A Woodland Fairytale Wedding with Alpacas

Meet Melissa & Curtis...two of the sweetest and most memorable Aspen Family members of our 2019 season. Melissa met Curtis at a craft beer festival called Cask Days in October of 2015. Curtis had just moved back to Ontario after living in Calgary for the last few years and Melissa had just moved into her first apartment in Toronto. Curtis' best friend, Kirsty (who was a groomswoman in their wedding) had planned to set the two lovebirds up at the festival - without Melissa knowing - and the rest as they say...was history!

I just love hearing the love stories behind the couple, don't you?!

I first met Melissa back in July of 2018 when she reached out after being referred from one of our other beloved 2019 Aspen Brides which is often how we end up meeting our clients. Thank you Shelly...your blog is coming soon! Melissa and Curtis tied the knot at one of the most beautiful woodland settings in the GTA, - Kortright Centre in Vaughan ON. After hearing the story of how they met, we knew we had to try to include beer hops into their wedding florals, I wasn't sure if we could source them at the time but we pulled it off & thanks to one of our amazing suppliers, we were able to include them!

Melissa carried a beautiful garden style bouquet with peonies, ranunculus, quicksand roses, white majolica spray roses, hops, cinerea and silver dollar eucalyptus. She wore a floral crown of parvifoglia, white wax flower and majolica spray roses to compliment her bouquet and Curtis wore a burgundy ranunculus boutonniere with a sprig of hops and parvi to compliment Melissa and their wedding theme. Their maids wore floral combs to compliment their bouquets and the guys wore boutonnieres that complimented Curtis.

Getting ready...

Our stunning Bride & her gorgeous tribe, I just love how the bouquets pop against their dusty blue dresses, you nailed it Matt! These photos are killer!

The First Look...

I remember it felt like one of the hottest days of the year while we were setting up the arbour in the forest that day, I think we were melting tbh so we headed for air conditioning as soon as we finished our work and somehow we totally missed seeing the 3 adorable alpacas! I fell in love with the stunning images from Matt Besenyodi from the minute I seen them and I knew from that minute on I had to blog this wedding with the full story, so I reached out to Melissa for the inside scoop on how the alpacas came to be a part of their big day including what she thought of our services, check it out below. Sorry, I just have to add, this next image is probably my all time favourite. It's so dang cute I can't help but smile every time I look at it! I love how Melissa & Curtis made their wedding stand out with the help of these little guys!

Tell us how the alpacas became the mascots of your wedding~

"After we got engaged (Sept 2017) one of our friends tagged us in a viral Facebook post where a couple had alpacas at their wedding and for some reason, Curtis thought this was the funniest thing he had ever seen. So for months, he would send me photos of random weddings featuring alpacas. It started out as a big joke, but eventually he was like, "So we can actually make this happen?". I think it took me almost a year, but I eventually found a farm with alpacas that could transport them to the venue safely. I really wanted it to be a surprise for Curtis, but logistically I couldn't make it work so I had to tell him. Prior to the wedding I felt a little silly about the whole thing, but they ended up being such a big hit among our guests that it ended up being one of my favourite parts of the day." -Melissa C.

Can you tell us how your heard about Aspen and what your overall experience was like~

"We were referred to Aspen through a friend (Shelly K.) who had recently hired Aspen for their wedding as well.

From the very first meeting at your studio, you were an absolute joy to work with. I am so appreciative that you were so respectful of our budget and that you understood my vision so clearly from the get go. I loved the detail that you put into our proposal; it made it very clear how passionate you are about your business and your clients. I am especially grateful for how good you were about communicating with me from the time we booked to the actual day of our wedding. I had so many ideas pop up and you were always so quick to respond and readjust our proposal as needed. The arrangements on the day of our wedding were more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined and again, I'm so thankful that you took the extra measures to go above and beyond to make sure we got everything we asked for and then some (the imported hops and gorgeous burgundy peonies). The whole day was a dream come true, and you were such a big part of it!"- Melissa C.

Thank you so much Melissa for taking the time to tell us a little about your love story, we were honoured to flower your beautiful wedding and we have loved following your love story and watching your beautiful family grow since that hot summer day!

Melissa and Curtis welcomed their first son late August 2019. He's the sweetest little man and he's keeping his mommy and daddy quite busy these days!

On behalf of the Aspen Team, we wish the three of you all the very best life has to offer in 2020!!

Thank you for being a part of the Aspen Family and thank you Matt for sharing your incredible talent with us! We hope to work together again real soon!

M & C's Wedding Vendors:

Venue: Kortright Centre

Photography: Matt Besenyodi

Floral Design: Aspen Florist

Day of Coordinator: Michelle Saabas from KaLy & Co. Events

Disk Jockey: Tiger 8 Events

Hair: Julie Serio

Makeup: Jenna Collins

The Head Table...