To say this wedding was a hilight of my YEAR would be an understatement!

I arrived in Schomberg not knowing what to expect, aside from a beautiful bride, a tent in the backyard of a house and thankfully plenty of sunshine! As I neared the place, my GPS led me up a winding road with tall trees framing it on both sides. If you know how much I love trees, you know that this part of the day alone was enchanting enough and I felt like I was entering a portal to a kind of wonderland!

Indeed, once I got there, i knew I had. As I parked, I passed by a garden full of at least 20 beehives (and an epic solar wax melter!) on my right and a deepswampy pond surrounded by wild flowers to my left, things that are so full of promise and buzzing with life, I knew that running into a rabbit with a top hat and a pocket watch attached to his coat pocket was simply a…matter of time!

Strangely enough, I didn’t run into any rabbits, but I did see a fair share of people running around! The bride and groom’s community attend Burning Man together in the desert together and their ‘burner’ community had arrived from all over to help them create a mini-festival on the property for this epic wedding. As I pulled out my makeup bag and director’s chair from the trunk, I noticed people were busy assembling an ark over a car! Yes, like a real-life size Noah’s ark - a boat which I later learned, was for the guests to dance ON after the ceremony (see below!). To give you an idea of the elbow grease and enthusiasm behind this ‘ark-car’, it was put up in a day, danced on in a night and well into sunrise and 90% dismantled the next day to be driven across to Nevada for Burning Man 2019! A great reminder that the best kind of ship is friendship!

It’s a bird…it’s a plane.. it’s an ARK CAR!! and the handsome men who assembled it for the wedding..

The bride and groom had done their fair share of decorating the grounds too. The tent had greenery beautifully strewn along the top and sides and lights from the top pole shone brightly at night to light the dance floor and stage where their jazz-singing friends (i mean STARS!) serenaded guests during cocktails. If that sounds dreamy, it’s cuz it was!

Decorations going up in the Shisha lounge!

Then there were also moss covered couple of mannequins in the center of it all, copper cups with name tags (sustainable wedding points!) and paper fans attached to these greeting guests in the ceremony area, and even the port-a potties were decorated ornately!

The thought and care put into everything at this wedding was simply unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my 20 years doing weddings. It was moving to see the care this couple and their community came together to put into expressing their love. When I had seen the bride in spring with her mum, they were both discussing all the preparations and I could’t begin to imagine what everything was going to look like. It was above any expectations I had or could have imagined! The creativity blew me away!

When I met this bride at a mutual friend’s birthday party last winter, we quickly hit it off, realizing we both hailed from la belle province, spoke ‘Franglais’ (half french, had english), each had one English and one French parent and cared a little too much about sustainability and the environment! We enjoyed laughing at the mild Toronto winter compared to Montreal’s frigid temperatures and snow banks.

Later in the spring, it was an honour to meet this bride’s mother, when they both graciously agreed to model for a mother’s day photo shoot promo I was doing. We had so much fun that day, her mother’s warmth, contagious energy and love for her daughter was evident.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as Deborah, Jess’s mom, had thought of every detail and came so prepared to our shoot! Bringing a lugagge and handbag full of clothes, shoes, accessories and even makeup and hair products to the shoot with her, she was ready for anything! This level of generosity, commitment, enthusiasm and attention to detail, all pointed to Deborah’s irresistible charisma and magnetic ‘aliveness’. These, along with her total immersion in the moment, are all things I notice in her daughter. Learning of her sudden passing a week prior to the wedding shocked us all and the deep pain of her absence was felt by everyone. The sadness was still palpable to me, however the celebration of her life and ever part of the wedding she contributed to creating was all around us and deeply felt.

The ceremony was as beautiful as possibly imaginable, the couple’s vows were tender and punny and the rest, as they say is history. I can’t wait to share the beautiful photos from the actual wedding photographer with you all someday soon. For now, I hope this ode to a magical summer’s day and the love of this beautiful couple and community sustain us all throughout the winter!

The bride and groom under the Chuppah, surrounded by friends and family.

The best view amongst tall grass, where I must have gotten devoured by at least ten thousand mosquitoes.

I needed a picture to make sure it wasn’t all a dream but i still call this one ‘Sunset in dreamland’.

The bride makes her speech from aboard ark car!

Love is sweet, love is kind, love is punny!

JESS & ASSAF'S FOREST FAIRY TALE WEDDING