Until the Very End | Victoria & Alora {real wedding story}

BRIDE & BRIDE: Victoria Sebben & Alora Keers

WEDDING DATE: September 19th, 2020

LOCATION: Alora’s parents’ house, Everett, ON

PHOTOGRAPHY: Fedora Media (www.fedoramedia.com) Cambridge, ON

COLOUR PALETTE: “We had a Harry Potter-themed reception, with 4 long tables, each representing a Harry Potter house and a head table which had a colour from each house. It was important to us that the theme didn’t come off as tacky, or confusing to non-Harry Potter fans, and our wedding decorator really helped with that. We had black tableclothes, and the runners were in the house colours, so the theme was subtle but very much present. We knew we wanted to replicate the Great Hall as best we could. One of the most important things to us was the floating candles so we strung up battery-powered candles from the ceiling which looked truly amazing at night. It really made the theme come together and our guests loved it. We folded over 60 chocolate frog boxes for all of the guests, made chocolate frogs, and trading cards with each of the wedding party to be distributed randomly to the wedding guests. Our seating arrangement was done in a way where guests found their name on a potion bottle with a shot in the colour of the house they would be sitting at. Our cake was also Harry Potter-themed and was incredible. We also had beer koozies made by a friend for all of the guests with various phrases like “hufflebuzzed” “slurrtherin” etc.” – V&A

BRIDE ATTIRE: Helen’s Bridal (www.helensbridalbarrie.com) Barrie, ON

HAIR: The Cutting Edge, Alliston, ON

MAKEUP: Kia’s Beauty Salon (@kiamuahamilton) Barrie, ON

DÉCOR & FLORALS: Barrie Flower (www.barrieflower.ca) Barrie, ON

CAKE: Friend, Annette Cole

CATERING: Big Bone BBQ (www.bigbonebbq.ca) Barrie, ON

TELL US YOUR STORY: “We actually met through a mutual friend in 2014, but realized we had been playing hockey in the same areas for over 15 years. When we got engaged in 2018, we both knew we wanted to have a Harry Potter-themed wedding at Alora’s parents’ home. However, guest list obligations limited that possibility and we spent the next two years making absolutely no wedding plans. We actually had no intentions of getting married in 2020 at all and we were instead planning a year-long around-the-world trip, with flights booked for November 2020. We figured we would end up eloping somewhere along the way and just have a party when we got back which our parents naturally weren’t thrilled about.

Back in June 2020, we realized that the chances of getting to go on our world trip were very slim, so we decided to have a small 16-person ceremony at Alora’s parents’ house on September 19th, 2020, and a destination wedding for March 2021. As such, the ongoing pandemic made planning a destination wedding pretty difficult, and we ultimately decided not to proceed with that. But the date of September 19th, 2020 became very significant to me as Alora’s hockey number is 9, and mine is 19. So 09.19.20 became the date we HAD to get married and there was very little room for compromise. Thankfully, Alora’s parents graciously allowed us to increase the original 16-person guest list to a COVID-friendly 60 people, and we spent the summer getting the property ready for the wedding we had 2 months to plan!

Our wedding planning actually went very smoothly considering the time crunch. Our parents were so happy the wedding was finally happening that they truly just dropped everything and let our wedding consume their lives for two months. As it turns out, the Ontario government also thought September 19th, 2020 was a special date and decided to reduce social gatherings from 100 to 25 people, 4 hours prior to the wedding. Thankfully, there was a 24-hour grace period and we were able to carry on as scheduled but it was definitely the most stressful moment of the entire process and I almost fainted in the hair salon. All in all, the whole day was incredible, everything turned out beautifully, and it was truly the best day of our lives.” – V&A