Brandy and Scott’s dream of getting married in Brandy’s hometown of Stratford was made possible with the beautiful grounds, spectacular food and amazing staff at the Stratford Country Club (stratfordcountryclub.ca) With loads of florals and personal touches they were able to have an unforgettable day…
Bride & Groom: Scott and Brandy Lepold
Wedding Date: July 28, 2018
Ceremony & Reception Location: Stratford Country Club (stratfordcountryclub.ca) “I had always wanted to get married in my hometown of Stratford. It’s so picturesque and my family still lives there. Scott and I live in Kitchener-Waterloo, but he proposed in Stratford while we were walking along the Avon River. We had set our eyes on the Stratford Country Club as a potential venue because of the location, beautiful setting, their great reputation, and reasonable cost. Because we got engaged in December and wanted to get married that following summer, a tight timeline by today’s standard, we knew the SCC was meant to be when they had a date open due to a cancellation for that July. We snapped it up immediately!” – S&B
Colour Palette: Creamy white & nude/taupe
Theme: “Romantic, fresh, and fun. We had lots of billowy flowers and greenery garlands, a neutral colour palate, an outdoor garden ceremony and patio cocktail hour. We had a talented singer-song writer, Amber McClean, providing live music during both the ceremony and cocktail hour, which we were able to spend socializing with guests.” – B
Flowers: “Jackie, owner of Flower Studio Designs (flowerstudiodesigns.com) did our flowers and I can’t recommend her enough! She brought my dreams into reality and then some. She’s passionate, caring, and so fun to work with. I chose ivory flowers with greenery. Aside from lots of full roses, I wasn’t sure which other flowers would contribute to the soft, romantic look I was hoping for, so I trusted Jackie completely to choose. In order to save costs, I made the flower arrangements for our centrepieces myself. I cleared Costco out of their cream roses the week leading up to the wedding (10 bouquets of 24 for $9.99 each) and purchased small cylinder vases from the dollar store. Jackie gave me some advice on putting the arrangements together and provided me with the greenery. I loved being surrounded by hundreds of roses and welcomed the mental break to do something creative a couple days before the wedding.” – B
DĂ©cor: “We decided not to hire a decorator. I love to decorate and we were looking for ways to lower our expenses. I wouldn’t recommend this route to everyone, as it’s A LOT of work, but for us it worked out well and I enjoyed it! I rented some dĂ©cor (head table backdrop frame and fabric, accent linens, lanterns, card holder, donut stand, votives) from the amazing Fresh Look Design (freshlookdesign.ca), ordered signs from Zazzle.com, purchased off amazon and kijiji and rented other items from vendors I found on Facebook (easels, polaroid cameras, candle holders). Other than the signs, everything I purchased I was able to re-sell.” – B
Fav dĂ©cor element: “The flowers! I welled up when I saw Jackie’s creations.” – B
DIY: “All the dĂ©cor aside from Jackie’s flowers felt like a DIY project. Planning the design and setting up, making about 25 floral arrangements from fresh flowers, making all the signs, and a floral chandelier for the outdoor ceremony pergola.” – B
Guestbook: “We really loved our Polaroid Guestbook! We weren’t sure how many guests would participate as we didn’t have an actual booth or photographer manning the guestbook, but almost all of our guests did!” – B&S
Invitations/stationery: Vistaprint and Zazzle
Cake: “We had donuts from Debrodniks Donuts (debrodniks.ca) in Kitchener.” – B
Wedding favours: “We decided against doing favours, but there were extra donuts and takeaway bags” – B&S
Groomsmen and Groom’s attire: Collin’s Formal Wear (collinsformalwear.com)
Bridesmaids attire and accessories: Dresses: David’s Bridal (davidsbridal.ca), Lulus.com (lulus.com), Monique Lhuillier (The Bay) Robes: Robes by Silkandmore (robesbysilkandmore.com)
Bride’s dress and accessories: Dress from Sophies Gown Shoppe Kitchener (sophiesgownshoppe.com) Veil: David’s Bridal (davidsbridal.ca) Shoes: Le Chateau
DJ: DJ Andrew Alfred
Hair & make-up: Hair: Brandelo Hair Lounge and Colour House (facebook.com/BrandeloHair) Make-up: Jacha Beauty (jacha.ca)
Wedding Planner: “We didn’t hire a wedding planner, but the SCC provides a wedding coordinator to assist in your venue related planning. Our wedding coordinator Isabelle was exceptional!” – B
Live Music: Amber McClean with Northwood Music (northwoodmusic.ca)
Photographer: Mikaela Shannon Wedding and Portrait Photography (mikaelashannon.com) “We found Mikaela somehow through a rabbit trail on Instagram. We loved her style so much we booked as soon as she confirmed she was free on our date. Scott and I knew we had made the right decision when we finally met in person for our engagement shoot. We felt nervous and awkward in front of the camera, but her calm, easy-going personality put us at ease. We were sure we were too awkward that we would be lucky to get a single decent engagement photo, but we’re blown away when the next day we received 10 gorgeous photos followed by many more shortly after. Mikaela suggested a stunning beach location for our engagement shoot and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Our wedding day was no different! Mikaela was amazing! She captured the essence of our day with so many candid shots of not only us but our guests. I can’t choose a favourite part of our photos, we love everything!” – B&S
Biggest challenge: “Managing the budget was the most challenging aspect, but to us a very important one. We were adamant about not overspending. We tackled this by prioritizing the things that were most important to us and cutting things that may be traditionally expected, but weren’t as important to us as a couple. ” – B&S
Fav wedding memory: “Hands down the best memory of our day for me was the ceremony. I loved every second of it!” – B
Advice from one couple to another: “Plan and prepare as much as you possibly can and then on the day of, let go and enjoy yourself! Trust the people you’ve hired to do their job and if at the end of the day you’re married to your person, really, it all worked out! The week leading up to our wedding one of my bridesmaids found out that the tailor she took her dress to closed for 2 weeks vacation with her tailored, ready to go dress inside. Luckily, all the girls were wearing different dresses so we were able to borrow a replacement last minute. Most people can’t tell in the photos which girl is wearing the replacement dress. It was a bit stressful, but on the day of it didn’t matter one bit.” – B
MORE ABOUT STRATFORD COUNTRY CLUB | Stratford Country Club (stratfordcountryclub.ca) offers expertise, style and service for ceremony and receptions more details in their review in The Ring, here . To find out more, email Stratford Country Club directly using the form below. 🙂
