It’s good to be back home this weekend. It was also lovely to have plenty of wedding in my inbox that I’ll be sharing with you these next few weeks! But today, I get to share with you Ruzena & Greg’s cute, simple wedding from Lotus Blossom Photography.
I got the idea of a wedding theme “When Pigs Fly”. I had no intention of a theme or anything like that. It was just so fitting because we were married a month before our nine year dating anniversary.
Greg and I met almost ten years ago at the Broadway Brewhouse/Mojo Grill through our circle of friends that would get together for two-for-one’s (two pints for the price of one) on Sunday nights. We both had our own thing going on so it was a delayed courtship. Greg would not leave me alone though and eventually, he stole my heart. Our first date was a hockey game. I had two free tickets from a friend (thanks Aaron!) I still didn’t know him very well, but I called all my friends and they had plans or were working. I don’t even think I had his phone number. Yeah that’s right, because I showed up at the tattoo shop he was working at and barged in all nervous and was like, “Do you want to go with me to a hockey game?” And he asked, “Uh, yeah, when?” And I said, “Um, well, now.”
I was so nervous and I think he was happily surprised. He was a gentleman and I did not spend the night…until my house became infested with brown recluse spiders a few weeks later. I called him to see if it would be okay if I stayed over. Looking back, we were so ridiculous and hesitant, but we both had recently ended long term relationships. Anyway, we were watching some movie and I was laying on the couch trying not to think about the millions of baby spiders at my house when he leaned down and kissed me. We’ve been in love ever since and would have married earlier but the timing was never right. Now that it’s over, I would not have wanted it any other way!
The ceremony was short and sweet. Saying our vows to each other was awesome; but for me, the biggest highlight of the day was walking through the threshold still pumped with adrenaline and seeing our friends and family, some of them not for years, all standing up and clapping that we finally got to celebrate this…it was just so cool. I was so proud!
We had decided on OD green and pale pink for colours, so I ran with it. Our napkins read: “I do…and pigs flew”. One of our good friends made a piggy piñata (thanks Amy!) We had flying pig cookies for wedding favours (thanks Claire!). I didn’t think about a flying pig wedding cake topper, but it would have been a bit much at that point. My sister, Jasmin, made the wedding topper of us that had our future (at the time) careers depicted. I’m in veterinary medical school and Greg is a firefighter (he still tattoos part-time here). Since everyone usually wants to know: Greg has done most of my artwork at this point (I think), but when we met I already had several tattoos.
My artist streak is limited to photography, so I relied on my incredibly talented friends and family. I was also trying to plan this wedding a thousand miles away. My mom did most of the hands on stuff. Every so often, I would order something online and ship it to her. I set up a Pinterest board online so we could collaborate. Jasmin used self-hardening clay for the wedding topper. I know my mom enjoyed making the hearts and the “just married” letters on the string, but it was time-consuming. She also made the piggy ornaments for the flower vases. Amy told me making the piñata was a real pain gluing all the tissue paper onto it, but she was very proud of it. It was so cute! Everyone did an amazing job!
I really like to keep things simple. I just don’t have the time/money/patience to do my own hair/shop for clothes or jewellery. So, here I was about to get married and think about all this crap. But I had fun. I had my family to thank for it. My sister bought my dress and she was able to calm me down when I panicked because I had left the print-out of all the sale items at home. We had already been to several other stores a few months prior. I was trying to find a dress that would cover up the tattoo on my breast but not the ones on my collar bone. We could not afford (nor could I justify spending a bunch of money on a dress I was only going to wear once). The dress I really wanted that had this subtle gathered organza at the top, but was out of the question. When I tried on ‘the one’, I forgot about my tattoos completely and got really pumped about the wedding (and it was marked down to like $280!). I could have bought tattoo make-up to cover it up, but again, I would have only used the concealer once and it is expensive! I had no intention of wearing a short dress for the wedding. I really liked the contrast of classic formal wear and body art.
How awesome is Ruzena & Greg’s wedding that took place at The Travellers Rest Plantation & Museum. I also love their wedding cupcakes from Ivey Cake and the pig cookies from Dozen Bakery. Thank you to them both and to Lotus Blossom Photography for sharing their wedding with Marry Me Ink. Be sure to leave them some love!
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