The Hudson - Downtown Calgary Wedding | Calgary Wedding Photographer

October 30, 2018

The Hudson – Downtown Calgary Wedding | Aaron & Alyssa | Calgary Wedding Photographer

On the perfect Thanksgiving weekend, Aaron and Alyssa’s closest friend gathered in downtown Calgary to celebrate with this amazing couple as their said I do! Every moment of their wedding day was special. From their emotional first look, as Alyssa gracefully walked down set of stairs in the Edison building to see her groom for the first time, to the laughter and fun during formal photos at the most colorful spot in all of Calgary, their wedding day was perfectly them! Their incredible wedding party was also a dream to work with, and not to mention they were a blast the whole day!

Their candle lit wedding ceremony took place in the The Hudson, a Downtown Calgary Wedding venue, where the guest sat in a semi circle around the couple. Then, as they were pronounced husband and wife a champagne cheers erupted. What better way to step into the next chapter of your lives as husband and wife.

Their reception, was a space of elegance, dripping in gold and purple touches, flowers as far as the eye could see and no spot forgotten or untouched with Alyssa vision. It truly was the most breathtaking reception space. The candy buffet stretched almost across the entire room framed perfectly with a balloon arch. Since Aaron is crazy for cookies they incorporated cookies from all their friends and family in the desserts as well. I love those little personal touches.

From start to finish Aaron & Alyssa day was perfect. It was such an honour to be the ones to capture their love story! Congrats A&A we wish you all the happiness int he world!

1.What is your engagement story?

Disney, and Disney World, hold a special power over Alyssa so Aaron couldn’t have been happier to have the opportunity to attend a conference in Orlando. Alyssa was headed away to a conference in Las Vegas at the same time so they planned to have her come visit afterwards to enjoy Disney World together.

After catching the red-eye from Vegas she was filled with all the vigor of Tigger (her fav) to take on Disney World (despite also having a terrible cold). She already had all the FastPasses lined up and they proceeded to crush Hollywood Studios like old pros.

Aaron knew he wanted to propose at Disney World, and had the ring, but past that he didn’t have a solid plan. As Alyssa led him to and fro, he wondered how he would ever manage to find a quiet spot let alone coordinate with a Disney photographer to capture the moment, but like most fairytales, the stars aligned.

They had put their name down on a wait list for lunch and decided to catch a showing of Beauty and the Beast, but before then, Alyssa mentioned she needed to go to the bathroom. With Aaron doing the wayfinding, he consulted the map and spotted the trifecta: a bathroom, a Disney photographer and Beauty and the Beast. Once he knew the opportunity was there he set about scanning for an appropriate along-the-way but out-of -the-way location and found it. As Alyssa took her leave, Aaron beelined it to the photographer and told her his plan – she was elated – he had the perfect partner in crime!

With everything set they proceeded to watch Beauty and the Beast, Alyssa enjoying it, whereas Aaron spent the whole time reciting what he wanted to say over and over again in his head, barely able to consistently repeat three sentences.

When they were done, much to Alyssa’s chagrin, Aaron said he had to go to the washroom (to get the ring out of his backpack!). With the ring in his back pocket and a positive text message from the photographer – everything was a go. He walked outside, grabbed Alyssa’s hand, said he had something he wanted to show her, took her aside and asked her to marry him!!!!!

After a round of applause from the crowd that had gathered, they set about enjoying the magic of being newly engaged in the happiest place on earth.

2. What advice would you give to future brides & grooms for their wedding day?

Make sure to try and take it all in, and take time together
Try to spend as much time with the people who mean the most and the people who have travelled – the day goes by so quickly, you really need to prioritize
Make sure to have a list of photos you would like taken (if there are certain people, certain details, or certain moments you want to focus on – make sure to communicate this to your photographer!)
Most of the things that don’t go accordingly to plan will only be noticed by you and/or your wedding planner.

3. What was your biggest surprise on your wedding day?

Cookie Bar and Cook-ie Book – Aaron is a cookie monster so Alyssa managed to secretly solicit cookie recipes from all the wedding guests and put together a one of a kind book for him. She also asked everyone to bring cookies to the reception which were set out among the candy bar.

4. What one moment will last with you both forever?

Our ceremony will definitely be engrained in both of our heads. It was so intimate but casual, we were really focused on one another. It was the highlight of the day for sure! That and our nephew taking the mic during speeches and singing “You are my Sunshine” will literally make our hearts melt forever!

5. What was your wedding inspiration?

The flower from our wedding invites represented the perfect visual inspiration – once we saw it we knew it was perfect. It became the look and feel inspiration for the wedding and we were able to pull it through to the flowers, decor, table cards and even photo booth. We knew we wanted the colours to be warm for fall, but representative of us – plum & burgundy were perfect. We wanted the feel to be intimate, but casual and relaxed. We loved the geometric details from the hexagons to the geometric inspired cake to the geometric frames the table names were in!

6. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them.

Hexagon Backdrop – Started from just a picture of inspiration from our designer and turned into a full on labor of love for Aaron to build for the ceremony. We love that we got to put some sweat equity into our decor – and love the way it turned out!

Our lovely designer came up with an insanely cute layout for our tables – they were X + O’s! I am sure not that many people noticed, but it was a unique detail that we loved and will stay with us forever 🙂

The Candles – our designer knew we wanted intimate and romantic – her pulling together the candle lit aisle was such an amazing touch! Not to mention all the candles on the tables at our reception – it was amazing!

Our florist did such a stunning job coming up with florals for the big day! We basically gave her creative freedom based on our colours, and she nailed it! We especially loved the berry details in the bouquet.

The lighting + venue – we knew we wanted a modern, industrial space with a romantic twist. The Hudson was the perfect venue to accomplish this – and our lighting architect with the city skyline murals on the wall was just the icing on the cake.

7. Any advice for those planning their wedding now?

All the little things you stress over, you won’t even remember 10 years from now

If you’re signing a contract at a venue with a minimum spend make sure you really understand what the real number is with gratuity and tax. Not that we’ve read it anywhere but it seems like that number is likely only half of all your wedding costs.

Venue – Hudson

Stationery – Love Sky

Photobooth – Flashco Photo Booth

Transportation – Ambassador

Videography – Milky Way

Photography – Paisley Photography

Planning – Epic Events

Hair – Hammerheadz Salon

Makeup – Anchor & Arrow Beauty

Flowers – Creative Edge Flowers

Decor – Chair Flair

DJ/Lighting – Hi Tech Productions