A Surprise Spring Wedding
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of working with Liv & Bas on their surprise backyard wedding. Liv approached me in March 2023 to help with planning their June 2023 wedding. Liv and Bas had been together a long time and the thought of a long engagement, wasn’t of interest to them. Their idea was to invite their family and friends to what they thought would be an engagement party, but really it would be their wedding day.
Where do we start?
The first step that Liv, Bas and I took with planning their surprise wedding was to sit down to get a clear picture on why this was important and how they envision the day. I felt this was important, not just for me to help plan their wedding, but for them to acknowledge if they are on the same page, what details are important to them, and who will know that it is their wedding.
Liv and Bas did not want to have a sit down dinner or worry about things being drawn out. Hosting a cocktail reception style wedding was what they wanted to go for.
Next Steps…
From here, it was time to start gathering the vendor team. The venue had been chosen. Bas’ family home would play host to the wedding. It is a beautiful property, with a lovely willow tree that would be the background of the wedding ceremony. Even though, the hope was to have everything outside, we still needed to consider the weather.
After receiving a quote and finalizing the items needed, Liv and Bas moved forward with Gervais Rentals for their tent, table and linen needs. This was big item checked off the list.
We then started looking at officiant options. Not having a long or religious ceremony was important. They wanted an officiant that understood that. Enter David Blow from Enduring Promises. When David found out that this would be a surprise wedding, and only a handful of people would know, he was very excited to be a part of the wedding.
The talented Joanna Crichton had been brought on board to photograph this beautiful day. Joanna was so easy to work with and ensured that L&B got the photos that were most important to them.
Wedding Day
It was time for the wedding day.
As guests arrived, they were met with a sign at the door, directed them to the backyard. As guests descended into yard, Bas met them with another sign saying “Surprise, welcome to our wedding”. Guests were shocked and overjoyed by the surprise.
L&B decided not to do a first look but Liv did want to do a first look with her dad. As we were limited on where to do this without Liv being seen by their guests before the ceremony, we were able to plan it where, as Liv was coming out of the house, there was a spot where they could do the first look just before walking down the aisle but still be a private moment. Joanna captured the moment beautifully.
