Where to begin? It has
been a crazy weekend to say the least, and we're still in a little shock
as to what went down over such a short period of time.
Let
me try and start from the beginning. I've known Crystal and Andrew for
almost 10 years now, and they are such an amazing couple. Nick and I
know Andrew from High
School, as he was just a year ahead of us and Nick worked with Andrew
at the McDonald's in Okotoks. I knew Andrew threw mutual friends and as
the awesome drummer who did drum solos during our gym assembly's.
I
meet Crystal around the same time, as my family moved to Okotoks. I
meet her and her sister Bianca at church on our first Sunday there.
Initially we both thought
the other was a snob, but we quickly became best friends, and the rest
is sort of history.
Crystal
and Andrew meet through the same mutual friends that I know, and boy
was Crystal smitten from the beginning. They have been together for
almost 6 years and
have traveled the globe together including China, Vancouver, and living
in Australia for a year just to name a few. Last August, Andrew finally
popped the question on a hike down in Waterton, and I screamed with
excitement when I got the text showing the ring
(Andrew did a very good job).
Crystal
quickly started putting together wedding plans, which included a
ceremony on a mountaintop by helicopter in Canmore, followed by a
reception downtown Calgary
at The Belvedere on Stephen Avenue where we were to be served a
delicious gourmet dinner.
Then
disaster struck. On Thursday (June 20th), news started coming in that
Canmore was being flooded, and access to the town was impossible. No
letting this flood get
in the way, plans quickly were changed (just as a side note, Andrew and
Crystal planned to get married in the town of Canmore as a back-up if
it was too windy or rainy to take the helicopter up to the mountain, but
she didn't plan for a downright flood!).
With options being explored (including having just the Ceremony at my
Aunt and Uncle's place), they decided to just have the ceremony an hour
before the reception downtown Calgary at the same restaurant as their
reception.
So
Thursday night plans continued with a dinner and a sleepover with the
girls at the Fairmont Palliser. It was a fun night, and in no way did we
expect what was to
come next.
Then
next morning (Friday, June 21st - the day of the wedding) we woke up
and started getting ready for breakfast. Just before 8am, the power went
off. We ventured
out downtown looking for breakfast in hopes that the power was going to
be restored relatively soon. We found a Starbucks close by and we took
the last of tea and coffee they had along with some pastries for
breakfast. We sat around searching twitter and Facebook
for weather, road and power updates. Crystal had Andrew find a way to
drive from Southeast Calgary to downtown so they could give their guests
directions to the reception later that night (which wasn't easy due to the fact that
practically every bridge was closed).
Around
9:30am, we headed back to the hotel and decided to start getting the
bride ready for her big day! Danika first did her make-up, and then at
11am decided that
her hair had to be done without power. The original plan of curling her
hair into a big up-do was changed to a simple French twist because the
power still had not come back on.
Just
before noon, I decided that we had to leave so the other girls and I
could get back home so we could start getting ready ourselves. So we
left. Within 5 minutes
of leaving the hotel we got a phone call from the bride and her sister
stating that downtown was being evacuated, and Crystal and Bianca had to
leave the Palliser. This also lead us to the conclusion that we no
longer could go through with the reception at
The Belvedere and we needed a whole new plan. The girls asked me to
call my Aunt to see if their house and acreage was still available, and
if we could do the entire wedding there. So I made a quick phone to my
Aunt Wanda, and told her the situation. She automatically
said yes and a plan was quickly formed.
It
took us (me, my sister Danika, baby Alexa, Bev and Ashley) almost 2
hours to get from the Palliser to Okotoks. On the way to Okotoks
however, we found out that some
homes had lost power in Okotoks, and we panicked a little as
we wondered what else could go wrong. However my Aunt's house never lost
power, and power soon resumed in all of the homes in Okotoks.
My
mom and Bev's mom Denise quickly headed over to Costco to start getting
food for the reception. Bianca meet up with them to make final
decisions and make the final
purchase. I called up my father-in-law Ray who also happened to
be attending the wedding, and asked him to bring drinks. He owns a
liquor store in DeWinton, and we asked him to start loading up his
vehicle with wine, beer and coolers, as we now didn't have
any drinks for the guests.
I got
the girls to my parent’s house and we began getting hair and makeup
done, while I had Nick head over with mason jars and candles from our
wedding last year to
add to the decor. Meanwhile Bianca, Crystal, Andrew, and some of the
boys were at my Aunts getting things ready. There was a bit of a mix-up
and miscommunication at one point, but once my Aunt got home, everything
got straightened out. To be honest, there
was bound to be some confusion at one point or another - we were
re-planning and relocating an entire wedding in under 6 hours!!
My
dad offered to grab chairs from the church, but we decided we didn't
need them, and we sent Chad and Calvin (Ashley's boyfriend) over to the
acreage to help with
the setting up. My mom got home after helping with food to finish
getting ready, and once she was ready, she filled a bin with her white
dishes and left with my dad and Ashley to also help setting up and prep
food.
I
finished Bev's hair, and once her date arrived and Danika was ready
with Alexa, I sent the four of them over to the acreage with a hair kit
in hand to help finish
in getting the bride and her sister ready for the wedding.
I
was finally able to finish getting ready myself, and once my in-laws
and Whitney showed up just after 5pm, I lead them out to the acreage to
help get last minute
things done. I arrived to a busy house with people all around getting
things done. My husband was behind the bar cutting meat, and others like
Andrew and Crystal's family, my brother-in-law Kris and my in-laws were
all helping prep food and putting out drinks.
After
handing over the food in my arms to Nick, I headed upstairs to where
the bride was and made sure everything was starting to come together.
She looked beautiful.
Danika and Bianca were in the bathroom helping with last minute
touches on Bianca (originally there wasn't going to be a wedding party as
the mountaintop ceremony couldn't really accommodate one, but with
obvious changes, Andrew and Crystal quickly decided to
have one maid of honour and one best man to stand up there with them). I
got to help Jennie (Guenard Photography) set up and arrange first
looks, and even my cousins helped out in moving coffee tables and
holding the bouquet during photos.
Finally
at 6:30pm, after all the guests finished arriving and we finished getting
everything set up, we were good to go. After quickly rounding up Bev
(she was out front directing
traffic), Sean started the music and the ceremony officially started.
It
was such a beautiful ceremony that was officiated my Andrew's dad
(another minor but for the better change) and the two exchanged vows,
rings and then a kiss!
The
party began, and it was nice to see everyone having a fun time. My Aunt
was upstairs hosting a Bridal Shower for her other niece, but she still
helped put the lamb ribs
into the oven, which was the only thing I ate all night.
The
evening turned out so beautifully, that you wouldn't have even known
that a flood was happening at that very moment. The sun came out, and we
got tons of beautiful
pictures taken.
The bride having a moment with her mom
The Groom Andrew!
Crystal and Claire
All the girls!
The newlyweds with the Kyle Family
Crystal with her Mom, Grandma and sister Bianca
The Irvine Family
Nick and I with the Bride and Groom
Nick and I in our coordinating outfits - we're so cute
My favourite sneak peek photo by Jennie (Guenard Photography)
Crystal's story also made the Calgary Herald, and Crystal submitted my photo, which they used as the main picture. You can see and read about it here. I'm published!
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