Everytime I look at these wedding pictures I fall more in love with them. Just by looking at these pictures you can feel Dan and Caryn’s excitement and happiness. This vibrant wedding, photographed by Annemari Ruthven immediately caught my eye. It’s not just because it’s so colourful and full of life that I like it. I also admire Caryn, well I actually think she is super woman. Caryn organised three wedding events on two different continents, with no coordinator (I hardly survived organising one wedding). They started off the festivities with a formal engagement party for all their friends in Vancouver. They then came to South Africa for the actual wedding. On their return to Canada they had another wedding reception in Calgary, Dan’s hometown. Something else that makes this wedding so special is that the couple’s loved ones were so involved in organising the whole event. We hope this lively wedding brightens your Monday!

I’m especially fond of Caryn short wedding dress by Jenny Yoo and colourful birdcage veil that her friend and artist Christine Shaw lovingly made for her.

Dan, a Canadian, and Caryn a South African met at Regent College, University of British Columbia in Vancouver.  They were both studying theology so they had many mutual friends. They actually knew each other for a year before they started dating. At the end of their academic year, Caryn organised a skiing weekend, and invited Dan along. At the last minute everyon, except Dan, cancelled. After spending many hours together in the car as well as on the cold ski slopes, it was clear that their friendship had transitioned into something more.

After two years together, Dan organised a lavish proposal. He prepared a myriad of surprises for Caryn throughout the day. First they went snow shoeing (for all the South Africans that means hiking in the snow), where Dan had arranged a picnic in the woods for them. After Dan proposed, they zooted down to the city waterfront area and hopped on a charter plane to Vancouver Island. They then had high tea at the famous Empress Hotel in Victoria. They spent the rest of the day in Victoria, had dinner at the best restaurant in the city, got picked up in a Vintage Daimler. They were then headed back to Vancouver mainland that evening. There a friend picked them up and drove them to a surprise engagement party with close friends!  We say well done to Dan for his dream proposal.  He even managed to get Caryn’s engagement ring all the way from South Africa to Vancouver.

Any advice for brides-to-be?

Be inspired! I looked at wedding blogs for HOURS! Also make sure you enjoy the whole experience.
No matter how careful you plan everything, it is going to be hectic. There are just always details to think of. Embrace the madness and enjoy it! We had a lot of family and friends who helped. Learn how to delegate, people want to help and it’s a joy having people be apart of it all. Don’t pay exorbitant prices. We managed to cut a lot of costs and still kept it classy and exactly how we wanted it. Also, I made a concerted effort to buy dresses and shoes that my bridesmaids loved and that suited them. I can’t handle how so many bridesmaids are made the wear the same style dresses that don’t suite them. My mom is amazing with details. A very cool thing she thought of was making adequate plans for children at the wedding. We wanted kids to be a part of it, so we made them boxes filled with toys and treats. And we organized babysitters so the parents could have a break.

Where did you get most of your ideas and inspiration from?

BLOGS BLOGS AND MORE BLOGS! I had a Real Simple wedding magazine which was awesome. But mostly I got all my ideas and inspirations from wedding blogs. I also looked at décor magazines and general creative stuff online. Photography websites are a winner too.

Any time saving or organising tips?

We did it all so fast. My tip is to say, it can be done in shorter time than most of these wedding resources say. We did it in less than five months, organizing three events and all in different cities across continents. Its do-able!

What song did you choose for your opening dance?

“City and Colour” by The Girl. This song is great little indie rock number. Dan and I sang to it in the car on many an occasion. The lyrics speak about diamond rings and a string of pearls and Dan had bought me some pearls earlier in the year. So we felt it quite apt. We also hate slow dancing, and this song starts slow and livens up in the middle. So on the night we then got people to come and dance with us when the music kicked up a beat! It was such fun!

Were any of your family members or friends involved in the wedding and what were their contributions?

Yes!!! We had so many people helping out. My good friend Bek, from Australia, did the bouquets.
My friend, Christine Shaw made my veil. We gave everyone a cushion as a wedding favour and it was part of the décor. My friend Rachel sewed all the cushions. My friend Tanya drew the animations on the canvas on the wall at the reception. My bridesmaid, Kath and my friend Jane did all the flower arrangements (with help from my mom’s friends). Dan’s father is a pastor and did the ceremony. My sister and I did all the décor and the day before we had a whole bunch of friends and family who helped with setting it all up.
Seattle Coffee Company is our family business and we brought in an espresso bar for the day and preparation day. It was brilliant and everyone maxed out on the lattes! It added such a cool element to the day.

Anything else we need to know?

We pretty much did the wedding ourselves. My mom brought the organizational aspects and I brought the creative side. I have so many friends who are creative and helpful and ready to give, so that was an absolute joy! We loved doing the wedding ourselves! We also loved how down-to-earth the people were at our venue. They adapted and worked with us, we didn’t feel cookie cutter like a lot of the commercial wedding venues. Dan did a lot of work for the order of service and how things would work on the actual day whereas I brought the creative visual aspect to the day. I felt like that was a great team effort for us.