Winnipeg - Weddings and Wildlife and Windy Prairies

Two weeks after I got back from Nova Scota I flew to Winnipeg to attend a relative's wedding. I felt like quite the jet setter getting to see both the beautiful maritimes and the mellow prairies within one month.

The wedding was lovely - the day was sunny and warm (very warm indeed for the prairies in September), the trees were turning golden, the setting was beautiful, and the couple were happy and in love.

The wedding was at the St. Norbert Art Centre in Winnipeg.  I had never been there before, but it was a fantastic place to hold the wedding.  The service was held outside with a beautiful backdrop of trees.  

The bouquets were all made of sunflowers, goldenrod, and other purple and white field flowers - they were the perfect fall wedding bouquets.

St. Norberts has a large building where the reception was held surrounded by gardens and the ruins of a stone monastary.  

The monastary provided the perfect backdrop for the wedding photos and was a great place for the kids to run around and burn off some energy after the service.  They clambered and scrambled over the walls and around the building and had a wonderful time.

I loved the colour of the bricks and stones and the beautiful arched openings.

And I especially liked catching a glimpse of the sky and trees through the openings.

The monastery looked even more beautiful as the sun began to set which turned the stones golden.  It was a lovely evening and I was very happy to have been able to join in the fun at the wedding.

The next day we went to the Oak Hammock Marsh and got to see the prairies in all their early autumn splendour.

I loved the colours of the grasses and wildflowers - sometimes subtle and sometimes bold -

and the beautiful tall grass prairie.

I can never get over straight prairie roads - they always amuse me as they make me feel like I am standing in a child's sandbox on one of the roads made by a Tonka truck.  I like to stand in the middle of them so I can get the long view - I'm such a risk taker (you can see what a busy road this one was and how daring I am).

The grain fields were huge - and beautiful in their simplicity.

At the Oak Hammock Marsh we saw a coyote,

some pelicans, 

and some snow geese (which pretty much looked like Canada Geese spray painted white - like some blogger's crazy DIY project).  

And then I was home again and back to work and tired.  Wait till I tell you how I spent my next weekend.  The fun never ends around here.