Real Wedding | Becky + Kenta


Our second "real wedding feature" for our "love-themed" month is the wedding of Becky Brisco + Kenta Kimura shot by the amazing BC-based photograher, Jennilee Marigomen.  Becky, a designer at Aritzia, as well as her own shop (beckybrisco.com which we've featured here on the blog before), married her husband Kenta in one of the oldest churches in British Columbia in a beautiful summer ceremony.  Becky explains at the end of the post.  Check out the pics first!

















In Becky's words:


Location:
Our ceremony was at one of the oldest churches in British Columbia. It was built between 1897 and 1902 by the Kwantlen First Nations on Mac Millan Island,their home (across the river from Fort Langley). Fort Langley is about a 40 min drive outside of the city of Vancouver. It is the only heritage building in the township that is connected with First Nations Heritage. Back in the day before the bridge, people used to cross the Fraser River by canoe to attend the church service. Now that it is a heritage building used by the First Nations choir and prayer group, we were able to have any form of ceremony (not strictly Catholic as per most Catholic churches). We also hired a steel drummer for our ceremony who learned contemporary meaningful songs just for us. The First Nations caretakers say the church is spirited, and I must say I am a believer, I had a magical and unforgettable experience with my baby and bridesmaid while we were alone in the small church setting up.

The reception was also in Fort Langley area, and held at a family farm of a childhood friend of the groom. The 100 acre property is now used for movie sets complete with a western village (the saloon was a great back up plan), a small orchard, horse stables, and a small lake. We were able to have a bonfire, and lantern lit trails, and we even used the horse ring to park and serve from the tacofino truck! We were truly blessed, it was everything we ever dreamed of and more.


Dress:
My education and profession is in both garment/accessories design and industrial (product) design. Because my toddler was 1 at the time, i decided to pass on the stress of sewing and drafting my own dress. I collected my inspiration, found my fabric, and a vintage veil and went to a colleague of mine Marek Dal to have my dress made. Marek is an exceptional and experienced sewer, I have seen him revive damaged vintage dresses. He is also an amazing pattern drafter, visionary, amazing problem solver and teacher. He really made my vision come to life. After Marek completed the dress I took some of the fabric flowers off my mother's 60's style wedding dress and sewed them into my dress lining (including a cluster over my heart), so that in a way she could be there with me walking down the aisle and partying with us all at the reception. I wore suede nude Acne heeled booties with the dress. My mother-in-law took a few of us to a local u-pick flower farm the day before the wedding and we picked local in season wild flowers for the table arrangements, bouquets, and boutineers that she put together with her sister, and we picked some flowers for the flower girl head garlands i made. Flower picking was a great experience...a wonderful way to relax in the out doors during the stress of wedding planning. Plus we got to meet local farmers/artisans on the farm, be productive, and bond with my bridesmaid, mother in law, husband-to-be, relatives from Japan, and my baby (strapped to my chest), all at the same time!

I forgot to add...since the day I laid eyes on the church when I started dating Kenta that church called to me.You can see it standing alone across the river when you are in the 'downtown' main road of Fort Langley Village. I really had to hunt the church out and be relentless/perserveerent to get access to it for the wedding but it was so worth the hunt, and kind of a fun process too. Little did I know back then I would marry there and when we started planning the wedding we had no idea we would end up living out here. Now we drive by the church once in a while to 'say hi' . In the stillness of winter, all quiet and closed up, or at the end of summer with bees flying around the flowers, it really is a wise and sacred feeling place.

Thank you Becky and Kenta and Jennilee! Such a beautiful wedding!

See more of Jennilee's work at journal.jennileemarigomen.com
And Becky's work at beckybrisco.com

Jan Halvarson

7 comments:

Gordana.M said...

This just may be the most beautiful unconventional real-life wedding moment ever captured ♥ So renaissance in its feel, no? Thanks Jan :)

Jan Halvarson said...

Gordana - I agree, the baby is so cherub-like - and the feel of it all is captured so well.

Unknown said...

This wedding photographer knocked it out of the park, what a wonderful way to capture the beauty of their day.

Renée Anne Bouffard-McManus said...

Beautiful photography of a lovely day!

Anne-Marie said...

I love the veil and the picture with the little one in the diaper is sooooooo cute =)

Unknown said...

this is amazing, especially that photo of baby in lap - i'm sure that one will go down in the books! Congratulations :)

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Coco Cake Land said...

becky, such beautiful photos... eeks i love how your little mo is the darling of the photographs... sounds like an extraordinary day, you looked beautiful!! xo lyndsay