MELISSA + BRAD // PHILOSOPHY STUDIOS

Feb 7

In honour and celebration of Black History Month, we are focusing all of our blog sharing for the month of February on the beauty of BIPOC couples and weddings! We are so lucky to have a beautiful selection of inspiration to share with our readers and our hope is to pair that inspiration with Black History messaging in order to use our Vineyard Bride platform positively and responsibly.

The first feature in our Black History Month series is this gorgeous wedding from Philosophy Studios. Choosing to celebrate at The Hare Wine Co. in the heart of Niagara Wine Country, Melissa, and Brad created an intimate atmosphere that showcased their love!

We were able to chat with Melissa and Brad a little bit more about their love story and why we should be having important conversations around Black History Month, and they provided the most beautiful insight with us! Read on to learn more about Melissa and Brad.

How did you meet? Through a mutual friend in downtown Ottawa on Elgin Street. Love at first glance... so much cheese, but true.

How long have you been together? We’ve been together for six years.

Tell us about your engagement story. Brad likes to Bird and we both like to hike. I wanted to make it the most natural and comfortable as possible, so the forest was the perfect environment. I created a questionnaire of various birds, and Brad had to guess which one suited the bird descriptions. He did very well with my vague features, but for the last "bird" I described (all his many wonderful features) of course he was stumped... and said it was him! Shortly after, I said there’s one more question. I wrote him a love letter, and finished it off with "will you marry me?".

Tell us about your wedding day plans. The goal was to keep ourselves as calm as possible and soak it all in. Hair and makeup, and lots of prep the morning of was done at mom’s house. We had friends and family over at the house the night before, which was lovely. Our highlight of the day, besides the vows, was our time with Joel! We had so much fun during our photoshoot. Joel is just amazing.

Important conversations have been happening surrounding Black Lives Matter and now with Black History Month on the horizon, we want to offer additional light and education to our readers. Respect and education. I made the year 2021 the year of Black History. I read 8 books on black culture, including political development/repressions, and autobiographies on refugees settling in the west of Canada, as well as slaves who have fled the deep south. The one book that really put it all into perspective was "Colour of Law", which really answers why and how racism got so deep into the system, and the ripple effect that makes an impact on generations that can never be restored or reprimanded.

What would you like to communicate to this platform as we continue our conversations about black history month and interracial marriages? That it doesn’t need to be viewed as a big deal. We all bleed red. Stop creating separation because we think we need to.

Did you experience any discrimination because you are an interracial or black couple while you were wedding planning? Not that we came across. Our first caterer dropped us after meeting with us.

If there are any other points you want us to know, or how we can open up a new line of conversation, please do! Support black shop owners, buy black authors’ books, and support black cyclists! Listen to everyone’s story! It will make you a better person.