Sylvan Lake Elopement during COVID-19 | Shelby + Kody

How to PIVOT during a global pandemic

Despite the COVID-19 global pandemic, Shelby + Kody found a way to rearrange their plans so they could still tie the knot in a beautiful location with 10 of their closest friends and family members.

While their original Summer wedding plans included a big ceremony and lots of real sunflowers - these two didn’t want to miss out on saying ‘I Do’ so they quickly came up with a new plan where they’d be able to have their legal ceremony and arrange to have a big reception + party later this year, or next!

The pair were lucky enough to have a close friend who’d let them host their nuptials at their private property on Sylvan Lake. They stood on a small balcony overlooking the lake, the sky was strung with beautiful clouds and the day was absolutely perfect.

I can’t even begin to explain to you the contagious positivity Shelby + Kody exuded all day. Honestly, it was so incredible. Not only did the pandemic wreck their original plans, but it also had a big impact on their new ones. The flowers they ordered didn’t come in time, and yet they managed to figure that out last minute as well.

Not even the frigid cold breeze coming off the lake could wipe the smiles off their faces.

I have to be honest - I LOVE love but I don’t really cry that often during weddings (with the exception of my uncontrollable sobbing during my speech as the maid of honour at my best friends wedding… but whatever). That being said, I actually did cry (hard) during S + K’s ceremony and had to do everything in my power to pull myself together during their vows.

I’m not sure if it was the intimacy of the ceremony, or the actual true-once-in-a-lifetime connection these two have that really just made the waterworks burst out of me. But I can tell you connections as powerful as theirs don’t come often and I am so grateful I could be a part of the day.

And this is why intimate weddings + elopements KICK ASS. Maybe it’s a selfish reason but I really got to know every single person there. I had everyone’s names down pat, I was able to crack jokes, connect, and really create an authentic connection + experience between myself, the couple and ALL the guests.

I got to feel and experience the emotion with a small group of strangers, and now I tear up whenever I look back at these photos + the slideshow I created. I guess at a certain point I stopped being the photographer and felt like I really became a friend.

Shelby + Kody - thank you a thousand times over for having me be part of this special day, it will be one that’s etched in my memory and stays close to my heart for the rest of my life.