surprising us! But in reality, we would be surprising them with a wedding! Guests were invited to a Surprise Engagement Party for Laura and Carl that was supposedly to be hosted by Laura’s Sister and Brother-in-law. In reality, this Surprise Engagement Party quickly turned into a Surprise Wedding!
We chose white, silver and champagne as our colours and had little twinkling lights to create a magical wintery atmosphere. Our flowers were primarily baby’s breath to symbolize beautiful clusters of snow flakes.
Top 3 moments during the wedding:
- Our guests’ reactions when they found out about the surprise wedding!
Telling the guests – All of the guests arrived to the Fairmont Pacific Rim to surprise Laura and Carl for their engagement party. Guests were asked to arrive before 5:30pm as Laura and Carl would be arriving then. At 5:30pm, Laura’s cousin Marc and his fiancé, Ainslie, who were also the MC’s for the evening (we told them the week before the wedding and asked them to be our MC’s) got ready to make the announcement. Marc loudly asked guests for their attention and said “I have just talked to Laura and Carl and their engagement is off” – then he paused and guests gasped. Marc then said “Because they have decided to get married. Welcome to their wedding”. At this moment, the doors into the ceremony space opened and guests could now see the beautiful magical space where the wedding would take place. Carl and his groomsmen were inside the ceremony space and were standing at the end of the aisle. The guests erupted into yelling and cheering. They were shocked and were overwhelmed with happiness and excitement. A truly priceless moment…
- Walking down the aisle
This moment was so special for so many reasons. Laura’s mom, Lise, walked Laura down the aisle. Lise and Laura are the closest that mothers and daughters can be and Laura was truly honored to have her mom walk her down the aisle. This was one of Lise’s favorite moments of the wedding. She describes that she could hear actually hear the guests gasp when the doors opened and they could see Laura in her dress.
The moment when Carl and Laura saw each other was priceless. The photographer and videographer were able to capture the moment perfectly. Carl gasped and his mouth widened and his eyes raised and he had to take a deep breath. Carl and Laura immediately made eye contact and Laura had the biggest smile on her face. It was an amazing moment.
- First dance
The first dance was a really special moment for us. It was a moment where it was just us, together, and we were able to dance and really take in what was going on. The dance floor was beautiful, it was a custom all white dance floor that had windows all around it with views of the globe at the Convention Center, the water and the sails at Canada Place. Half way through the first dance, we noticed that Annabelle, our 4-year-old niece and our flower girl, was smiling and shaking with anticipation, wanting to join us in our first dance. She had been dancing on her own on the dance floor since the reception started. We looked at each other then looked at Annabelle and invited her to come share the rest of our first dance. She stood up and ran into our arms and we carried her and finished our first dance with the three of us.
Venue: Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver
Photographer: Hong Photography
Videographer: Premier Love
Florist: Flower Factory
Cake & Macarons: Soirette
Stationary: Wedding Paper Divas
Calligraphy: Fleur de Lis Events
DJ: Beyond Sound
Dress: Bridal Gallery
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