Two couples getting married in Central Alberta claim they chose May 19 before the royals did.
Mathew Burpee and Robin Ascah and Daniel Thomas and Jillian Rogers are both tying the knot on May 19 in Central Alberta. Thomas and Rogers will say “I do” at Canyon Ski Resort, and Burpee and Ascah will be married at Willow Lane Barn in Olds.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be married on May 19 at Windsor Castle in England. They were engaged in November of 2017.
Burpee said they picked the date because it was what was available an it also lined up with a cousin’s graduation a week later.
“I don’t personally follow the royals much,” said Burpee. “My mom does and she is very excited about the sharing the date concept. I think it’s fun and it makes it even more special, if anything else,” said Ascah, who grew up in Quebec and Stettler.
Rogers and Thomas’ have their wedding scheduled for later in the day, after the royal wedding is complete. But they said they won’t be offended if their guests watch part of the royal ceremony.
“If they want to do that while they sit in our ceremony,” said Thomas. “I guess that’s their choice.”
Burpee was pretty confident his then girlfriend — now fiance — would say yes. They had been together for seven years. He booked the venue before he proposed.
But the proposal wasn’t smooth sailing for the couple. On a vacation to Bali, he had planned to propose on top of volcano, but Ascah — who is afraid of heights — got scared and was unable to complete the hike. He took pictures of the ring at the top of the volcano and went back down.
He then planned on proposing during a sunset walk on a beach. But that didn’t come to fruition either, as Ascah got heatstroke.
Finally, his third attempt worked. He had set up an engagement photo shoot, but told the photographer that they weren’t yet engaged. He popped the question in the middle of the photo shoot.
Thomas also ran into a hiccup for his proposal. He had taken Rogers to meet his parents in B.C. and on the way back, they took a scenic way. Thomas had planned to fly Rogers to a secluded waterfall near Slocan Lake via helicopter. But the B.C. wildfires meant the helicopter was busy helping fight the fires. Instead they took a boat and then hiked the water fall where he popped the question.
“I was wondering if something was up,” said Rogers. “It wasn’t completely out of the blue because the course of events had tipped me off.”
Thomas made the ring himself, after learning from a jeweller.
Ascah said they chose Willow Lane Barn’s “stress-free” package and it has lived up to its name.
“It’s been exactly that,” said Ascah. “I’m an accountant and Matt is in finance and we’re in our busy season right now. So the stress-free package has worked.”
mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
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