Brooke and Kody

— Wedding Story —

Brooke and Kody

PHOTOGRAPHER TARA HILL STUDIOS tarahillstudios.com

Brooke and Kody are from Edson, Alberta and have known one another since high

school. Both have a natural connection to the outdoors and living close to Jasper National Park allows them to regularly access nature. “We love travelling and, since large-scale travel isn’t always easy to do, we spend a lot of time adventuring around our area,” Brooke says. When the couple began planning their wedding, they knew mountains would play an important role. They researched a lot of mountain wedding locations and became frustrated with pricing and availability.

“We actually kind of just stumbled upon Fernie as a wedding location; we had both been looking for additional options when we came across the Fernie Wedding Guide. After looking into Fernie venues more, we felt it was the perfect place! It’s about half-way for both sides of our families and Kody actually has some family that lives in the area, which made it even more perfect!”

Brooke and Kody’s entire wedding took place at the Fernie Alpine Resort. They stayed at the Lizard Creek Lodge, hosted their ceremony at the stunning Elk Top Platform, “riding up and down the chairlift made the day even more unique,” they share. “Some of our guests were even visited by a cow moose and her calf right before the ceremony started!” Brooke did her own hair and makeup and was surprised the morning of with several bouquets of flowers from the Green Petal by Kody. Lynn Rogers was the marriage officiant, and they chose Tara Hill as their photographer. “She was fun, silly, chill, but also so professional. We are in love with the photos she took of our wedding and we are so grateful to have them forever,” Brooke says.

The reception was held at the legendary Griz Bar.

“We chose this venue because it had a laidback feel and we really just wanted a fun, relaxed atmosphere for our wedding of 60 guests. It was perfect! The food was delicious, the staff serving us were fun and professional, and we had an awesome dance party at the end of the night. Because of COVID, we ended up having

An ideal wedding venue located at the base of Fernie Alpine Resort

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45 guest rooms & fully-equipped condos. Heated indoor pool & outdoor hot tub. Great wedding & group rates on rooms. Ample parking. www.grizinn.com 1-800-661-0118

Features include a stone fireplace, cathedral ceilings, stage with dance floor, and a large patio for your ceremony & reception with amazing views of the surrounding mountains.Restaurant space for up to 150 guests. www.rustyedge.net 5369 Ski Hill Rd, Fernie

our dance floor outside on the deck, which I would highly recommend doing even in nonCOVID times. It was fun and gave everyone a chance to cool off and get some fresh air. Jim Paul DJ’ed our reception and he did a fantastic job - everyone had a great time and he played awesome music for a great party!”

Such a great idea – why haven’t we ever thought of that! Sounds like such a fun and perfect celebration, congratulations to you, Brooke and Kody.

What is your favourite moment of your wedding day?

Picking a favourite moment from our wedding day is really hard - the whole day was amazing! We would have to say that the chairlift down from the ceremony was one of our favourite moments because we finally had some time to sit together after the craziness of the morning and let it sink in that we were finally husband and wife.

What advice would you give other couples planning their own wedding?

There are absolutely going to be bumps in the road. Whether these hurdles come while planning, the week before the actual wedding day, or the day of, the most important thing is that you’re going to be marrying your best friend and love of your life. The other stuff doesn’t really matter in the end. And soak up every minute of it! Take time to enjoy the little moments, because the day goes by so quickly and then it’s just a memory.

What were some of the unique elements of your day?

The most unique element of our day included riding the chairlift up to and down from the ceremony site. We also made a point of incorporating some more personal touches and family heirlooms into our day to make it even more personal and special.