2 People 1 Life: Lisa & Alex - Wedding Number 4 "The Horseback in Canada Wedding"

Hello my lovely readers. How are you feeling today? Its half way through the working week and that can only mean one thing and that is today we take a look at the next installment on Lisa & Alex's Wedding story.

Today we are on Wedding Number 4 and this took place in Alberta Canada and features Horses. Its a lovely looking wedding but they are much braver than me! I would not be seen anywhere near a horse, they terrify me. I was never the girl who asked their Dad for a pony as a child. I stuck with hamsters and rabbits!

So put your feet up and take a peek. Find out more about Lisa and Alex's journey here.

All images and words are courtesy of Lisa and Alex; 2 People 1 Life.

So we wake up in Banff, breathe in the mountain air and stretch our limbs knowing we are going to be having a fun filled (that means food and drink to me!) day.

We lounge about and drink coffee and read our books, slowly unhook the electric and water and generally chillout. We were in Banff townsite by 8.30am and had read the rough guide for recommendations for breakfast. We head down to a seemingly Mexican cafe and order the hungry man breakfast and a 3eggs breakfast, a coffee, a juice and a plate of granary toast!!! 2 hours later we can barely move due to the amount we have eaten but…there is lots to see in Banff (says Lisa the ‘fun police’) so we set off into town.

Now one thing we haven’t mentioned is that we had contacted a horse riding ranch in Banff about the possibility of a wedding there. We said we would pop into the shop to discuss things and found ourselves there full of breakfast. We browsed the store, filled to the rafters of all things cowboy, Alex tried on the largest cowboy hats available (…7 and 3/4…they still didnt fit) and I checked out the fools gold and the rattle snake eggs.

We eventually introduced ourselves to Amanda with whom Alex had been in contact. She told us that the stables weren’t far and just a half hour walk away and that we should go have a look around. We strolled around Banff for a while and then set off to the Stables. The walk was an interesting one, we saw our first (and only, so far!) male deer!

He was sat casually in the front yard of a B and B. He wasnt strapped down, tempted by food or fastened in by a fence. He was just laid, enjoying the shade and watching the passersby! I thought he was plastic so we got closer and he just looked at me intrigued as we took a few pictures! Strange!

Anyway, we carried on down the road and met the gang at the stables…the gang being over 300 horses, goodness knows how many cowboy staff (who weren’t officially allowed to work without a cowboy hat on!!) and a lot of horse….saddles ( you thought I was going to say poop didn’t you?!?!).

We met up with Troy in his cowboy hat, spurs, chewing straw and wearing a leather waistcoat in the 100 degree heat and tried to talk him into being master of ceremony for our wedding tomorrow! ‘Its my day off’ he says! That’s us stumped for all of 3 seconds until he says ‘…But we can do it today!’ We were gobsmacked! It was 1 in the afternoon and he said ‘come back in an hour or two and we’ll have it sorted!’…so…us being us, we said okay then and set off bewildered and wandered back to Peggy absolutely struck dumb…we walked back past the deer chilling out and wondered if our eggs had been spiked!

We made it back to Peggy and looked at each other and decided we needed a beer to calm our nerves. To the local Irish bar we go and order 2 pints of your finest Guinness!! ($15!!!!!!!!! later) Guinness down and our heads back on right we realised we had a wedding in an hour!

I have never been on a horse in my life, nor have I ever had the desire to go on one but here I was planning to get on a strange horse, ride it into the wilderness, say my vows and all in a wedding dress!!!!! Definitely the eggs!!!

Amanda rang her deputy Rebecca who had shown an excitable interest in filming the wedding and asked if she could be there, Rebecca arranged for Nicole to come with her to take pics and she printed out the vows for the master of sermon to read!

We collected Peggy and set off back to the stables! We packed my wedding dress into a day bag (sorry Tabitha!!) and Alex put on his checked shirt and jeans and Amanda’s chaps and too small cowboy hat! We met our horses…Brumby and Clay and walked them to choose our mountain view.

We had the choice of three, Cascade, Rundle and Norkway. Roland had his wedding in front of Cascade (the biggest in Banff) so we chose there as he was to be master of ceremony!

I got changed in the field and mounted a trailer so that I could get onto Clay and once Alex was on Brumby we headed out into the meadow.

The horses were brilliant and after a waver about what on earth my dress was draped down his back Clay was absolutely fine.

Once in place Roland started the ceremony and Nicole and Rebecca warmed
up the cameras. The setting was amazing with the stunning backdrop and the horses behaved so well that again I certainly got butterflies and Alex fumbled for the rings.

