James and I met in our high school music class. Our first date was at a fish & chips restaurant close to our high school when we were 15 years old. We began officially dating at 17 and then ended in universities in the same town.

For the proposal, James had an adorable plan to bring me hiking to the top of Blue Mountain and propose at the top. He got the ring from The Diamond Studio in Thornbury, then talked to my dad to give him a heads up. We were having my family over for dinner that night, so James got nervous that someone was going to let the secret out before he had a chance to propose. I was working from home that day and came downstairs for lunch, coffee cold, and slightly hangry. He asked, “are you hungry?” and I said “yes, starving”. He then got down on one knee and said he had a proposal for lunch. It was adorable and very us, and of course I said yes! My favourite part of the proposal, aside from the ring, was probably the Annie’s Mac and Cheese that we ate afterwards!

We knew that we wanted to host our wedding at a local ski club. We toured a few and liked The Georgian Peaks Club the best. The building had just been renovated and we loved how much space it had, the huge bar, big windows, with amazing indoor and outdoor options. Steve, the Food & Beverage Director, was also extremely knowledgeable and helpful so we knew that he would support our wedding with care and attention to detail.

The most important factor we wanted to focus on was the open bar… in all seriousness though, we wanted good music, good food with a more relaxed flow to the dinner reception, and a view of the mountain when the leaves were changing colour. We wanted our guests to feel like our wedding was a place to have fun and make memories with less focus on the formalities.

When divvying out planning duties, we hired Amanda, and she told us what to do! We would have been hopeless without her, neither of us were very motivated to plan the wedding. We highly recommend all our vendors for a low-stress wedding with no stressful surprises. We were very hands off and everything exceeded our expectations.

The day before our wedding felt like a whirlwind. I remember getting a lot of questions from guests leading up to the day but also feeling grateful for all the support I was getting from my bridesmaids, maid of honour sister and the rest of my family. I recall feeling like there weren’t enough hours in the day leading up to the rehearsal dinner, but the tasks always get done and it always works out. For James, he felt a little anxious working out some last-minute logistics, but once we got to the rehearsal dinner everything felt like it fell into place. On the wedding day, I had a lot of butterflies! When I finally saw James, it re-grounded me. The most meaningful and cherished moments were made during the ceremony and speeches during the reception The day after our wedding, James and I were excited to eat carbs again. We ordered McDonald’s for breakfast, packed up our bags and headed to the airport for our honeymoon to Italy!