Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day?
To be honest, I didn’t want a wedding. I thought that it was a waste of money. But my mom begged me to – she wanted to see her daughter as a bride. My thinking was, “Well, what’s one day if it’s going to make my parents happy?” I didn’t want planning it to take over my life, so we mostly went with instinct. We selected Mont-Tremblant because a lot of our story happened there, and we chose to have it during the fall season because it’s the most beautiful season in Montreal!
We chose Le Rustique as our venue because it was secluded, surrounded by mountains, and because they had a great poutine.
For the wedding date, I love astrology. I decided Libra season was when I wanted to get married because it’s the sign of companionship.
Let’s talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?
I really think mother nature did most of the heavy lifting. The fall colors were in full bloom! The only challenge was the dining hall where we had the dinner. I told my florist, “I don’t understand florals, so I’m trusting you. Here’s a picture of the space, it’ll be peak fall, and here’s my budget. Go!” Lo and behold, her and her team blew me away! I was in awe with the work they did.
Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
For me it was the ceremony. My big brother was the officiant, which meant a lot to me! He added a lot of personal touches to his ‘officiating’. Another favorite part was the whole set up: from the weather to the fall colors and the arch. It was so pretty! Both of my parents walked me down the aisle. That was really important to me!
Stephen’s was the pre-game with the guys. Another was Madi’s speech (his daughter and my step daughter). She killed it, and we were so proud to watch this confident young lady speak out in front of everyone.
Let’s talk fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.
Stephen picked his brown suit because when we were talking about it, to my dad raved about Ryan Gosling’s brown suit in La La Land. After we left, Stephen said, “Your parents are paying for the wedding, I have to do a brown suit.” It looked great!
As for me, I liked an Alexandra Grecco dress I saw online and found a store in Ottawa that had it. That dress didn’t work, but they made me try on a bunch more until I found one that clicked!
How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.
We met online!
I do love our proposal story. Stephen had asked both of my parents over the summer about popping the question but didn’t actually do it until December. I went to give Stephen a hug after Christmas shopping and he said, “I need to talk to you about something.” My first thought was that he was leaving me or that he owed money to the mob (he’d been obsessed with reading about the Montreal mob for a few months).
He then pulled out his phone and got on one knee and proposed with a video of the ring. He was going to pick up the ring the following day and had an elaborate plan to take me to Quebec City – but when I came back from shopping all happy, he had an inkling to do it right then and there. To me, that was the best possible proposal story. I actually always wanted to get proposed to spontaneously with a gum ball ring! I always hated these over the top proposals because they feel very impersonal to me. I got the proposal of my dreams!
What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?
For me it was getting back to our space after the wedding. After a long day with everyone, I just wanted to be with him and talk about everything! For Stephen it was the ceremony.
Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
I think we’re the worst people to ask this question to because all we wanted was to have fun. The restaurant could have said the kitchen burned down and we would have been like, “That’s cool, let’s order some pizzas and hang.” I think that was apparent in the day – everything felt easy and natural. The comments we got from everyone was that it was a “really fun hang where everyone was really well dressed”.
