Real Weddings: Whistler Wedding Ceremony at the Edgewater Lodge

gadbois photography

Meet Ellie and Kirk. Aficionados of Fluevog… Unique soles for unique souls.

Yep. These two are unique souls for sure and they wanted their entire wedding day to reflect their personalities. Including their custom Wedding Ceremony. They knew they wanted a Wedding Celebrant, did a search and found Modern Celebrant.

It was love at first sight for me when I met Ellie and Kirk.

What a fun experience to vision a wedding ceremony for this hipster couple. They definitely did not want just a pretty ceremony, with rituals and words that looked and sounded nice but were empty of meaning.  A “Boring same-old, same-old” wedding ceremony wouldn’t have suited them AT ALL!

Ellie and Kirk wanted what I am passionate about creating… a wedding ceremony created from the inside, from the heart — through reflection and learning. We had two dinners at their place where we ate Ellie’s amazing food, drank equally amazing wine, and told stories. Kirk is a gifted storyteller and I hung on his every word.

gadbois photography

This thoughtful open-hearted couple shared thoughtful words with me about their vision for their wedding day. They wanted it to “…be a day to savour. A day to slow things down and let everyone who shares our wedding day take stock of the love in their own lives and realize how important they are to us.” For Kirk and Ellie it was also a chance to stamp a certain point in time and say, “This is the one I love. This is US showing our community how much we mean to each other!”

Day of the rain stopped for the ceremony and we were able to do it outside on the lawn beside the lake. We began with a ring warming where the rings were passed among guests to each hold for a moment and offer their silent wish for Ellie and Kirk’s marriage.

The signature piece of Modern Celebrant ceremonies is storytelling. It is the personal narrative, the story of the couple, that makes our ceremonies such deeply felt experiences.

Ellie and Kirk’s wedding ceremony was fun for guests. It was a little chilly that day but no one minded a bit because they loved hearing about how and who the couple are together… about their adventures, their hopes, and their dreams.

Once the rings had been ‘warmed’ by friends and family during the storytelling, I shared Ellie and Kirk’s own words about what the wedding rings mean to them and what they hoped these would come to mean over time. The tenderness with which they placed the rings on each others fingers is a moment I will always remember.

As for rituals, I integrated two others into the ceremony. We did a simple Handfasting with a long length of white silk that I use just for this purpose. It is imbued with the loving intentions of many couples. Did you know it is from Handfasting that we come to use the expression, “To tie the knot”?  Well, now you do!

We also included the mothers by having a gifting of salt to the couple. Historically salt was of great worth and cost.  As such it was used to seal contracts and covenants, including wedding covenants. In many cultures it was traditional for each family to give a gift of salt, both containers were then mingled and used as the spice of life in the married couple’s kitchen.

Since this couple are such avid chefs, this was a perfectly relevant ritual to include. I just know they’ll put the salt to good use in all those delicious meals they love so much.

I loved this ceremony! It was as real and honest and adventurous as the couple it was crafted for. That the rain stopped in time for the ceremony, and began again soon afterwards, was a blessing for sure!

Like all Michele’s wedding couples, Ellie and Kirk worked through Modern Celebrant’s Reflective Process in the months prior to their wedding. Partly self-guided and partly done in person with Michele, this allows Michele to know the couple as individuals and as a couple before she creates a wedding ceremony especially for them.

gadbois photography

WEDDING CELEBRANT & CUSTOM CEREMONY:Well, Modern Celebrant of course!

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gadbois Photography, Whistler BC. I loved working with Pascale. She and I are aligned in our paths as wedding professionals who value the deeper currents of what the couple is experiencing, as well as their guests. Pascale captures the moment. Modern Celebrant creates it.  Hope to work with her again. Do check out her site.

LOCATION:  The Edgewater Lodge , Whistler BC, truly has a fantastic location. Elegant dining room, beautiful and comfortable accommodations, a Lake, canoes, fine dining, mountain views! Love it.

