When Sarah and Darren told me they were planning a brunch wedding, I was all for it.  I had never been to a morning wedding before, but the way they spoke about it sounded enticing.  Waking up on Sunday morning at 5 am after shooting Alyssa and Joel’s wedding in Digby the night before, I wasn’t feeling so positively about brunch weddings.  Once I got in the car, got some upbeat music playing, and saw the sunrise, I was starting to wake up an get in the right frame of mind for a wedding.  As I met with Sarah and her bridesmaids at the Lord Nelson, I was glad to be around morning people.  Their happy dispositions rubbed off on me for sure, and I have a feeling that applies to everyone they meet.

The plan for the morning was to meet Darren at the Public Gardens just before 8:00 so he and Sarah could share a first look together.  So just after 8:00, the girls arrived to the park.  I had Darren ready and looking away from the direction Sarah was coming from.  Sarah had her dad walk her most of the ways and she kept her eyes closed for the reveal.  They shared the moment together with big smiles on their faces.  Those smiles stayed on their faces as we used the morning light in the Public Gardens for our photos.

From there we went to the World Trade and Convention Centre for the ceremony and reception.  You’ll notice a lot of balloons around the wedding, and I thought one of the best ways they used balloons was to create a wall in behind the ceremony to add something to an otherwise barren room.  They also had a couple of musicians playing for the guests before the wedding party arrived and I know Sarah and Darren didn’t get the opportunity to hear them play, but I did, and they sounded great.

The ceremony was short but sweet with a good laugh for everyone when someone had difficulty repeating their vows, not to mention the unique reading.  The ceremony was on the first floor and we took an elevator up to the 8th for the reception.  It was a great space with windows all along one wall with a view towards the water.  Sarah and Darren had so many little details which together, made for a beautiful setup.  One thing on the tables was a little newspaper with 4 pages.  It gave us the story of Sarah and Darren, some photos of the wedding party as kids, random facts about August 2nd in history, a crossword, and even comics.  A very fitting detail considering Sarah works for a paper.  They also had an awesome guest book made by Maid of Honour Maribeth.  It was a hand drawn tandem bicycle with balloons attached, around which guests signed their names.  And while that was awesome, I think the Boms (short for Bomboloni, an Italian doughnut), from Sweet and Savary were the star detail of the day, people loved those things.

The food was obviously brunch food, you know, since it was a brunch wedding.  They had waffles, fruit, yogurt, bacon, eggs, sausages, and the like in a buffet style arrangement, and fresh croissants and pastries at the tables.  Just walking into the room smelled amazing.  It was a more appetizing smell to me than most wedding dinners, but then again, I do just love the smell of breakfast foods.

As the reception wrapped up, Darren had some fun popping balloons.  With the number of balloons that were blown up, I can only imagine how good it would have felt to pop some of them.  Thinking about it now, someone really should have made use of the helium from a balloon and given their speech that way, I think you could guarantee a laugh, even if your jokes weren’t funny.

What a wonderful day it was with Sarah and Darren.  Despite having only 3 hours of sleep, the energy of such great people really made the day enjoyable for me, and I could see the smiles on the faces of their guests.  I know now that a morning wedding can be a great way for people to celebrate, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to be there.  Here’s what happened while you were sleeping away your Sunday morning;

Enjoy!!!

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