Classically Elegant Whistle Bear Golf Club Wedding

For Carolina & Shawn being able to look back at their wedding in 50 years time and remember it as timeless and beautiful was an important factor when it came to their planning. The result; classic, refined and elegant. These images by KENDRA RUTH PHOTOGRAPHY showcase their goal perfectly and how beautiful does Carolina look in her MATTHEW CHRISTOPHER gown? 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: We started the day off by having brunch at Cluny's in the Distillery District. I remember it was one of the hottest days of the year so Shawn mentioned that we should take the ferry out to the Toronto Island to escape the city heat.

Shawn has always been into photography and had recently loaded his dad's old camera with some film and mentioned it would be a great chance to photograph the Toronto skyline. We hopped on the ferry and made our way over to the island as Shawn snapped some photos of us slowly pulling away from the city. Once on the other side, we walked around the island and ended up in this secluded spot with the most fantastic view of the city! Shawn reached down to reload the camera with some film and when I turned around he was down on one knee holding a little box. 

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS: I had visited four different boutiques during the summer but didn't find the "one". My sister was about to leave the city to go back to school so I made a last-minute appointment at Pearle Bridal and I'm so glad I did! My gown was simple and had both floral lace and delicately dotted Swiss lace from the top of the sweetheart neckline down to the scalloped hem. 

DID YOU HAVE ANY DIY ELEMENTS? Shawn and I designed and made the table numbers and holders. We also made the place cards and wedding card box. My favourite DIY element was my veil! My veil was custom made by my aunt who came over from Portugal for our wedding. She is a seamstress and had handmade my mother’s wedding gown so I knew it would be so special if she could design something for me to wear. 

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: We loved our florist! Our first meeting with Jodi felt like a couple of old friends gushing over beautiful flowers. She was so amazing! My bouquet was a beautiful mix of blush O’hara roses, white majolica, quicksand roses, verionica, lisianthus, and eucalyptus all tied with blush trailing ribbon.

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: We had our floral designer create an amazing greenery arbor above our sweet heart table. It completed the head table and was an amazing focal piece of our wedding décor.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING: Enjoy each moment and do not let it stress you out! We planned our wedding in under 11 months and loved every step of the way!

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? We actually have two! The first was our vow’s to one another. We wrote them separately and kept them a surprise from one another. It was something we had always wanted to do and it meant so much to read them out surrounded by our family and close friends.

The second would be my father daughter dance. Like many girls, I always looked forward to this special moment. Unfortunately, just before we got engaged, my father was diagnosed with ALS and we knew it would be a challenge for him so we didn’t plan for it. On the wedding day he was so incredibly strong and asked me to dance. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room!

ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? I have been collecting post cards for years and even more so when I started going on vacations with Shawn. I have collected hundreds of blank postcards and thought it would be a great idea to have our guests sign the back of them as a sort of custom “guestbook”. We loved that each guest could look thru all the postcards and pick one to leave us a personal message. We now keep the signed ones in a glass box in our living room as a beautiful reminder of our wedding day.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: We started our honeymoon with an adventurous week in Malta followed by a relaxing week in Santorini, Greece.