TRUE LOVE: Whitney & Darren
We absolutely adore this couple. Darren and Whitney married in Saskatoon in the fall of 2016. The details of their special day take our breath away just as much as the beautiful moments of their engagement do. Today, we're pleased to feature Darren and Whitney's engagement story. It's wonderful - from their love story to that perfect proposal ...and not to forget, one very stunning ring. We'll be sharing the details of their wedding soon too, so stop by again!
How did you meet?
We met about 7 years ago through a mutual friend. A small gathering with friends, wine, and lots of laughs and we’ve been together ever since!
You two are a great match! What do you enjoy doing together in our free time?
Our common interests are traveling wherever and whenever we can! We are always in search of our next getaway and planning excursions (alone or with groups of friends and family). We also love to entertain in our new beautiful home and we both love to cook (and eat!). Other favorite activities include long walks, movies and simply spending quality together.
Tell us about the proposal – we hear it was amazing!
The proposal: We got engaged the last weekend in July of 2014. The weekend before, Darren threw me a big surprise birthday party and oddly, everyone was expecting a ring that day so they sensed the time was near! The next weekend (engagement weekend) we were on a road trip to Kelowna to visit friends and family (and a few vineyards, of course!). And on the way, we stopped at the Fairmont hotel in Lake Louise for lunch and hello, the view! Ironically, the grounds workers were preparing and setting up for a wedding outside, but before we hit the road again, Darren was adamant on snapping the perfect picture by the crystal blue waters. We headed towards the pathway and Darren finds a lady to take a picture, unbeknownst to me, he was instructing this lady to keep taking pictures as he got down on one knee. Well, she did one heck of a job! She snapped about 40 pictures and you can see every thought that went through my head. From, “okay are we done yet?” To, “I’m not sitting on your knee!” To, tears of joy! I can still remember my response to him “Are you sure?” lolNaturally, the area was scattered with tourists and we could hear clapping and whistling for several minutes thereafter. On the walk back to the truck, starring at this rock on my finger, he joked he bought the ring from Jan months ago andhid it in the laundry room because he knew I’m rarely in there! (insert eye roll here) The rest of the drive flew by as we made calls to family and friends to announce the big news!
.... and that ring
Ahh, the ring! A few months prior to the engagement, we went looking at rings. We both preferred a round solitaire with a clean platinum band for the engagement ring. Oddly, he wanted the big rock and I wanted the smaller one... (I can just picture the ladies faces reading that sentence. I'm practical, okay!) We both discussed a rough timeline as we had been together for four years at that point. Because we had a smaller wedding in mind, he wanted to invest a little more in the rings, with the justification that "a wedding is one day while a ring is forever". We went home to investigate our options and he told me we'd have to keep saving and that it would likely be about a year or so. Secretly, Darren went back to GMG in just weeks, and custom designed the ring and selected the perfect two karat diamond. Jan and her team were so excellent to deal with! Three years later, and we still have the amazing service we experienced the first day.
We’re really looking forward to featuring your wedding day in a follow up post, but until then, could you tell us what the three most important details were when planning your wedding day?
The three most important aspects of the wedding while planning were:
Location. Originally we imagined (and our friends hoped for) a destination wedding because we like to travel so often. But we concluded the wedding had to be close so some of our most special guests could attend (Grandma ain’t flyin’ to Greece)! We both are still very pleased with this decision… #supportlocal
Size. We both wanted a smaller wedding – under 150. It’s true, creating your guest list is one of the toughest tasks, but we stuck to it!
Season & Décor. We both wanted a fall wedding; it’s our favorite time of year! And the décor/decorations: elegant, chic and slightly rustic.
Thank you so much, Whitney and Darren for sharing your love story with us. It's truly beautiful. Many thanks to Forty7 Imagery for the beautiful photographs!
