We first came across Julianne’s website about 3.5 years ago, shortly after our engagement. The classic, elegant style of all the weddings on her page caught my eye. My fiancé and I booked a venue consultation to find an “outdoor” venue in the Banff area for 125 guests, which is remarkably difficult due to limited venues and national park regulations. One of the pitches she made was for the Spray Meadow in the Fairmont Banff Springs grounds, a seldom used patch of river-side grass. Given the daunting task of having to essentially build a small town and all its infrastructure (power, tents, raised flooring, food preparation stations, bathrooms, etc.), we opted to get married elsewhere in Canada.
However, one pandemic and 3 venue cancellations later, we were in a pickle and nearly every wedding venue on the continent was booked—until we remembered Julianne’s vision of the Spray Meadow, and how there are hardly ever events hosted there. Fortunately for us, the Fairmont Banff Springs booked this space for us, mentioning they would only do so because we were working with Julianne and hosting a wedding here would be very difficult for anyone not of her caliber.
From the day we booked the Spray Meadow, until the day we got married, it was an incredibly smooth process. Julianne has great relationships with every amazing vendor in the Banff area, so she was great at recommending appropriate ones. She kept us on a timeline of completing tasks, which never felt too stressful or burdensome. No matter how small or large a hiccup during the wedding planning process, Julianne always knew how to fix it—while always making us felt at ease. For every 5 minutes she spent addressing it an issue us, we could tell she was spending hours dealing with it in the background. She was always professional at every step of the way, even while fighting for us at times when the venue let us down. Her eye for design, especially for our style (elegant and timeless), was impeccable. A few times, we chose against Julianne’s recommendations, and lo and behold, almost every time we ended up choosing to swap back once we had a better idea of her vision.
As the wedding weekend itself unfolded, it became clear that Julianne was able to do all these things because she has an absolutely amazing team backing her up—from design to setting up day-of. Up until 30 minutes prior to our outdoor rehearsal dinner, the weather was looking amenable. However, when we audibled to the indoor venue, the JYW team was able to completely break down setup and re-setup in the new space. It was just as beautiful of a function, and still started on time! The wedding ceremony itself (also outdoor) had to be squeezed into a narrow pocket of time without rain, and no one could tell that it was going anything other than to plan. The wedding itself, including the reception within our little tent town could not have gone smoother. Every vendor seemed so excited to be a part of our celebration, and we feel that they all fed off of the JYW energy and their meticulous planning. We could not imagine having gone through this process without Julianne and her team, and could not recommend her more highly.
