My Very Own Backyard Wedding in Mission BC

All Photos included below are by Sara Rogers Photography

I am soooooo excited to finally be sharing the photos and the details behind my very own backyard wedding in Mission, BC! If you follow me on socials, then you might know that I recently asked you all what exactly you wanted to know about my wedding and you answered! Some of the main questions were about my vendors, about my flowers (because you might also know that I grew a lot of my own florals) and the why’s behind some of our decisions and what it was like for a wedding photographer to plan a wedding (stressful, but so fun!)

Now, for any of you couples out there that are just starting your wedding planning process then you’re likely buried beneath a bunch of Pinterest boards, vendor suggestions, and…maybe some “helpful advice” (ahem, pressure) from family to do things a certain way. Trust me, I know exactly where you’re at! My husband Paul and I are very lucky to have families that fully supported us doing things our own way, but for us the pressure came from my own 15 years in the wedding industry. I can’t tell you how many little things I’ve seen go sideways at weddings, or what pressures stressed my couples out the most, and I had all of that in the front of my brain when we were planning. Paul had to talk me off many a ledge during planning, but having Wedding Wednesdays at our local brewery definitely helped and kept us both on the same track during the process (and a couple of drinks always helps with the creative juices). I feel very fortunate to have had Paul’s help and patient ear throughout the entire process because I honestly don’t know how I’d have survived if I’d had to plan the bulk of it alone.

Why we had a small wedding

You’re probably thinking that because of my experience in the industry I likely had the whole thing planned out in my head long ago, but the truth is that I had no idea what I wanted (WE) wanted except for the ceremony. After hundreds of weddings the one thing that I knew I wanted was a very personal ceremony that reflected us and that the guests invited were those core people that we knew we’d always be able to turn to when our relationship needed support.

In my mind, those guests were there to vow to support us as much as we were there to vow the same to each other so it felt the best to us to keep it to our closest friends. We definitely struggled with this a bit because we also had a wide friend group that we love and wanted to celebrate with, but our budget and my own desire for the intimacy of a small wedding made the decision for us. So, we opted for a 30 person guest list of our most cherished people and the joy I felt looking out at each one of those guests during our ceremony was 100% worth the stress.

Of course, we mixed things up a bit there too by hosting a pool party the day after our wedding for that larger group of friends, we hired a taco truck, had the NiceLife tap truck flowing cocktails and beer all day and we got to have a casual adult day at the pool. It was SO much fun!

Why a backyard wedding was the right choice for us

When Paul and I started planning we were both pretty clear on not wanting to go with a traditional wedding venue. We’re both very casual, we’re very DIY, and after months of back and forth (and quotes from venues) Paul finally convinced me that having our wedding in our own backyard, at the house we bought and renovated together, would be the most special (and honestly, the look in his eyes when he was pitching it to me sold me on it). I did know however, that I didn’t want the ceremony here. We live in a loud area with traffic right in front of our house and our yard just didn’t offer the dreamy surroundings that felt really important to me for the ceremony.

I hadn’t daydreamed much about our wedding before we got engaged, but the one thing I did know I wanted was a peaceful, foresty ceremony location where we could focus completely on each other. So, some friends in the outskirts of Mission offered us their property for the ceremony and cocktail hour and It. Turned. Out. Perfectly. Like, I STILL dream about it!

Even better was the feeling of rolling up to our own home for the reception and seeing how it had been transformed into everything I could have dreamed of and SO much more. Every day now I look into my yard and I can still feel how it felt to dance with Paul right there. Just five feet away. Under a canopy of lights. Surrounded by love. Nothing could beat that.

Was it much cheaper or easier than hiring a traditional venue? Hard to say. We had to do a bunch of renovations to our yard (like build a whole new fence, do a bunch of landscaping, etc) but every time I got tired of all the extra work Paul would remind me that the cost (and work) we were putting into the wedding renovations was doubling as an investment into our home. Looking back, I have no regrets.

How we made this day feel especially “us”

Some of you Instagram peeps mentioned that you wanted to hear about some of our DIY and custom elements and what things we did to keep the day feeling the most genuinely us because maybe you’re struggling with how to make your own wedding feel like you. Well. I’m just going to list them because we did A LOT.

