On the 5th of June 2021, Jon and Cai were married at Starling Lane Vineyard in Saanich, BC.
This wedding was a long time in the making. Jon and Cai have owned a house together since July of 2016 and have been engaged most of that time. We began to plan in earnest in early 2019, and visited Starling Lane in June of 2019 planning for a June 2020 wedding. If you watch the ceremony video, you'll hear our marriage commissioner make a joke about that. COVID delayed us one year, but we wouldn't be stopped again.
Go to the video (approx. 16 minutes)
For a while, this page was only the video. As I'm adding things, I've moved the video off the front page.
There are some of photos available now from a few phones. More to come.
Unfortunately with COVID restrictions still in place, many people we wanted to be present were not. If you are reading this, you're probably one of them. There are also several others who could only be here in memory, but we're going to make a special note of two who are relevant to the wedding directly.
Cai's mom passed on the 22nd of October 2019. Wedding planning was well underway by that point, but she would have missed even our original June 2020 date. Cai's sisters brought Mom as best they can. You'll see her and her photo on the signing table during our ceremony.
Jon's grandma Miriam passed on the 5th of June 2020. Wait, that date looks familiar. Yes, our wedding is the 1 year anniversary of her passing. She would have passed the day before our original wedding, and Jon is very thankful things didn't go that way. We think sharing the anniversary gives us something to celebrate while we remember her. If you think that's weird, too bad for you. Miriam's eldest daughter Lynne, the new matriarch of the Mason family, was in attendance.
Cai is very enthusiastic about her Scottish ancestry. Her grandfather was born in Scotland as part of Sept Christie of Clan Farquharson. Jon does not particularly consider himself Scottish, but we did some looking into the family tree and Jon's great grandpa Robert's mother was a Sinclair. Robert died before Jon was born, but Jon has many fond memories of his wife 'GG' Gladys and is happy to be a Sinclair for the wedding. Also, it turns out Mason is officially a Sept of Clan Sinclair. Besides, finding a kilt and its accoutrements was a lot more fun than renting a tux.
You'll see the Farquharson tartan on the mask Jon wears at the signing table. Jon's kilt and Cai's sash show the Sinclair hunting tartan.
We would like to extend a special thanks to our Scottish neighbours Doug and Flo Skinner. Jon's kilt is made of genuine Scottish highland wool, handsewn by Flo. She firmly refused any payment beyond cost of materials for this incredible gift, because in her words: "it's for your wedding and that's special" (imagine her soft Scottish brogue). We could not let her contribution go unmentioned. We also thank Doug, who helped Jon figure out how to wear everything.
The Sinclair tartan was imported by a company in Nova Scotia: the Plaid Place. The sporran and kilt pin with the Sinclair clan crest also came from here.
The kilt belt is handmade by a leather worker in Victoria: Labyrinth Leather.
Straps, buckles, and most of the rest of the outfit came from another Victoria company: North of Hadrians.
Cai wanted an A-line dress that didn't have a large train, with sleeves and some light embroidery. Michelle Morgan (matron of honour) and Jenna Pham (beloved niece) went shopping with her in Vancouver in 2019. Originally thinking to get a gown at Tiffany's, this dress was delightfully found at an outlet store across the street from them. Michelle pushed for Cai to try it on (even though it was slightly too tight), and encouraged her to buy it. She said yes to the dress!
Maya Gabrovska of M&M Alterations did the tailoring, and she was a godsend to Cai. Maya's facebook page or E-mail.
Cai and Jon started looking for commissioners early in 2019. She was told that they tend to book up early; even a year in advance for summertime weddings. She found their officiant through the marriage commissioner website. Cathy Lavoie has done many ceremonies. She even did one of Jon's cousins. Cathy was a light throughout the day. She gave clear directions and she obviously enjoys doing this. Cathy made the ceremony come through... particularly when there was a ruckus.
Starling Lane was a delightful surprise on Old West Saanich Road. A winery turned vineyard; this is a heritage site with a black walnut tree over 300 years old. Jackie Wrinch is the proprietor there, and she had such enthusiasm about working with grooms and brides. A spritely lady, she comes with years of working on the farm, and shared in Cai's amusement with the various animals living there.
Visit Starling Lane Vineyard on their own page or see more photos of this beautiful venue on Instagram.
Kiara Moroz is a good friend of Michelle's. She has done Michelle's makeup for several events. She used to be a professional makeup artist and, although no longer practising, she still enjoys it. This really showed through for Cai when Kiara was quite interested in working with green on Cai's face (Cai's favourite colour and one of the wedding colours). She actually specifically bought an orange (the other main wedding colour) to go with the green, without knowing that Cai was going to have the Sinclair tartan on her dress, or how well it would go initially. She was a lifesaver to come in the morning to start on Michelle, then Cai's face. She managed to have time to do Elizabeth and Mary Burley's makeup, too. Meeting up in the afternoon to do touchups was a blessing, too, as there was a slight... warming result that had to be taken care of.
As mentioned Kiara no longer does make up professionally, so we have no links for her. We still wanted to acknowledge her contributions.
Sparrow Salon has been working for years now with brides. Crystal (the owner) worked with Cai on her hair. There was a consultation where they discussed what Cai wanted done, and how Crystal could make that work. Cai wanted her hair to be curly, somewhat down at the back, with her hair looking full and rich. Crystal suggested looking up the picture of Nicole Kidman in Portrait of a Lady. There's an image of her with a green background (like kismet), and Cai fell in love with the idea. Crystal created a crown of flowers on Cai's hair, and the curls and framing worked exactly as she wanted.
The flowers (bouquets, boutonnieres) came from Thrifty Foods in Admirals Walk. Sam Eustace, the floral manager, met with Cai originally in 2019. Originally, with plans for an 80 person wedding, Cai wanted a pageant style bouquet. Without a huge budget for flowers, Sam had plenty of ideas for that, both for the length and fullness that Cai wanted. In early 2021, knowing we'd have a much smaller wedding, Cai had changed her mind to a round bouquet, both for her and Michelle. Sam had no difficulties making major changes in the middle of the busy Mother's Day flower season, and remained communicative and flexible with meetings.
E-mail the floral team at Thrifty's.
All links are provided because we wanted to, and are not affiliate links or anything like that.
This site includes no JavaScript. You're welcome.
This site was last updated on 8 June 2021.