Hotel Rooms make great sites for indoor winter weddings

It's cold out there. The Ice rink at City Hall, High Park, the island, cherry beach in winter - all COLD, people! Red noses! Brrr! Consider splurging on a great hotel room, in one of the icons: Park Hyatt has great suites (here's a pix from their website), and the Royal York is a bit tatty, but still has some good windows, or of course you might choose the hipper Gladstone or the Drake. Or try the Hilton, or one of the new boutique hotels like St Germain.
Make sure there is enough ROOM, tho - some of the boutique hotels only have room for that great bed, and nowhere to stand. So do your research, or ask the staff for a room with a VIEW or with room to entertain. Then hold your small wedding in your room, and sign the license on the fancy table and order room service. You can always arrange to go down and take wedding photos in the lobby and in the entrance afterwards. We had a nice little elopement wedding at Sutton Place this winter for a couple from out of the city (meaning they came in from Mississauga and survived the trip). Just order a few flowers, and bring a some gravlax and champagne, and have a wonderful winter wedding.

City ofDowntown Toronto Wedding Permits for Parks - small weddings only

Toronto Parks - Wedding Ceremonies and Photography

Just a headsup - as we head into 2012 wedding planning, and thoughts turn to sunny outdoor weddings. The City of Toronto has upped the permit fees for weddings in city parks. Also, the booking season for 2012 opened in November, for April - Oct, only. A few caveats:

There are very few downtown locations available, and most of those are for SMALL weddings, under 40 people. That includes Sunnyside, St James park, The Music Garden (20 people), Allan Gardens, Kew Beach pavilion (30 people). You cannot have MORE PEOPLE, people! You can't book it for 40 and bring in 60. ESPECIALLY at Allan Gardens. It's a historical greenhouse, not an event hall, and you CANNOT BRING more than about 25 people comfortably. They can't see, they can't sit anywhere, they are a hazard to the delicate plants, and it just doesn't WORK. Don't break the rules, please. Also, note that there are NO weddings permitted in High Park - due to too many people being less than thoughtful, and failing to respect the park.

Note also that wedding PHOTOGRAPHY in city parks has a minimum of 2 hours booking - longer than a wedding

Despite the single listing saying you can have a big wedding for 100 people on the islands, you can't really book an outdoor spot on Toronto islands very easily. They usually only offer you the esplanade thingie on Centre Island by the pier - which might work, but it is hot and sunny and anything but private -- full of lots of other people, including kids running around screaming. Consider the Algonquin Island Club house, an easy walk from the ferry (Gibraltar Artscape is great, but you'll need the shuttle bus). Try outside at the Rectory Cafe patio - you can walk up to the boardwalk out the back gate. Back on shore, Sunnyside has it's own problems - it's falling apart, there are no facilities, and it's funky and funny - but sometimes there are booking problems and mixups.

Check the garden of your condo! We have had some nice weddings in outdoor condo gardens (as well as rooftop patios). Try the Music Gallery at St George the Martyr - Right by the AGO - with the great rose garden outside. Or find a restaurant with a garden or patio. Or elope with 6 friends in front of Osgoode Hall or by slipping quietly into Trinity Bellwoods or another local greenspace and just standing under a tree. You can have little elopements on the Toronto islands without too much fuss. But you can't have a Bridezilla wedding in a park without a permit - and permits are not available for most parks. It's the Wedding Catch 22.

Note: the historical sites, including museums with gardens and outdoor areas, are booked separately from the PARKS department. Here is booking info for such sites as the Spadina Museum and Gardens, Todmorden museum (pix above) and other historical sites. You can also enquire about weddings at the Brickworks - and with luck, you can wander outside at Artscape on Wychwood for pix. Except at the back, where the kids are quite excitable at the waterspray fountain.

Distillery, Arta and Archaeo

We had a super Distillery wedding on the hottest day of the year - we had to move from Archaeo patio to the Arta Gallery for the ceremony due to the heat . But isn't this a great pix of the bride by Lini Campbell! You can see more pix of this event on her photography blog.

And here is a home wedding in Cabbagetown, with lots of good music (and perhaps too many candles!)  My dress got rather warm in the back. But it makes a very nice light, doesn't it.   The great photographer, Tobias Wang, has some wonderful hi-res shots, which I can't figure out how to edit. But check out his website. The soft glow is from oodles of tealights in mason jars on the floor.  The back of my skirt is VERY HOT!

It's been a season of nice small weddings - homes, apartments, even the glass floor at BCE place by the bank facade one evening.

Here is a delightful little legal wedding at Philosopher's Walk by the ROM.  We are standing by the tiny little amphitheatre by the Music building.

gone fishing

I will be 'in viaggio' for a little while for some r&r ( here I am in the "Casa di Sposa civile" or Civil Marriage House in Verona, for an idea :-). You can send mail to info@weddingsoftoronto.com, but I may not see it, as I will be drinking prosecco. I promise to check in occasionally, but I won't be accepting any weddings until after Halloween. Best wishes to everyone getting married! MB

Weddings at the Multifaith Centre, UofT

There are several spaces at the MultiFaith Centre, which is in the Koffler Building at College and Spadina. The building is clean and modern, and I like the Multipurpose Room with great windows and the Main Activity Hall, which has a lovely 'light wall'.

