what an amazing start to the wedding season so far. i have never had any march weddings before in previous seasons and this year, i had two! kicking off the year with shandelle & britton’s wedding last weekend, laura & kyle’s wedding continued the march line-up on saturday, march 26, 2011, with their chilliwack wedding. i feel so very blessed after days like laura & kyle’s. my assistant teryn & i started the day with a long, beautiful, sunny drive out to chilliwack full of mountain views. i love the country. the wide, open spaces.

i could hardly wait to see laura on her wedding day. i feel like laura & i are friends after the past few months of emailing as well as her & kyle’s engagement session with me. after all, we do share an “auntie” — my aunt is laura’s mother heather’s best friend. laura’s brothers went to school with one of my cousins & i feel like she’s a long-lost family friend i had yet to meet before january! the house was in full on preparation mode: laura at the kitchen table having her hair and make-up done, four little nieces & nephews running to and fro, flowers and food in the kitchen, a little dog scurrying about. we were family, right away and i loved that. we were greeted with plenty of food and two cups of green tea to sip on while we photographed. seriously. i love my job.

as we photographed we talked about the details of the upcoming day: laura & her family made/organized all of the food for the reception themselves [basically, catered by the bride… crazy girl!] & she also put together all the florals, except her bouquet which was by minter gardens. laura’s dress was BEAUTIFUL and fit her four foot, ten and a half inch frame like it was made for her… even though it was off the rack. unbelievable! all the bridesmaid’s dresses were from joe fresh, yep, the superstore brand! kyle’s sharp looking suit was from H&M and kyle, great job on picking out the purple tie. that made the outfit. ;)

the ceremony was held just a couple minutes down the road from laura’s mom’s place at chilliwack united church. laura walked down the aisle arm in arm with her two brothers, as her father randy passed away a couple of years ago. i loved laura’s bouquet, which held a framed picture of her father: she carried his memory with her throughout her wedding day. so sweet. i smiled as i watched laura & kyle profess their vows to one another in front of family and friends and God. marriage is beautiful: the analogy of marriage between man & wife as Jesus & his bride—the church—hit me in a new way on saturday. what a gift.

in between the ceremony and reception at saar banks farm in abbotsford, we had plenty of time for photos. i was pretty much freakin’ out at how GORGEOUS everybody looked: especially laura. isn’t she the most photogenic thing? one of my favourite colours/backgrounds is white. all white. a spring wedding, full of fresh colours and a white background for the portraits was just what i was wishin’ for. some of my favourite wedding images ever. another reason why kyle & laura are wonderful. they scheduled in a spare hour during the day so they could head on over to decades coffee in chilliwack for lattes & nachos. [thanks again for the americano, L&K… you know how to make a wedding photographer happy!] teryn & i sat and chatted with the bridal party and i even gave laura a sneak peek of some photos on my laptop.

the reception… oh the reception. it was held at saar banks farm in abbotsford, bc. it’s a family run property that doesn’t even have a website, simply relies off on word-of-mouth to get the word out and they are pretty booked solid with weddings. there’s no question why: STUNNNNNING. as you can see from the photos, laura & kyle had every detail perfect. mason jars and candles and hydrangeas lining the wood stairs up to the barn. a full spread of food, patchwork quilts to wrap around guests when they got cold, coffee beans as wedding favours [love is brewing!] wood stumps as centerpieces, lanterns and lights everywhere. wow. magic, pretty much!

something from the speeches that stood out to me was laura’s mom heather’s words. she looked at laura and her new husband kyle on their wedding day and smiled, laura, a couple weeks ago i was reading through my prayer journals and on may 19th, i wrote down that i was praying for “a unique love story for laura, full of adventure. a whirlwind. one of those stories that stands out as exciting and different…” anyone who has you and kyle on facebook will certainly agree with me that your story has been a whirlwind. little did we know that a couple of weeks after i wrote that, God would answer our prayers and you’d meet the man of your dreams. [a year ago, these two didn’t even know each other!]

i think that about sums it up. ;) congratulations laura + kyle! all the best for your future together!

to see more of the lovely laura & kyle’s beautiful wedding at saar banks farm in abbotsford, click HERE for the slideshow.