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Two cultures, two big families, and a lot of dancing—we can’t think of a more unique and fun way to celebrate the joining of two lives. From the food to the fashion, Grace and Toni’s multi-cultural Cafe de L’Horloge wedding was full of beautiful Indian and Nigerian influences.
After the original venue canceled 72 hours before their big day—Grace and Toni leaned on their talented team of vendors to recreate their wedding on a short timeline. Wedding planner and designer, Salar Events & Design, brought the couple’s dream ceremony to life in less than three days at Cafe de L’Horloge. The whimsical reception space—complete with stained glass windows and a quaint fireplace—was dressed in simply elegant Efflorescence floral arrangements and draped twinkle lights.
Photographer and Junebug member, Annabelle Agnew Photography captured jaw-dropping images that prove a simple wedding doesn’t mean sacrificing incredible and meaningful moments. Sometimes, less is more.
Our ceremony was simple but filled with meaningful moments of laughter, gratitude, and reflection. In light of all the difficult circumstances of 2020, and the uncertainty of whether we’d even have our wedding, it was with sweet relief we sang (or in some cases, hummed ) the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” before the vows. We will otherwise remember that at our wedding, we danced…and we danced often! An especially fun memory is the impromptu dance down the aisle after our vows.
Involving Loved Ones
Our community’s involvement is what made our ceremony personal and meaningful. Our sweet friend and former roommate played “Moon River” on her guitar as my father and I walked down the aisle. We had a close family friend officiate the ceremony, and another lead us in singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Finally, our pastor, a friend of many years, gave a thoughtful wedding sermon.
Hire Vendors You Trust
Hire vendors you trust to go above and beyond to bring to life the day of your dreams. For us, it was important and rewarding to work with vendors—particularly our wedding planner— who understood and worked with the nuances of our cultural backgrounds. Because of COVID-19, our initial venue canceled 72 hours before our wedding day. We can’t imagine what we would have done without the initiative and help of our talented team.
Anabelle Agnew’s Take On Dancing The Night Away
It was a wedding full of surprise dance performances. At the reception, the bridesmaids choreographed a virtual dance mash-up—with appearances from family and friends all over the world. The evening ended with Toni and his groomsmen surprising Grace with a Bollywood style flash mob.
We are grateful Junebug member Annabelle Agnew Photography captured every little moment that made this multi-cultural Cafe de L’Horloge wedding unforgettable. Grace and Toni’s day—full Indian and Nigerian cultural influences, fun, and a whole lot of dancing—is the perfect inspo for couples looking to ditch standard wedding traditions.
Feeling inspired to dance the night away, like Grace and Toni? Stop hunting for unique wedding songs to set your day apart. You won’t want to miss these underrated love songs out on the dance floor.
Combining two cultures for a celebration of love is both memorable and beautiful. With the help of Bliss Whistler, Abigail and Jason celebrated their love and incorporated their two heritages in a spectacular three-day celebration. Their multicultural celebration featured a traditional Sikh wedding and a Western ceremony. From a stunning red and gold Lehenga to a chic and elegant white bridal dress, these wedding ceremonies oozed love, tradition, and sentimentality.
We’re so thrilled that Junebug member Nomad by NK captured every inch of these ceremonies—including a surprise Indian dance by the wedding party. Grab some bubbly and let’s head to Whistler for this Western and Sikh wedding celebration.
The Couple:
Abigail and Jason
The Wedding:
Whistler, British Columbia
The Most Memorable Moment In Three Days
The whole weekend was truly the best three days of our lives, but the moment I walked down the aisle and saw Jason’s face at the end—and all of our smiling friends and family—was a pretty amazing moment.
Wedding Advice for Nearlyweds
Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks your wedding should be. Do what feels right for you! We had a lot of decisions to make that were out of the norm as we were blending two totally different cultures. We did what felt right to us and everyone was so happy in the end.
Western and Sikh Wedding Celebration in Whistler
Whistler has been such a big part of our relationship. We spend all of our winter weekends at our family home there. As soon as we got engaged, we wanted to get married in the area. We wanted to be in Whistler but find a venue that would accommodate all of our guests, have delicious food, and have beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces.
Handwritten Vows
For our Western ceremony, we wrote our own vows and shared them in front of all our friends and family. This was so special to both of us and made our ceremony so unique and perfect.
