“We promised ourselves at the beginning of planning that this entire process should be fun because it is our celebration of love. Whenever things started to feel overwhelming, we would take a little break,” explains Matthew. “Of course, that meant it took longer because planning a wedding is a big undertaking.” When Matthew had to focus on a project, Johnny took the lead in planning at the beginning of 2025, alongside their planner Dani Anderson of Lovebirds.
“After settling on bringing our story back to Banff, the Bluebird Restaurant was one of the first elements of the wedding that we landed on,” Johnny says of their reception space. “The restaurant presents as a chic mid-century chalet, which fits right into the vision we had for a cozy, vintage aesthetic.” Other pieces of inspiration for the wedding included the archetypes of the sun and the moon—“as Matt and I similarly complement each other”—and Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles. Johnny adds, “Through our wedding’s design and energy, we wanted to honor the many queer couples who have always existed, centuries before Obergefell, fighting for their equal right to be legally married.”
This ethos led them to design their wedding attire with the queer-owned brand Tanner Fletcher. “We knew we were inherently going to be breaking a lot of the norms and traditions, so we were in complete alignment with Tanner Fletcher’s mission to create change and break those boxes,” says Johnny. The grooms entered into a collaboration with the designers—who are also a couple—to find their perfect wedding day fits. “When choosing color, Johnny and I both considered wearing colored suits, shying away from white,” says Matthew of the process. “As the wedding drew closer, we began to ask ourselves why. We wanted to break tradition and embrace the elegance, softness, and strength of the white as a gay couple.”
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