Intimate Backyard Elopement, Ashley & Cole, Saskatoon SK

Real Weddings

Feb 16

Ashley and Cole’s wedding day was an incredibly thought-out celebration of their love. I knew after talking to the two of them about their wedding day that it was carefully planned and no detail was overlooked. It was so important for them to keep their day intimate and that’s why they had their immediate family only. Their entire day took place in Ashley and Cole’s backyard. Ashley spent the morning getting ready inside the home with her mom and sister while Cole stayed at his parents house. Their ceremony was incredibly unique and the perfect addition to their day. They did both a ring warming and a hand-fasting ceremony. The ring warming involved passing around both sets of rings as each of their family members shared a silent thought for them. Both the mothers and Ashley’s sister participated in the hand-fasting ceremony, which involved tying their hands together with ribbon to demonstrate their commitment to one another. Ashley and Cole had their fathers to witness and sign for them. Their ceremony incorporated members of their family and ultimately signified the uniting of two families. After the exchanging of rings, everyone cheered, and hugged and cried. Ashley and Cole shared that one of the things they loved most was having their cats roam around in the yard all day. Following the ceremony, we went to a second location near Ashley and Cole’s home for some additional portraits. The entire group felt like one big family. Everyone, excluding Cole and Ashley, headed back to the house and we spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures of the two of them. They hired a private chef, Anthony McCarthy, to prepare a meal for their family. He served a five-course meal while everyone drank, ate and visited as the sun went down. The original plan was to sneak away in the evening for sunset pictures downtown but it was an overcast day so we didn’t get a sunset but we went anyway. Just as we were finishing up our portraits and were heading back to the vehicle, it began to rain! After photos downtown, they cuddled under blankets in the tent while enjoying their dessert.

Here’s what Ashley and Cole said about their wedding day:

What was your favourite part of the day?
Our favourite part was the ceremony! I know for most couples that they just want to get the paperwork out of the way but it was truly such a special part of the day. Our incredible meal served by Chef Ant that we enjoyed with our family was a very close second.

What advice would you give to others wanting to get married in their backyard?
We originally planned to marry in Scotland with just our family but COVID happened so we needed to change our plan. We loved the size of our wedding and we kept seeing others embrace small backyard weddings so we decided to do the same. It offered us a lot more freedom on how our day could be intentionally spent with each other and the ones we love surrounding us.

What would you tell couples who want to have a smaller gathering like yours, versus a larger traditional event?
Our advice would be to figure out what makes your relationship uniquely yours and find a way to incorporate that into your day. For us, we wanted to make it something that we could look back on in 10, 20 and 30 years and remember how our day FELT.

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