So finally September 5th roles around and it was time for a country wedding. Tristan and I headed to salt spring island to photograph Jessie Carlson and Ben Yardley’s wedding. Jessie and her family got ready at the Hastings House in Ganges, and Ben got ready at his parents home closer to Fulfurd Harbour. All day the light was stunning for us, it couldn’t have gone any better. I enjoyed every minute and every second of being around this family. Jessie’s sister is Vanessa from Verbena Floral Design, so it was lovely to photograph a wedding that she was IN. It also made it a lot of fun to be around the people in their lives. Vanessa’s daughter Lily was the flower girl and was so so adorable and SUCH a Carlson protégé. One of my favourite moments was Jessie getting her hair done and saying to Lily, “What do you think about my veil?” Instead of answering, Lily looks at her self in the mirror and starts playing with her eye lashes and goes “I don’t know about this makeup” . Both the ceremony and Reception were held on the Stowel Lake Farm, and it was so beautiful we didn’t even need to leave the site for the romantic portraits. It was literally a perfect day for the sun, and went so smoothly. My favourite way to remember Ben and Jessie is by what they drank all day. Jessie drinks San Pellegrino just about all the time. She makes water bottles look like a fashion statement. Ben on the other hand was drinking Rockstar the energy drink which was also perfect, because guess what. Ben is a rockstar. The whole wedding was designed around these two ideas/interests actually. The centre pieces at the tables were either a spread from a fashion magazine, or one of Ben’s records. Perfect. Along those lines, Jessie’s dress along with all the other dresses were custom made by Manuel Mendoza, a fantastic designer in Vancouver. To top it off, Ben’s band actually played at the reception. It was so much fun to have the opportunity to photograph the wedding band so much, since the guitarist was the groom! Tristan and I went nuts. Basically this wedding was perfect. Both Jessie and Ben are awesome people, and their relationship is one of my favourites to witness. It is honest, original and entertaining. Just like everything and everyone else at this beautiful country wedding.