A true sign that the nerves and the amazing feeling of it being your wedding day are still there! We repeated our vows after Roland and kissed on cue (with a little help from Brumby and Clay) and then set off back on the ride to the stables!

We cant thank Warner Stables enough nor can we remove the thistle stings or mozzie bites that Nicole and Rebecca received whilst recording our special day for us but we can tell you guys that we truly had a day to remember!

My first horse ride, an amazing horseback wedding and the very first time I had met such a lovely horse with a blue eye!!!

2 People 1 Life: Lisa & Alex - Wedding Number 3 "The Michigan Wedding"

Bonjour lovelies. How are you today? Hope all is well. 

Today we have another edition as I shall be calling it of Lisa and Alex's Wedding adventures. And what an adventure they have had so far! There story is totally amazing and one built on love and happiness. 

Today we travel to Michigan to take a look at Wedding Number 3. So without further ado....

Love Katie x

All images and words are courtesy of of Lisa and Alex; 2 People 1 Life. Follow more of their story here.

Where to begin!?

We have had such a great weekend with family that Alex hasn’t seen for 22 years and that I have never even met! Again we were blown away by the generosity and hospitality we were shown by everyone we met.

We arrived in Michigan, Watersmeet at about 4pm and Alex straight away recognised the house even after 22 years!

We parked up and stayed safe inside the van as we had been warned by Aunty Maureen NOT to approach the house under any circumstances as she has a very unsociable alsation just waiting for a midday snack to walk upto the house. We sat and pondered for a while as we realised that we had jumped a time zone and it was actually 3pm and everyone was still at work! So of course we decided to go find a bar!

We wandered the street (Watersmeet is one main road) and found a bar attached to a petrol station. Alex recognised it as Bears Bar where he had been all those years ago with his family.

We stood outside and took a deep breath knowing that we would cause a stir walking into this very local local! Sure enough we walked in, the music stopped, 10 bar stools creaked, spun around and 10 pairs of eyes looked our way. We approached the bar and in our never so noticable English accents asked for 2 beers please! The bartender (a 300 pound man named Kelly) looked bemused as he asked us what kind of beer and toyed with us for a minute or two before someone shouted ‘get them a Bud Kelly!’…thankfully we looked around to see Alex’s Uncle Bill grinning at us! We sighed with relief and said our hello’s and within minutes his son Billy and his girlfriend Lynn were there with us enjoying a few afternoon beers! Billy…the self proffessed chicken king of the UP kindly offered to cook us dinner and we headed back to Maureen and Bills to meet the vicious hound Keisha. We were given our instructions in Bills truck on the way back (2 blocks), “keep your hands by your sides, do not approach her she will come to you,in fact dont even look at her, pretend she is not there!” Clearly we couldn’t wait to meet her!

We pulled up and there she was stood outside of the truck door waiting for us to get out. Now I don’t know about you but I need to move my hands away from my sides to get out of a truck door, I even need to push the door open, therefore giving her plenty of opportunity to have my leg clean off! So we cautiously slid out of the van using as few movements as possible trying so hard to be fluid with no flailing arms or legs and made it to the ground. She came straight for me, sniffing and nosing me and making me ever so nervous but within a few seconds she had put her head in my hand for a stroke! I had passed! I was alive! She didn’t want to eat me! Alex was a different story. She looked him over but wasn’t so sure. She didn’t kill him though so we were both very relieved! We headed into the house and said hi to Maureen and cracked open a bottle of wine and a few beers and chatted the night away and ate the BEST BBQ chicken legs by the dozen. We finally hit the hay before we all turned into pumpkins!

The next morning was Uncle Bills birthday and we got up about 10…much to his disgust as he had already been up for 4 hours.
He made us a cheese and ham sandwich for breakfast and we soon headed out with Maureen to the local supermarket (60 mile round trip) to pick up some beers, wine and food for the weekend and to pick up a birthday cake. On route we collected more family and popped in to visit family to give out meeting plans for the afternoon. We were going for a fish fry to celebrate! We met up with the everyone that evening in a restaurant 50 minutes drive away in a different state and the 15 of us had fish fry and drinks and laughed at Bill blowing out candles on his cake. We told our story of crossing the border and listened to the family chattering. We made plans for the next night to have a cook out at Alex’s cousins Tara and Mikes house and the chicken kings’ expertise changed to rib king! So with the promise of  MORE great food the next night we said our good nights!

So we spent Saturday mooching about and catching up on washing etc and took a drive to Bond Falls before heading over to Tara and Mikes.

