Lifelong Nova Scotia residents Carol Millett and Susan Larder met at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party in 2006 and became a couple about six months later. The friend’s parties, hosted by a gracious lesbian host, are famous among Nova Scotia’s queer women.
“Our community is small and we have a couple of pods throughout the province where these events are organized and where we get together. Her parties are always epic, with friends coming up from the States, down from Quebec. We couldn’t believe we didn’t know each other already because the circle of friends is so small,” says Larder.
Their romantic relationship blossomed into an entrepreneurial one when they started brainstorming ideas for what to do with a 34-acre woodlot they own on the outskirts of Larder’s hometown of New Ross, in Chester Municipal District. About an hour’s drive from Halifax, the district is on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. Larder is a floral designer, and the couple realized their rustic location was a perfect setting to share both nature and Larder’s artistry, especially with people who were seeking to celebrate something special. Their Foraged Florals (5491 NS-12, New Ross) is both a floral farm and a wedding venue. The permaculture farm, which focuses on plants that can be grown with minimal water and waste, is dedicated to providing sustainable beauty for the special occasions they host themselves and for other events in the area. “I’m part of the slow-flower movement,” says Larder, referring to an approach that prioritizes locally grown seasonal flowers.
The venue, which they call the Bower, has hosted weddings, including same-gender weddings, of couples from all over the province and beyond.
“When friends and other visitors have come, they’ve said, ‘There’s a magic here, something very special about the place,’” says Millett.
Larder designed the Bower, an indoor-outdoor space that accommodates about a dozen guests and has the dimensions and feeling of a small country church—except you can see and smell the trees and other vegetation on all sides, including through the Plexiglas roof. “It might be a micro-wedding, but it’s not an elopement because people can linger and stroll the property, take photographs among the ferns and in natural settings,” says Larder.
Despite being way out in the country, this community-minded lesbian-owned business is not out of place in New Ross or the Chester district, which encompasses the northern half of Lunenburg County, and is anchored by the cute coastal village of Chester. The district was Rainbow Registered in January 2025, making it the first municipality in Nova Scotia to meet national standards for LGBTQ2S+ inclusion set by Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce.
“The municipality wanted something concrete to show what we’ve done, what our intentions are, and that we are a safe and welcoming space. It was a great process,” says Ashley Marlin, community economic development officer for Chester district. “It’s important that you know, when you’re coming into municipal buildings and working with municipal staff, that the space is welcoming, safe and inclusive. We’ve done EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] training, pronoun training, provided gender neutral washrooms in our buildings. I think a visitor would notice what we’ve done.”
For any holiday makers—not just those about to be wed—the town of Chester is one of several pretty communities on St. Margarets Bay and Mahone Bay, along with the Peggy’s Cove, the town of Mahone Bay and the town of Lunenburg. It’s easy to base yourself in one community and explore the coast or to move from one community to another, trying them out. Marlin says that part of Nova Scotia is open minded and quaintly cosmopolitan.
“You could do Chester, Mahone Bay, and Lunenburg over a couple days and take everything in,” she says. “It’s great for road trips. You can have lunch in Chester or one of the other towns, shop, go to the beach and do the photo op that everyone does of the three churches in Mahone Bay. That’s iconic.”
Chester district works with Lunenburg Pride (July 6 to 12, 2025) to host Pride celebrations across the county.
