Rowena’s Inn Wedding | Harrison Mills, BC | Jess + Jenn

Jess and Jenn’s Rowena’s Inn wedding was filled with the purest of joy from start to finish.

These two met in London, Ontario as roommates. They went to the same university in Ottawa, at the same time, studying in the same areas, and knew some of the same people, but never met until they were in a different city after they both graduated. Four months later, they went from roommates to best friends, to girlfriends.

Jess and Jenn’s wedding day took place on a hot August summer day. The weather was incredible, sunny with blue skies.

Here’s some photos of how their wedding day started at the Rowena’s Inn On The River in Harrison Mills.

Jess and Jenn both wore beautiful Anthropologie Weddings gowns, Jess wore an A-line tulle wedding dress and Jenn wore a deep V-neck satin gown with an open back. Each dress complemented Jess & Jenn’s bodies and personalities perfectly. Also, Jenn decided to surprise Jess with an outfit change: Jenn opted to change for the reception part of the day wearing a pair of high-waist white pants with a V-neck satin blouse with an open back. It was so special witnessing two first looks with these lovely folks!

In terms of the wedding party, Jess and Jess had a pretty big one: they had a total of 13 people! They wanted to make sure to include all of their friends/siblings, near and far, and to celebrate with all of them together. They even had a first look at each one’s wedding party and then with the two of them together after their first look. So many emotions and reactions, I loved photographing all of these remarkable moments! 

Their wedding party wore Anthropologie Weddings bridesmaids’ gowns, all in mismatched styles and different shades of green. 

Jess and Jenn decided to have a first look with their dog, Benny. It was such a tender moment! I loved the fact that they included their fur friend to their wedding from the beginning.

Benny was also wearing the cutest bow tie ever!

Rowena’s Inn Wedding Ceremony

Jess and Jenn wanted to have a venue that had a beautiful outdoor space for the ceremony as they are both nature lovers and having a venue that included indoor and outdoor options was a must for them. 

I loved this venue for its breathtaking outdoor ceremony space: they got married in an old-growth forest under a rustic arbor decorated with gorgeous floral arrangements, surrounded by mountains and river views.  

The reception, instead, was held under a wedding tent, overseeing the river and secluded under a star-studded sky, the perfect spot for a first dance after dinner, under the stars. 

Jess and Jenn wanted their wedding day to be joyful, simple, and fun. After their entrance during their reception, they asked some of their guests to play beer pong to decide who was at the first table to have dinner. I found this idea incredibly fun and different from what I’ve seen in the last years of photographing weddings. Their guests had a great time playing and you can tell from the images I captured! 

I met Jess and Jenn in 2020 through Instagram, we had an engagement session before their wedding and this helped them be comfortable with me and in front of the camera. This was Jess’s review after our session: “Both my fiancee and I can get quite nervous in front of the camera - we never know what to do or how to act. But then we met Lorenza. She has this way of making you feel right at home while she captures these beautiful, candid moments that perfectly exemplify who we are as a couple. To make the shoot even easier, she always gives us clear direction for what we can do and how we can pose.” 

It was an absolute honor being able to capture Jess & Jenn’s wedding day, so long awaited (since 2019!!) and so beautifully planned. 

As their Vancouver wedding phtoographer, I made sure before the wedding started to go location scouting around the venue to check out a few spots to bring them during their portraits and their first look. The venue at that time had some construction sites and I found a few spots to recommend them to avoid them during their photos. I would highly recommend couples check with their vendors, photographer/ videographer, before the start of their wedding day, and go location scouting together or take a few photos of the desired locations to avoid any stress on the day of the wedding.

If you’re planning to getting married in bc, feel free to reach out for more information about my services.

Vendor List:

Photography: Lorenza Tessari Photography (http://lorenzatessariphotography.com/)

Videography: Liquid Velvet Films (https://www.liquidvelvetfilms.ca/) 

Wedding Dresses: Anthropologie (https://www.anthropologie.com/bhldn-weddings)

Venue: Rowena's Inn on the River  (https://rowenasinnontheriver.com/) 

Florist: forage & BLOOM (https://www.forageandbloom.ca/)

MUA & Hairstylist: Skerlak Beauty Services (https://www.skerlakbeautyservices.com/)