S & R @ Kicking Horse Mtn resort

Samantha (Sam) and Roland (Lanny) have been together for a decade in fact the wedding date was ten years to the day of them meeting. They have two sweet children who got to be a part of the celebration for their parents. Not many kids get to say they watched their parents get married on top of a mountain, drink countless Shirley temples and then have a dance party.

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort was host to Sam and Lanny’s quaint wedding. These lovelies traveled from Quebec and had never been to the top of the resort till their rehearsal dinner the night before their wedding. They were joined by family and their closest friends, from out east, who were in ahh of the vast views. Even with the forest fire smoke in the air the mountains still stood out.

Sam and her brides maids enjoyed the morning getting ready in the Eagle Eye suit above the restaurant at the top of the resort. It was a busy morning with each of them getting their hair done, steaming dresses, applying makeup and taking naps. Lanny and the boys got suited up in the Glacier Lodge at the base of the gondola. There was some tie tieing, shoe lace belt making, a bit of scotch, hanky folding and more scotch tasting. The gondola commute views never disappoint, especially if Boo the grizzly bear is cooling off in his pond. On this day the views were slightly obscured by the local forest fire smoke. Thinking positively about this, the smoke adds a lot of mood with Sams black dress and Lannys black suite. It was thoughts like this that kept my mind off of the fact that I had friends protecting their farms from this fire.

The 5:30 pm ceremony on the patio of the Eagle Eye Restaurant was performed by Alaina Lorriman. Sam and Lanny recited their own personal vows which made everyone laugh and cry. The rings were carefully guarded by their son who was the ring security. The flower girls had their moment after the ceremony to blow their bubbles.

At the end of the ceremony the smoke from the fire down the valley started to plume above the mountains. You can see it in the photos at the end of ceremony a big billowy pink cloud. This explained the power outages we were having as the massive line that feeds Golden was damaged. The resort has a back up generator so the evening proceeded. Starting with an open bar where the guests settled up to try the feature drinks. With the guests well looked after Sam, Lanny and I went for a little wander around the top of the mountain to capture the them and the quickly fading views. The smoke thickening was definitely felt on the lungs and the lens, but it was still an amazing experience for these two Quebecers to be walking around on top of mountains. Being avid hikers is a reason they chose Kicking Horse as their destination venue. We returned to the Restaurant as the buffet dinner was being put out. All the guests were still enjoying the views from the bar that over look the Purcell mountains. Dinner was amazing.

The first dance was on the patio. At this point the smoke had set in and the views became very obscured. But it was still an amazing place to have a first dance on the edge of a mountain. The kids were definitely fired up for a dance party which I am sure they enjoyed. I jumped on the Gondola and headed home.

Florals arranged by by Mountain Meadows Flowers