1. I grew a portion of my own wedding florals to help reduce my florals cost, knowing that I wanted lots of florals and that we have the space to do it. I had hoped to grow ALL of them, but naturally you can’t predict the weather during a growing season, so even though I had some flowers the bulk of them bloomed two weeks after our wedding. Luckily for me I was able to source flowers from a local grower (Yakasiro Farms) and my florist (Andrea of Foxglove Floral Cafe) showed up with a van full of additional florals and she absolutely slayed the instal. Ugh. I still die when I think of the flower wonderland she created for us.
2. Paul hand-made all of the boutonnieres. He’s a fisherman, so he took inspo from fly-fishing flies and they turned out amazing (and they’re reusable!)
3. I had my wedding dress custom made for me based on an And For Love gown that I loved but that didn’t fully suit me. I had wanted a linen dress with lots of flow and Alison from Manuel Mendoza Couture made THE dream dress. It covered an ugly old back tattoo and had pockets. I loved it so much that I had absolutely no need for a “reception outfit”. In fact, I never wanted to take it off!
4. I handmade the green linen backdrop for our ceremony. I knew that I wanted a backdrop that was semi-transparent to diffuse the light and separate us from the background. We very carefully chose the ceremony location to ensure that 99% of our guests would be in the shade and the light would be behind us because, yeah, I’m a photographer and I think about that stuff (and you should too!)
5. Paul made custom bottled cocktail just for our wedding and designed labels using artwork made by our friend Phanie. These were a huge hit and we still have a couple in our fridge! Paul designs the drinks for Nicelife Cocktails so this was a no-brainer for us. We also had the Nicelife Cocktail tap truck on-site for our reception with more Nicelife drinks on tap, as well as beer and bubbly water. Total win. Guests LOVED it!
6. A fun thing we did during the ceremony was do a witness lottery. Nobody knew it was coming, but it was SO funny when we revealed we’d be pulling names at the time of signing and I happened to pull Paul’s sister and Paul chose my mom. The crowd broke out in shouts of “it’s been rigged!” and we both laughed our asses off.
7. One other thing we did that was very “us” was that we didn’t cut a cake. Paul just couldn’t wrap his head around the ceremony of cake cutting, so instead we buried a bottle of Japanese whiskey in a barrel a few weeks before the wedding and dug it up together during the reception. We passed around some thrifted shot glasses and shared a toast with all of our guests and it was so fun!
8. And finally the biggest non-traditional thing we did was that Paul and I did NO bride & groom portraits on our wedding day. Yeah, you read that right. We did family photos and photos with friends (obvs) but 3 days after our wedding we dragged our very awesome and very willing photographer Sara Rogers Photography to Merritt with us, to a camp site that Paul and I have been to a bunch of times and at sunset, after all the chaos of the wedding was done, while we were still deep, deep in the throws of wedding bliss and no longer stressed, we had the most amazing portrait session that we got to be fully present for. We got ready in our camped together, Paul buttoned up my dress, we wandered through fields of tall grass with stunning light, and when it was all done and Sara was gone we lit a camp fire and slow danced in the forest. F*cking heaven.

The vendors

We could NOT have had such a perfect backyard wedding without our team of incredible vendors. Of course I already knew who all the best would be, even if I’d never worked with them before. Listed below are the people who helped make the day even dreamier than I’d hoped it could be.

Photographer: The amazing, the talented, the only photographer I wanted, Sara Rogers Photography. “Who is going to be YOUR photographer” was probably the number one question I got asked throughout planning and I have nothing but praise for all things Sara.

Day Of Coordinator: Thistle and Thorne Weddings “What? You had a coordinator for your 30 person backyard wedding?”. Uh, YEAH, and Jodi and her team are worth every penny! Not only was every hiccup dealt with without us needing to step in, but it was because of Jodi that we were so blissfully present in all aspects of our wedding day and she’s the reason why there is no post-wedding anxiety about some dumb thing that went wrong. Hire a day-of coordinator at the very minimum! Hire Jodi (if you can get her!).

Wedding Dress: Alison of Manuel Mendoza Couture. The process of working with Alison was so amazing! She’s so friendly, creative and funny and she made me the dress of my anti-bride dreams.

Florals: Andrea of Foxglove Floral Cafe. Literally the raddest woman, so sweet and executed my vision so much better than I had been able to communicate it. Maybe she’s telepathic?

Hair and Makeup: Save The Date Beauty. This was a no-brainer for me as well since I’ve known these ladies for decades and they are the queens of earthy natural beauty. I’m very much a tomboy and wanted to feel like myself (but… better) and man. I felt SO PRETTY!

Catering: We very much wanted a backyard BBQ vibe, so we actually got BBQ! Whisky Six in Vancouver came highly recommended to us and everyone loved the food! They were easily able to accommodate our vast list of allergies and preferences and we had SO many leftovers. To name some of the allergies they accommodated: gluten, corn, soy, dairy, eggs, and a celiac vegetarian.

Decor rentals: Plates, cutlery, twinkly lights, and glassware were from Bespoke Decor (I love you!!). Tables and chairs were from Longtable Event Rentals (they were so easy to work with, they delivered everything the day before the wedding and picked it up the day after so we had no rush to tear down).

Cocktail Tap truck: Nicelife Cocktails. This was CLUTCH for our backyard wedding! We even used it the next day for our post-wedding pool party!

Now…. on to the photos!!!