We arrived there and were promptly invited around to Maureens best friends house (next door…a mile away) to shoot some guns! When I tell you that Thelma and Louise have nothing on Maureen and Barb you may laugh but honestly these two were not to be messed with! Both with concealed weapons liscenses they can carry a loaded gun with them at anytime!!
Maureen with her Pink Lady and Barb with her 9mm were a force to be reckoned with! We went cross country on ORV’s (similar to quads) to Barbs, she set up the target and let rip straight in the centre of it with her 9mm!

Maureen was up next with the nasty little pink lady then it was our turn! Keisha who had been taking a leisurely swim in the pond had jumped into the car (dripping wet through onto the lovely white leather) to get away from the noise…and probably to avoid getting shot by one of us amateurs! 
Alex stepped up and looked all natural with a gun which was worrying! I however looked a little out of place!
I took a shot and felt my brain dislodge with the noise! It was so loud I was completely deafened! I stepped back and let the boys play, Mike had bought along his 357 pistol too (even louder) and they had a whale of a time! I was getting eaten alive by the flies so we didn’t hang around for too long! Back over ditches and through waist high grass to Tara and Mikes to get the food on
and crack open yet more beers! We had such a great night drinking, eating and talking and making plans for the next day!

Of course when the next day came we were feeling as rough as dogs and really weren’t enjoying the 100 degree heat and humidity. It was only 9 in the morning and the heat was already unbearable! We packed up enough food and drink to sink a pontoon and off we went to set sail on the thousand island lakes. Woody, a friend of the family had offered to take us all out for the day on his pontoon. It only seated 10 so Fiona, Tom and Luke came in their boat and some more friends on their speed boat too…it was going to be another great day!

Of course they all knew of our plans to have a wedding out on the lakes! Fiona had mentioned the perfect spot, a rock attached to a little island in the middle of Honeymoon Lake!
What an amazingly original idea! Woody, the captain of the pontoon agreed to utilise his right to marry us out on the lakes so it was perfect!
On top of all of that the rock stands very close if not on the state line between Michigan and Wisconsin!

So with Alex and I stood on a rock, in the middle of Honeymoon Lake…one of us in Wisconsin and the other in Michigan, with Captain Woody as our master of ceremony and with our family all around us, we had wedding number 3!

Getting out to the rock was great fun. Tom came to collect us from the pontoon in ‘the limo’ and took us out to the rock.
Luke went to collect me a ‘bouquet’ of flowers from the island and the Brittany and Neil the ‘ring bearers’ came close to the rock and stood in the wash with crayfish nibbling their toes. Tara filmed from near the island and Mike pulled the pontoon as close to the rock as was safe. Fiona ‘photographer’clicked away from the pontoon and made sure she didn’t miss a thing! Aunty Maureen, Uncle Bill and Courtney and friends sat in the boats around us and watched us take our vows.

Its amazing how emotional we both get each time we say our vows. The words seem to mean more each time we say them instead of becoming monotonous. Standing there on a rock with the sun shining and the bald eagles soaring overhead in the middle of  that lake was just so touching!

Once we had said our I do’s we all cheered and the champagne corks started popping. We climbed back aboard our limo to the pontoon, the kids swam champagne to the surrounding boats and Mike said a few words for us to toast. The buffet reception was fabulous sandwhich wraps and cherries washed down with plenty of booze! All in all an absolutely amazing day. We couldn’t thank everyone enough for making the day so special.

After the food had settled, the bouquet thrown and caught, and we were between drinks we went out on the speed boat to go tubing! The young boys showed the ‘grown up’ boys how it was done and Alex and Mike eventually got into the lake. It was so funny watching them clinging on for dear life as they were tossed about on the waves.

Eventually the day came to an end and we drove home as the storm set in for the night. The black clouds and lightening loomed ever closer as we ate yet another fabulous meal and cut our huge chocolate wedding cake!

We stayed at Mike and Tara’s that night and crashed on the couch to watch a movie with Paten (the worlds biggest, softest dog) and Riley (the complete opposite!) demanding our attention. Leaving them the next day was so hard…if Paten had fit in the van I think he would have been dognapped…Riley would have eaten all ten of Alex’s toes so he had to stay home!

All in all we had such a fantastic weekend and were sorry to leave on Monday. Thanks again to the whole family for making us feel so welcome and for making our third wedding one we will never forget! 

2 People 1 Life: Lisa & Alex - Wedding Number 2 "The Quebec Wedding"

Good morning to all you wonderful people! How are you? 

The good news is that not only are you now nearly half way through the working week but we are also back with Lisa and Alex's journey and we are in Quebec with Wedding Number 2. 

Grab a brew and pull up a pew!

Love Katie x

All images and words are courtesy of Lisa and Alex, 2 People 1 Life. 

