It’s a pretty chilly day, so it got me thinking back to Krista & Thomas’ winter Edmonton Ice Castles wedding. Of course, it’s not as cold today as it was then… January is way colder! We had such a great time with Krista, Thomas & their wedding party! So much fun, in fact, that we did a day after session at the Edmonton Ice Castle in Hawrelak Park! Here’s the story of their Edmonton Ice Castles Wedding! Here’s hoping the Ice Castle comes back next year, I’d love to have another Edmonton Ice Castles wedding! If not, I just might have to go to Colorado or Utah!

Edmonton Ice Castles Wedding Vendors:

Bride’s Hair: Erin
Bride’s Make-up: Charlotte DeLeat
Bridesmaids Hair & Make-up: Hair: Erin and Stephanie. Make-up: Charlotte DeLeat
Bride’s dress: Maggie Sottero
Bride’s shoes: Nine West
Bride’s accessories (jewellery, garter, etc.): Jewellery (earrings and bracelet from Bridal Debut)
Garter – Thomas caught it from my sister, Robin’s, wedding in July 2013. He was the tallest man of all and it was so easy for him to catch it. We wanted to continue the tradition.
Bridesmaid’s attire (dresses, shoes, jewellery, etc):
Dresses were from Bridal Debut – brand name??
The Bridesmaids picked their own shoes
Jewellery as a gift from the bride – Kate Spade earrings and bracelet
Groom’s attire: Slim Fit Peak Lapel Tuxedo – from Travellers Apparel in Collingwood, Melbourne
Groom’s accessories (cufflinks, tie, etc.):
Cufflinks – vintage gold cufflinks with T.B.A. engraved on it. It was passed down from his dad (Thomas Bell Andrews III) and grandfather (Thomas Bell Andrews II).
Black bow tie – from Travellers Apparel in Collingwood, Melbourne
Black shoes – from Florsheim in Melbourne
Groomsmen’s attire:
Suits – from Stafford Ellinson in Coburg, Melbourne
Ties – from Simons, WEM (this was a last minute thing on Friday evening as we had a little incident with ties)
Cufflinks and white collar shirts – from Peter Jackson in Melbourne
Shoes – the men picked their own shoes
Florals/bouquets: Studio Bloom
Cake/Cupcakes: Over the Top Cakes – St. Albert
Wedding Planner: N/A
Ceremony Venue: St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church
Reception Venue: Faculty Club @ University of Alberta
Linens/Decor:
-Overlays in Tan Ariel from Special Events Rental for the dining tables
-We used Open Glass Orbs for the Centrepiece – Studio Bloom put and organised flowers and pinecones in them.
-Mini Macaroons from Over the Top Cakes were used for guest gifts
-Maple syrup and Vegemite to represent Canada and Australia on the guest table.
-Country names were used instead of table numbers. The country names represented where Thomas and I travelled.
-K&T monogram letters on the top of the fireplace
-Mason Jars filled with pinecones and candles in them for the stairs and on the top of the fireplace.
-World Map for Seating Chart
-Bird Cage for cards
-Ukrainian Wedding Cake
-1 vs 1 – basketball hoops – This was used instead of tapping on the glasses to get the bride and groom kiss. We wanted to include the sport – basketball, as this was where we first met.
-Both of our parents’ wedding photos on the guest table
-“Air Mail” mailbox for the post cards. Post cards were used for guests to sign in.
DJ/Band: Hoffman and Brown Band

From the Couple:

What were you most looking forward to on your wedding day?
Krista – Walking down the aisle to meet Thomas at the altar and sharing our special day together!
Thomas – “I look forward seeing Krista walking down the aisle in her wedding dress.”
What ended up being your favourite moment(s) of the day (both answer)?
Thomas – “kissing Krista after the priest announced that we were husband and wife”
Krista – signing our wedding vows
We also have a funny story to share – Thomas lost his wedding ring when we did an outdoor photo shoot at the river valley. He was doing a snow fight with the groomsmen and that was when the ring came off. He got so worried when he realised that it was gone. We all spent time looking around for it but couldn’t stay long as we had to leave for a scheduled indoor photo shoot at the Rutherford House. We all felt awful but Thomas and I kept reminding each other that this doesn’t change anything between us and that it was just a ring.
We both were surprised at how we handled this situation. Anyways, Thomas had to borrow his father’s ring for the evening and kept it a secret. We came back the next day to look around for it and we wouldn’t of found it without help from Eternity Limousines as our limo driver had a metal detector. We both were very relieved and it was funny to us at the end and it was one of our memorable moments of the wedding day.
What was the song you chose for the processional?
For the bridesmaids – “The Memory Waltz” – Rawlin’s Cross
For the bride – “The Wedding Gift” – Rawlin’s Cross
What was the song you chose for your first dance?
“All of Me” by John Legend
We took dancing classes in Melbourne as we didn’t know how to dance together. We both are deaf so we wanted to show people that we could dance. We had fun learning and showing off our skills for our first dance.
How did you choose your colour scheme/theme for the wedding?
We had black and white theme for our wedding invitation with white sparkles as it represented the snow and that we were getting married in the Winter time. It was very classic and traditional.
We wanted to include “Around the World” theme for our reception as we had some international people coming to our reception and our relationship is an “international” one
We wanted to include brown colours, pine cones and evergreen pine for our decoration because it represented Canada and they look so beautiful in the winter time.
Where are you going for your honeymoon?
We had a “mini honeymoon” with our friends in Banff and Lake Louise as we both were itching to go snowboarding. We both didn’t want to risk any injuries and go snowboarding before our wedding. We had a great time in the snow and got our snowboarding fix.
We went to Maui, Hawaii for our honeymoon. It was beautiful and we had a great time! We rented a car and did lots of road trips, visited many beaches, went snorkelling, & stayed at a resort at the end. We visited Kahului, Paia, Hana, Haleakala, Makawao, Kihei, Wailea, Makena, Kaanapali, and Lahiana.
Hawaii has always been a place that we always wanted to visit as it was halfway between Canada and Australia. When Thomas and I were in a long distance relationship, we never stopped there when we flew to visit each other. In a way, it represent our relationship as I was from Canada and Thomas was from Australia and Hawaii was in the middle.
Any other thoughts or comments about your wedding day(s)?
We are forever grateful for the family and friends that came all the way to Edmonton and supported us on our wedding day. It really meant a lot to both of us. We will be having a second reception in Melbourne on 2nd April 2016 with both of our families and Australian friends. We look forward to that one too!
We both will always remember how cold it was in Edmonton when we did our photo shoots outside in the snow. We both knew what we were getting into but we wanted the “cold experience” for us and for our bridal party as well. We knew that our bridal party would be game for whatever we wanted to do and that we’d have their back no matter what. They were fun to be around!
At the same time, the photographers, Elizabeth and Chelsey, were really easy to work with. They were very patient with us and they were up for anything. When we did the photo shoot at the ice castle, it was magical and we didn’t expect the photos to turn out into something amazing! We felt like an ice princess and prince and that we were from the movie “Frozen!” It was really cute when we had little kids coming up to us and asking to have photos with us.

Looking for other sessions at Ice Castles? Try this fun Ice Castles engagement session!