Multicultural Bridal Fashion
For the Sikh ceremony, Sunny’s Bridal worked with me to create my vision. I knew I wanted to be in a bright color, but I wanted the rest of my wedding party in more neutral and classic colors. For the Western wedding, I wanted simple and elegant. Jane Rhyan created a two-tier veil for me and I customized it by adding the lace from my mom’s wedding dress to the train of my long veil. It was so special to my mom and me, and I hope one day I can have a daughter to pass down the veil to.
Now that fall is in full swing, we cannot get enough of cozy backyard weddings. So, when we saw Georgia and Daniel’s fall backyard wedding in Manitoba, our hearts went pitter-patter with joy. After years of envisioning her special day in her family’s forest, Georgia’s dream came true.
With the help of coordinator Opal & Dot, the two held a rainy ceremony amongst the trees, followed by a reception full of DIY touches, dark autumnal colors, and bonfires. While the photos beautifully captured by Ariana Tennyson do plenty of talking, we love what Lauren Wiebe from Stone House Creative–the company who did the florals–added about the day!
Stonehouse Creative’s Take On The Day
The location was a private forest owned by Georgia’s family just outside of Steinbach. They have enjoyed this property for over twenty years and created many unforgettable memories there together. For over a decade, there was a particular row of trees that Georgia wanted to use to create a wedding aisle–and it happened! This was extremely special for Georgia and Dan, as they both love the outdoors and anything adventurous.
Georgia and her grandfather were very close and worked together for a whole summer, preparing the forest for the wedding. They made trails, cut down trees, trimmed branches, and cleared areas. A week before the wedding, he passed away from lung cancer. This was disheartening, but Georgia and Dan were so incredibly glad that her grandfather had the chance to get to know the man she was marrying. They sure missed him at the wedding!
The Couple:
Georgia and Daniel
The Wedding:
Steinbach, Manitoba
Why A Fall Backyard Wedding
Since I was a young girl, I dreamed of walking down a wedding aisle created by a beautiful row of trees in the middle of our family forest. We both love the outdoors, and it was incredibly meaningful for us to get married outside, even if there were moments of rain.
Rainy Dreamy Wedding Vibes
It was a romantic, dreamy, forest wedding in the rain. Guests came with their umbrellas, and we all embraced the weather. There was a little sunshine, a little rain, and a lot of laughter and love. The ceremony took place at 4:30 in the afternoon, and the string quartet filled the air with beautiful melodies. There were happy tears, precious moments, and lovely vows. The ceremony proceeded as if there was no rain at all. There were showers of blessings on this special day, and the beauty of the rain brought out dark colors and highlighted the smell of the trees. The weather contributed a moody, cozy vibe.
Including Family and Friends In The Planning
We wanted our guests to have the best time, and we wanted to serve them as best as we could. We found so much joy in having this perspective! Many people preach, “It’s your day, do what you want,” and although there is some truth to that, it’s so easy to let that mindset take over–which makes the day entirely self-focused. In reality, so many people are putting in the effort to attend the wedding and help you throughout the day. We wanted to be considerate to the people we love the most. I tried to be open to people’s ideas and wanted to consider them instead of just shutting them down right away. I wanted to be a bride known for being beautiful on the inside, not just the outside!
DIY Touches
Every detail was well-thought-out–the place cards were made by hand and then glued to a pinecone. All the pinecones had been collected in the forest over the past five years. We also had a stamp made, and I stamped about 400 paper cups for the coffee. Everything had small details and significant meaning to it.
Congratulations again to Georgia and Daniel on their fall backyard wedding in Manitoba! We’re so glad that Ariana Tennyson was there to capture it. Planning your own backyard “I do’s”? Check out our ultimate guide to planning a backyard wedding!
Date and location of wedding:Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada — May 11, 2019
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Mitch and I had talked about having a wedding for years but because we kept being posted to remote places away from family and friends, we kept putting it off. When we were moving to Ottawa, we decided “This is it! It has to happen now!” However, that still meant that ALL of our families and some of our friends had to travel to make it to the wedding (I’m American and my family lives across the US, and Mitch’s family lives in Alberta). We decided on our venue because it was in the perfect location in downtown Ottawa (and overlooking Parliament), so all of our guests could fly in and have access to a huge variety of places without having to drive.
We also love the history of CP hotels, fabulous food, and, it turns, out, everything expensive, so it was easy to go with a general vintage/art deco ballroom theme but difficult to decide where to cut to stay on budget. In lieu of a rehearsal dinner the night before, we invited everyone for a scavenger hunt downtown as a wedding meet/greet and finished with dinner and drinks at an art deco brasserie.