Real Weddings at Nita Lake Lodge

Quite possibly Greg and Leah’s wedding was the warmest and truest I’ve ever officiated. Maybe because she’s a prairie girl and he’s from the Maritimes. Those places seem to bring down to earth, authentic people into this world.

The wedding ceremony and reception were at the Nita Lake Lodge, my new favorite get-away-place from Vancouver. When I saw the bathroom in my suite, with it’s huge tub and separate shower, I nearly knelt and kissed the slate slab floor.  Oops. I digress.

It was a warmish day that called for an outdoor ceremony. Leah was so beautiful and full of excitement that I cried when she walked in, with her eyes only for Greg. There is something about this moment of a ceremony that touches me profoundly. It is a moment of hope, of beauty, and it is a moment where everything but love is suspended. Every one present feels it.

Greg’s warmth and tenderness as he took Leah’s arm was so I don’t know… chivalrous.  His gesture told us all that Leah is incredibly precious to him.

Their Love Story was so much fun to tell.  It really is worth spending the time to truly ‘get’ a couple.  Makes such a difference to the wedding ceremony. And sets an extraordinarily warm and personal tone to the entire wedding experience… for the couple and their guests.

I began their story with this:

“Leah and Greg kept me laughing with all the twists and turns that kept popping up as they told me how they met and fell in love. Just when I thought I had the story down pat, one of them would casually say something like: “And then I moved to Baffin Island” or “Oh yeah, that was the weekend I went picking grapes in the Okanogan…”

Guests learned things about the couple they hadn’t known, including close family members. And Leah and Greg were held in an important collective moment by people who love them. What a way to start a marriage!

How we did it

Several months in advance, Leah and Greg worked through the reflective process I’ve developed. They shared with me what they bring to the relationship and what their partner does that truly inspires them. Marriage is about deep appreciation and awareness… it’s important to set that intention early on.  Leah and Greg and I also sat down together in their own home so they could share on a more intimate level their stories, hopes, and personalities. It’s an entirely different experience meeting with people in their own homes. Most officiants don’t make time to do that, preferring to meet in their office, but I think that’s a real shame. A home reflects those who live there. It is part of their story!

I’m like a weaver… weaving by hand the personal, true-life story of those I work with. When seamlessly integrated into a ceremony (also written just for them), the many hours spent crafting it is so SO worth it. That’s why I call them ‘labours of love’!

A wedding ceremony is a memory that people hold their entire lives. It’s worth doing well. Very well.

These beautiful photos were taken by Photographer James Stockhorst.

A Custom Wedding Ceremony on Blackcomb Mountain

Riding the new Peak to Peak Chair to a Wedding in the Sky!

The setting for this lovely little wedding ceremony was the top of Blackcomb Mountain on a bluebird summer afternoon.

I love it when couples pull off a mood of elegance and occasion, but with a relaxed easy feel!

Natalie and Jay’s wedding ceremony was all this and how!  With just family and a circle of close friends present, their custom wedding ceremony was all about intimacy.

It was so much fun for me to tell the story of how Natalie and Jay came to this place in their lives; to be standing in this beautiful place getting married.

Together, we shared more than a few tears, lots of tender laughter, and an abundance of memorable moments. I’m still tickled that Natalie became so absorbed in my saying the vows for her to repeat, that she forget to repeat them at her cue.  One of the sweetest moment of the summer wedding season!!!

I hear from Natalie and Jay that some of their male guests admitted to shedding a tear or two (or maybe three?) and that they consider this a great compliment… me too!

Natalie and Jay are designers, and well, stylish people.  They sure know how to plan a party!  An added bonus to this wedding was that I got to go on the Peak to Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains — the gondola is an engineering feat, breaking three world records and setting up to be Canada’s newest tourism icon.Thanks you two lovebirds for the great ride!!! I was only scared a little.

Joyfully yours,

Celebrant Michele Davidson, Vancouver Wedding Officiant, Custom Wedding Ceremonies Vancouver and Whistler