We arrived at Chapelle Ste Agnes…late as per usual…and with me already flapping with worry about the day. We had planned to be there at 10.30 and arrived at 11.30 and the wedding was due to start at 1.30! We had to move into thehoneymoon suite, get ready, create a bouquet and buttonhole, meet Deacon Jean Rousseau who would be holding the ceremony for us, set up cameras, meet our guests and convince them to act as photographers for the day, catch up with Karena and John to make sure we we’re all on the same track, set up the terrace etc, etc…the list goes on!

John was in his overalls tending to the vines as we arrived and Karena came running across the vinyard to meet us in her big floppy sunhat with a basket in one hand and a tripod in the other…I could tell straight away we were all in a flap so instantly felt better! We sat in the cool chapel and placed the cameras and planned where we would get pictures from and who would stand where and when.

Alex and I made ourselves at home in the honeymoon suite which is as elegantly decorated as the rest of the vinyard and then went our seperate ways…Alex to meet Mr Rousseau and myself to go on a flower hunt! I gathered wild flowers from the vinyard, daisies, mini sunflowers and huge yellow flowers along with some strange looking seed pods and a couple of small lillies and tied them all together with vine wire. I fashioned Alex a buttonhole out of the same flowers and then at 1.15 I thought it a good time to get ready.

Alex returned from his catch up and put my remaining nerves to rest as it turns out Mr Rousseau is a time served wedding veteran, after 50 years of marrying people all over the world which includes virtually every religion there really was nothing left to worry about!

Being helped into my dress by my husband to be was unusual for the obvious reason that normally the groom would not see the bride until the ceremony. but it was such a tender and romantic moment. I watched his reflection gently fasten the tiny glass buttons with a proud smile on his face and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be ‘marrying‘ Alex all over again!

He shot back up to the chapel for the final preparations and I sat in the sunshine in my wedding dress suddenly my nerves faultering and getting worse by the minute! Eventually Karena came to collect me and we walked over the vinyard in the bright sunshine where John greeted me to walk me down the aisle. We waited for the cue to go in and stepped inside the stunning little chapel.

The French music played and the cool air was welcoming as I walked down the aisle. The ceremony was lovely and Mr Rousseau had kindly prepared a reading and also a poem which he added to the ceremony.

The Reading

From The Song of Eternity,  by Selim Aïssel

Daughters and Sons of the Earth, I want to teach you to see what is the best in human beings.

See in them not what they are, nor what they do. But what Eternity has deposited in them.

Then your words will know how to lead them, On the path to Immortality

The poem

“2 People 1 Life Marriage  Blessing ”

Now you will feel no rain,

for each of you will be a shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold,

for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there will be no loneliness,

for each of you will be a companion to the other.

Now you are two people, but there is only one life before you.

 A long and winding road

In which each turn means discovery

Plough the furrow of your life together

May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead

and through all the years.

May happiness be your companion

and may your days together be good and long upon this earth.

His fabulous Quebecois accent gave the whole ceremony such a great feel and he spoke of Ste Agnes herself and asked that the congregation keep us in their thoughts and help us on our journey. He raised his hand above our heads and blessed us and typically made me cry! It was such an intimate ceremony with only a few guests who would start the day as strangers to us and by the end of the day become good friends and people we will still be in contact with in years to come!

After the ceremony I was handed a beautiful french parasol, Karena had used this on her wedding day at the same chapel and it suited the moment perfectly. We made our way to the terrace for an ice wine toast and canapes.
John and Karena had kindly supplied the very special Cuvée Majorique 2005 icewine. This special bottle has a place in the Queen of Englands Royal Cellars following the vinyards win at the ICWS World Wine competition held in London. I doubt even the Queen would enjoy a glass of the stunning ice cold liquid as much as we did that afternoon!

The sun was hot and the ice wine superb. Alex described it as happiness in a glass and a perfect drink for a perfect day. We drank wine and ate fois gras canapes on the terrace with our guests and enjoyed tales of their travel adventuresas well as sharing our own. It was such a perfect afternoon, one I will never forget.

Once the sun had cooled a little we wandered carefree around the vinyard. The heart shaped lake, the stone henge, the vines, the terrace…so many beautiful places and such a beautiful day too, luck was definitely on our side with the weather!

We headed up to the reception hall and Alex had one little trick left up that long sleeve of his! Karena had set up the music, the walnut floor had just been polished and I was asked by my future husband to have our first dance. So there set in a beautiful valley that felt a million miles from anywhere we laughed, kissed and waltzed as the sun set behind the rolling hills of Quebec.