Tell us about the ceremony: Our ceremony was quite simple. Mitch was not a fan of anything resembling a ceremony and vows, and it was most important to me to celebrate with the people closest to us (most of whom we don’t see often) and that everyone has a good time. Mitch let me get away with a 10-minute long ceremony, which would be concluded with a champagne toast.
Our dogs are a cornerstone in our relationship, so it was important to have Riley and Penelope at the ceremony with us. We were so lucky that close friends wrangled them for us before and after the ceremony. My cousin, who we are both good friends with, officiated the wedding and did a lovely job. It was short, sweet, and hey, champagne!
Tell us about the reception: After the ceremony, we had a receiving line with me and Mitch and our puppers. There were treats set up so everyone could give us hugs and give the good dogs nibbles.
Speaking of nibbles, we had too much food at the reception. There were hors d’oeuvres during cocktails, and then we sat down to a plated four-course meal, followed by a dessert bar in lieu of a wedding cake, and late-night snacks to end. It was all so delicious, but almost nobody had enough room to even hit the dessert table.
Following dinner, we had a band play jazz and blues standards and vintage covers a la Postmodern Jukebox. Our first dance started as “Our Love is Here to Stay” and changed mid-tune to a vintage-style Rickroll.
Looking back by the end of the night, I was thrilled that our wedding felt like such a success. Not because every detail was undeniably “us,” not because we had the most amazing food, gorgeous venue, and flowers, great music, etc., but because our primary mission was fulfilled: everyone close to us had come together, helped out, became friends, and had a fabulous time enough that strangers commented on the fun we had. The smiles and the laughs from our incredible network of people are still our greatest takeaway from that day.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? To stay on budget, and because I am a crafty bitch (and a bit control freak), I DIYed almost everything at the wedding. The theme really should have been “Opulence! I MADE EVERYTHING!!!”
I bought my strapless dress at a sample consignment store but sewed a bodice overlay with an art deco pattern to wear for the ceremony and remove after, and sewed in my own bustle. I made my necklace and earrings. I made the vintage telegram save-the-dates, the invitations, and the programs (filled with fun goodness from Offbeat Bride).
I printed paper with the sheet music of our wedding song and made more than 500 paper flower decorations. I created all of our signs with vinyl lettering on mirrors, made the felt flower collars for the puppers’ ceremony garb, and instead of table numbers, I reprinted vintage concert posters from the ’20s and ’30s and then put in a bio with quirky trivia about each musician on the back of the frame.
The problem: for several reasons, I never decided on whether to hire a day-of coordinator. In the end, I just felt I ran out of time, and I enlisted my sister and cousin to help with setup and running the schedule for the night since they both have backgrounds that lend well to event management. To be honest, it was still a LOT, but I had many friends and family members pitch in to make everything come together, and I’m so grateful. I couldn’t have done it without them, and many of my fondest memories are from that.
Strung lights, exposed brick, and gorgeous floral arrangements are just a few of the details of this perfectly minimalist Toronto distillery district wedding. Yep, you read that right—a distillery wedding!
Stephanie and Andrew wanted to pay homage to one of their favorite places in Toronto by exchanging their I do’s somewhere meaningful. Adina Weddings & Events helped this couple take minimalism to a whole new level by carefully using dark red and blush tones in beautiful florals to keep the focus on the brick buildings. Thankfully, photographer Meghan Huryn captured this beautiful ceremony from start to finish. Keep scrolling to see what the buzz is all about in this distillery district wedding.
The Couple
Stephanie and Andrew
The Wedding
Archeo, The Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario
Memorable First Looks and Wedding Speeches
The most memorable parts of the day were both my first look with my father and my first look with my husband-to-be. The private pre-ceremony and the ceremony were both perfect moments I’ll remember forever. Finally, one of my favorite memories was my father’s and the best man’s speeches which had me in tears from laughter and joy!
Making Concrete Favors Personal
My husband and I love the look of concrete. Funny enough, my husband is actually in the concrete industry so we used a lot of concrete pieces that we made together, including mini concrete candles we gave as favours for our guests.
DIY Distillery District Wedding
We created everything besides the flowers. We created the concrete centerpieces, table numbers, all the table decor, signage for entry, and seating charts.
Wedding Advice From the Bride
Don’t just go with trends. You should pick options that truly mean something to you and your partner.
Congratulations to Stephanie and Andrew on their beautiful wedding and shout out to Meghan Huryn for both capturing and sharing their day with us. Love all the DIY touches in this wedding? Check out our DIY wedding guide to get started and this DIY wedding roundup for more inspiration!
