By Canadian Press

Elizabeth May’s wedding dress a ‘walk through a garden’ on Earth Day

Apr 22, 2019 | 2:04 AM

VICTORIA — When Elizabeth May walks down the aisle, she’ll be dressed for her wedding along with Earth Day.

The Green party leader and British Columbia entrepreneur John Kidder will exchange wedding vows Monday afternoon at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, and May will be adorning more greenery than just a bouquet.

“She had an idea for a dress and she sketched it out for me,” said May’s dress designer Sue Earle of Salt Spring Island. “She wanted it to feel like spring. She said she would like to have some greenery on the bottom of it so it looked like she just walked through a garden.”

Earle said she got to work on May’s dress over the winter. She said she used old bed sheets for a mock dress she used in a fitting with May that included the placement of handmade tulips, peonies and ferns on the dress.

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The two-piece, ivory-coloured dress also comes with a jacket with three-quarter-length sleeves, Earle said.

Earle, a long-time Green party supporter, said May was pleased with her seasonally-themed wedding dress.

“She was very happy with it, which made me very happy with it,” said Earle. “You want the person to feel like a million bucks, and that it embodies everything she is in terms of a goddess in the spring, celebrating love. That’s what I was aiming for.”

She said the dress received a pre-wedding blessing on a recent ferry voyage from Salt Spring Island to Sidney as Earle delivered the dress to May.

Earle said she and a few others held a moment of silence to bless the dress and ensure May has a full day of happiness.

May announced her engagement to Kidder last November. She said she knew Kidder for about five years, but sparks flew at a Green Party convention last September.

Kidder, 71, who is from Ashcroft, B.C., popped the question about a month later, May has said.

Kidder has deep roots in the Green party, having run federally for a seat in B.C., and is a founder of the provincial party. May said he is a retired technology entrepreneur who operates a hops farm in Ashcroft, but also spends time in Vancouver.

Kidder is the brother of the late actress Margot Kidder and has three children and four grandchildren. May has a daughter, three stepchildren and seven grandchildren.

Wedding guests Monday are encouraged to arrive by bicycle, bus, train or ferry to minimize their carbon footprint. The newlyweds will then spend their honeymoon on the train from Vancouver to Ottawa.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press