We are taking it way back today, back to the beginning of our very first styled shoot in 2017…

I love looking back at the beginning. It’s a great reminder of how far we’ve come but also how hard we have worked. When we redid our website this year we weren’t able to incorporate a lot of the galleries that were there previously. So I wanted to highlight our very first styled shoot.

It wasn’t really a “styled shoot” it was more of an “I need pictures of the tent for the website” kind of shoot. But for lack of a better word, styled shoot it is!

Our very first styled shoot…

Never despise small beginnings…

The bible says never despise small beginnings and I love that. It reminds me to never take for granted the hard work and passion we put into getting everything up and running. Venturing out with a new project or business really is walking it out with blind faith. You often start small but with big vision and that is exactly what we did.

This shoot was a combination of creativity, using what you got and the talents of our dearest friend Jessica Crosariol.

We’ve since gone on the be featured in several magazines, large online publishings and hosted award-winning weddings. But there’s just something about these ole lilac photos that bring a warmth to my heart I cannot describe. It reminds me how important those small beginnings are and how hard work and dedication pay off. 

Fun Fact: This beautiful wood bar was built by my Father-in-law, it is still one of my favourite pieces. It was a little bit small to use in the tent so it now sits on our lower patio for cocktail hour snacks or a soft bar.

Lilacs and Sunsets

Lilac Love

As I said before, we desperately needed images for the website but we didn’t have the budget or the time to get a big shoot together. So using some ingenuity, we grabbed some lilacs that were growing in the backyard along with some Caragana branches (which quickly fried in the warm tent). What an impact it had in the large space of the tent.

That’s the thing about decor, sometimes the simplest decor can have the biggest impact. With the trend of foraging and even dried grasses it’s incredibly easy to create beautiful centrepieces – it just takes your time.

Sometimes I forget how many things we built that first year. Our tables, benches, small kitchen, the bar, arbour, the list honestly felt endless. We worked so incredibly hard getting everything prepared to host weddings.

I might be biased but Jess is one of my favourite photographers. The way she brings colours to life, the warmth and brightness in her photos is a unique style not seen as often these days – but it’s something I am always drawn to. It represents the tent well because in the prairies there is always a warm glowing sunset to be seen.

Our very first styled shoot was taken in June 2017. Thankfully Lilacs were available!

Can you spot the real grass! It blows my mind that we used to manage real grass inside the tent. The following year we put in synthetic lawn and we still love it to this day.

No kitchen! The tent stood on its own until we built a small kitchen (now the cottage) in the spot our large one now sits.

We no longer use benches but I still love the look of them.

These curtains were $5 at Ikea, again simple items make a lovely display.

Thank you so much for taking a walk down memory lane with me! I hope this inspires you to “use what you got” to get your dream started.