Becky and Matt Farrell travelled all the way from Boston, Massachusetts to Yellowknife to get married, and the newlyweds agree the 21-hour journey was well worth it.
“Our trip to Yellowknife was absolutely amazing, better than either of us could have imagined,” said Becky.
The Farrells got married inside the snow castle at the city’s Snowking’s Winter Festival, which wraps up today. The couple started booking their trip a year in advance, but first began planning a year before that.
It all began with an interest in seeing the aurora.
“We were discussing bucket list items randomly one day and talked about how we just had to see the aurora borealis some day,” Becky said. “(We had been) assured even the best video couldn’t do it justice (compared) to seeing it in person.
“For fun we searched the best place to see the aurora and Yellowknife came up as one of the best locations. We looked into the city and the tour options and got really excited about actually visiting.”
By that point, the pair had been together for a long time, and soon they began to “joke” about getting married on their trip.
It wasn’t a joke for long.
“We have been together for 16 years so why not?,” Becky said. “When we started looking into it and realized it was possible, we reached out to [Yellowknife photographer] Geoff [Rodriguez] and chatted with him and his wife, Zerline.
“We remember them saying how cold it would be in March — a few times actually — but we really liked the idea of visiting in the winter.”
From there, the Farrells booked their flights and tour packages, and then set about finding the help they needed to get married in the NWT. They enlisted commissioner Elizabeth Monroe, who they called “wonderful,” to handle their marriage license. Becky sought out hair and makeup specialist Sneha Bhardwaj, who she said was “amazing.” Last but not least, they rented the snow castle.
“The rest is history,” Becky said. “Everyone that we contacted was so kind and helpful it made everything so much easier.”
While the couple’s wedding became the focus of their trip, they were also able to check seeing the aurora off their bucket lists by the time they left, like they originally planned.
“We were lucky enough that the aurora came out on our last night there to put the cherry on top of an already amazing trip,” Becky said, adding that they also found time to go dog-sledding and snowmobiling while they were in town.
Since heading home to Boston, the pair have been “getting back to reality and returning to work.” However there is no doubt that they’ll remember their trip to the Canadian North for the rest of their lives together.
It was “a blast,” according to Becky.