Lakisha and Ashley wanted a day that was full of love and wasn’t overly complicated. They wanted simple elegance and the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory (cambridgebutterfly.com) made their vision come to life…

Bride & Bride: Lakisha Hoover and Ashley Hoover

Wedding Date: Saturday March 3, 2018

Ceremony & Reception Location: Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory (cambridgebutterfly.com) “We chose this location because the atmosphere was beautiful. The Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory had an array of insects including moths, butterflies, and other animals like fish and birds. It seemed fitting that our love started small and grew into something big and complete just like a butterfly who starts out in a cocoon and grows into its wings.” – L&A

Colour Palette: Peach and Rose Gold

Theme: “The theme was elegant and simple. We made it known based on our elegant gowns and our décor looked very polished.” – L&A

Flowers: “Brantford Blooms (brantfordblooms.com) did our flowers. We used Amaryllis, roses and Hydrangeas. We used an array of flowers and stayed close to our colour palette with white, light pink, bright pink, and peach. It was finished off with some greenery to give us a more wild effect.” – L&A

Décor: “We did it ourselves! We used supplies from Michaels Arts & Crafts store, peaches from the grocery store, and wedding décor we bought from weddingstar.com.” – L&A

“Cambridge butterfly conservatory is by far the best place we looked at to have our wedding and reception. It really went well with who we are as a couple and individuals.”

Fav décor element: “The rustic picture frame that we made into our seating chart was our favourite! Originally we were going to have our seating chart made, however Kisha’s mom Jessica found a frame from Goodwill that had 8 picture frames which was perfect because we had 8 tables. We then typed out our seating chart to fit the measurements of each frame and everyone loved it!” – A

DIY: “We made our seating chart and we used lanterns from Ikea for our centrepieces and our florist finished them off with wreaths.” -L&A

Invitations/stationery: Invitations by SoViBrant (sovibrant.ca)

Cake: Sweet Avenue Cakery (sweetavenuecakery.ca)

Officiant: Ann-Marie Fitzgerald from All seasons weddings (allseasonsweddings.com)

Wedding favours: ½ sized wine bottles by Vintner Wine Works (vintnerswineworks.com)

Both Bride’s dress and accessories: “Both dresses were from Kleinfelds Bridal (kleinfeldbridal.com), Ashley’s headband was from Kleinfeld, and Lakisha’s flower crown was done by our florist” – L&A

DJ: Neil Lariviere from Nitro Music (nitromusic.ca)

Hair & make-up: Ashley’s hair & make-up was done by Beyond Beauty Mobile Hair and Makeup (beyondbeauty.com). Kisha’s hair was done by Salon Mirage in Brantford (lyndenparkmall.com) and make-up was done by Galuppi’s in Brantford (galuppi.ca).

Photographer: Girard Photography (egirardphotography.com) “We knew Erin from high school. Since we already knew her, it was easy to sort out the details and she knew about our relationship, so it was easier to connect with her. She was so sweet and took pride in her work. She was also very easy to talk to and helped us by giving us details. She had us send her pictures via Pinterest of the poses we liked for our wedding and she sure to get them all. The pictures turned out amazing! We love how they all reflected what we envisioned for our wedding. They were stunning and captured all the beautiful moments that lasted for a few seconds. Erin and her second shooter made sure to get every little moment.” -L&A

Biggest challenge: “The biggest challenge was planning our wedding without having a wedding planner and having to do everything on our own. People our age that we know could not give us advice and the older generations just would tell us how weddings were a lot different back in the day.” – L&A

Fav wedding memory: “The best memory of our wedding; aside from saying I Do, was being able to have our first dance under the waterfall in the conservatory with all the butterflies flying around.” – L&A

Advice from one couple to another: “Be a team all the way. Listen to one another’s input. It is nice to have family and friends give insight but at the end of the day it’s what you both want to be memorable and plan everything ahead. Do not stress about the small things because at the end of the day everything works out.” – L&A

MORE ABOUT CAMBRIDGE BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY | Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory (cambridgebutterfly.com) offers intimate, unique venue for ceremony, reception & year-round photos more details in their review in The Ring, here. To find out more, email Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory directly using the form below. 🙂