Winter weddings - Allan Gardens, cosy inside!

We've had a few brave weddings in the park - though everyone had to stamp their feet a lot and we rushed back inside for warm drinks!  But it's been a loonnng winter for outdoor weddings, and spring may be the same, cold (or) muddy.  Have a backup plan!  A friend's sunny condo party room, indoors at Allan Gardens,  a nice brunch wedding at a friendly bistro, an old-fashioned wedding at home around a fireplace, if you can find somebody who has one! Check the usual places, 'private dining' is a good google/yelp term.  We're still planning outdoor elopements for a few hardy souls, but if your numbers are larger, the logistics for an outdoor wedding are tricky in early spring if you have to redirect guests to a different location due to weather problems. Thinking ahead, if you're planning an island summer wedding - buy those paper ferry tickets in advance! The lines are too long on hot summer weekends for wedding guests in dressup clothes. You also get a discount on paper tickets.  Station a friend with a guest list at the docks to hand them out.  

Enoch Turner Schoolhouse - time travelling on a Fall wedding

Another century!  The lovely flowergirls and the wonderful couple are in front of the door of Enoch Turner Schoolhouse.  Looks like a Royal Wedding!  (The girls dresses are actually from Amazon - at very reasonable cost - amazingnesss.)  But the bride made almost everything else - from the favours, to the wands, to the table crosswords and puzzles for everyone. It fit the schoolhouse perfectly.
This is a crowdsourced photo, with permission from the mom's to post it here.. thanks!

Special Wedding at Bar Mercurio - and a good cause

Here is a great couple from a wedding on the Bar Mercurio patio, at St George and Bloor.  The groom is a Doctor at UofT, but also works with Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and they were working in Chad. The photographer was a field photographer with MSF, and the best man was also with MSF!   Doctors without Borders do such wonderful, brave work - a portion of this wedding fee was donated to MSF, and if you are looking for a deserving 'wedding charity', here's the link to share:
Medecins Without Borders (Canada) 

Bar Mercurio, Patio

Gladstone, Upper lounge - intimate location

Gladstone, Upper lounge

We usually hold weddings in the ballroom at the Gladstone (or, once, in the Tower Room suite for a family group) but lately we've had a few smaller weddings (15-40 people) in the upstairs lounge area.  Here is a nice little wedding in the upper lounge - just a small group of friend and family, and then a nice dinner downstairs.  And there's that fun elevator!  You can have some drinks set up at a portable bar, and then go downstairs for more food. 

We had another wedding here on the night of Nuit Blanche! It was very much fun, tho some art patrons wanted to see things as dusk fell.  Check the dates of Toronto events when you plan a wedding!

Faculty Club, University of Toronto

Faculty Club, Univ of Toronto

I like these pictures - sort of instagramy - it was a totally delightful family wedding - (with lots of kids!)  at the UofT faculty club.  The intrepid couple went to Easter Island for a honeymoon!

Very touching vows

Small little dinner party wedding at Le Select, and a few other smaller venues

So - a dozen people gathered at Le Select on a Tuesday for a small, intimate wedding.  The garden ('jardin') was available, and so we had the canapes, toasts and ceremony in the back, and then they had a dinner in one of the back side rooms.  It's possible to do this during the week, (weekends are often busier) and have a lovely smallish wedding. We were originally going to go over to the island, or somewhere by the water, but the weather has been pretty iffy, and in fact, this was the 34 degree day - so the shade of the canopy over the back jardin was great.  Wonderful evening.

next week - off to the Arts and Letters club, Fantasy Farm, a private wedding in Cabbagetown, Casa Loma in the conservatory, over to the Rectory cafe on Ward's, and another small family wedding upstairs at the Gladstone...  when TIFF is over, lets hope the TTC repairs are swift!

Tiff Elopement!

Here are two wonderful people, who came up north for TIFF, and got married at the Thompson Hotel, in a bit of calm time in the middle of the crazy (Brad Pitt's bodyguards at the pool, George Clooney sneaking in the hotel...).  But the real romance was here - C and B, together 13 years, had a wonderful, intimate Canadian wedding in the Big Smoke.  Lifted us up for whole day.... I don't usually put comments in these snippets, but they wrote to say they're home, and the wedding was 'perfect', and they felt they'd known us for years (my husband was a witness).  We felt the same - and wish them a lifetime of happiness, just like this.

summer patio at Le Select

great wedding at Le Select, and great photos (as usual!!!)  by A Brit and a Blonde

(remember this? last summer at the Pride parade? that's a Brit and a Blonde)

Lovely morning elopement in the park

Dovercourt Park, quiet and magical at 7:30am - birds, flowers, a couple of kids and a dog or two - and an entirely lovely couple..

Great Photography by Jennifer Rowsom

Dovercourt Park elopement

Here's another great wedding that was shot by Jen

Black Creek Pioneer Village Wedding

Umbrellas in the rain - St James Gazebo

and sometimes it rains -  so make sure your whole group can fit under a roof!  (or have nice big umbrellas)

St James Park gazebo

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