Why Ontario?

All of our friends and family are in Ontario, and as much as I would love to get married in Italy or Bali or somewhere exotic, I would hate to have friends and family miss our wedding because it was too far for them to travel or they couldn't take time off work... Plus Ontario has some amazing venues and vendors!!

Even though more people are flying in from around the world and even around the country, my great grandmother is still alive and very healthy so we decided to keep it close enough for her to attend and go home as she doesn't go anywhere that she has to spend the night anymore. My FH and I live abroad these days and we will be coming back to Canada for a year for wedding planning and spending time with her (she's 97).

My FH and I are both born in raised in Ontario (Hamilton & Scarborough). I met my FH when I bought a house and moved to Hamilton. 3 years later we are planning our wedding

We don't have a lot of money, but were lucky enough to find a gem of a venue in Hamilton. We are exchanging vows at C Hotel by Carmens on the rooftop Terrace! We are so excited!!

Dolce Rooftop Terrace

My FH and I are both from Ontario, London to be exact. All of our family lives here and it didn't make sense to go anywhere else. This way no one would have to travel and there are so very beautiful venues in London. We have a couple family members travelling (only from Toronto) so not far. This is home for both of us, we wanted to try and keep everyone happy somehow through the wedding because every other decision we are making is ours

I wanted to ensure that everyone could be included in our wedding day without missing anyone, and with destination weddings all guests aren't guaranteed to attend. We found a beautiful venue to have our wedding and for photos too.

Luckily I live in a beautiful part of Ontario, Prince Edward County, and getting married anywhere else never really occurred to me. All my family and FH's family are fairly local.

View quoted message

That's going to be so nice and interesting for your guests! Where will the reception be held on the island?

View quoted message

That sounds so great! I love a tented reception

View quoted message There's a tent at the golf course, so indoors, but we can roll up the sides if it's still nice!

View quoted message

That sounds so lovely! So you're going to do the ceremony at the waterfall followed by a reception outdoors at your uncles or indoors?

We currently live in Toronto but I simply couldn't imagine having a city wedding... Destonation is too much to ask of all my family, and I want everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) to be there. We also wanted to get married at a waterfall (preferably standing in the water), so that limited our options quite a bit. Serendipitously, my uncle owns a golf course just north of Belleville and we found the perfect little waterfall out there, so that's where we'll be going!

View quoted message That’s great that you’ll be moving back right before the wedding! I feel like that’s going to be the time when everything comes together and things get finalized. I’m really glad to hear planning from afar isn’t difficult at all for you!

Neither of us were born in Ontario but met and live in Toronto. After dishing out thousands to attend other people's destination weddings, we felt that we didn't want for our guests to have to pay to attend our wedding. We are getting married in Toronto, on the Toronto Islands. It's a ferry ride away from the city but feels like you're in a completely different place. The skyline is an amazing backdrop and we have beach access with our venue!

View quoted message

Wedding planning from 22 hours away isn't actually too difficult. Trying to find and book a venue was definitely the most stressful, I had to go based off of pictures, as well as my parents opinion! Luckily my parents were around and they were more than happy to do a lot of the work for me. Other than that everything has been really great, most vendors I contact via email, and everything else I can balance here in Winnipeg and when I go home for visits (decorations, dress shopping etc.). We will be moving back to Ontario six months before the wedding so all the last minute details can be in person!

View quoted message

It's great how close the venue is to your parents house! How do you like planning from afar?

Both me and my FH are from Ontario, however, from different parts, I am from Guelph and he is from Uxbridge, although we currently live in Winnipeg. We talked about getting married elsewhere, , but all of our friends and family are here, and it is really important to me that they are at the wedding. Our venue is the Cambridge Mill, it is around 20 minutes away from my parents house, which is great.

View quoted message

Very true! That's awesome that your wedding ceremony will be at an art gallery! And a banquet hall is still very nice, especially with how you may decorate it.

