Wedding
“Love is in the air” – it’s a catchy phrase, and sometimes it already sounds so cliché. But there is much truth to this statement that when romance begins to happen between two people, something in the atmosphere shifts that even men feel a bit giddy and ladies tickled pink. It’s a liberating feeling to know that classic romance is still alive and captivating the hearts of many. For Nadia and Slawek, it all began in high school, when boy meets girl and the rest is history. Their 16-year journey together has now been sealed with heart-warming vows on a fine spring day in Toronto.
Slawek and Nadia’s garden wedding was held at the beautiful estate of Graydon Hall. It’s a gorgeous location we really love. Weddings here in this 1936 Georgian manor are perfect for any season. In spring time, the lush greens and browns really accentuated the fieldstone walls of the manor and the limestone floors of the courtyard. When adorned with flowers, this gives us lovely contrasts, color, texture and a whole lot of ideas to play around with.
We thought it was awesome that the couple decided to hold the ceremony early at 11AM followed by an early dinner at 3PM. It was a great way to take advantage of the magnificence of the place. The kids could even play around because of ample space and guests can enjoy walking around the mansion. It was also both thoughtful and cute for the couple to prepare an early breakfast for their guests. It leaves a real nice impression being able to take care of guests that way.
Since the preps, reception and ceremony were all done in this beautiful estate, we were able to easily steal the bride and groom for some pictures around the place while the guests enjoyed some delicious cocktails. If you can see the affection and some quirkiness in the Slawek and Nadia’s photos, it’s because they truly are an open book. They’re a fun-loving couple, quite original, and they like to pull off some dance poses from time to time. In fact, we have quite a lot of photos of them dancing compared to the usual weddings we do.
The ceremony was indeed beautiful. It wasn’t just because the garden setup was beautiful, but because everything else was as well. The bridesmaids wore elegant dresses some could already double as wedding gowns. Of course, Nadia’s gown stood out as she wore a beautifully embroidered dress with a matching veil that the bridesmaids played around with during pictorials. Aside from that, guests dressing for the occasion and were wearing sunglasses since the sun was up, a string band that sounded marvellous, and everyone looking happy reminded us of the garden wedding scene of the Godfather Part I. It had that movie feel to it where everything felt perfect and in the right place.
And speaking of movies, Slawek is a videographer himself. We found him setting-up a couple of cameras on tripods so he can make a video of their wedding later on his own. He doesn’t normally shoot weddings, but since it’s his very special day, he made an exception.
Even if they celebrated their vows at such a grand place, the ceremony still felt very personal, very special, and intimate. It felt as if the mansion was their home and they we’re just having a grand elegant barbecue party for close family and friends.
Long tables were setup outdoors at the patio for the early dinner. The atmosphere felt very relaxed, very sophisticated, and very warm. There wasn’t too much that had to be done since the place was already stunning and the view of the courtyard and garden, captivating. The food was also very exquisite, plated beautifully, pleasing to the eyes, and sumptuous to the bite.
Everyone just seemed to enjoy being there as you can just sense the joy all around. The smiles and laughter said it all. Like any other wedding celebration, there were also tear-jerking moments. But the speeches given at Slawek and Nadia’s reception were one of the most touching we’ve ever heard and we know it’s not just us who thinks so because almost everybody was crying at the table.
Like we always do, we got to know little bit more of the couple during the wedding. We loved how Slawek carried around a picture of him with his dad in his wallet. It was a really old black and white picture with possibly a lot of memories. It was really touching since it was the only picture of them together. He had some other mementos of him as a little boy which really showed how much he cherished family. We made sure we took some photos of the details and precious mementos he brought with him. And since we could see how much value he puts on family, we’re pretty sure he’ll do great in this new one he created with Nadia.
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