Published in: Destination I Do

From the bride:

“Mark and I met in 2010 when we both started working at a grocery store in Ottawa. We were friends for 4 years before we started dating in 2014. In November 2020, we moved into our first home and the first night in our new home he proposed! We were celebrating with some champagne when he popped the question! It was already such a big day for us and after the proposal, it was even more special!

I always knew I wanted to do a destination wedding. I’m definitely my happiest when there’s sunshine and water! I also knew I wanted a different look and feel to it than the typical destination wedding.

The main inspiration was romantic & airy! I wanted to have soft colours incorporated, nothing too vibrant as the ocean will definitely pop! I wanted to include greenery and white florals, with a touch of blush and gold accents. With the added twinkly lights and candles it really made the space come together and feel effortless!

Mark and I knew we wanted the entire wedding to be held on the beach. The ocean is definitely the best backdrop! So with us having a beach wedding, we knew we wanted more simple decor. Nothing too flashy!

For the ceremony, our guests were sitting on beautiful wooden cross back chairs, looking straight ahead at Mark and I standing in front of the ocean. We had a gold circular arch behind us with two floral arrangements consisting of white florals with pops of blush & greenery. Our vendor added some gold lanterns in varying sizes by the arch, which was such an amazing touch!

For the reception space, we kept the same wooden cross back chairs and we paired them with wooden harvest tables. There were a total of 6 tables and we wanted to keep the decor consistent for all of them. Each table had a white chiffon runner with a floral and greenery garland. Placed throughout the garland were gold candlesticks and votives. Each guest had a clear charger plate with a gold necklace and gold cutlery. Topped on the charger plate was a white cloth napkin with a greenery sprig! Each table then had a simple yet beautiful table number written in black on a solid white acrylic placed in a clear acrylic base.

The tables were placed around the dance floor, which was a perfect set up cause we were able to see all of our beautiful friends & families faces! To complete the look, we had twinkly white lights above the reception space and it really tied the space together.

Because we travelled, we really wanted to keep our packing to a minimum so we didn’t do any DIY’s. Which is completely okay since I am not a DIY’er!

Since we decided to have minimum decor, we really focused on our florals and wanted to make sure they were beautiful! I ended up finding a florist in Punta Cana and she definitely delivered!

I had a bouquet for myself, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 2 floral arrangements on our gold circular arch, and a garland on each reception table with florals and greenery. My bouquet and my 3 bridesmaids bouquet were the same arrangement, however mine was a littler larger and more lush!

I really wanted a timeless and romantic look so that’s why I went with the white florals and greenery. My bridesmaids were wearing dusty rose for their dresses, so I thought with having a pop of blush in the florals it would tie it all together.

When it comes to wedding day attire, Mark had a quick and easy experience. He is a very laid back and easy going man, so it wasn’t tough choosing a look! Out of the whole wedding, he only had one request – no jacket! So him and his 3 groomsmen went to Surmesur, located in Ottawa, for their custom outfits! They went with a dark navy pant and a white long sleeve dress shirt that if you look closely, had small herringbone detail. He customized the look with his initials on the cuffs and cuff links. He wore a navy bow tie and navy suspenders with dark brown leather ends to match his dress shoes.

The dress! Dress shopping was a longer process compared to Marks experience, but it was lots of fun! The dress I chose was actually the third dress I tried on – but me being very indecisive, I had to try on many more just to be sure!

The designer is Essence of Australia and the dress boutique was With Love Bridal in Ottawa. It is a fit and flare with a beautiful long train, which was my favourite part of the dress. It had a lot of lace detail with embellishments and sparkle! It had thin straps with pearls and went into a low back. My hair was a half up half down style, with beach waves and a braid. We used a pearl hair piece to tie together with the dress! For my accessories, my grandmother let me wear her beautiful drop pearl earrings!

The number one piece of advice I kept getting before our big day was to slow down and enjoy the process! And now that the planning and wedding is over, I 100% agree and will always pass that advice down.

It’s definitely easy to get wrapped up in planning which can be stressful at times. Wedding day goes by so quickly and before you know it, it’s over! So have fun planning and don’t let the small things get to you because at the end of the day, it’s YOUR day. You have to make sure you and your significant other are going to have the best day ever.

Take every moment in and have fun!”