Meet James. For his special day, we made him a three-piece peaked lapel suit in a textured shade of navy. He stood out among his groomsmen in a lighter shade that picked up the natural light of UofT’s campus, where he took his wedding photos.
How did you meet?
“We knew each other when we were young and our parents were good friends. Our moms in particular spent a lot of time together, and since we were the same age, we became natural playmates. Our moms would take us horseback riding with them, or we would play outside on my family’s farm or make crafts – we both remember some of these times very distinctly.When we were six, we both moved away and lost contact. Almost seven yearsago, James looked me up online and sent me a message. He was living in Toronto, and I was about to move to Toronto, so we were able tomeet up and began to reconnect. We were soon talking constantly and not long after that first message we had our first date.”
Describe your wedding in three words.
“Romantic, classic, fun. It was perfect.”
Picture perfect moment from the day?
“There were so many! I’ll pick two! The dance party was in full swing when the last song song of the night we had chosen, “Under Pressure” by Queen, came on. Everyone was singing and dancing, and near the end of the song someone started tossing these glow-sticks that had appeared out of nowhere into the air (we still aren’t even sure where they came from!). Everyone else started doing the same, and James and I ended up in the middle of all of our loved ones with these lights flying up above us. It was completely spontaneous and one of the happiest moments of my life. Another quiet, simple memory that really sticks out is the two of us sitting on a couch by the fireplace in the Great Hall before dinner started – eating oysters that someone had handed to us. My aunt had encouraged us to take a moment to ourselves once the room had been all set up. We just sat there and took it all in.”
Source of inspiration for the big day?
“As soon as we found our venue, Hart House, at the University of Toronto,we knew right away we wanted to highlight the simple beauty of the venue, not try to hide it or change it. The Great Hall, where dinner was held, is such a stunning room, we wanted to draw attention to all the history and the beautiful wood details. James found an old brass candlestick right after we got engaged, so we decided to begin collecting as many others as we could to use all around the room. It took a year, but we had well over 150 of them! We kept the beautiful wood tables bare, with tons of brass candle sticks on each table with long white taper candles. Our florist, Tellie, put together the most stunning arrangements, with tons of greenery and white flowers. Everything came together so well, and the effect was better than we could have ever hoped for.”
