Followers of my blog will be well aware that Anna and Kasia of Gucio Photography are two of my very favourite people in the Vancouver wedding industry. While I was looking through their photos of the Galiano engagement session I tagged along for in April, it occurred to me that I never blogged about the “Rustic Canadiana” styled shoot that Gucio and I put together last year. The shoot was featured on Style Me Pretty, but I neglected to blog about the day here. Better late than never!
I met Anna and Kasia when we worked together at the wedding of Leah and Corry in Summerland in 2010. We were all excited to collaborate on such a beautiful and creative wedding—all thanks to the bride, talented graphic designer and super stylish lady, Leah Browne! (Her lovely wedding was later featured on Poppytalk.)
When Gucio and I decided to put together a styled photo shoot the following spring, we brought Leah on board to design the menus and escort cards that we would feature. She joined in on our early concept meetings, and I’m glad she did because it was Leah who coined the phrase “Rustic Canadiana” after a visit to one of her favourite boutiques—Old Faithful Shop in Gastown. Here’s a peek at Leah’s beautiful graphic design work for our shoot:
We did the shoot at Ironworks Studios, which couldn’t have been more perfect for the look we were going for. My best friend Kimberly modelled for us—after years of being told by countless men and a fair few women how very beautiful she is, I decided to put her to work! 
Lauren McFadden created her gorgeous hairstyle, and the amazing Emily Cheng did her makeup. We picked up the white dahlia hair clips at H&M.
Kimberly was game for the three wardrobe changes we had her do! Thanks to Carina at Philosophy Pink for custom-designing her party dress just for this shoot!
Dresses by Philosophy Pink (top left); H&M (top right); Club Monaco (bottom centre); Shoes by Banana Republic.
The garden-inspired flowers that Nghia Diep of Blumen Floral Boutique created were gorgeous. I delivered a few candy jars to him, asked him to make a terrarium out of one of them, and he presented us with three gorgeous centrepieces that are still alive and gracing the Gucio Photography studio to this day! This bouquet, by the way, smelled so amazing that the entire room was floral scented for the shoot.
I have baked a lot of theme cakes in my life, but this was my first attempt at a wedding cake—not too bad if I do say so myself! I flavoured the buttercream with a tiny bit of cocoa and lots of maple syrup to make it match the shoot in colour and theme. The dessert bar was a combination of goodies I baked at home and a few chocolates bought at Canadian treasure Purdy’s Chocolates.
Gucio Photography happens to share their studio with Rex Lavado of Broken English, who designed this stunning pearl ring for his wife. Awww!
Last but not least, what’s a dinner table without food? My friend Emily Wight writes an absolutely hilarious, award-winning blog called Well Fed, Flat Broke. And she doesn’t just talk the talk—this talented writer can also cook her heart out! She created a menu based on local ingredients, and cooked a delightful meal that did double-duty as our lunch when the photos were done!
So much prettiness! Thanks to Walrus for lending us the amazing wood serving plates and acorn ornament “favours” we used in the shoot.
And thank YOU for taking a walk down memory lane with me.
