Ariana & Jared’s wedding was a beautiful blend of rustic, modern, elegant, and whimsical.  A seemingly impossible blend perhaps, but not when you have creative minds and supportive friends and family!  Their wedding is a total proof that you don’t need to have a big budget to have an absolutely gorgeous day.  This inventive couple managed to keep costs down and gave their day a personal spin by creating many fun DIY elements.  Fulfilling their three goals for the wedding: to get married, to glorify God, and to have fun, Ariana & Jared’s special day was joyful and incredibly heartwarming. Enjoy the plethora of pretty captured beautifully by Mathias Fast Photography and the beautiful wedding story below.

 

 

Love. Faith. Joy

From the bride (Ariana): My groom and I are both natural planners, so we decided to tackle the wedding planning “on our own”—i.e., no planner, just tons of help from our incredible friends and family. Every part of the wedding was designed or put together by people we love.

We had only three goals for our wedding: One, get married. Two, make it about Jesus, not about us. Three, FUN!! We wanted a relaxed, comfortable, family-reunion vibe, and we were so stoked on our wedding day to see everyone having a GREAT time.

 

The venue

Ariana: Our venue, the beautiful Fraser River Lodge, is the perfect “modern rustic” venue, with world-class views, and the most friendly, helpful, accommodating staff you could ever ask for. We were thrilled with the way they helped make our day exactly what we wanted.

We held both the ceremony and reception there, and in between, several friends brought lawn games like bocce, croquet, and ladderball, and the roomy grounds provided plenty of room to play.

As a sidenote, their food is UNREAL. We had a BBQ buffet and everyone ate to their heart’s content—even the real foodies in the crowd commented that it was the best food they’d ever had at a wedding.

 

 

Wedding design

Ariana: My dear friend Tami helped style the entire wedding. We spent a lot of time on Pinterest and wedding blogs brainstorming ideas, and then Tami took all these ideas to a whole new level with her own special eye and creativity.

We spent many hours crafting, painting, and thrifting with friends, and then the weekend of the wedding, Tami and her handy husband Josh pulled together the modern and rustic elements with beautiful finesse and cohesion. She really made the whole day look bright, clean, cheerful, and cozy – exactly what we wanted.

 

Budget-friendly decor

Ariana: Most of the decor was thrifted, borrowed, or handcrafted, and all of it was done on a tight budget. We bought the flowers wholesale, and my sister, sister-in-law, and niece hand-tied all the beautiful bouquets and boutonnieres and prepped all the vases.

 

A sweet project created by love

Ariana & Jared: We could never have had such a beautiful wedding without the hard work and dedication of our many friends and family members. Everyone was so excited to help in any way they could, and everyone really put forth an amazing collaborative effort to make everything beautiful and fun, and to take as much pressure off my groom and me as possible. We are deeply blessed.

 

 

Thoughts from the photographer

Mathias Fast Photography: Ariana & Jared are one of those couples that, five minutes after you meet them you feel like you’ve been friends for much longer. Their wedding day was one of the most relaxed days I’ve been a part of. Tons of DIY details, a stunning venue and this AWESOME couple made for an amazing day.

 

About Mathias Fast Photography

a. I think marriage is awesome.
b. Having people put their faith in my cameras and me to document their wedding is an amazing privilege.

 

Mathias Fast Photography: I’m a full time wedding photographer and I love what I do. Although Vancouver is my home, come October 2014 I will be splitting my time between here and Tanzania, where my wife and I are starting an orphanage. I’ll continue to photograph weddings in Vancouver during the summer. In the past three years I’ve photographed over 50 awesome couples all over the world on the best day of their life.

 

 

Find the photographer:

Mathias Fast Photography Website   |   Facebook

 

Vendor Information:

Venue: Fraser River Lodge   |  Dress (store / designer): David’s Bridal   |   Shoes: American Eagle   |   Makeup: Cheryl Sawyer   |   Girls’ hair: Eliza Warford   |   Groom’s suit: Indochino   |   Caterer: Fraser River Lodge   |   Flowers: Bride’s family   |   Decor: Tami Knepper   |   Planner: the Bride