A long line of kilts on Toronto's bluffs just after sundown
Last summer, Doug Elliott and his partner of 31 years, Greg Lawrence, tied the knot at The Toronto Hunt Club in a spectacular Scottish affair.
Hardly the first gay couple in Canada to wed, their marriage is important to gay rights history in our country — Elliot is Canada’s “pre-eminant gay rights lawyer” Michael J. Law (Canadian Bar Association) said of him after his 10 year battle with the Supreme Court over the issue of same-sex marriage. What Melissa Haggerty, the couple’s event planner found so moving about their union was that it didn’t take place immediately after Elliott’s big win, but years later. She quoted his comment to her regarding their choice to finally marry after 31 years, “[the fight] was never about us” rather it was a fight he took on for every other same-sex couple in the country. For many Canadians, Elliott is a hero of the finest sort, and we’re thrilled to be profiling his wedding from 2009.
Hard working Canadian heros: Roberta Bondar speaking at the wedding, and the ear-to-ear smiles on the couple at the church
The invitation to the wedding suggested Scottish attire and Haggerty was amazed at how many men (and women) showed up in plaid… her blog post about the event “Plaid Explosion” says it all. However, under her guidance the two grooms, who both wore the Elliott family tartan, kept the event minimal and elegant. Bill Fulghum’s super-sized arrangements of red roses, Scottish thistle and magnolia leaves kept the colour scheme simple and masculine and the tables were dressed with splashes of the Elliott tartan to tie everything together.
Notes: Melissa Haggerty (SpectacularSpectacular) was the event planner, Bull Fulghum (formerly of Church Street Flowers) worked his magic on the blooms, and Storey Wilkins (Storey Wilkins Photography) worked her magic with the camera while the Toronto Hunt Club provided the perfect spot for a sophisticated and understated party.
I have been so excited to show this wedding off. Jessica Blaine Smith emailed me a link to her blog a few weeks back to check it out and I just love the glowing dinner party {see the last picture!}. This is a gorgeous example of a not-so-far destination wedding near Huntsville, Ontario last June where Nienke and Derek rented a large cottage for the week to host a petite celebration.
Jessica wrote, “Their ceremony took place on a dock on the lake and they then had a beautiful dinner that took place as the sunset. Nienke’s Dad acted as the officiant for the ceremony. Her grandparents flew in from South Africa for the celebration. The wedding was a beautiful, intimate one but they still went all out in terms of decor and attire.” Sadly, Nienke’s grandmother passed away not long after the wedding and so the photographs of it along with the intimate and very personal feel of the wedding have become even more important to the family.
Notes: photos courtesy of Jessica Blaine Smith, and you can see more images from the wedding on her blog.
When Jordyn and Bradley married last year in Alabama, they wanted to incorporate their personal lives into the event as well as celebrate their shared Southern heritage and some of the links that tie them so closely together. In an email to The Wedding Co., Jordyn wrote: “The general inspiration for our wedding decor was our Southern family roots… We are very proud of our heritage and the opportunities we have been given in such a small town near our families. Both of our grandmothers are seamstresses and handmakers, and our mothers are quite crafty themselves. Most of our decorations came from family members or local antique shops.”
What we noticed and loved immediately were the sweet piles of sewing notions {especially the BUTTONS!} in pictures from the day, which we thought made a gorgeous and colourful addition to a beautiful DIY wedding — that they both work for fashion designer, Billy Reid as well as photographer Robert Rausch made their decorative choices even more fitting, and in a way the sewing notions are immensely telling about the lifestyle they’ve chosen and their commonalities.
“We borrowed old spools of thread, buttons & yarn balls from our grandmothers’ sewing rooms full of neat vintage patterns & supplies,” Jordyn wrote. “My mom, Bradley & I were making the boutonnieres at my grandmother’s house and she brought out jars upon jars of old colorful buttons. We used her buttons on each groomsman’s boutonniere and also kept the old mason jars full of buttons for decor in the wedding and in our home afterward.”
We also asked about putting together a DIY wedding and Jordyn wrote: “It was very important to Bradley and I that we incorporate our families, jobs & creativity into our special day. We coordinated the entire wedding ourselves with the enormous help of our lovely family & friends. We drew inspiration from blogs, local artists & designers, and our own sense of style and decor. It was full of simplistic elegance, vibrant colors, & most importantly genuine love. It was just a good ole southern shindig!”
Notes:
The photographs are courtesy of Tec Petaja Wedding Photography and Jordyn has recently opened her own Etsy shop, Darling Darlings, selling her own handmade boutonnieres for which she has used her grandmother’s buttons on each one.
We covered Byrdie and Matt’s engagement session a few weeks back: check it out to see the pics and read about why Winnipeg photographers Jake + Jess (KampPhotography) think engagement sessions are important and what couples can get out of an engagement session in preparation for the wedding photos.
Today, as a little follow-up, a few of my favourite pics from Byrdie and Matt’s winter wedding in Winnipeg, don’t you love the newspaper shot (keep scrolling down to find it) — they look like they wear their formal clothes to the breakfast table, daily.
Horseshoes & escort cards -- this pretty sign directed guests to find their names and seats.
