Unusual wedding guest - and a summer getaway location

Guess the location! (oh well, it's pretty easy - we were on the Toronto island for a lovely wedding and this character is part of the children's theatre programme this summer.  He was just heading over the bridge on Centre Island and stopped for a snapshot)

I think it adds a bit of scale - and a 'royal wedding' effect, don't you?  It was one of those HOT days, so both guys in suits were pretty wilted by this time!  but grins all round... 

Rainy ideas .... the Loire restaurant on Harbord

So we were going to have a little morning wedding at UofT - but as the weather was threatening, the couple booked a brunch table at Loire, on Harbord.  They very kindly cleared a spot on the patio, and set up some chairs, and we had a delightful little wedding for 10 people, and then of course - there's the food to follow!  Spadina streetcar - easy!  For a smallish group, any restaurant with a space they can mark off for 1/2 hour is a great idea - and then nobody has to move to another spot to celebrate!

Wychwood Barns wedding - and catering by The Stop!

Wonderful summer wedding at Wychwood Barns, and the reception was catered by the Stop. It was a bright sunny day (the rain stopped!) and everyone was in a very happy mood. These great pictures are by Ryan Edwardson

Wychwood barns - waiting to begin

Wychwood barns - from the front

Wychwood barns - vows

Lovely private elopement at University of Toronto

In the midst of  'bigger' weddings, here is a lovely couple from New Zealand, and we had a super little wedding on a spring day, just on Philosopher's walk... it's the funny time between end of school and summer classes, and the weather was lovely, and the few passersby just smiled at us.  Note:  always take photos of small elopements, it's additional 'proof' of a non - traditional wedding.  We took pix of us signing the Marriage License sitting on the little stone amphitheatre behind the Faculty of Music.
 < ---

 .....and then the next week....---->

We used the little amphitheatre again -  for another little private wedding, just the couple and their families.  Music camp was out, so there were no kids rolling down the hill on their break (tho I think Sports Camp was running strong at Trinity!).   Passersby were very kindly, and it was pretty cheery all around.  I don't think the people sitting on the benches up the path even knew what was happening, tho' a few cyclists stopped to grin and wave.    The squirrels were also interested, I think....

a Winter wedding in Gallery 44 photography gallery

a wonderful winter wedding at Gallery 44 at 501 Richmond.  Congratulations to Jeff and Len.

Bar wedding locations: 7 Numbers, Danforth

Fun wedding on the Danforth.

Lots more pix of this wonderful couple by their great photographers,  (JuliusandJames.com)
Bar/restaurants can be fun, and you can always squeeze in a few more family - lighting and space are sometimes tight, so we sure to talk to us when you're planning things...

A nice winter morning wedding at the CN Tower, 12/12/12/ at 12noon!

So - on a wintery December morning, in the middle of the week, it's possible to have a short little wedding with just witnesses at the CN Tower which is *almost* quiet and personal.  You can see Pearson behind us.  This lovely couple then left for their honeymoon in Cuba, after a wedding lunch at the 360 restaurant.  What a nice morning it was!
[This works best when the CN Tower is not busy. And on a foggy cloudy day, tho - not much to see... be sure to have other plans available].

Hart House Chapel - lovely Fall wedding

Hart House Chapel!  Two wonderful people, both engineers - and they had their post-wedding pix taken under the Soldiers Tower with an experimental car prototype - and the crew!
Hart House chapel is dark, and Very Small, only 30 people, so it's great for a wonderful intimate family-sized wedding.
Pix by Simon Tanenbaum  Harvard Photo

Brickworks Wedding - Wonderful setting, wonderful time

Beautiful!  More pix soon of this wonderful wedding at the Brickworks - note the groomsman in the middle holding the stuffed moose - which held the couple's rings...

Pix by Karol Orzechowski, Decipher Film + Photo

Unusual and delightful private weddings - Graffiti Alley

Lots of fun weddings this weekend - from the Brickworks to Hart House to a 'secret' wedding inside a library (significant for 2 librarians :-)
...but here is a most delightful wedding at "Graffiti Alley", a Toronto landmark.  The couple actually met on a photoshoot here, so it was significant for them.  We even had a few people laying down some artwork on another wall while we were there.... and the occasional tourist, too - quite polite and congratulatory...

