Even before her boyfriend Blaine Zimmer popped the question, upcycling aficionado and bride-to-be Becky Schick began gathering decor for her ceremony and reception venues. “It was August and I had started to slowly collect things because I knew it was the end of the garage sale season,” Becky admits.

She also had a feeling a proposal was on the horizon because the couple had already picked out a ring. “I’m very particular so we actually designed my engagement ring together, but I had no idea when the proposal was coming,” Becky explains.

Rummage sale season came and went. Then one Saturday afternoon in October a friend invited Becky to join her on a work trip from Calgary to Lethbridge. “About an hour-and-a-half into the drive we randomly pulled over. That is when I noticed Blaine standing in a field of windmills, all dressed up with a smile on his face. He had thoughtfully placed glasses of wine, cupcakes and a vintage Coke bottle filled with flowers on a cute little bistro set, and he was patiently awaiting my arrival,” Becky  confides. Film fanatic Blaine had also set up cameras to capture the surprise proposal and Becky’s reaction.

Considering Blaine’s interest in cinema and Becky’s love for all things vintage, there was no better place for the two to tie the knot  than Calgary’s Plaza Theatre, an historical building built in the late 1920s. “I had always imagined getting married in a theatre rather than a church,” Becky says. “And I absolutely love anything classic Hollywood.”

Becky transformed the theatre into a romantic ceremony venue with hundreds of candle-filled Mason jars, which lined the aisle and stage where the couple said their “I dos.”

Unbeknownst to the bride, Blaine made his entrance down the candlelit aisle on a custom-made skateboard,. “If he would have told me I would have said ‘no,’ mainly because of all the candles,” Becky volunteers. “But Blaine said he had taken the necessary precautions by seating his dad, who is the captain of a fire hall, and other firefighter friends, strategically along the aisles.” This wasn’t the only surprise Blaine had in store for Becky. After the couple was pronounced man and wife Blaine expressed his love on the big screen with a video he had made, which included footage from the day the pair became engaged.

After the ceremony, the couple and their 240 guests headed to a local community centre to celebrate. “The hall look better than I envisioned,” Becky reveals. She had spent the months leading up to the wedding collecting crochet tablecloths, vases, milk crates, vintage picture frames, glass jars and scraps of material to totally transform the space. The bride created her own lanterns by covering three-foot balloons with doilies while her parents crafted table numbers using wood, nails and yarn. Becky even made her own antique brooch-topped wedding cake, which was the centrepiece of a sweet table spread with desserts contributed by family and friends.

Like any good upcycler, Becky hung on to her expansive decor collection so she could share the love after her wedding day was done by holding a garage sale of her own for other newly-engaged collectors on the hunt for unique treasures.

Becky Schick and Blaine Zimmer, June 30, 2012, Calgary, Alberta.

Photography courtesy of Abby Taylor from Abby Plus Dave.

Vendors
Ceremony location: Plaza Theatre
Reception location: Chestermere Recreation Centre
Bridal gown: James Clifford Collection from Deza’s Bridal
Catering: JoJo’s BBQ
Cupcakes: WisK Cupcakes (306-730-8939)
Flowers: Rachelle Tetz Leggott and Patsy Tetz of Frugalista Floral Design ([email protected])
Hair: Libertee Stilborn from Pure.Form Salon
Makeup: Stacey deBoer Artistry (403-988-3864)
Day-of co-ordinator: Amber Roy from Amber Roy Events & Weddings
Music: Revolution DJ Services

See more photos from this vintage, DIY wedding in Calgary, Alberta.

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