Stumbled upon this wedding on photographer Tec Petaja’s blog. Held last fall in Colorado, we love DIY approach and the loose theme of hearts and the word “love” used throughout via stamps for the extras at the wedding.
The bride, a Weddingbee blogger and magazine editor is definitely a creative type and I love that she embraced a symbol that’s so deeply tied to folk art for her ranch setting.
By keeping it simple and not overusing the image, this is the perfect example of how hearts can be used beautifully and creatively without the tacky factor. These gifts and labels just make you smile when you look at them.
A simply packaged out-of-town bag
Strings of photos mixed with the odd stamped heart
Heart shaped name card holders and heart stamped calligraphed signs for the cake buffet
We met Sarah and Kyle at Indie Wed last weekend, they drove six and a half hours to attend the event (it helped that they have family in Chicago) to find a few details for their St. Louis-based vintage, outdoorsy-with-a-short-dress, casual, fun wedding on their 10th anniversary in September.
When we asked what the groom would wear on the day, he smiled and shrugged, “maybe a vest, maybe a hat, not a suit” and she followed up, “maybe some suspenders for the groomsmen.”
Dressed at Indie Wed, as Sarah put it in an email earlier this week, “in matching cowboy shirts” they looked every bit the ultimate couple for the show. And their wonderfully hands-on, personalized wedding is a perfect fit for the artisanal exhibitors. Kyle is a photographer and so pictures are making up a large part of the budget while a lot of the decor sounds like it will be DIY however, they loved the super 8 cinematography they found at the show as well as vintage wedding veils and the adorable wedding cake toppers from The Small Object.
We’ll find out soon enough if they do go for any of the Indie Wed vendors; we’ll be keeping tabs on Sarah’s own blog, Sarah’s Confections: Sweet little daily thoughts, a spot where she organizes and muses on her favourite online finds and potential projects as well as shares her thoughts about the planning, such as the anxiety she feels over their lack of venue.
It doesn’t get much more “out of the box” than this video when it comes to one man thinking of a completely special and unique way to ask his girlfriend to marry him…
We’re leaving you this week with a look at a great vintage Toronto engagement session. Our Sassoon contest winner, Lisa, who wants “jet black and sexy” hair for her 1950s-inspired wedding this September has sent us the engagement photos she and her fiancé, Ash, had taken in the Old Towne area of Toronto. She wrote in her email to The Wedding Co.: “Our original plan involved ice skating but due to the nice weather, everyone in Toronto was on the rink and it was way too crowded, [but] our photographers found better locations that went with the vintage feel.”
“The biggest challenge to this wedding was the food,” Jodie Katz emailed The Wedding Co. about this incredible cross-cultural event. “Typically there is a buffet for an Indian wedding however Brenda and Jitesh are big foodies and wanted everything plated in a beautiful presentation. That said, they wanted to adhere to Indian culture as well as Chinese culture.” To accommodate the diversity of needs, they arranged two separate caterers to each provide a plated four course meal, one Indian and one Chinese; each guest choose which meal they wanted in advance of the wedding.
The food continued to challenge the Social Butterfly team because “the guests had to sit in a certain order in order to be respectful to Jitesh’s father. Therefore, we had to make sure that each menu was individualized and colour coded so that we were all aware of who was sitting where and also who would be eating what” Jodie also noted in her email that there were 400 guests. “Important items also included Shark Fin soup which is traditionally mandatory in a Chinese wedding and also certain Indian dishes like Biryani were on the table too,” she noted. Finally, a Chinese tradition they followed in terms of etiquette was to visit each of the 27 tables and toast with each one. Timing was more than key when it came to orchestrating this massive and incredibly beautiful wedding.
From day two of Brenda and Jitesh’s wedding celebrations.
In her email about the wedding Jodie Katz explained that the Sunday events included the Western concept of a “wedding” and for that ceremony Brenda wore a traditional white gown. She also paid homage to her Chinese heritage by starting the day wearing a stunning red Asian gown, after the ceremony she changed into a sari given to her by Jitesh’s parents. All the costume changes provided a huge challenge for Katz and her team as they needed to factor them in when planning the day.
Notes: photos courtesy of 
When Jordyn and Bradley married last year in Alabama, they wanted to incorporate their personal lives into the event as well as celebrate their shared Southern heritage and some of the links that tie them so closely together. In an email to The Wedding Co., Jordyn wrote: “The general inspiration for our wedding decor was our Southern family roots… We are very proud of our heritage and the opportunities we have been given in such a small town near our families. Both of our grandmothers are seamstresses and handmakers, and our mothers are quite crafty themselves. Most of our decorations came from family members or local antique shops.”
Images courtesy of 
Photos: Elizabeth & Claudia, 
In her email about the wedding Jodie Katz explained that the Sunday events included the Western concept of a “wedding” and for that ceremony Brenda wore a traditional white gown. She also paid homage to her Chinese heritage by starting the day wearing a stunning red Asian gown, after the ceremony she changed into a sari given to her by Jitesh’s parents. All the costume changes provided a huge challenge for Katz and her team as they needed to factor them in when planning the day.