This is a good location for a non-denominational, multicultural or non-religious wedding. ( Note, - in school season, a lot of students and other groups use the facility, so it gets booked early. Summers and school holidays, it's often quiet.You can ask me about the booking, or check HERE.) There is a real kitchen, if you're having a small reception, but there are restrictions (no meat dishes above the 2nd floor), so it's good for light things like cake and coffee and canapes - though people do bring in caterers. There is an elevator, too, because it's a modern building.

Small wedding at Hart House Chapel

Here is an entirely lovely small wedding in the Hart House Chapel , (bigger youtube), which was organized in 5 days - from proposal to reception :-) The couple's children were only together in Toronto for a few days, so they organized the wedding quickly, and we Skyped in the remaining children from BC, so they could also participate. A wonderful couple, and a magical afternoon. Note, we are standing on a symbolic Ukrainian wedding runner, and then smashing TWO glasses at the end :-)

More summer locations!

What a summer! From historic sites and museums - the Blue Barracks at Fort York, the Gardiner Museum, with a piper on the balcony, The ROM, the Design Exchange, and Artscape Wychwood barns, to the patio, again, at Le Select, 99 Sudbury, Globe Bistro (during Taste of the Danforth- eek!) and Globe Earth, and smaller cafes, including Balzac's coffee house, the Victory cafe (fun), the outdoor patio at Vertical, the rose garden in front of Allan Gardens as well as inside, Hart House courtyard, the cloister at Knox college, and quite a few backyards. Indoors, Rosewater, Park Hyatt and Royal York, Gladstone, then the CN tower again, this time in hi tourist time. We enjoyed both St Lawrence Hall and the fun Market Kitchen (during the busker's festival!), and returned often to the Arts and Letters club - where they are very nice indeed. Got to meet lots more photographers and musicians, as well as great couples. We're fitting in the Spherical Arts pool hall and the Berkeley and the Conservatory in the middle of Nuit Blanche and Culture Days - should be some interesting transportation problems. Last week, I think I was the only person to take the subway to the Old Mill, so I got there in plenty of time, while the wedding guests were stuck in rain traffic.

DO ENCOURAGE your guests and family to take TTC when possible...no parking problems! And you can get some great pix of the wedding party getting to the spot. Here's the groom's peeps in my own family....

Summer locations

Not much time to post - too busy!  But here are some recent locations:
Hart House, Enoch Turner, Le Select, Caffino, FieraMosca, Globe Bistro, Archaeo, the Berkeley, Graydon,  Allan Gardens, Canoe, Toronto Islands, Les Provences Delices, Trinity Bellwoods, Royal Conservatory (and Philosopher's walk), St. Lawrence Market Kitchen - lots of backyards and balconies - and even the Toronto Necropolis Chapel. Yes indeedy, that's us in the sunset, under the lynch gate (across from Riverdale farm). Must find links...

Heels on Wheels - the Day of Delight wedding

Heels on Wheels | dandyhorse magazine, Day of Delight wedding
We had a fabulously wonderful wedding at Dufferin Grove Park today, in the Day of Delight Festival: Giant puppets, a tandem bike, a salsa band, and many other 'delights'. Pix to come soon, but here is a teaser...

As the bride says: "Day of Delight is Clay & Paper Theatre’s annual celebration of love, courtship and desire. This festival is all about leaving cynicism behind, and celebrating love. What better place could you think of to hold a wedding? I’m not a big fan of traditional weddings. I’ve been to a million of them, and they’re all the same. Boring. Most ceremonies are constrained by outdated traditions and say very little about the people who are involved in them. Day of Delight has theatre, music, installation and participatory projects including Cardbordia (an entire land made of cardboard) and a musical bicycle parade! How cool is that? We want to say “Hey, this thing we’ve got here is pretty great. Let’s celebrate!”

Coping with rain and wedding locations.

In uncertain weather, you can try to book indoor greenhouses.  Here is another Allan Gardens wedding, when we were fortunate to have (almost) the entire place to ourselves.  But do see our other post on Allan Gardens' disturbing policies of over-booking.  Try for off-hours bookings, midweek or early or nearer closing. And expect crowds, who are not complying with the contract they signed with the City.
Pity, really.

The view of the Rose Garden from the St James Pavilion is lovely right now, tho.

Racing to the altar: couple ties knot after Toronto Marathon - thestar.com

Racing to the altar: couple ties knot after Toronto Marathon - thestar.com

Here are Rodney and Jessica, who changed clothes quite a bit and got married in their West end house in late afternoon. It was still a bit rainy, so we held the wedding in their back patio - after Rodney draped the band saw with some white fabric to make a license-signing area..  They cooked all the food for the reception as well. Truly a wonderful wedding, showing that rain couldn't dampen the race or the wedding - and I got to hold their medals, too!  ---  and their wedding cake had a model of them riding a Cervelo tandem bike  (does that even exist?)  Happy wedding!

Caffino - big windows in the rain

Here's a pix of Caffino, (Toronto Carpet Factory) down on King West at Dufferin, from a Groupon coupon today. We had a lovely wedding in this room, quickly moved inside from the private courtyard because of the rain, but the windows are so large they allow lots of natural light.  Good Italian food, nice big atmosphere - industrial detailing.

Candlelight wedding @ Mjolk gallery in Roncesvalles

Mjolk is a  stylish Scandinavian store in the west end @ Roncesvalles.  As a Danish granny myself, I was honoured to participate in the wedding of the owners of the gallery - who cleared out the space, added a retro 1950s fireplace, and served wonderful Scandinavian food for friends and family in the showroom - with a great jazz combo in the window space. The lovely pictures are by Danijela Pruginic