Are you done gawking at Andrea and Eoin’s amazing photo yet? It’s a stunner isn’t it? What’s even more stunning is the prize tag of their intimate wedding… just around $10,000. This Irish couple had 27 friends and family flying from all over the world to celebrate with them at the Sundance Guest Ranch. It is a special place for them and the perfect setting to start their new lives together. Despite the limited budget, you’ll see in this post that they clearly made the most of what they had in order to pull off their unforgettable day.
A Few Words from Andrea…
“Our wedding, like our lives, was always going to be different. My husband and I have spent seven of the past ten years travelling the world together. You only get one chance at life on this earth and we both want to fill our lives with adventure stories, like we are characters in our own Enid Blyton novel. Sundance Guest Ranch in Ashcroft, B.C. is our home away from home. We live and work here with our friends and horse ride through its 22,000 rolling acres almost every day. It was the perfect location for an adventure wedding. My husband Eoin and I are both from Ireland so our families had to travel halfway across the world to sit on a windy mountain and witness us say ‘I Do’. We knew that they would love it, and they did! Our 27 guests got to know each other as they rode horses beside the Thompson River the day before our wedding. We loved sharing our experiences with our family and friends. It was a day filled with so much love. We laughed and smiled and kissed and hugged and squeezed and danced and sang all day long. On September 24, 2015, Eoin and I got to marry our best friends, the person we play with, depend on and take turns spooning. Saying our wedding vows felt like the most natural words in the world. We promised that no matter how old we get that we will always be excited to embark on new adventures together.”
There wasn’t much room left in the budget so Andrea and Eoin worked for 2 months creating all the special touches that helped make this wedding a reflection of how they are as a couple.
What better way to personalize a wedding than by incorporating your journey together into the decor! They used photos on as many things as they can including this awesome “Head in the Hole” photo prop using vintage frames…
… and this amazing aisle runner. They used a US printing company called Spoonflower to print their custom photo story on 8 meters of cream calico. To keep it lying flat, they used chopped logs topped with laced jam jars and lit tea lights. As Andrea headed towards her husband-to-be she was reminded about everything that led to this point, which made it even more special.
The couple also baked their own fruit-laden non-traditional naked cake using recipes from Yummly. They stayed up until 1 am the night before the wedding preparing this beauty. I’m sure it tasted as good as it looks… A true labour of love.
One of Andrea’s go-to places for her crafting were thrift stores. From old crocheted doilies to secondhand lace and even a discarded fence (which most of their signs were made from), she always saw the potential of what was once another person’s trash and turned it into something beautiful.
The couple saved on a DJ and relied on Spotify to keep the party going and it worked well! They even included songs to get the crowd into line dancing!
The couple was fortunate enough to not have to tackle everything on their own. Thanks to thoughtful gifts from friends and family, they had some amazing unique little details in their wedding like this gorgeous handmade wooden guestbook created by one of the ranch owners (Tal) and this cute welded horseshoe heart created by Shad, an eighth-generation farrier. Beautiful mementos they will cherish in the years to come. Friends also helped the couple late into the night bring their wedding vision to reality.
Eoin was in charge of the favours. He 30 old horseshoes, all used and worn by horses at the Sundance Guest Ranch. He lovingly cleaned, polished and treated every one of them and attached cute little tags with twine. They wanted to bring their loved ones a little luck, health and protection.
A Word from their Photographers
For Jelger and I this wedding is one that will always be dear to our heart. Andrea and Eoin became friends and we admire their adventurous spirits. We have their guest favour proudly displayed on our wall. During the wedding day we had to keep pinching ourselves “is this happening”? Everything just looked amazing and we could feel the love. There’s something very unique about celebrating your wedding with a small group of your closest friends on top of a mountain. And on top of our amazing experience with the couple, the photo with Andrea and Eoin and the running horses went viral. Which was for sure a first for us.
Andrea & Eoin’s Wedding Vendors:
Ceremony venue: Twin Pines Mountain
Reception venue & catering: Sundance Guest Ranch
Wedding Dress: Dirty Fabulous
Tux: Custom made in Hoi Han Vietnam
Cowboy Boots: Lammles
Photographer: Jelger + Tanja
Flowers: Deanna Porter (now retired)
Hair and Make-up: Laine Dagneau, hair by Janella Vecchio
Invitations: DIY via Microsoft Publisher and Vistaprint
Cake: DIY
Decorations: DIY
Wedding Favors: DIY
Music for ceremony/reception: String players Steenkamp Family Orchestra, DIY for reception
Transportation: a friend with a truck/horses
Wedding planner/coordinator: DIY
Officiant: Linda Holland
All photos by Jelger + Tanja
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This post first appeared on Vancity Bride | Where Frugal Meets Fabulous! | V, please read the originial post: here
