Bride & Groom: Kortney Weichel & Patrick Schmidt
Photographer: Anne Edgar Photography (anneedgarphoto.com)
Wedding Date: 08-Aug-2020
Original Guest #: 115
Original Budget: $50,000
What was your original plan?: “Our original plan was to get married inside a church (Church of the Holy Saviour, Waterloo) and have our reception at THEMUSEUM (Downtown Kitchener).
We ended up having a small intimate outdoor wedding on the front lawn of the church under a shaded oak tree. Later in the evening, we had a casual celebration with our closest family and friends. We postponed our formal reception to next year at THEMUSEUM.” – K&P
Ceremony Location: Church of the Holy Saviour (holy-saviour.on.ca)
Reception Location: THEMUSEUM (themuseum.ca)
Colour Palette: Lavender, grey, white, and gold.
“The theme of our ceremony was a traditional church experience and a modern, elegant, theme for our reception. We had a short and sweet service outdoors due to Covid and it was perfect.
The bridesmaids wore lavender dresses and the groomsmen wore grey suits. Our bouquets had purple and white flowers in them. We ordered matching parasols for the wedding party (grey and lavender), which was a last-minute decision and they were some of our favourite photos! The parasols were a nice touch and really brought out our colour scheme and also added a whimsical effect to the pictures. We provided grey parasols as favours for our guests and they loved them. We also made customized labels for water bottles and had those readily available for guests, which I highly recommended to any bride having an outdoor summer wedding. Also, my bridesmaids surprised me with lavender masks for the wedding party. So even though the wedding was completely different than what we had planned we had some wonderful and memorable pictures with our matching parasols and masks and that would have never happened before Covid.” – K
Tell us your story!: “We got engaged in June 2019 and just a few weeks later had set our date for August 8, 2020. We were very excited to get married and within a few months, some of our closest friends also got engaged. We were thrilled to have so many celebrations in 2020 but also worried about affording the 6 weddings we would attend in 2020. However, little did we know Covid would change everyone’s wedding, including our own.
Patrick and I hired a planner and wanted everything to be organized and ready to go early because we knew we would be so busy with all the other weddings we were attending and taking part in. As time went on, one by one, each wedding was canceled or postponed. Then we would give anything to feel normal and attend all 6 weddings.
Patrick and I knew we wouldn’t be happy if we postponed our entire wedding. We had worked so hard and planned almost everything by March. We certainly had to endure stress and frustrations to plan our new covid wedding, including almost not going ahead with the wedding but trust me when I say it was completely worth it!
As time went on we didn’t know what to do especially when the Waterloo Region had made it mandatory for people to wear masks indoors. I can’t even count the number of plans we brainstormed to make the ceremony work because of the indoor restriction limits. We thought of live streaming but we were worried going live would make the situation more complicated and planning our wedding during covid was complicated enough. We eventually made the decision to wed outdoors outside our church. We made this decision just a few short weeks before our wedding and during the same time, we were rescheduling all of the vendors for the reception next year, printing out reception postponements, and mailing them out. Also, our planner had an emergency to attend to so there we were… just a few weeks before our wedding figuring out important details without a planner which is exactly what we wanted to avoid. However, if covid taught us anything it taught us to be flexible, adapt, and get creative. Fortunately, everything fell into place and our planner was able to be there on our wedding day which helped elevate our worries. We were very happy with our outdoor ceremony because forty of our closest family and friends saw us wed. I was a little sad we couldn’t have our other events (shower, bachelorette, and reception) however we are excited we have something to look forward to and our reception is right around our one-year anniversary.
Patrick and I were relieved it was a warm day on August 8 and the entire wedding was in the shade so it was perfect. We chuckle sometimes because when we first got engaged we did not want to get married outside and we wanted to be in an airconditioned building because we were worried we would be too hot. It turns out we ended up doing exactly what we were avoiding. That’s why we ordered parasols, we were worried people might be too hot or if it rained a bit they had some sort of protection. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned but our wedding will certainly be a memorable one and by accepting the change we had a wonderful day. The following week after our wedding we couldn’t believe we actually managed to plan a wedding during Covid and we felt so relieved we stuck through the frustrating planning and actually went ahead with the wedding. Covid can’t stop the love because love conquers all!” – K&P
Final Budget: Over $50 000
Invitations/stationery: Red Bicycle Paper Co. (redbicyclepaperco.com)
Cake: The Cake Box (cakebox.ca)
Décor/Floral: Fresh Look Design (freshlookdesigninc.com)
Bride’s dress and accessories: Crème Couture (cremecouture.ca)
Groom + Groomsmen Attire: Gadsby’s Clothing Co. Inc. (gadsbys.ca)
Bridesmaids attire and accessories: David’s Bridal (davidsbridal.ca)
DJ: Spin Doctor Productions (spindoctorproductions.com)
Hair: Holly Wasser (hollywasser.com)
Make-Up: MB Brow + Beauty (meghanbarbour.ca)
Wedding Planner: Jaime McClintock Events (jaimemcclintock.com)
Catering: Indulge Natural and Organic Kitchen (indulgekitchen.ca)
How did you find your photographer?: “We found our photographer (Anne Edgar) through my sister. Anne photographed my sister’s wedding in 2012 and I loved her style and organization.
I love that Anne catches beautiful moments and at times takes pictures behind trees and the leaves show up in the picture as a blurry effect, those were some of my favourites! Her style is romantic, elegant and glamourous.” – K
Biggest Challenge: “Our biggest challenge was that everything kept changing and it was awful waiting to hear from the government every few weeks. Our wedding guests would regularly check in with us to see what our plans were and it was awful saying: “We really don’t know.” Since Patrick and I are organized people it was difficult for us to sit back and hope that it will all work out and it actually did. We had to get used to changing our plans on a regular basis and accepted we still had major decisions to make just a few weeks before the wedding. I also was very worried I would have to do my own makeup because my makeup artist hadn’t been given the go-ahead yet, thankfully she was able to do my dramatic makeup look on my special day. We had to understand the day was going to happen but it wasn’t going to ever look the way we wanted. Fortunately, everything fell into place and it truly was a perfect day! We can’t wait for our reception and celebrate with all of our guests. Also, I am excited I get to wear my dress twice, not many brides get to do that.” – K
Best Memory: “Seeing all of our friends and family. We also had a great time taking pictures with our wedding party at Waterloo Park.” K&P
Any advice for couples planning their wedding?: “Don’t worry about planning all the little details because those might end up changing in the end. No matter what obstacles you experience you will be so happy when the day finally comes. We couldn’t stop smiling all day 🙂 Try and enjoy the day and each moment because it really does go by so fast.” – K&P
