July 12th, 2020
Hello Everyone,
We hope you are all well and enjoying the summer months. We are now in the final countdown to our small/big day and we wanted to let you all know how our plans have taken shape. Even though the scale of the wedding is much reduced, we have had to maintain open hearts and minds to adjust to the constantly shifting situation as all of us, including our vendors, cope with the reality and requirements of the pandemic. Things have certainly become even more hectic than they have been before! We are both getting more excited, and - as you may well imagine - nervous! As our last email indicated, the wedding will only consist of the ceremony followed by a small dinner celebration. Although our hearts ache that most of you will not be there to celebrate with us, we are grateful that a few of our friends who live close by will be able to be with us on August 2nd.
Some of you may be wondering why we chose to go ahead at this time, with all of the difficulties of coping with the challenges posed by the pandemic, as well as the fact that almost no one would be able to attend our wedding. From what we’ve heard, most people in our situation have chosen to postpone Until next year or even the year after. We’ve also heard stories that others have been forced to move ahead because their vendors were unwilling to allow a reschedule. We wanted to let you all know that the decision was not taken lightly and it was completely our own choice...it was definitely not an easy choice to make. We had many long conversations over the last several months, together and also with both our parents. We have already been engaged for almost two years, and we’ve been together for almost five now. Additionally, both of us are into our forties...we felt that waiting longer to get married was the more difficult choice. We do hope that you will all understand.
Our plan to have the day captured on video and in pictures has come together and we will share these with you all after the wedding, however it will be four to six weeks before we will be able to get them ourselves. We would also like to ask if you could each send us your current mailing address. Please spare a thought for us on August 2nd, you will all be present in our hearts and minds on that day! Thank you all again for the love and support you have given to us!
Shiraaz and Aimee
May 31st 2020
Hello everyone,
We hope you are all doing well and still staying safe and healthy - mentally and physically, as well as emotionally. There has been such drastic change globally, as well as in our daily lives - sometimes it seems difficult just acknowledging all that has changed, much less accepting and coping with it all. Despite this some things remain the same, the small gestures and messages of love, caring and support for each other that we can sometimes overlook are still there, and have now become more important than ever. You are all very much in our thoughts and prayers.
The situation now is very different than we had envisioned for our special day that we were looking forward to sharing with all of you. Currently where we live in the province of BC things have finally begun to look up. The provincial government has already implemented Phase 2 of their restart plan, and some businesses have slowly and carefully begun to reopen as they adapt to new ways of doing things under enhanced safety protocols. The province is set to move to Phase 3 from June to September and people can begin travelling throughout BC if transmission rates remain low or in decline. However we are painfully aware that this is not the case for everyone. The US/Canada border remains closed and international travel is still not allowed in most countries around the world. Even within Canada, some provinces are still dealing with outbreaks and remain significantly restricted. Because of this most of our closest family members remain unable to attend our wedding.
With all of the uncertainty with regards to the future - whether within the next few months or even into next year, we have decided that we still do want to get married on August 2nd this year. However with all of this in mind we have made the difficult choice to scale back our wedding day significantly. We will only be having a very small "elopement style" ceremony on the day of Aug 2nd and there will not be any reception party afterwards. We are still working out the details of what this may look like, but we are hoping that at least a small group of people may be able to attend. We have also been able to retain a photographer and videographer to record the event so we will be able to at least share our experience with you all in some small way. Currently our wedding venue has reopened for business, but with many restrictions required to maintain health and safety requirements for both their guests and their own staff. Their hotel style rooms remain closed as well as their restaurant, and they are only allowing bookings for guests from within the province for their cottages and cabins. Despite this, we are hopeful that some of you may be willing and able to attend - however please know that we do absolutely understand and have accepted that most of you will not be able to attend for myriad reasons, whether due to restrictions and regulations in force or simply for the health and safety of your own loved ones. If you do feel you are able to attend, we would be happy to have you celebrate with us in as safe a manner as we can make it under the circumstances. Please let us know and we will communicate all of the details we have available as of now to help you plan. Whether you are able to attend or not, we wish to thank each and every one of you for the love and support you have given us.
Please be safe, healthy and most of all happy! When this all ends, and it most definitely will end - we look forward to commemorating and celebrating our special day with all of you again in some small way in the future.
If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
Shiraaz and Aimee
604-992-0761 or 604-715-2012
PS: We're leaving our webpage up as a memento of the experience we were hoping to share with all of you
April 17th, 2020
Hello everyone,
We hope you are all safe, healthy and doing well amidst all of the unprecedented changes taking place around the world as we all cope with this pandemic. We wanted to reach out to everyone and let you know we are thinking about you all in this challenging time.
With regards to our wedding in August we understand that it would not be foremost in people's minds in this situation, but we also wanted to keep you informed about how our plans are faring. We are still trying to be optimistic, however as much as we are hoping for the best we are also planning contingencies. At this point there is still a large amount of uncertainty and it is difficult to say for sure what things will be like during the summer - right now there are different measures in place depending on where you are, but most restrictions have been consistently extended as the pandemic has progressed. With this in mind, as much as we would love if everyone came we may need to scale back the scope of the wedding significantly as people may not even be able to attend. In addition it may be unsafe or unwise for a large gathering where people need to travel from many different areas. Our primary concern is for everyone's safety and well-being. We have been in contact with all of our vendors, including the lodge and looked into their cancellation policies - the lodge itself is currently closed to the public as per BC provincial regulations and recommendations pertaining to the pandemic and will likely remain closed for as long as those are in force.
We would like to reiterate that if anyone feels they cannot attend for whatever reason we absolutely understand. We have not yet made a definite decision on what we will do; whether scaling back the event or rescheduling entirely, but we will make a clear choice and communicate this with everyone by May 31st. This is 2 months before the wedding date, so hopefully this is enough time for everyone to adjust as necessary based on whatever route we go. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, take care of yourselves and all of your loved ones. If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
Shiraaz and Aimee
604-992-0761 or 604-715-2012
March 12th, 2020
Hello everyone,
we’re sure you have all been following the news with regard to the COVID19 virus and may be wondering if this will impact our wedding plans. Especially with the latest news that the World Health Organization has now declared a global pandemic, we felt it extremely important to communicate with you all about our plans going forward. We are very concerned about your health and safety as our guests and we are monitoring the situation closely as it has been evolving quite rapidly. There are already some travel restrictions and airline flight cancellations around the world. As a result of this we are all facing uncertainty with making plans for August and many factors are completely outside of our control. We are aware that some of you have already made plans, setting aside time, making reservations and purchasing tickets. However if anyone is hesitant to travel to attend our wedding we totally understand if you feel the need to change your plans, we know this could impact the health and safety of your own loved ones - please do let us know if you will not be attending. We want to assure you that we are still getting married, and we very much want to share this wonderful moment with everyone. We are still in the process of weighing our options and choosing how best to move forward, and we will keep everyone updated as we respond to this unexpected situation. If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us.
Shiraaz and Aimee
604-992-0761 or 604-715-201