This article is from the spring 2024 edition of Coast Life magazine.
Fancy a Lord of the Rings themed wedding, or a recreation of the lavish over-the-top wedding from The Wedding Planner? Then La Vonne Girard, who has designed wedding sets for films like The Wedding Planner Mystery, Stop the Wedding, and Love Again, is just the person you need.
The award-winning filmmaker has designed for films, television series and commercials for major networks and studios. She’s decorated outdoor, lavish and traditional weddings, not to mention galas, balls and cocktail parties. Her sprawling, impressive, five-acre estate near
Shirley Macey Park has everything required for a unique and memorable union in quaint Grantham’s Landing.
La Vonne pulls on her gumboots to take us on a tour through her sprawling acreage at The Crow Farm where she operates her Rustic Weddings business as well as One Foot Crow distillery with her partner Bob Bottieri. She compares planning and executing a wedding to “taking a couple on a journey.” It’s the tail-end of January, but despite the season, I can mentally see summer weddings with hand-fasting ceremonies or other multicultural traditions under a nine-foot living canopy in the storybook forest.
Presently, the lavender field is put to bed for the winter, but I can already smell the plants’ intoxicating essence, hear the hypnotic buzzing of bees, and see a bride and groom walking hand-in-hand through the purple haze.
“We currently have half an acre of lavender plants consisting of three varieties. It makes for an amazingly beautiful backdrop for weddings. It is open to the public as a U-Pick [in June and July]. We also use the lavender in our One Foot Crow Lavender Gin, as well as lavender oil, lavender bundles and sachets,” says La Vonne.
A Victorian-style white gazebo that would look at home atop one of the picture-perfect wedding cakes from Coast Cookie Company, is nestled in a grove. A hammock hangs where La Vonne says six-foot-long charcuterie boards hang from ropes like swings to feed guests.
La Vonne tells me that after a ceremony, wedding parties can help themselves to crystal flutes of bubbly from a champagne wall for sunset toasts to the newlyweds, followed by stunning waterwalls and spirals of light flowing from discretely wired trees, while romantic fairy lights surround them.
She opens the weathered door of the wedding barn to reveal a cache of velvet couches, carpets, gilded Chiavari chairs with white leather seats, and long wooden harvest tables fit for a medieval feast. La Vonne and Bob’s grand Spanish influenced home overflows with vintage silver tea pots, mercury glass and other décor from previous weddings they’ve hosted. Her 40 years of experience of set design and decorating is evident in their wedding and event service.
“Although the location is rustic, we offer a layer of elegance with beautiful table settings and décor. Couples can simply rent the venue or allow us to create the total experience from officiant to music and everything in between,” says La Vonne.
La Vonne starts planning with a couple as much as a year ahead.
“Planning a wedding is collaborative. It is of paramount importance to listen to and understand the couple’s vision. Many hours are spent speaking and reviewing pictures. The hard work pays off when you see the joy on their faces. Nothing is more heartening for me than to hear a bride say. ‘This is beyond anything I could have expected,’ or ‘I would not have changed one thing’,” explains La Vonne.
She offers a tip for couples to economize on the wedding feast by serving it as a beautifully arranged banquet, where guests can help themselves to the culinary largess. La Vonne organizes the food on liveedge wooden boards. She mindfully uses local vendors as much as possible and loves to engage women entrepreneurs.
“One of the most important elements of any wedding is the feast and to that end we have a truly gifted caterer [Fresh Thinking Catering]who provides delicious food with an artistic flair and beautiful presentation at a reasonable price. We have done weddings for a few as 20 guests to as many as 150,” says La Vonne.
Besides the level of décor and details that her weddings provide, what sets them apart from other wedding providers on the Coast, is they’re a five-minute drive away from the Langdale ferry terminal, so guests can walk on during the height of the travel season.
“The ferry is a fact of life here on the Coast. We eliminate the worry of finding hotels or catching ferries,” says La Vonne. La Vonne and Bob maintain an extensive network with the film industry in the Lower Mainland.
“Having spent the last few decades as a set decorator, I have relationships with a myriad of prop rental houses, florists, lighting designers, and display companies. If we don’t have it, I know where to get it,” she says.
The Crow Farm has also hosted multi-day events with kayaking, sailing, ale trail tours, spa treatments and shopping in Gibsons Landing, hiking up Soames Hill and mountain biking. La Vonne’s chef brings in an al forno oven to provide pizzas, desserts, and other fired deliciousness after days packed with beach glass gathering and Instagrammable moments.
La Vonne and Bob are supporters of the Gibsons Public Market, donating experiences on the Crow Farm for fundraising, spirits for the Market’s annual gala fundraiser’s signature cocktail, and building the stage backdrop for the event.
For a wedding or event that will result in memories to cherish for decades and generations to come, Rustic Weddings at the Crow can fulfil your dreams.
