I had the absolute pleasure to create some intimate and unique Kootenay micro wedding photography for Kashka and Mike. Read their incredible story below…
What were your thoughts leading up to the wedding?
“We fell in love fast and hard after being introduced by mutual friends who were sure we should be together. However, we were methodical and attempted to maintain control over the process while we thoroughly investigated our compatibility as life partners via dating over distance. So when we became pregnant with some surprise we were sure about our union and became engaged during the pregnancy. COVID delayed the wedding by a year and greatly changed our vision for being held and celebrated by international and across Canada family/ friends. However, the constraint also really freed us to have the intimacy we were most comfortable with, for which we could express how sacred the ceremony was to us. And we look forward to more of a party celebration with friends and family down the road.
How did COVID affect your wedding?
I have to admit the pressure of Covid safety and precautions was a stress right until the very end and seemed to whittle away at the details even in its small simpleness. What was really important in managing planning stress with a toddler and COVID influence on it all, was what I would also give as advice to couples even without those elements: focus on what’s most important to you in that ceremony and consider the rest just extra. For us it was the vows. The process of discussing and sharing what we were committing to and why. What were our expectations of each other and what were we comfortable with offering each other? That was what it was all about for us. And the wedding just honoured that process with a celebration.
How did you prepare for your Kootenay micro wedding?
The cake, the flowers, the photographer, the witness’ all of that was extra. And we reminded myself of that daily. We did at least one thing towards the wedding every day for months leading up and remembered what was most important to us and why we were doing it. Mike’s advice is do the communication and relationship work around attachment styles before hand. Read some books on the topic beforehand. So when engaged in the wedding prep and vow creation, you have a solid foundation to work from. We have always been grateful for the deep process and work we did while dating.
What were your favourite little details?
The wedding being based on what was most important to us was what lead to many choices in the details. The rings where made by Mike who had black smithing back ground and taught himself gold smithing for the occasion. Prayers and intentions occurring even in the making of the rings as a symbol. We wore the rings we were going to give each other around our necks on chains I gave us, while writing our vows for a few weeks before. The gold powder came from a neighbour who hobby pans and mines in local mountains surrounding our off-grid cabin–which is also where we fell in love and grew our baby in utero. We feel most connected to our selves in nature and at that cabin in the Kootenay mountains surrounding Ymir, which enables us to be most available to connect to each other. So of course that’s also where we had the wedding over looking the creek.
The vows and the ceremony of creating a container of commitment and presence from which to grow and change together in our life span was what our wedding was about. However, the clothes we chose, the incredible gluten, sugar and chocolate free vegan cake by Cake Betty and stunning tailored flowers by Bella Flora we ordered, all expressed our individuality as a family and really created the sense of fun celebration. The bunting provided by our dear friends from their wedding held us in a bubble of love, ceremony and celebration despite not being able to join us in person.
We realize now…without COVID’s restraints we may not have felt so motivated to invest as much as we did in all those elements to express celebration, if we hadn’t felt like we had to compensate for the lack of family and friend participation in the celebration.
What was it like to work with Bobbi for your Kootenay micro wedding photography?
Even the photography likely would have been a friend or friends snapping some shots here and there combined with some selfies. But the need to make family feel included was the reason we decided to spend the resources on professional photos, and was also one of the main reasons why we chose Bobbi. Her photo journalism style and back ground was immediately evident in her portfolio and was exactly what we were looking for. The fact that she was queer friendly and exceptionally easy to be comfortable around was also essential in our consideration and made her a obvious choice, knowing that we would feel able to be completely focused on our experience of a sacred moment in lives while she witnessed and captured it.
What was your favourite part of your wedding day?
We would say that our favourite part of the experience was the beautiful blending of intention and artistic expression of celebration. The way all the parts came together. The way we were able to have the best of both worlds really…very intimate and small while also feeling our family and friends participating in different ways. The beauty and sweet memories we continue to dine off and hold as the red carpet rolled out as we walk this journey together from here on out. Taking a moment out from the business of life, to celebrate! The hope love brings has been medicine for our souls and it seems for those in our lives as well during this unique time in history.
Thank you Bobbi for seeing the layered beauty in life and sharing that with the world in the way you do. Your work is magic.