Our Bbq rehearsal dinner

Aaron's parents hosted an incredible rehearsal dinner. Jenn is an extremely talented cook, and went all out for this dinner. The venue was their incredible rental overlooking the ocean. The menu consisted of an elaborate charcuterie spread, goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto and grilled, homemade falafel, and traditional Newfoundland fish cakes. Aaron and his family are from Newfoundland, as is my grandfather, so it was great to have a lot of Newfie foods and traditions. For the main course, we had barbecued pork tenderloin, the most incredible barbecued salmon, grilled eggplant, and a variety of salads and sides. Dessert was hand dipped and decorated ice cream cones with Nova Scotia ice cream. Jenn also had a lemonade bar, which was a huge hit. As the evening went on, one of Aaron's great aunts and his cousin got dressed up and did a Newfie comedy show, which was an absolute riot. It was such a fantastic night. Aaron's parents are so amazing, I feel so incredibly lucky to be part of their family.

The photos below are by my uncle, Pip, and Aaron's brother, Jeremy.

Much like the wedding, the rehearsal dinner involved a lot of family helping out to create a great party. 

The lemonade bar had both lemonade and iced tea, and Jenn included recipes to make your own raspberry lemonade with homemade raspberry syrup, and a recipe for a porch swing cocktail. It was a lot of fun! 

Aaron's great uncles manned the barbecues, and everything turned out perfectly cooked. 

My great aunt Stella lives in Nova Scotia now, but she is from Newfoundland. Within a few minutes of her arriving at the rehearsal dinner, she began talking with Aaron's family, and they found out that she knows some of Aaron's family members that weren't at the wedding. It was really cool that there was that connection!

We didn't get to see the full moon on the wedding night, but it was absolutely beautiful at the rehearsal dinner. 

 Eileen's comedy show was hilarious, and it incited some very loud courses of "I's the By".  It culminated with a screeching in ceremony.

Sun and sea

The morning after the wedding, we hosted a brunch at the venue. Some of our friends camped out there over night, so it worked out pretty well. It was a beautiful day, all the fog was gone, and we could see the view. However, we were all pretty exhausted, and I don't think anyone took any photos! The brunch was delicious. My mom and I had made dozens of breakfast burritos and my cousin and aunts made a ridiculous amount of muffins. We also had Montreal bagels with locally smoked salmon. We put out water melon, coffee, tea, and left over cupcakes! The only photo I have from brunch is one I took of Findlay watching the festivities.

Some of my cousins and friends went to the beach afterwards, and Charlie took these beautiful photos. 

Later in the day, Aaron and I met up with them at the lake. It was so nice to just relax, but it was sad to say goodbye to people as they left. I really hope there is an excuse to see everyone I love all in one place again.

Out on the water

So many of our friends traveled so far to be in Nova Scotia for our wedding. We really wanted to make sure that they all had nice places to stay and had some fun things to do, so we arranged for a family friend to take our friends and Aaron's family for a ride in his lobster boat to see the area and to fish. Our friends went on Thursday, and caught two fish. Aaron's family went on Sunday and caught about thirty. It's all in the timing, I suppose. My uncle, Robbie, went along for the ride to give a little tour. Charlie and Jeremy took these photos of the trips!

 Above photos by Charles Bourne. See more of his work here. 

 Above photos by Jeremy Brake. See more of his work here.

Welcome bonfire

I cannot believe how long it has taken me to finally share some wedding photos, but better late than never!

Our wedding was amazing. I cannot believe that we were able to pull it all off. Since we got married on a Friday, we had a welcome bonfire on Wednesday for any guests who had arrived early. It was so much fun! We had originally planned to have it at the beach, but the weather wasn't fantastic. We opted to have the bonfire at my aunt and uncle's house (also known as our wedding venue). This ended up being a wise decision, as it was pouring rain at one point and everyone had to huddle under the tent. One of my uncles, Robbie, cooked fresh mussels to perfection. We also had Nanaimo bars, which are Aaron's favourite dessert. It was a really fun and relaxed way for our families and friends to all meet. Our wonderful friend Charlie took these photos of the night. He took some incredible photos throughout the wedding week, and we are so thankful that he did!

All photos are by Charles Bourne. See more of his work here.

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