I just love this wedding! I can’t get enough of the amazing photos from The Last Forty Percent. Ewan does an amazing job of capturing the fun moments, quirky poses and passionate embraces – such perfect storytelling for your wedding. Ashley + Devin are absolutely head over heels in love for each other and the entire day was about their love, their families and having fun. The wedding was intimate and on a private family residence. The family farm had sentimental meaning to them, so that’s why they chose the location. They wanted the day to reflect them and they hand picked most of the items (like the white door that they found randomly one day while out on a date). They had tire spoke readers for guest seating arrangements, hay bales for benches during the ceremony, wine cork table numbers, a chalk board ceremony itinerary, claw foot tub to hold drinks and lots of other personal touches. Congrats to Ashley + Devin!
The day was the perfect mix of country, modern, vintage, retro and quirky. Ashley + Devin did a first look and then took a bunch of their photos at the Retro Suites to add to the feel of the day they were hoping for. Devin designs custom furniture, so they incorporated this into the photos too.
Most memorable moment of your wedding day?
Ashley: “There are so many moments from our wedding day that make me grin from ear to ear but if I had to narrow it down to one it would be our wedding vows. We had planned every little piece of our wedding so we new what to expect that day but we decided to write our own vows and that was the one thing I was so eager to hear. Standing in front of all of our family and friends listening to what Devin wrote to me, words just can’t describe that feeling, and to be able to stand there and tell Devin why I love him and what I promise him in a way I never had before in our 10 years together was just it.”
Devin: “My most memorable moment of the day was standing there at the end of the aisle and seeing everyone their to support us there is no better feeling than being surrounded by your friends and family on the most important day of your life. There were other times in the night when I would just think to myself how lucky I am whether it was dancing with friends, watching my nephews fill their faces with cotton candy or seeing family sitting outside on bails of straw enjoying the music and the star filled sky it was awesome.”
Our inspiration for the day was to truly capture us as a couple. A wedding isn’t just about the Bride or the Groom it is about the couple and we wanted people to leave our wedding saying “that was so Ashley and Devin”. As soon as Devin and I became engaged we knew that there were going to be certain things that were a must for the day and we vowed we would do whatever we had to do to make sure we had them. It was very important for us to have a wedding unlike anyone else’s we ignored the classic wedding rulebook and did exactly what we wanted to do. If you want cotton candy you should have cotton candy. We tried to carry our outdoor rustic theme from our invitations right through to our barn dance party, this really helped to set the atmosphere for the day.
We wanted to support small local vendors wherever we could. Our caterers even went as far as getting the corn on the cob for or meal from the local vendor my family has been using our entire lives. It was also really important that we had a unique venue something never seen before.
I never considered myself to be the creative type so I assumed we would not have a lot of DIY in our wedding but when you have a vivid idea of what you want it just seems to happen. Our entire wedding ended up being DIY.Devin and I didn’t want our guests to have to find somewhere to go in between the ceremony and the reception so we decided that we would setup a bunch of lawn games and have our cocktail hour outside so everyone could enjoy the setting and each other.
Any advice for those planning now?
Dream big, if you can dream it you can have it. While you are planning your wedding you are going to get to a point where it just seems like so much is going on and it is taking over your life just keep plugging away because it will all be worth it.
Don’t forget that it is your day, have a blast, all of your guests will enjoy themselves that much more when they see you both having the best time. We danced until 4:30 in the morning; it was the best day/night/day of our lives.
Reach out to family and friends for help, the planning process and final execution is a lot of work but you will learn people love to help with wedding so I suggest taking any help you can. You may be surprised at how talented your friends and family are. We enlisted our good friend who is a teacher to do all of our chalkboards and they turned out better than we ever could have imagined.
Pictures were very important to us so when we saw Ewan’s work we had to have him. We booked Ewan before we even had a venue. Not only did he give us the most amazing wedding photos he was a great addition to our wedding day. It was like we were being photographed by one of our closest friends. We had an absolute blast with Ewan and can’t wait to work with him and Brianna in the future.
Vendors
Photographer : Ewan Phelan of The Last Forty Percent Photography – see more from the wedding here
Venue: Renovated Barn on a Private Property in Chatham Kent
Hotel : Retro Suites Chatham
Wedding Dress: Barbra Allin from Becker’s Bridal & Formal in Toronto
Hair and Makeup: Tropical Paradise Spa & Boutique
Shoes: Aldo
Bridesmaid Dress: Jim Hjelm
Groom Suit: Tom Bolini
Cinematography: Hand Spun Films
Event Design: DIY
Floral Design: Sarah’s Farm Market & DIY
Invitations/Paper Goods: Plume Paperie
Cake: Cakes By Renee
Music: Bride and good friend who has now been named DJ C-cup
Catering: Casa Bella
The bridal party shots at the beginning are seriously some of the best and fun I’ve seen, what a creative couple and their wedding looks perfect. Sending big amounts of love for all involved in this wedding from over here in Northern Ireland
Awesome wedding! Love all the vintage and rustic details :)
One of the sweetest weddings I’ve seen in a while. Although the style is fairly editorial, it doesn’t feel contrived at all.
THAT. COUPLE. IS. ADORABLE.
Ewan took such good kiss shots!!! Every single one gave me goose bumps successively. I’d pay for an entire package just to get one photo like that.
Love the details and the warmth that comes through. Really fantastic job by all.
I love the bathtub for drinks! I have been looking everywhere for my wedding. Any idea where they got theirs? Thanks!
love the last forty percent. they capture the most amazing and creative things.
Beautiful images! The b&ws especially are so full of emotion!
Beautiful wedding pics!
this wedding is perfection. the photographer reallllllly captured the day and love well.
Wow, what a wedding! Looks like such a fun day. I love the b/w pic toward the end of the bride and groom about to kiss. So romantic. Beautiful work Ewan!
I love this wedding! So modern and fresh. The photography is killer.
these are just amazing! I love these photographers and their work. Always soooo interesting and quirky and emotional…they capture amazingly the feelings of people! love love love!
whoa…all the details are perfection and i love the fresh bridesmaid dresses!
WOW! How cool was that wedding! The barn venue is really cool and I like it a lot, but I almost dies when I saw the BEER TUB!!! Best thing ever!
Oh wow! Such a fun couple; it looks like they had a blast. I giggled at the groom’s picture with the glasses over his eyes, priceless! I love weddings such as these, laid back, full of life, and such a thrill.
what an incredibly creative eye that photographer has. i am astounded.
Wow, I’ve never seen love captured this strongly in images before. These pictures show their straight up passion for each other and I love it!
Some of the most wonderful, creative wedding pictures Ive seen… love!
FREAKING GORGEOUS! Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell you…
I thought WOW that looks just like Chatham when I started looking at the photos – can’t believe our little town made it on here! Can’t wait to have ours in similar fashion.
I got so emotional looking at this couple’s shots. What an amazing day they planned and it was captured so, so beautifully!
Lovely!!! I like the classical look of the wedding.
Beautiful Wedding !! Congratulations !!
What did you use to cover the hay bales? I’m having a hard time finding something suitable and feasible
Thanks
Janet
Is it possible to rent out the barn where you got married? If so, how many people does it hold and how much is it?
Thanks!!
and… beautifully done!!!!
Sarah