Moody Victorian Calgary Wedding at The Commons Collective {published} | Taryn + Justin

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Taryn & Justin’s wedding was one I was looking forward to for a very long time. From the moment she booked me I knew it was going to be one I adored. The style of wedding décor she wanted to do was moody and Victorian inspired. As you all know I adore anything moody and to get this wedding contract was a really great day for me, not to mention these two are so incredible to work for. They treated me like gold from day one.
What the Bride Taryn wrote in this blog made me cry. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and you need to make changes. That’s ok. Fate has a funny way of bringing everything together the way it was supposed to be.
This is the story about the most imperfectly perfect wedding day of Taryn & Justin. My new friends.
Getting dusty in here folks.
xo. Sof.

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Words from the Bride Taryn herself: (You’ll want to read this one)
There will always be ups and downs to life, but through all the obstacles and challenges, you will always have each other and the love you share with those around you will be enough to overcome anything. I will tell you a story about the challenges on my wedding day because it led to so many special moments that I will cherish forever.
I have Reactive Hypoglycemia, which leads to low blood sugar, and I manage it mostly through diet. I thought that I had prepared enough for my wedding day to avoid having a hypoglycemia attack – I scheduled meal breaks accordingly and packed enough snacks to last for days. What I hadn’t planned on; however, was being so anxious and excited for the day when I woke up that I could not physically eat. I felt so nauseous I couldn’t keep any food down. I’m not even sure why I felt this way, I wasn’t nervous - I was so happy and excited to marry my best friend, and I knew my amazing wedding planner Jody had everything covered and it was going to be a perfect day. The anxiety did finally go away as soon as I saw my husband at our first look photos. Unfortunately, the damage was already done in terms of managing my food intake. I was still unable to eat a full meal, so I was managing off soda crackers primarily. For our formal photos, the ceremony, and half of our cocktail hour I felt completely calm, and physically pretty good! The ceremony was beautiful, the décor was breathtaking, and everything was going according to plan. Halfway through cocktail hour the signs of low blood sugar after a day of soda crackers creeped up. I managed to pull it together to make it to our grand entrance into dinner. As our MC started his first speech, I knew I was close to fainting, so as he wrapped it up and told everyone to enjoy the first course I bolted. That’s where Jody and my husband came to the rescue. They helped me to the washroom, Jody got me Gravol, held my hair back, and took my high heels off, while one of Sofia’s team members drove to a pharmacy to get me electrolytes. Jody just rolled with it and made sure our guests were taken care of all while helping nurse me back to health. My husband never left my side when I was sick, even though I begged him to go eat his dinner and have fun with our friends and family.

He told me that the only thing he wanted on that day he already accomplished – which was to marry me and to be by my side. Meanwhile, everyone back at the reception were having a good time, enjoying their food, but were concerned about me. While it sucked to get sick and miss an hour and a half of my wedding, if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have had this beautiful moment when I realized just how much everyone cared about me. The love I felt from everyone was overwhelming – from my husband never leaving my side, to Jody taking care of me, to Sofia standing guard and getting me whatever I needed, to my Mom ensuring everyone still had fun and playing hostess while I was gone, to everyone checking in and making sure I was ok. I managed to bounce back just in time for our first dance. When we entered the reception again everyone cheered, they were so happy to see us back. The rest of the night was truly magical.

My advice for all future brides is that no matter how perfectly you plan your day, and no matter how amazingly perfect your wedding vendors are, your day will never be 100% perfect in how you think it will be. That is the best part about your day though, because life is never perfect and that’s what’s so wonderful about it. Embrace any tiny mishaps throughout your day because they always show you something beautiful. When you’re in the planning stage and perusing blog posts and Pinterest for wedding inspiration, you are typically missing out on the most important photos – the mishaps and the special moments that come from them. When these happen on your day know that you are not alone, just be flexible and savor every moment of your day – good and bad. Oh, and if you’re diabetic or have issues with blood sugar like me, don’t forget to pack glucose tablets and some electrolytes.

”I’ve never been so overwhelmed with kindness from so many people. Sofia and her team did an amazing job of capturing that” -Justin, the Groom.

From the Planner, Jody with Lynn Fletcher Weddings:

As a planner, you get to know your clients in a whole new way. There are countless emails, phone calls, meetings and if you're lucky a few dinners. Getting to know Taryn and Justin through our planning process was incredibly lovely. They are two of the most wonderful humans and you just knew their day was going to be one to remember for years to come. You also watch them, and you pay attention to the little things they do.

Taryn showed up to every meeting with some type of deep maroon on her, whether it was a dress, skirt, nail polish, or lipstick. She subconsciously wore her wedding colors to every meeting we had and I took note of it every time. So it was no surprise that was the direction the wedding had to go in. We needed to bring her to life through the design of her wedding, through the florals, the linens, the vision. I think in the end the wedding captured exactly what Taryn and Justin were looking for and I was so incredibly happy to be a part of their happily ever after.