I'm from Markham/Scarborough area!

View quoted message

As long as it's what you want and within your budget, who cares how expensive it is? LOL. I wanted something super beautiful for our wedding but unfortunately we got bamboozled into hosting our wedding at a banquet hall (ceremony is at an art gallery if that counts?).

Where in Ontario are you from?

View quoted message

There are a lot of misconceptions with marriage laws in Québec, but the big one that comes up is that you can't take your husband's last name. Luckily, this only applies for individuals who live in the province. If you live anywhere else but get married in Qc, you'll be free to choose between keeping your name or taking his, since you'll be initiating the change in the province you live in!

I'm from Gatineau and my FH is from Ottawa. At first, I didn't want anything to do with getting married Québec (haha) but our Officiant cleared up a lot of doubts and concerns. In terms of requesting the marriage license, they are a bit old school but a registered Officiant would be able to take care of all of it for any couple. For example, we'll both have to fill out a form, provide ID (including our birth certificates) and the officiant will post the request on a Qc registry online for 20-something days in case someone objects! After the actual ceremony, the Officiant will send the paperwork over and we'll receive access to an online account to view the processing time and request for a marriage certificate!

Once she broke it down to us, we felt extremely relieved that she'll be taking on the bulk of the work!

Although I am from Ontario, I'm getting married at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. I looked at so many places in the GTA, but I was looking for something rustic with bricks, wooden beams and a unique flair to it. A hotel and an art gallery? Yes please.

It's hard to find something with so much character when you look outside of city, especially when you aren't as interested in golf courses, wineries, etc. Only downfall is how expensive they get!

View quoted message

I just Googled your venue and OMG! It's absolutely stunning! I seriously wish I were getting married there lol.

That's beautiful how you both made Ottawa your home together! I hear amazing things about that City

Another Ottawa bride! I'm originally from a small town about an hour west of Ottawa and FH is from Toronto but we've both lived here for over 10 years, love this city and consider it our forever home.

We had talked about a destination wedding for a brief second but a lot of the people we wanted to be at our wedding wouldn't be able to so it was ruled out pretty quickly.

Instead we are getting married at Aquatopia Water Garden Conservatory which is like it's own little tropical destination - a little hidden gem outside of the city. We're lucky too in that by having it in Ottawa we only have about 10 guests travelling more than an hour.

View quoted message

Oh wow that's so special! I'm glad it was able to stay a surprise, that's always the best! Congrats to you two!

View quoted message

He proposed to me in Mexico on our deck of our swim out pool the night before we left to come home It was totally a surprise (last night, I was anxious to pack and he insisted we sit outside a little longer, PLUS we'd been together nearly 8 years at the time) and I was floored by it!

View quoted message You can't take your husbands name if you live in Québec. If you are in another province it's ok, but the paperwork and process is too long. Easier to just stay in Ontario where we live.

View quoted message

Can I ask what marriage rules are in Quebec?

View quoted message

Aww thanks so much! How did your proposal go?

Im from Calgary. But live in Ottawa. FH is from Cornwall and my family is in Quebec City. We decided Ottawa because i don't want the rules of marriage in Quebec (so that was out of the question) and i didn't want to get married in Cornwall. (its too far for airport travelers) so we chose to stay home (where home is for us as long as we've been together and just more convenient for everyone coming)

View quoted message

What an incredible proposal story! That really is lovely

Its coming to our 1 year soon and going after 1 month after to a cabin with our kids (dogs) for our honeymoon.

The cost of overseas honeymoon would be costly as almost of a wedding. Plus passports would need to done too.

View quoted message Luckily we weren't against getting married at home.
Windsor is right across the river from Detroit. And its not a wide river. Technically the US is north of me. Hahaha

View quoted message He proposed on the sky wheel. He did his little romantic speech and waited till we got to the top and asked me to marry him. It was so sweet!
I think it's a great idea to do it local so you can have all your friends and family together to celebrate YOU! 😊