Wedding Planning by Alicia Keats | Wedding Photography by The Collective You
Today is Alexandra + Aaron’s first wedding anniversary and what better time than now to share their beautiful wedding!
Alexandra originally came to me with a vision of an elegant tented wedding at VanDusen Gardens, but as we started planning, Alexandra realized that a tented garden wedding wasn’t quite the right fit and so we began the hunt to find the right venue to make the vision she had come to life.
After visiting nearly every venue in the city, Alexandra chose the Rocky Mountaineer Station – a gorgeous and expansive space with beautiful high ceilings… encompassing more than 20,000 square feet! The Rocky Mountaineer is also a working train station, which meant that we had to work around the train schedule for that day, aka we had a small window of time to make the magic happen, but it was a blank canvas and the perfect place for her vision.
Working with Alexandra and her mom, we quickly lined up the team. The Four Seasons, Granville Island Florist and Art of the Party were just a few of the creatives who worked tirelessly beside me to execute the wedding vision. Alex and Aaron wanted their guests to have four distinct (yet cohesive) experiences throughout their wedding: a romantic ceremony, a chic cocktail party, an Italian inspired long table dinner and an epic after party.
The ceremony took place under a suspended 35’ chuppah that dropped from the ceiling. Inside of the chuppah was a greenery chandelier. The aisle was lined with roses and each guest was give a paper cone of rose petals to shower the couple with on their way back down the aisle. The cones were made out of sheet music of a very special song. Alexandra and Aaron are soul mates and it was important to them that their guests feel their love story during the ceremony, which was written and performed by a dear friend. So many happy tears were shed!
Following the ceremony the guests were invited to the back of the station near the train track for a chic garden party with an oyster station and live music and the Collective You.
Following cocktail hour, guests were invited into the station once more for an Italian courtyard harvest-style dinner with a Spanish guitar player. The focal point of the room included a 16’ by 20’ hand-written backdrop by Bespoke Decor with the couple’s favorite love song on it. A. Elizabeth Cakes created a timeless elegant wedding cake and GIF adorned it with fresh roses.
Following dinner, to transition to the spectacular after-party, the guests were surprised by ballet dancers who grabbed their hands and pulled them into the next space and performed a dance for them in the center of the black and white dance floor. For the after-party we had two DJs, a giant custom black and white bar, Moroccan-inspired lounges for guests to recline in, private cabanas, a dessert and candy table, aerial dancers and The Collective You. It was a P.A.R.T.Y! Just as the first dance ended, aerial dancers dropped from the spotlit ceiling and gave aerial silks performances while guests danced below them on the dance floor. Guests danced into the wee hours of the morning.
We had a monstrous sized team of artists and suppliers helping us with the rolling set ups and take downs. I think my team slept for a week afterwards 🙂 I am so grateful to everyone who worked on this wedding, we truly made magic happen for Alexandra + Aaron.
It was an honor and a privilege to work with Alexandra and her beautiful mother to create this very special celebration and to be able to witness Alexandra and Aaron’s love. Their connection, love, sense of adventure and respect for each other is inspiring. They are truly soulmates! Happy Anniversary A+A!
With love,
Alicia xoxo
