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Hello everyone! I hope everyone is healthy and safe. I know we are living in surreal and uncertain times right now with Covid-19 and my heart goes out to all of you that are rescheduling or re-imagining your PEI Wedding day. I’m here for you! I promise that when your wedding day does finally happen, it will be magical, no matter of the date or the scale of your plans!

I thought I’d write a story today about one of my 2019 couples, who embraced their inner strength as a couple, in the face of an uncontrollable situation and turned lemons into lemonade in a  beautiful re-planned ceremony. My wish is that you’ll be able to see the hope in this story for your special day.

2019 was my busiest wedding year to date as an Officiant, with well over 120 weddings, vow renewals, elopement ceremonies and…I loved every second of it. I always say that being a PEI Marriage Commissioner/Wedding Officiant is part of who I am. I believe that with all of my heart.

I think the story that most Islanders will remember from 2019 is Hurricane Dorian. The entire Island lost power for days, we lost so many trees, there was enormous property damage and some PEI vistas have been forever changed. The hurricane also arrived on a very popular wedding weekend.

Of course, I am fortunate to be busy and had several weddings booked for the weekend. I felt very nervous, not knowing the severity that Mother Nature was about to dole out. My main concern was making sure that my couples dream day wasn’t ruined and to make sure I could safely arrive at each wedding.

I’m happy to say that on Saturday, my weddings were wonderful and magical.  Driving home Saturday night, after my last wedding from The Centre Goeland, there was lawn furniture on the highway, trees bending and 5 minutes after I arrived home safe and sound, my power went out for 3 days.

The next morning at 7 am, I heard my phone ring. It was my Sunday bride calling through tears saying that they had to cancel their wedding due to the devastation caused by the hurricane. There was no electricity, roads were blocked, there were trees down everywhere and there was no possible way to have her wedding day as planned.

Can you imagine planning your wedding for months or year(s) and having to cancel the morning of your big day?

I felt horrible –and had a sick feeling in my stomach all day thinking about how upset she must be. She had planned something so beautiful and worked so hard for her perfect day! She already had her cake, flowers, and decorations ready and now was faced with re-planning everything.

Even though it was a challenge to re-book her wedding, as you can imagine, to coordinate vendors, guests schedules and prior commitments, new flowers, new cake etc. – the couple were finally able to make it work for a date a few weeks later in a scaled down version of the original plan.

On the day of the rescheduled wedding – I was  randomly chatting on Facebook messenger with one of my friends – Tai Sophia Photography– a PEI Photographer – she casually asked what I was doing that day. I explained that I was officiating weddings, including a rescheduled Hurricane Dorian wedding. Tai asked if the re-scheduled wedding was able to secure a photographer and I explained that, sadly, she didn’t.

Tai immediately typed “I’ll be there as long as it’s ok with the bride.”

I was so surprised and most of all humbled by her kindness. She wanted nothing in return except to ensure that this bride had professional photos for her day. You see, even though the bride had managed to reschedule everything several weeks later, I could tell that she lost a little bit of that sparkle that Brides get for their wedding day because of all the chaos and re-planning. She was the sweetest bride, so kind, quiet and shy and the only thing that she wanted was to have her ceremony outside in the woods at Clinton Hills and get married to the love her life.

I was so excited to call her to ask her permission for Tai Sophia Photography to document her wedding day and I could tell that this surprise brought back her wedding day sparkle!

Check out this gorgeous photo Tai took of Pam & Greg’s special day in the woods at Clinton Hills! I have seen the entire gallery and it was stunning!

 

 

 

 

I’m happy to say that this couple had a beautiful ceremony filled with love, tears, laughter and forever promises to each other and I think that although, they had to dig deep for that inner strength to re-imagine their new wedding day, that they both felt that their new wedding day was perfect, just the way it was. I was so happy that Tai was able to capture all of the wonderful love that was shared in the woods at Clinton Hills.

Tai has a wonderful photography style and more importantly she’s kind, full of grace, encapsulates the PEI spirit and has a joy and passion for capturing photos  and she would be a perfect fit for Your PEI Wedding day!

Whether you’re planning a PEI elopement, mini wedding, grand ballroom wedding, barn wedding, beach wedding or backyard wedding – professional photos are always a worthwhile investment! Visit my preferred vendor list for all of the great PEI Photographer options!

Here’s to embracing your inner strength as a couple, to re-imagining your new wedding day, to PEI wedding random acts of kindness, grace and love. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be playing my fiddle, working on new material for the upcoming wedding season, planning my PEI Elopement weddings in the coming months and counting my blessings.

Stay Healthy everyone & Happy Wedding Planning!

Marsha

Photography – Tai Sophia Photography (www.taisophiaphotography.com)

Venue: Clinton Hills (www.clintonhills.ca)

Officiant: Me! Marsha Weeks (www.yourpeiwedding.com)