A Wedding Interview with the Newlyweds

In case you missed it, Colin and I got married in September and I’m now sharing all about our wedding day on the blog. (I promise we’ll get back to travel blog posts soon!) In this post, I interviewed Colin and myself to get our takes on the wedding day and the wedding planning process. We didn’t look at each other’s answers and (mostly) answered separately, so it’s fun to see where our thoughts line up and where we differ.

I’d like to think we did things pretty differently for our wedding – not following any wedding traditions that didn’t work for us. It was small, casual and budget-friendly but also intimate, elegant and so filled with love. It was exactly what we wanted and definitely a day we look back on with so much fondness, even the stressful bits that didn’t go to plan.

For a little behind the scenes look at our wedding and planning process, check out our responses below! And thanks to A Practical Wedding for inspiring some of these questions.

What 3 words would you use to describe your wedding day?

Colin: Intimate, (a little) casual, and fun

Riana: Personal, intimate, and love-filled

What was your vision for your big day?

Colin: Our vision was a small celebration where we could talk to everyone, enjoy good food, be in a great venue, and spend time with the people we love.

Riana: A small group of our loved ones celebrating us and being together.

How long did you have to plan your wedding and was it enough time?

Colin: About 11 months. It felt like enough time. I don’t think more time would’ve have changed anything but less time would have been tough.

Riana: We started planning at 11 months out but didn’t have the venue secured until about 7 months. At certain points it felt like we had too much time but then in the last few weeks, we were rushed and things felt more stressful. But I think it would always have been like that at the very end, whether we had more or less time.

What were your first steps of wedding planning?

Colin: The venue? And trying to figure out what we wanted. We sat down and did some initial brainstorming together.

Riana: The first step was actually coming up with the idea for the venue with my mom! But after that, it was definitely sitting down with Colin to come up with the things we cared most about for the day.

Why did you choose your outfit? How did you feel in it?

Colin: I wore a custom green three-piece suit with no tie and a plaid vest. I wanted something that fit really well and wasn’t just a standard black suit. I’ve always liked green and thought it was more unique and fun than the blues and greys you always see. I felt good in it! I’m not someone who wears suits often and I never get anything tailored or wear anything expensive, so it felt good to be in something that fit well.

Riana: I wanted something affordable, comfortable and pretty. I wanted my dress to be simple so I could go to the bathroom by myself (my worst nightmare was asking people to hold my dress while I peed!). And a simple dress would best fit our more casual/at home vibe. I chose my dress with my mom (who generously paid for it). We bought the floor sample so we got a discount and went home with it that day. There was a bit of drama with the alterations but it all worked out in the end. I felt very pretty in my dress… but it was a little tight!

Where did you get married? Why did you choose your venue?

Colin: Because it was free! But seriously, we chose it because of the great rooftop balcony where we envisioned the ceremony happening. It was the perfect size to host our group.

Riana: We got married at my great-aunt’s rooftop condo in Yaletown, Vancouver. We chose it because it’s a really beautiful and elegant space but still comfortable with a homey vibe. We really liked that the view would be the decor so there was no need to really decorate.

What was your first dance song? Parent/child dance song?

Riana: Our first dance song was Glad You Exist by Dan + Shay and our parent/child dance song was In Case You Don’t Live Forever by Ben Platt. We actually chose our first dance song because I stumbled upon a video of the musician we hired for our wedding playing it, and loved it so much. (Watch the video here!) And the parent/child song has been a favourite of ours for a while now. The lyrics are so beautiful.

Check out our wedding story for more on how the live musician and parent/child dance came together!

Where did you allocate the most funds and where did you allocate the least?

The most: Photography

The least: Officiant (friend discount!), venue (family discount!), music (gifted and then a Spotify playlist)

Is there anything you wish you had saved or splurged on?

Colin: Nothing

Riana: I wish I had saved on getting my hair done, since the curls fell out almost immediately. And I wish we had splurged on another hour or so of photography as it would’ve been nice to capture more candid moments of our guests from our reception.

What was totally worth it? What was totally not worth it?

Colin: Worth it: All the food. People seemed to really enjoy the food we served and I’m glad we didn’t spend more on a fancy caterer. Not worth it: The floral stands. We only used them for our 20 minute ceremony.

Riana: Worth it: Spending time writing our own vows and figuring out how to stream it through Zoom and YouTube so people could join us. Not worth it: The floral stands. Not only did we only use them for 20 minutes but I spent so much time researching affordable rental options, buying faux flowers, decorating them, and coordinating delivery and return.

What was the most unexpected good moment of the day? Unexpected bad moment?

Colin: Good: When our guests entered our ceremony and we got to hug everyone before they sat down. We hadn’t planned on doing that but it just happened and it was the perfect way to start our ceremony. Bad: Feeling anxious as we started getting ready. But I got over it and didn’t let it ruin our day.

Riana: Good: Everyone cheering when I said “my husband” during our speech. It was just such a joyous little moment that made me take a step back and smile. Bad: My dress being too tight meaning I didn’t get to enjoy as much of the delicious food!

What was the best moment of your wedding day?

Colin: Our vows

Riana: Our vows

Share a few favourite memories that will stick with you forever.

Colin & Riana:

• Hugging all of our guests as they came into the ceremony space
• The speeches our family members gave
• Guests coming up and telling us how much they loved our wedding, the food and the venue
• Seeing guests from both sides of our families interacting with each other

What was the funniest thing that happened on the day?

Colin: Riana’s sister, Jade, forcing people to sign our guest book. It was hilarious but it worked – every single person signed!

Riana: The rugby ladies who crashed our photo shoot!

What was the most stressful thing about planning your wedding?

Colin: Everything we had to do in the month before and stressing about the rain.

Riana: DIY-ing everything and trying to keep everyone in the loop and happy.

Did your wedding go as you expected?

Colin: Yes

Riana: Pretty much!

What is the best practical advice you have for your planning self?

Colin: Listen to Riana!

Author note: I didn’t make him say that! 

Riana: Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Is there anything you wish you knew before you started planning your wedding?

Colin: That everything would work out perfectly.

Riana: That the last few weeks would be stressful and to try and stay relaxed and focused on what really matters.

Looking back, is there anything you’d change or do differently?

Colin: Nope

Riana: Nothing major

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Thank you so much for indulging me in some more wedding talk. I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes peek into our planning process and thoughts on the wedding day!