Jesse and Dana had a white, blue and yellow colour palette for their summer wedding. Jesse loves dark blue and Dana loves Sunflowers. So with that, their perfect vision of a Sunflower wedding was born!

COUPLE: Jesse & Dana

DATE: July 9, 2023

GUEST#: 71

CEREMONY & RECEPTION LOCATION: Whistle Bear Golf Club “We travelled around looking at many different venues. We heard about Pearl Weddings through a friend who used another of their locations. When Dana first walked in to the outdoor ceremony space, her face said it all. We saw a couple places after it, but I knew she was ready to pick!” – J

PHOTOGRAPHER: DA Photography “We found Dragi through visiting wedding expos and online investigation! We were very impressed with his portfolio and he had an engaging personality right from the get go. He was fabulous to work with, and we’re very happy with the mix of staged/planned and spontaneous moments captured. He was the perfect choice to capture our sunflower wedding vision” – J

COLOUR PALETTE: “Our colour pallet was white, blue, and yellow. I love dark blue and my wife loves sunflowers, so it worked out well! I also really wanted the idea of light to come through, so we had many lanterns throughout our sunflower wedding.” – J

TELL US YOUR STORY: “Dana and I met years ago at Western University, at the Western Juggling club. She was doing her final year and I was doing a year at teachers college. When we started dating everything seemed to click. We went tree planting in northern Ontario that summer together and got a good idea of what living together would be like after sharing a tent for two months! As our careers and plans moved forward, we did so together, and built a life in Guelph.

We talked about marriage, but it wasn’t necessarily something that either of us wanted right away or cared a huge amount about. We had been together for 7 years, we knew that our relationship was strong! But last year, while on a business trip, Dana had to quarantine due to COVID, and she couldn’t come home. For two weeks I couldn’t do much to help her, and it made me realize that I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

So, after her birthday weekend, I planned a scavenger hunt around our house, ending with me on one knee and a ring, in the middle of our living room! The location wasn’t exciting or picturesque, but that had never really been our thing. She said yes! We were both excited, though we waited for a while because of COVID. Fast forward to 2022, it was time to begin! It took a year to plan, but our wedding came together incredibly through the combined efforts of ourselves and many others. It truly was a time we won’t forget.” – J

FLORAL: “Dana created all the flowers and bouquets using sola flowers, hand painted by her!” – J

ATTIRE: “My outfit was created custom by Jennie Ross Bridal in Kitchener, and it was a dress/suit combination!” – J

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Jesse: “Personally, my biggest challenge was what to wear, as a suit was not what I wanted, but I didn’t want a dress either. So I started looking for custom work, and that’s when I found Jennie Ross! She was able to bring my vision to life.”

Dana: “My biggest challenge was the amount of ‘DIY’ projects I took on for the event. Painting the sola wood flowers was fun, but flower arranging is definitely an art in itself! Thankfully I started my projects early so I had enough time to get rid of (most) of the hiccups before the big day.”

BEST MEMORY: Jesse: “My best memory was standing up at the front of the ceremony, holding the love of my life’s hands, and reading her my promises, trying not to cry!”

Dana: “My favourite memory is our first dance. While we didn’t have any dance moves planned (as originally hoped) it was such an amazing moment, dancing and singing along to a song that meant a lot to both of us.”

ADVICE FROM ONE COUPLE TO ANOTHER: “Our big thing was saving money, so we wanted to plan it all ourselves, and that turned out to be a lot of work! As two working people, it ended up being worth it for us to use a venue that had many things included. If you are busy but low on funds, consider waiting for a bit to save more. We waited to save more money, and it was so worth it!” – J

This sunflower wedding can be seen in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of The Wedding Ring Magazine

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DA PHOTOGRAPHY | To speak with DA Photography about your wedding options, you can reach them using the form below.