Greenery is the Pantone Color of the Year 2017 and it seems that Taylor & Dovi intentionally, or unintentionally, took a huge note of that! Just look what you can achieve with well-placed greenery! We’ve just spent our whole morning swooning over Taylor and Dovi’s nature-inspired Jewish wedding, and with very good reason! The whole effect was just enchanting, and the perfect setting for a heartfelt family day.
These gorgeous high school sweethearts held their simply beautiful, rustic-look wedding at Aquatopia in Ottowa, Canada. Incorporating beautifully-placed greenery, rustic signs and romantic lanterns, the dà©cor was understated enough to let the natural surroundings of the venue shine, but still stunning in its own right. Absolutely dreamy!
We literally gasped when we saw the magical chuppah design, with vines hanging down, framing the happy couple. Such a unique idea and so well executed – we’ll definitely be filing that one under ‘totally steal-able’!
Beautiful bride, Taylor, looked like a whimsical woodland princess in her two-piece gown, comprised of designs by Saja Wedding and Wtoo respectively. We LOVE the idea of combining two designs to create the dream dress!
There were unique touches galore: ‘meant to bee’ honey pot Rosh Hashanah favors, marvellously mismatched bridesmaids, a Polaroid guestbook and one very emotional bride’s speech!
The story of the day was captured with aplomb by photographer Agatha Rowland and the wonderful writeup is by bride Taylor, who we’ll hand over to now for the full report! Enjoy – and don’t forget to Pin the pictures you love.
How we met
Taylor, the bride: We met in high school ten years ago!
A beautiful outdoor venue
We got married at Aquatopia Water Garden Conservatory. We originally were supposed to get married in our friend’s backyard, but due to flooding, we had to change the venue.
I always wanted to get married outside, and this place was the perfect compromise. With the glass ceiling and beautiful greenery, it was like we were outside the whole time!
Letting the venue shine
We kind of focused the theme around the venue. All of our paper products had some sort of greenery on them, and we just incorporated things we found along the way that we liked. Things like our wood ‘welcome’ sign, I saw on Pinterest and just liked the way it looked!
We also wanted everything to be sort of neutral, so it didn’t outshine the venue. It was so beautiful by itself that we didn’t really need to add much.
An Etsy invitation
Our invitation design was found on Etsy by LaBohemmePaperCo. I just wanted something simple with greenery and this was the perfect design.
Perfect hair and makeup
All of my bridesmaids and I got our hair done by Lori from Showpony, and our makeup done by Penelope from One Fine Beauty. They were so amazing and listened to us so well, and we all turned out looking amazing.
A two-part dress
I bought my dress from White Satin Bridal in Ottawa. It is actually a two-part dress, with a shift dress underneath and a ball gown skirt that went overtop. The bottom part of the dress was by Saja Wedding, and the skirt was by Wtoo.
I had originally had set my eyes on a Hayley Paige dress, but when I made my appointment it was being used for the Ottawa Wedding Show, so I decided to try on other dresses. I picked this one because I feel in love with the sleeves. They were so beautiful and intricate, and I had never seen something like that before, but I always wanted to wear a ballgown dress on my wedding day, so the stylist suggested we throw the skirt on top!
Meaningful jewelry
I had a veil that matched the skirt, and was also by Wtoo. I was wearing earrings that my mother in law gave me, and a bracelet that my parents had bought me many years ago that I never take off.
Wedding Toms
My shoes were Toms. I knew I wanted something comfortable that I could dance in, and I’m very klutzy so I didn’t want to be tripping down the aisle.
The handsome groom
Dovi wore a Vera Wang Tux.
Bridesmaids in mismatched grey
For my bridesmaids, I told them all to pick whatever dress they wanted, it just had to be grey. I liked the way grey looked with the greenery in the greenhouse.
I also did want to force my bridesmaids to buy something that was my style that they would probably never wear again, so I told them to pick whatever they liked, they all just had to match, and I think it turned out pretty well!
A stunning chuppah with dangling vines
I knew I didn’t want a typical chuppah and I wanted something that would go with the design of the greenhouse, and the owner, Nick, came up with this wonderful idea to suspend a square of greenery from the ceiling with vines coming down in place of the posts.
It was nice, because during the reception they tucked the vines into the square, and it became a nice ceiling piece.
A family Rabbi
For the ceremony, we just let our Rabbi take it away, and he kind of led us. He brought us our ketubah. My favourite part of the ceremony was that my Rabbi was able to do it, I’ve known him my whole life and it was special that he was able to marry us.
A Thousand Years
For walking down the aisle, we picked A Thousand Years by the Piano Guys, I found it on YouTube and I thought it was beautiful.
Our first dance was to I Was Made For Loving You by Tori Kelly.
Flowers inspired by Pinterest
We’re not big on flowers and I don’t really have an opinion on them, so I found some photos on Pinterest, and the florist at Aquatopia (Elizabeth Salter) made sure it looked exactly the way I wanted.
Our fabulous photographer and videographer
It was actually a weird series of events that made us find our photographer (and I couldn’t be happier that we did!).
The one thing that we knew we wanted at our wedding was a videographer, so I spent so much time looking for the perfect one, but when I asked them to do our wedding they were, fortunately, busy that day.
They then recommended our videographer Liam Rowland, we watched some of his videos and felt like he was the perfect fit. Through our emails, Liam asked us if we had chosen a photographer yet, because his wife was a wedding photographer. We looked at her photos and agreed right away! It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly, since they were so sweet and amazing! Everything happens for a reason.
The bride’s favorite cake
The cake was created by our caterer David Smith of Creative Kosher Catering in Ottawa. It was vanilla with vanilla frosting (my favorite). David made all of our food, and it was amazing.
A DJ to get the party started
Our entertainment was provided by one of our friends Daniel Valois (DJ Danny V), you can follow him on Instagram as djottawa.
Rosh Hashanah wedding favors
Our wedding favors were little pots of honey with a tag that said ‘Meant to Bee’. We thought it would be a cute idea since our wedding was so close to Rosh Hashanah, and honey symbolizes the start of a sweet new year!
A Polaroid guestbook
One of my favourite things from the wedding was our guestbook. We made a Polaroid guestbook, so each off our guests took a picture of themselves and then wrote a nice message beside it. That’s something that I’ll look back on forever.
Emotional speeches
There were speeches throughout dinner by our parents and a few of our friends, which was definitely a highlight. It’s nice to hear how happy your friends and family are that this is happening. I did make a speech, and I bawled the whole time, I doubt anyone could understand what I was saying.
A fun, but terrifying, hora
Another fun moment was during the Hora when our friends and family lifted us up on chairs. It was so scary, but also so fun! There were small things that were so nice throughout the day, getting ready with our friends the whole day, the limo ride over, walking down the aisle, it was an amazing day.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My advice would be to just relax and try to take it in as much as possible. I couldn’t believe how fast the day went, and all the things that we stressed out about so much before didn’t even matter because, no matter what, it was the best day of our lives.
Taylor & Dovi’s little white book
Photography – Agatha Rowland
Videography – Rowland films
Venue, decor and flowers – Aquatopia
Bride’s dress – Saja Wedding and Wtoo purchased at White Satin Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Toms
Groom’s Attire – Vera Wang
Hair + Makeup – Showpony and One Fine Beauty
Catering – Creative Kosher Catering
DJ – DJ Danny V
Invitation – LaBohemmePaperCo
