I worked as a wedding coordinator in Banff for several years and always imagined having a mountain wedding. I had all my vendors on a mental list and was eager for my turn to work with them on my own special day. Fast forward a couple of years and I found myself on a working holiday in New Zealand, learning to paraglide and living outside of my comfort zone. Little did we know at the time, but destiny had a huge part to play in all of the decisions leading up to our respective moves. I was offered a job after my paragliding instructor connected me with the manager of the company Marcone worked at, as they both paraglide as well. Marcone moved from Brazil a few months before I made the move from Canmore, Alberta. When we first met at work, it was love at first sight. After our introduction, Marcone even jokingly said to our manager, “Thank you for introducing me to my future wife.” We started flying together later that week, then started dating, got “officially” engaged on the same beach where we had our first date, and 3 months after our engagement we were in Canada getting married.
The Wedding
Since we are in a transitional time in our lives, living so far away from home, and because of the short notice, a big wedding was not on the table. My parents have spent years landscaping their property outside of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta and we loved the idea of an intimate wedding in their backyard. Marcone’s family could not be there in person unfortunately, so they watched via live video and we had a reception with his family and friends in Brazil in January. We wanted to keep it simple and let the beautiful green surroundings serve as the decor. The florals from Flowers by Nicole tied in perfectly and were even more beautiful than I had imagined. Spending the day at home, surrounded by family and friends was more remarkable than the fancy mountain wedding that I had previously envisioned. We are beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to tie the knot in a meaningful place where we can continue to build memories together in the future. Molly D Photography captured the ceremony and portraits stunningly all while making us feel relaxed and comfortable. A special personal added touch was our wedding rings. We had our rings custom made by Ash Hilton. My ring has Marcone’s favorite mountain engraved on it, and his has my favorite mountain. We spend a lot of time outdoors and like to travel so we didn’t want a diamond ring only to risk losing it. The bands with our favorite mountains suit us much better. The ethically sourced materials they use were also a big selling point for us. We spent the night in a cozy suite at the Prairie Creek Inn, followed by a delicious breakfast. We enjoyed two days away on a mini moon in Banff and Jasper as it was Marcone’s first time in Canada and we only had a couple of days to spare. After some tearful goodbyes, we made our way back to our normal life in New Zealand which (aside from work) is almost a honeymoon itself as we spend all of our time together and go camping, paragliding, and hiking as much as possible. We were also fortunate enough to spend Christmas and New Years in Brazil with Marcone’s family where we swam up to waterfalls, visited beautiful beaches, and flew from the same mountain that I have engraved on my wedding band.
