The most unique wedding we've seen 🦄 Viking ceremony @ the Hidden Meadows, Tamworth Ontario 🦄 Laurel + Brandon
Written with love by our head blog-writer at Quirky, Liz Cooper.
Well. It’s right there in the title.
We weren’t joking. Laurel and Brandon’s wedding is to date, the most unique wedding we’ve had the pleasure of photographing. 😲
And you’re about to see why.
You’ll recognize the bright and beautiful red walls of the bridal suite at Hidden Meadows, the wonderful venue near Tamworth run by the The Bee Spot, a venue where Quirky Love enjoys preferred photographer status and feels pretty great about it, too.
Laurel and Brandon chose to set their wedding, thematically, in a richly textured, almost mythical place, right smack in the middle of ancient Viking culture. This period in human history is really important to them and their interpretation of it for their wedding was lovely.
Laurel’s dress was a custom, handmade linen dress from Ireland and let’s face it she looked like she stepped off of a film set. Her flower crown fit the bill like no other has and the facial makeup that both Laurel and Brandon wore gave the whole event a time-travel vibe.
But for me, the real showstopper was the ICONIC sculptural branch which she decorated and held in place of a bouquet. It’s like something out of a fairy tale and Midsommar all at once and I AM HERE for it. Laurel holding it as she walked down the aisle turned a wedding processional into a pagan parade. ❤️
True to style for Nadine, owner/operator of Hidden Meadows, she picked and arranged some purple asters for bouquets for beauty’s sake and for throwing, and you know, just cuz.
Officiant Katie Rose performed a hand binding ceremony instead of a ring exchange, another nod to a place before our time. Their hands were wrapped in a plaid cloth and they celebrated their union as a family with their son under a giant maple tree.
The cloth of the handmade gazebo fluttered in the wind and their union was complete. They then spent a couple of hours with Viara, navigating the beautiful nooks and crannies that make up Hidden Meadows, with gorgeous photos to prove it.
Another beautiful wedding that we were lucky enough to share in. Thank you, Laurel and Brandon!
Flower Crown: Chartreuse Flower Works
Venue: Hidden Meadows, The Bee Spot
Dress: Celtic Fusion
Officiant: Katie Rose
🎉 Bride/ Talented Fibre-artist Entrepreneur: Laurel Spence & her Etsy Shop 🥰 CHECK IT OUT AND SUPPORT LOCAL, y’all.
Viara’s two cents about this viking wedding:
I loved this wedding. There are so many things about it that stood out to me. I’m going to cover a few of them, stream-of-consciousness style here:
metallic makeup on Laurel & green runes printed on Brandon’s face
unicorns throughout! Unicorn puppets, unicorn necklace pendant.. 🦄 have we mentioned how much we like unicorns?!
that “decorated branch”… let me tell you a bit more about this. Laurel told me she found a branch in their back yard, and she decorated it with bits of fabric and other materials. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. It was only later, after their wedding, that I realized what this reminded me of: it’s a tradition we have in Bulgaria as children, which is to decorate branches in a specific way, then “hit” people on the backs with them and they give us money… This tradition has its roots in paganism, too, so it’s interesting that I didn’t make the connection until much later. Anyway, when I saw what Laurel had done with her ‘decorated’ branch… I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY. I don’t think ‘decorate’ really does it justice. It was absolutely spectacular. (but actually it’s no wonder, given that Laurel is a fibre artist) What do you think?
the incredible dress ❤️ it was lace, cotton, & organic jute (so, super breathable, which was important as it was a hot day!) and you can find it right here, along with an entire line of hand-crafted pagan wedding dresses.
Laurel’s wonderful grandmother, whose candid portrait in the fields is one of my all-time favourites
Lindsay, that beautiful and loving little boy who made his mom and dad’s wedding day so complete, by filling it with his love and happiness. There was even a traditional viking father-to-son ceremony, where Brandon got down on one knee and handed over his viking sword to his son, both of them dressed in kilts. Lindsay was a muse that day, for sure 🥰
I could go on and on here, but I’ll stop. Some things are meant to be enjoyed and not overspoken about. So please enjoy the photographs below, and leave a comment of congratulations for the epic couple. They’d love to hear your well-wishes, I’m sure!
And one last thing: I want to thank Nadine and her family for hosting this event at the Hidden Meadows, and for working tirelessly to pull it off seamlessly. Your efforts were felt and so very much appreciated! You personify the very meaning of “family run business”. You all don’t stop running and taking care of small details both in the weeks leading up to each elopement, and on the day itself. You go over and above with your time and services. You’re everything I could have wished for in a happy collaboration. I can’t wait for what the next seasons bring for us, and I’m so excited to photograph at the Hidden Meadows once again 🦄
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