Wedding Date on Jun 26, 2020

Wow. Where do we even start? This story. This couple. This day. This wedding was like nothing we had ever experienced, and for that matter and to our knowledge, nothing anyone has experienced! This wedding took place on the border between Canada and the USA. The aisle that Savannah’s father walked her down was the borderline and behind their archway stands the marker signifying the two countries. As you might guess, Ryan and Savannah are from two separate countries; Ryan from the state of Washington, USA and Savannah from BC, Canada. When their profiles matched on Hinge just over a year ago, I’m sure they had no idea what was in store and where their relationship would lead them. I can’t speak too much on their behalf, but what I do know is that when they won our 2020 giveaway and Ryan messaged us days before our shoot was scheduled to let us know that he was going to propose to Savannah during the shoot, I knew that this guy was madly in love with his girlfriend and that he was determined to marry her. Our giveaway shoot with them was amazing and we quickly became friends with them after that. We knew they were planning for a short engagement so when the pandemic started getting worse and talk of the border shutting down began, they were in our daily thoughts. We watched as the border closed and they were separated. We watched their May wedding date pass by and thought of them often as they tossed ideas around of when, where and how they could get married. Discouraged at times I’m sure, and with the dream of a large wedding in the woods behind them they waited, prayed and hoped that they could somehow come up with a plan to just be together. Weeks went by and with the help of many generous, willing and persistent friends and family a plan was derived. Savannah had decided to go to the States on a visitors visa to be with Ryan and in the meantime, owners of two properties (one in the States bordering Canada, the other in Canada bordering the States) had offered up their property as a means for them to have their wedding with both sides of their family able to be present to witness. The wedding planning began and they were set to have their pandemic-intimate-border-elopement in two countries at once!! With quick but careful preparation, this wedding came together beautifully and in their words they “wouldn't have it any other way”. Their intimate elopement story is truly one of a kind and it will be one they tell for the rest of their lives I’m sure. The almost invisible borderline was respected by both parties, hand sanitizer was readily available, masks were worn by many, the sweet treats were carefully prepped and social distancing was practiced all while one of the most beautiful weddings took place in front of our eyes. Savannah and Ryan, Jonah and I could not be more happy that you won our 2020 giveaway and gave us one of the wildest experiences we’ve yet to have in our wedding career! We look forward to the day we can have a normal hangout and talk about less life changing things like your favourite ice cream flavour or weird tech jargon to do with the newest camera release.