A Winter’s Tale
It was not love at first sight. Nor was it love at second sight. In fact, it was three dates before Astrid Alsemgeest decided she actually liked fireman Dustin Bourdeaudhuy. Then there was the minor detail that she was in the midst of planning a year-long trip around the world. Oh yes, she’d also sworn off dating firemen.
They met through a dating website in what was Astrid’s first foray into online dating. Dustin admits he was skeptical at first. “I’d been on a few bad dates through this internet dating site but she seemed so nice, so together.” On the third date he came to the point. “I asked her, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I couldn’t believe she could possibly be so great.” They both burst out laughing at the memory.
Astrid’s trip abroad was “cut back” to a week in New York. Dustin sold the house he’d shared with friends and bought a new one. Barely six months after their first date, the couple moved in together—a transition both describe as “unbelievably easy in spite of what everyone told us to expect.”
One day, a year and a half later, Dustin asked Astrid to go for a walk along Vancouver’s Kits Beach. “I had champagne in a cooler and the ring in my back pocket,” Dustin says. After claiming a sore back, he suggested sitting for a few minutes before surprising Astrid by proposing.
“We’d talked about it, so Dustin knew I didn’t like solitaires—I wanted more bling,” she confesses. “In the end, my engagement ring became my wedding band—we’re both pretty non-traditional, so that worked for us.”
And it was this non-traditional outlook that set the tone for their entire wedding. They both envisioned an easy-going and “super laid back” wedding. A ceremony for family and close friends at the Burnaby Village Museum Chapel followed by a celebration to include an extended circle of friends at New Westminster’s Roma Hall were perfect choices. “Let’s face it: most of the guys I play rugby with aren’t really into weddings,” Dustin says with a disarming grin.
From start to finish, the day was filled with understated elegance combined with a sense of playful, effortless flow. Their November 27th wedding date meant the already charming chapel was decorated for Christmas, but even Mother Nature 
chipped in by donating a light dusting of snow over the exterior. Astrid’s brother Damon, an accomplished guitarist, played her down the aisle to the lyrical notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and as the couple left the chapel, Dustin’s close friend Lee enthusiastically embraced his responsibility of Official Bell Ringer—a tradition steeped in forgotten history.
After the ceremony, it was unanimously agreed that a celebratory ride on the Village’s vintage 1912 carousel was in order for the entire wedding party. Then, photos taken, hugs and kisses exchanged, it was time for the party to begin.
At Roma Hall, Astrid’s creative side permeated the festivities. “She made all the decorative wreaths herself,” Dustin says proudly. Rather than a guest book, Astrid designed gift tags that people could use to pen their personal wishes for happiness and hang on the Wish Tree. She made tabletop centrepieces from shiny Christmas decorations found on sale at The Bay and Army & Navy, and even transformed three store-bought round cakes into a magical confection.
Spontaneity filled the night. “We love the movie, The Wedding Singer,” Astrid says. “The theme song is so funny and quirky that I’d written the words out, in very small print, on the back of the program. When my friend Chelsea saw it, she came over and told us she wanted to sing it for us.” Yet another musical moment occurred when 30 members of Dustin’s rugby team exuberantly serenaded his new wife, despite not being “into weddings.”
Scoring a big hit with guests was an intriguing black-and-white photo display. “Everyone does a slide show—we wanted to be different,” Dustin explains. “We scanned a bunch of images of us as kids and pinned them onto a wall. That way, people could look at them, or not.”
“So many of my friends said if it had been them, they’d never have gone back for a second date,” Astrid says. She looks at Dustin across the coffee 
shop table, and suddenly there’s no-one else in the world. “But I knew. I knew I’d found the love of my life. You light up my life every day, and I am your biggest fan.”
For their honeymoon, the couple spent eight weeks on a mini-version of the world tour Astrid had dreamed of, touring Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Bali.
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Astrid and Dustin’s Wedding Vendors:
Photographer
Generation Photography
www.generationphotography.ca
Decorator
Timeless Wedding & Event Decor
www.timelesswedding.ca
Wedding Venue – Ceremony
Burnaby Village Museum Chapel
www.burnaby.ca
Wedding Venue – Reception
Roma Hall
www.romahall.com
Wedding Dress
Isabelle’s Bridal
www.isabellesbridal.com
Hair
Design Tech Studio, Tricia Vandenberg
www.designtechhairstudio.ca
Makeup
Charrisse Mae
www.charrissemae.com
Groom Attire
Leading Man Tuxedos
604 540-1968
Flowers
Flower Factory
www.flowerfactory.ca
Stationery
Wedding Paper Divas
www.weddingpaperdivas.com
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