Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/582166
realweddings.ca 25 VanDusen Botanical Garden provided the perfect setting for Danielle and David's "Love Grows" theme. Keeping it in the family, the bride and her mother, a former florist, created all of the wedding-day flowers together. "is is it." ose are the words both Danielle Roberts and David Repsch use to describe the day they €rst laid eyes on one another. "We just knew straight away we'd met the right person," says David. Having met on eHarmony almost three years ago, the newly married couple reŠects on their €rst date with fondness. "We instantly just clicked and felt like we already knew so much about each other," recalls Danielle. A year-and-a-half later, on a gorgeous spring evening near Point Atkinson, West Vancouver, David dropped to one knee and proposed, taking Danielle by complete surprise. David, a ship's o"cer, was about to leave for four to €ve months of work on the Great Lakes. "I couldn't wait," he says. "I proposed the same day I picked up the ring!" e couple quickly settled on VanDusen Botanical Garden as their wedding venue. Both wanted to be heavily involved in creating all of the décor and details for their day, though they started o› with no set theme in mind. Still, achieving an organic yet modern aesthetic was key for both of them. "We wanted everyone to feel that our wedding was unique and told our story as a couple," Danielle says. "Dave and I are both vegans and really care a lot about the environment and being sustainable. In the end, we had this theme of 'Love Grows' sort of create itself." In the months before the wedding, David created all the wood elements associated with their day, including the arbour, planter boxes, cupcake holders and even the smallest details like the place cards at each table. Danielle set to work on intricate touches like the table runners and napkins, all of which she sewed with the help of her bridesmaids. Taking a DIY approach to so much of the décor allowed the couple to invest more into other important aspects of their day. "It meant we could a›ord to put our budget towards things we really wanted, like a great videographer, photographer, the venue and the food," explains David. "And I got the big fancy dress, a reception dress, and all of the things I never thought I could a›ord," adds Danielle. While guests were left with no doubt about the attention to detail put into the wedding, it was an impromptu speech from the mother of the bride – who was also the Šorist – that made everyone realize just how personalized things were. "Dani's mom decided to speak and told everyone about all of the items that Dani and I had made, like the name tags that were once a branch on a tree in our backyard that we cut down, dried and painted," says David. "After that people were even more in awe. ere were very few things at our wedding that weren't handmade. It was a lot of work, but we're so glad we did it." Despite being intimately involved in the creation of their wedding day, Danielle and David were still left speechless at every point, no more so than during their ceremony. "I had a really long walk down the aisle and at €rst I was so nervous,"