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Couple:

Elana & Cale

Location:

Grey Highlands

From the Photographer:

It’s no secret that this year has been a difficult one for everyone, for oh so many reasons. Trying to help couples navigate wedding postponements and cancellations has been heartbreaking and tricky. The need for a pick-me-up is real. Being able to gift an elopement to a couple after this tricky and complicated year, warmed my heart so much! Elana & Cale were an absolute dream to work with and I was overjoyed they won. They embraced the whole experience with wide open hearts.

Being a witness to their love and working with a creative community I adore to bring this whole day to life is an absolute highlight of 2020 in my humble opinion. It made it that much more special that they allowed me to share one of my most beloved places with them.

- Frances Beatty, Frances Beatty Photography

South Georgian Bay Elopement in Foggy Grey Highlands

From the Couple:

Tell us why you wanted to elope.: We had already attempted planning a wedding in 2018 and decided to postpone due to the stress and it not feeling "right". We had thoughts of planning a small ceremony at the start of 2020 and then Covid became a reality and we weren't willing to go through the stress again especially with so much uncertainty. We had dreams of eloping but did not want to hurt anyone's feelings by excluding them from our special day. I (Elana) have a hard time doing what feels best for me and not worrying about how it will affect others, so the possibility of winning the elopement giveaway was the perfect solution. Eloping gave us the ability to focus on what marriage looked like solely to us and to truly enjoy every moment of the day, not worry about anyone but ourselves. It was much more personal and intimate, which is very true to our relationship.

Would you recommend eloping to others?: If your friends & family understand and you don't like to be the center of attention, I highly recommend an elopement. Having our vendors act as witnesses also took another layer of stress out of having to choose only 2 people to attend. This is also a great option during the uncertainty of Covid-19 - We have heard about other 2020 couples changing their wedding plans multiple times- with an elopement you don't have to worry about gathering or venue restrictions and you can focus on what marriage is truly about .

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What did you love about your venue? Besides the breathtaking views of Beaver Valley, the setting for our ceremony was so appropriate. We spend a lot of time in nature and being surrounded by a deep-rooted, old-growth forest while we were married was so special. We were told our vows echoed through the forest, it was a very magical experience.

What was the most important thing for you for your wedding day?: That we were able to focus solely on our day and each other.

Please describe any unique details from your day and why they were special to you: I have worked the past two seasons at Sideroad Farm growing flowers and had the pleasure of knowing Ashley through the farm. It was so fun to harvest all my flowers the day before our elopement and see countless hours of hard work come together through Ashley's work. Her arrangements were more beautiful than I could've imagined.

The handmade vow books from Swiftly Scripted were also very special to us as we had not planned to write our own vows, but after knowing they were a part of the giveaway we were inspired to write them. I think doing so made our ceremony that much more personal and meaningful.

Our officiant Rachael also wrote the most fitting ceremony after only one phone call, we were very impressed.

What wedding advice would you give to someone planning their wedding now?: Be flexible and let go of expectations. Remember what the day is supposed to be about and try not to worry about the little things.

What was your most memorable moment of the day?: Hiking out of the forest in the mud in my bare feet and wedding dress with my HUSBAND by my side. -Elana

Having the fog settling through the forest during our ceremony - Cale

What was it like having an elopement pre-packaged and planned for you?: AMAZING - took the stress out of having to choose a venue, vendors & make little decisions that seem big at the time! It felt as though the giveaway was curated just for us - before we even knew we won!

Tell us about your overall experience: We went into this fully trusting the Georgian Bay Bride team to put together a special day for us, they blew all our expectations out of the water and we are so grateful for this experience. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Tell us about your experience working with the local vendors: We honestly couldn't have chosen better vendors ourselves, it was truly a talented team that worked so hard to make our day perfect and stress-free. We are so thankful Rachel, Frances and Ashley were up for the adventure of hiking through the rain & mud to make the ceremony happen as planned! Everyone was so personable and down-to-earth and choosing local also meant they were able to pull some special favours from local connections like a bottle of sparkling cider from Coffin Ridge to go along with our platter from Georgian Graze ;)

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How did you celebrate after saying "I do"?: Rachel snuck in to Ladybank School house before we returned from the ceremony and set up a magical table scape for us to enjoy our grazing platter for dinner. The next day we took advantage of The Spa Truck being parked at Ladybank and added some extra pampering to our experience, we also returned to Old Baldy that afternoon to hike and take in the beautiful area. We spent the rest of our time relaxing by the fire at the school house.

Would you do anything differently?: No, honestly everything was so perfect!