Alex and Colton wanted a rustic country wedding to go with the look and feel at Hessenland Inn (hessenland.com). With the amazing hospitality of the onsite coordinator Liz, they were able to have a beautiful wedding day with their family and friends…

Bride & Groom: Alex Nutt & Colton Bell

Wedding Date: September 8, 2018

Ceremony & Reception Location: Hessenland Inn (hessenland.com) “Our ceremony took place at the beautiful outside waterfall and reception took place in the Coach House.  Alex & her parents went to the open house at Hessenland in April 2017 and fell in love with the location. The grounds are beautiful and you have late access just down the road.” – C

“Liz at Hessenland handled every single detail- not one thing was out of place and everything was completed beyond our expectations. Liz and I connected from day one at the Ring’s Wedding Expo in Stratford at the Arden Park Hotel. Something about her made me feel like we had known each other all our lives. She is an incredible woman and I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else with the preparations for our big day.” – A

Colour Palette: Gold and deep burgundy

Theme: “Rustic country style to go with the location/setting of the Coach House” – A&C

Flowers: Lyric Flowers (lyricflowers.ca) “We used lots of greenery and white flowers. Alex’s bouquet was unique with succulent flowers” – C

Décor: NJS Design (njsdesign.on.ca). “They came recommended to us by Liz at Hessenland. We kept things simple because we wanted the Coach House to stand out. We used alternating gold sequin and Venetian gold tablecloths. We created our own centrepieces – we used a wooden ‘cookie’ and put a mason jar on top with the same greenery/whites we used in the bouquets” – A&C

Fav décor element: “Our favourite décor elements would have been the overall rustic feeling of our venue. The Coach House was absolutely perfect. It needed little decoration because it has so much character to it already. We added some beautiful greenery from Lyric Flowers. Lanny and Jay created an absolutely stunning greenery runner for the head table and then simple flower centrepieces for the tables. They added hanging greenery to the exposed brick wall. It was all very stunning! For our ceremony they also created this stunning cascading table runner which hung over our signing table. It was a fan favourite according to our guests!” – A&C

DIY: “We created our centrepieces. Colton’s parents, Roxanne and Kevin, spent countless hours cutting and prepping gorgeous wooden cookies for our tables. Family friends, Tim and Colleen White also created a beautiful ring box for us. We had so many hand made elements which came from both the Ottawa and Stratford area. We wanted to include our families in the entire process.” – A

Invitations/stationery: Vistaprint (vistaprint.ca)

Cake: Chick Cake Boss (chickbosscake.com), St. Thomas

Wedding favours: “We wanted to be conscious about the environment so we chose to give reusable metal straws as our favours. Everyone raved about how much they loved their straws! Even the twine we used to wrap the straws up in was compostable.” – A&C

Groomsmen and Groom’s attire: Moores Clothing for Men (mooresclothing.com) “Colton had a custom made black tux. He wore a white dress shirt, a black on black paisley patterned vest, and a black tie. The neat thing about Moore’s is you can create custom ‘tags’ to put on your Tux. For example, on Colton’s vest he had the wedding date stitched in, in the jacket of his tux he had the location of where we first met (Laurentian University), and inside his pants he had the tag “party pants”…. LOL! Groomsmen wore black Vera Wang tuxes from Moores. Their dress shirts were white, vests were black and their ties were deep burgundy.” – A

Bridesmaids attire and accessories: Dresses: Christina Wu in deep burgundy. Accessories from: David’s Bridal (davidsbridal.ca) rose gold earrings and a matching necklace.

Bride’s dress and accessories: Crème Couture (cremecouture.ca) in Guelph.  “Alterations complete by the amazing Tami MacDonald from Mina Bridal Designs (minabridaldesign.ca).” – A

DJ: Mark from Music Central Entertainment (musiccentral.ca)

Photobooth: Hashtag Booth (hashtagbooth.ca)

Hair & make-up: Brittany Hudson (hair), Nicole Staffen (hair) Miranda Dewetering (make up), Paula Radzikowski (make up)

Dance lessons: “Colton and I have 2 left feet. One of our biggest fears was we would be ‘dancing in a circle’ for the entire time during our first dance. We contacted Meghan Seaman from On Stage Dance (onstagedance.ca) in Stratford. The lovely and oh so talented, Shaina, was our dance choreographer. She truly had her work cut out for her! By the end of sessions we confidently danced to an edited version of “Cowboys and Angels” by Dustin Lynch.” – A

Photographer: “Scott Williams Photographer (scottwilliamsphotographer.com) “We first met Scott at Hessenland during their Spring Open House. My dad encouraged us to hire Scott because his fine art book was absolutely stunning. Scott’s photos are like none other. After the open house at Hessenland, Colton and I met up with Scott to chat about our vision and see if he was the right fit for our big day. Within moments of chatting, we knew he was the most perfect fit for our special day. We took Scott to Goderich for our engagement shoot. Needless to say, Scott goes the extra mile to capture the most perfect shot! He even broke his sandal climbing up some giant rocks to get a better angle for a shot. To say he goes the extra mile is an understatement! When it came to the big day Scott was hands down phenomenal. I felt like I have known him my whole life. He was such an important part of the day- I don’t know what I would have done without him. He, along with Liz, helped to coordinate everything down to the final minute. He has a unique style and his photos capture so much emotion. We are incredibly happy we chose Scott to capture the most intimate parts of our day.” – A

Biggest challenge: “The biggest challenge was trying to organize final meetings with all our ‘people’ before our big day. It took about a month or so before we finally were able to meet up with everyone (Liz, photographer, videographer, cake decorator). It was by far the most time consuming thing!” – A

Fav wedding memory: “The best memory from our day was hands down walking down the aisle and saying our “I do’s” to one another. We both thought this would be the most nerve wracking moment- but it was truly the best part of our day. It felt like we were the only two people in the world in that moment in time.” – A

Advice from one couple to another: “Always go with reliable companies when booking any type of wedding service. Do your research and read reviews! A cheap service does not always equal quality services. Unfortunately, we learned that the hard way, but our amazing coordinator, Liz, saved the day for us! Thanks to her we had a phenomenal DJ, Music Central, who kept our guests on the dance floor all night all. Another piece of important advice we would give is don’t sweat the small things. If something goes wrong the day of your wedding, chances are you will be the only one to notice! Also, the bride and groom should always make time for one another on their special day! Talk with your DJ! Choose 5 or so songs which are important to the both of you. No matter where you are when you hear the songs played- go find your husband/wife and dance to your song! It was by far one of the best suggestions we had from our DJ!” – A

MORE ABOUT HESSENLAND COUNTRY INN | Hessenland Inn & Vineyard is the ultimate Ontario West Coast wedding destination offering gazebos, overnight accommodations, waterfalls, lake access and gorgeous in & outdoor wedding spaces. More details in their review in The Ring, here. To find out more, email Hessenland, directly using the form below. 🙂