Berkeley Field House - Super September wedding

Groom's party waiting in the Berkeley Tree House
Stunning Photos by Julius and James

Berkeley Field House Fall wedding
Stunning Photos by Julius and James

Lovely photo under the Tree House, Berkeley Field House
Stunning Photos by Julius and James

Lovely Wedding at St Lawrence Hall

A wonderful light-filled wedding at St. Lawrence Hall on King Street, with lots of participation by friends and relatives, including music, readings, and a wonderful chorus at the end of the "Libiamo" (champagne aria) from La Traviata.  You don't need much decoration or enhancement for St Lawrence Hall, as the environment of the ballroom is so spectacular and delightful. 
And besides - it's on the streetcar!

Here's the view from the back

Nice weather, nice weddings....backyards, Trinity Bellwoods, St James, Wards Island...

Wards island wednesday

Trinity Bellwoods

Harbourfront

On the Danforth

St James Gazebo

Ashbridges Bay

Roncesvalles Front Porch

Registering a wedding: First the ceremony - THEN 'signing the papers'

Here's a lovely couple from a small wedding in Trinity Bellwoods.  We're 'signing the papers', which means signing the Marriage License, Record of Solemnization and the Marriage Register, and then our 2 witnesses will sit down and sign after us, to show they were there and heard the couple.
But note, we sign papers only AFTER we have a simple spoken wedding ceremony, as required by the Marriage Act of Ontario.
You cannot just 'sign the papers' to have a legal wedding.  The actual signing of documents is attesting that you have held a spoken marriage ceremony in front of 2 legal witnesses, under the jurisdiction of a legally registered officiant.The 2 witnesses sign the 'papers' to swear that they WITNESSED (saw and heard) the legal ceremony;  where you both said out loud that you accept each other as your legal spouse, in the words required by the Marriage Act of Ontario.
And then you sit down and sign!!  The ceremony can be brief, simple, and short.  But you must have qa legal wedding ceremony to be legally married.

Pride Parade Wedding: Carter and Breken

Toronto Pride Parade: American couple ties the knot with Pride - thestar.com
"On a float decked out in wedding white, with signs that read “Long Live Love” and “Here come the Grooms,” Carter Etherington and Breken Elwood wore light grey suits. Prompted by humanist wedding officiant Mary Beaty, they exchanged rings, and shouted their vows and their “I do’s” into a microphone.    Then the grooms kissed and the crowd roared its approval.
Etherington broke out into tears and Elwood wiped them away. They embraced again as Whitney Houston’s “Your Love is My Love” started to play.
The pair had been thinking about getting married since New York, their home state, legalized same-sex marriage last year. Then they won a contest from Tourism Toronto that included airfare, hotel accommodations at the Windsor Arms Hotel and an official marriage ceremony during Pride.

 “It’s not only our responsibility but our pleasure to come to a country that allows gay couples to legally recognize their love and their relationships. We hope we’re able to make a different in the U.S. with our story,” Etherington said in an interview before the parade"

(we had a blast - but remember, we can't actually do the legal wedding on a moving float where the crowd is yelling so hard we can't even hear  - this was a re-enactment and "renewal of vows", we had a wonderful private ceremony the  day before at the Windsor Arms, with all the required bells and whistles - and then the whistles (and water cannons) were for the public parade. Two weddings!  Happy grooms - what a wonderful day..)
You can see lots of great photos at: A Brit and a Blonde

Weddings and a Picnic at Riverdale Park

Bring the picnic, the badminton and backgammon, some flowers, your best friends - and have a little wedding!

Wedding at Hart House Chapel

An entirely lovely spring wedding at Hart House Chapel, and nobody stopped smiling the entire time...
(Please note! HH chapel can REALLY only hold 30 people -  if we all get very friendly ... book a bigger room at Hart House for anything larger...)

Sabbatical in Rome - and spring weddings in Toronto

Rome! We spent a month in Rome in March.  Here I am on the oldest public road in the city, the "Clivus Publicus" - with rosemary bushes blooming and orange trees in fruit on either side.  We walked all the seven hills (and the 8th, the Janiculum, to visit Anita Garibaldi's statue - baby on her lap, pistol in her other hand!) and on rainy days, spent a lot of time investigating the Roman marriage ritual of "iunctio dextrarum" - clasping right hands in agreement.  It's the same ritual as the "fides" in the Renaissance, a willingness 'in good faith' - fides/fidelity, to share the joys and sorrows of life together.  We came home to snow, and brave crocuses (croci?).  And then, a lovely wedding yesterday, in a Beaches sunroom, and lots of laughter and happiness.

Everyone should go away - resets your hard drive.  Let's see what the year brings in Toronto now - and dream of oranges and rosemary....