Fall winery weddings will always be a treat to share on the Vineyard Bride blog and today’s feature from Philosophy Studios is no exception.

A playful love. Commitment and heart.

Balancing each other, a match of two souls.

Intertwined through time and space.

This woman. Grounded and true. She is a knowledge seeker.

Our sisterhood's keeper. The guiding force. Passion and justness.

Seeing beyond illusions. She crossed cultural lines.

To the island; she crossed, she crossed.

This man. Determined and compassionate.

Representing ancestral truth. Remembering.

He loves. He laughs. He shares his heart.

He found his partner, yet not to part.

Forever they live, in each other's souls.

- Danielle Deschenes, sister of the bride

Photography: Philosophy Studios | Venue: Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery

How long had you and your partner been together prior to your wedding? We met during our last year at Brock University, so we'd been together for about eight and a half years before we got married.

How did you feel the morning of your wedding? Janine - I felt pretty relaxed the morning of the wedding—maybe too relaxed, because I forgot to steam my dress until the 11th hour! Haha. My bridesmaids, family, and I had a casual breakfast and some mimosas while the hair stylists and makeup artists worked their magic. Kain popped over for some food, too—but I made sure he was out of there before I started getting ready!

What drew you to your venue? Having lived in or around the Niagara region since 2009, we knew that we wanted to get married at a winery. We looked at quite a few options and really loved how Ravine combined a relaxed winery vibe for the ceremony with a modern and chic reception space, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a beautiful terrace. We also immediately got the sense that a wedding at Ravine would go smoothly because of the winery's experienced coordinator and staff.

After choosing your wedding venue, did it impact the direction you took for styling and decor? Definitely! Though the view from the reception space really speaks for itself, the room is a blank slate and we definitely wanted to create a welcoming and warm vibe. We felt that focusing on colourful florals would really be the best way to achieve that and our florist, Brad Baker with BBBlooms, knocked it out of the park. He was able to repurpose the ceremony florals to make our head table pop. Keeping the wide-open room in mind, he also suggested that we add some height and visual interest with centrepieces dotted along the long, family-style harvest tables. I'd originally been thinking greenery with some flowers dotted in, but the centrepieces looked amazing and really brought some beauty to the room with the vibrant fall colours.

What inspired your colour scheme? Since our wedding was in October, I wanted to lean into fall colours. At the same time, my personal style is more neutral, so after a LOT of searching for inspiration we settled on a fall colour palette with a mix of bright and muted tones, and some neutrals dotted in. To compliment the wine reds, burnt oranges, and soft neutrals, we went with dark emerald bridesmaid dresses.

How difficult was it to decide on your colour scheme? It did take some time to settle on the colour scheme! We were originally thinking of going with terracotta dresses, but after thinking on it, felt the emerald green had a more classic and slightly more formal feel to match with the modern reception space at Ravine.

Were your florals exactly how you imagined them? The florals were even more beautiful than I had imagined! Brad at BBBLooms understood what we were looking for and also really had a vision for the space based on his own experience. He suggested using floral pillars for the ceremony, which we absolutely loved and then repurposed behind the head table at the reception. The colours and style were exactly what we asked for. I am still swooning over pictures of my bouquet!

Did you incorporate any personal accents into your day? If so, what and why? On our wedding day, we really wanted to be sure to honour family members who have passed and could not be there physically. We decided to do a memory table and to have our officiant include a moment of silence during our ceremony to remember them. I also wore my grandma's pearl earrings, and we decided to have Kain take a few photos wearing a jacket that belonged to his dad, Lenny, who passed away two years ago. His presence was particularly missed that day, so those photos are super meaningful for us.

Did the day go according to plan? For the most part, it did!

Would you have done anything differently planning-wise? Something I could have done better is to lean on others and accept help! Delegating can be tough when each decision feels so important, but looking back, the small things didn't make as much of a difference as I thought they would. Definitely could have passed on some of those things to close friends and family who offered.

What advice would you give to a couple who are in the process of planning their wedding? I would say to start making to-do lists as early as you can and write down anything that comes to mind. (If you have any friends or family who have recently gotten married, ask if they could share their to-do lists with you!) Not only did that help us remember and organize everything that needed to be done, but it was satisfying to check things off the lists as the day got closer. Also, hire vendors that you can trust. We read TONS of reviews and really thought through our decisions, and it was great to be able to sit back and let our vendors work their magic on the day. Lastly, the tiny details really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. I heard this advice a lot from others and it's hard to follow it sometimes, but it's true. I remember agonizing over the shade of my veil for a couple of days. I almost bought a new one. But it was the last thing on my mind in the days leading up to and on our big day. It really didn't matter and was not worth stressing about!