We finally retired to the honeymoon suite for a rest and a cooling shower before having dinner with the vintners Karena and John. We chatted the night away and before we knew it it was midnight! 1 month to the day we had our first weddingback in Didsbury!

How far we had come! Both in miles on our adventure and in our journey to findunique places in the world to get married. We had had our first internationalwedding! It had been a great day, we had met some very special people in the process and learned about the Quebecois culture which is in essence the purpose of our trip. To immerse ourselves in a countries culture and to meet new friends.

Thanks so much to John and Karena for making our first international wedding a possibility! You have a beautiful vineyard! 

2 People 1 Life: Welcoming Lisa & Alex to the blog and Wedding Number 1

Some of you may have heard about Lisa and Alex and like me you may have followed their journey intently. As soon as I made the decision to focus more on blogging I just knew this remarkable story had to be featured. If you don't know their story I shall tell you a little about them.

Lisa and Alex were a couple in love and decided to pack up their lives and make their way to Australia in their campervan Peggy. You could say they were embarking on an adventure just by doing that. Then they had the wonderful idea of getting married in every country they visit en route to their new home in Australia to find the ultimate place to get married. Once they have they intend to go back and do it all again!

As I write this they have said I Do 62 times! Wow.

They have certainly been busy, each wedding is wonderfully different and incorporates local culture and traditions. I know that you will love hearing and reading about their journey - I am in total awe and I know you will fall in love with them just as much as I have.

Today I bring you Wedding Number 1 which took place down the road from me here in Didsbury. All images and following words are courtesy of 2 People 1 Life.

Love Katie x

I don’t have any idea where to start to tell you just how magical the whole weddingwas! Alex had thought of everything! From vows to confetti throwers…we had it all!!!

I had had my hair done-Zoe, and my birdcage put in – silver sixpence in her shoe, my make up done ( a first!!!!) – Emma, a glass of champagne – Nikki, a bite of a cherry bakewell ( the nerves had got to me) – Mr Kipling, and been fastened into Tabitha ( which fit like a glove having only one fitting!)- Charlotte Balbier. It couldn’t get any better; until I was handed the most GORGEOUS bouquet I had ever seen- Sian, full of peonies, sweet Williams, lavender, mint and vintage English rose buds, the exact flowers I would have chosen myself…all on film-and of course photographed! I felt like a very spoilt princess!

I left White Closet with My Mum and Dad to walk me across to the Metropolitan pub, Didsbury to meet Alex with Johnny  Draper and ‘pearls and Lace’ running along in front and behind so my Dad had no chance of escaping the camera, We laughed about how well everyone had done to keep the secret and how much of an amazing job Alex had done to pull it all together!

My nerves had relaxed after a few more pictures and a bit of a time out while Johnny sorted everyone out and Dad and I walked in to Gavin and John ( The Coolers) singing an acoustic version of wonderful tonight! I couldn’t believe how many people where there! About 30-40 of our family and friends sat there to see our first wedding!! All of them co-conspirators I might add….but then I saw Alex! I was absolutely blown away! He looked so handsome and so nervous and I rushed to get to his side!

I had a moment to look around while the song came to an end and noticed the gorgeous flowers matching my bouquet from the Flower Lounge draped around  freestanding  Candelabras and Candle vases. It proved that dreams can come true!

Alex had arranged for Jim Gregory (public speaker) to hold the ceremony which was amazing and we will add this to another blog for you to read. Then Ilan, a close friend did a reading by Dr Zeus (tweaked to fit of course) again which we will add to the blog ‘wedding ceremony speeches and poems’ and then for the vows which of course made both Alex and I a little teary as they were so lovely and we meant every single word as we said them. Jim pronounced us 2people1life and told Alex he could kiss me. It was perfect!

After we had regained composure Andrea also read out a poem that she had bought us as a wedding gift! You will also find this in ‘wedding ceremony speeches and poems’…and it got us started all over again almost blubbing!! With cameras at every corner and bookshelf (the wedding was held in the library at theMetropolitan pub, Didsbury) I managed not to smudge my beautiful make up by Emma all over my face and Alex stayed manly looking and didn’t cry!!

We walked back up the aisle together to  Gavin and John singing and that was the first real chance I had had to see who had been keeping this huge secret from me and gasped as everyone came up and congratulated us both!! Family, old friends, new friends and lots of new faces all of whom had helped Alex put the day together so well!

Johnny got everyone sorted outside and we came out of the door to confetti
and bubbles supplied by and all things nice and very well thrown by our guests and some of the children from Cavendish School who had made us the most beautiful cards and almost made me cry again at how adorable they were!

Everyone had made such an effort for our special day and this was only just the beginning!

Lisa x