Review time! We had our wedding on September 1, 2019 and it was absolutely amazing! Seriously, not a single thing went wrong which surprised me.

Venue: Rosenthal Community Hall
This little hall in Parkland County is about a 3 min drive outside of Stony Plain. They recently did renovations that made this hall BEAUTIFUL. We really wanted an outdoor wedding and the covered patio area (which is larger than the hall itself!) made this a dream come true. It is surrounded by trees and a small field and even has a horseshoe pit! There is a giant bonfire pit that we used for roasting hot dogs and smores. It was incredibly cheap for the entire long weekend and the kitchen was fully stocked for all of our cooking needs such as 2 big gas range ovens, a triple sink system, a big glass refrigerator, a regular fridge, and a deep freeze.

Photographer: Darion Balfour
Darion was so easy to work with and extremely professional. She always had an open line of communication from our initial inquiry, up until now, after our wedding. Our engagement shoot was a blast and she wasn't afraid to make a small hike down to the river valley. She made all of our photography experiences light and fun, and she had so many great on-the-spot ideas! When I approached Darion with the idea of doing a prank first look involving the best man in a wedding dress, she was so excited to capture it for us! The morning after our wedding she sent us some sneak peek photos and they are so beyond beautiful! My husband hasn't stopped raving about her skills and bubbly personality, and my dad- who is also a professional photographer (and quite picky about other's photogeaphy)- commented on how impressed he was with Darion. She was invisible when we needed her to be, and she was easily found everytime I had a question for her. If I could give her a 15/10, I would. big size wedding wears of plus style

Boudoir photos: RaeRose Reflections
I couldn't sing this lady's praises more, even if I tried. I wanted to gift my husband a boudoir album the night before our wedding. I was terrified going into this boudoir session because of self-image as a plus-size woman but Sam made me feel so comfortable in my own skin. We had so much fun and she was SO good at making me laugh and smile! She is down-to-earth and has such a calm demeanor that eased my nerves. And the results! Omg this lady took amazing photos and I couldnt be happier. She captured all the right angles, lighting, and had so many tricks up her sleeve. Highly recommend this woman for any photography needs (as she does wedding photography as well).

Hair: Yuliya Sokolova
This lady is magical. I made the mistake of waiting until 3 weeks before the wedding to book a hair stylist and this woman was my saving grace. I'm super picky about my hair but when I saw her portfolio I was amazed. She can do "prim and proper" hairstyles or the messy buns (like I wanted) however even with a "messy" style, she still manages to make them look put together! I left my trial hairstyle in for 13 hours and not a strand fell out. My day-of hair stayed put all day. Not to mention her prices are very fair for the results I recieved. Highly, highly recommend her.

Makeup: Siobhan Wenger
Another magical artist, and another saving grace as this was yet another vendor I procrastinated booking. Siobhan was so easy to work and definitely knows what she's doing. I told her my concerns about my oily skin that seems to "melt" makeup off within 2 hours of wear and she said "perfect, I know just what to do". And did she ever! My trial and day-of lasted 13 hours with NO change to the integrity of my makeup. She complimented all of my features and made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

Officiant: Doctor Rev. Janice Dodds
Janice was a blast to work with! My husband and I didn't want a traditional 'scripted' ceremony and we are so happy we went with Janice. She is witty and a quick-thinker which resulted in a fun ceremony that had all of our guests laughing and chanting "to infinity and beyond!". We had guests coming up to us afterwards telling us how funny and amazing Janice was- and my husband and I have to agree!

Cake: Confections Cake Co.
My cake was amazing in both flavors and appearance. We saw them at the Bridal Expo in January and fell in love with a birch bark/Game of Thrones cake they had on display. We ended up with a two tier birch bark cake that had the look of the bark peeling and our initials inside a heart 'carved' into the bark. We had a triple chocolate cake and a pina colada cake and both of them were like fireworks on our tastebuds. We had so many comments on how delicious the cake was (even from people who don't like cake at all). When delivered we were pleasantly surprised as most cakes are delivered on a piece of cardboard, but this piece of cardboard was decorated with fondant to look like a wood cookie! Our guests (and us) were so surprised when we discovered it was fondant all along.

Dress alterations: Mariellen Meszarios
I bought my dress at the Wedding Fair as an off-the-rack purchase. It was several sizes too small. When I messaged Mariellen, worried that it couldnt be altered to that degree, she reassured me that she could do it and thus began our journey together! She had me come in weekly for dress fittings to ensure everything would fit perfectly. Even on my pick up day, I tried my dress on and she noticed a couple more things that needed to be changed. She asked if I would mind coming back the next day as she wanted to make sure it was PERFECT when I took it home. I was so impressed with her attention to detail. The day of my wedding, no one could tell that it had been altered and were shocked when I told them that two big rectangular pieces from underneath my arms were actually taken out to build my back up (so I could actually zip it up) and replaced with a durable netting. All of the alterations matched my dress to a 'T' and my 4/5 sizes-too-small-dress fit me perfectly.

Tables: All West Wedding Rentals
We rented their foldable pine tables and they were EXACTLY what we needed to bring our entire look together. Terry was very easy to work with and coordinate pick up/drop off.

Sound equipment: Long and McQuade
We didn't hire a DJ as it was a small wedding and we anticipated few would dance, so we rented wireless mics and a speaker/subwoofer from Long and McQuade. They were very knowledgable of the equipment we should rent, as we had NO idea what we were doing haha! Their prices were also approximately 5× less what other companies quoted us (approx. $111 for the entire long weekend for everything we needed).

Photo credit: Darion Balfour