Sophie & Jordan

I met my Canadian love Jordan while working at a seasonal cherry farm in the Okanagan, British Columbia. It was love at first sight for me, but he took a bit of convincing! We started as friends before I eventually moved out to be with him in the prairies of Canada. We got engaged at the end of October – we went for a walk and Jordan was charging ahead, obviously a bit nervous. It was quite muddy, and I shouted ahead that I would ‘just slip over then!’ – it was quite funny! He found a lovely spot along the path before popping the question. Jordan and I then went out for dinner and fancy cocktails to celebrate before telling the fam! We decided that, because of the timing of Jordan’s paramedic studies (and to escape the chilly Canadian winter!), we would have a short seven-week engagement. We are a bit crazy, but why wait?! It was all hands on deck!

With lots of help from family back home in New Zealand, we planned the wedding remotely from Canada and flew home in December to get hitched! We married at my family homestead Kaingara, a beautifully restored 1890s villa in Feilding, Manawatu. I always dreamed of getting married there growing up! We loved coming home to warmer temperatures to enjoy a relaxing Christmas and New Year with the family and to get to tie the knot in summer. Jordan and I had a lovely garden party wedding in the backyard – home is a very special place to me, so it was an awesome way to celebrate our marriage. We were very fortunate that it was a super sunny day and we didn’t have to hold our ceremony in our wet weather backup option, an amazing clear marquee hired from Party Up and decorated by our mums, which we used for our reception. Our florist was the super talented yet affordable Rebecca Ward from Copperfeilds Flowers. Most of our flowers and foliage were lovingly picked from my mother’s garden – I was so stoked to be able to use them for my big day. It was one of many personal touches throughout the day; our tables were named after countries of our heritage, and we had first look photos taken at the Colyton farm in Woodlands where my dad’s mother grew up – it was super special.

After the ceremony, which we were lucky enough to have officiated by Jordan’s dad and close family friend David Lea, champagne and finger food was served. In the marquee, we had a baked camembert-style Marama from local cheesemakers Cartwheel Creamery to start. For the mains, we served sharing platters from The Crafted & Co with peppered scotch fillet and apple sage pork belly alongside items like crispy spuds and a pear and walnut salad. Dessert was four delicious flavours of donuts and our wedding cake – a tier of carrot cake (my favourite) with cream cheese icing and white chocolate mud cake with raspberry. Dessert was an especially big hit with our guests!

Jordan and I are glad we condensed the stress and got married in such a short timeframe! It was an amazing team effort and we are sincerely grateful to all of our family and friends that made our dream wedding a reality – it was the most memorable day of our lives! We hope they all look back fondly on the fun garden party and the love and joy of the day. Taking a quiet moment later in the night to watch everyone on the dancefloor and reflect on the most amazing day was so special for both me and Jordan. Our wedding day was fun, happy, relaxed and amazingly joyful!

We were actually lucky enough to sneak in a second celebration in March and held our wedding: the Canada edition in Winnipeg just before lockdown! Though it was amazing that Jordan’s parents and one of his brothers had managed to make it out to New Zealand from Canada for our first nuptials (especially considering the short timeframe), the rest of his family and friends had not been able to make it. Fortunately, it meant I got the opportunity to have a winter wedding and a great excuse to wear my dress again, though braving minus 20-degree temperatures this time – on the chilly side! Both of our celebrations were beautiful, relaxed days, jampacked with loads of laughter and love.

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