A Look Back At Our Wedding(s)

RG and I will be married 5 years on July 30th!  

It’s been a wild ride filled with adventure, change and a few small bumps along the way.  I’m so proud of us as a team and the life we’re building as a family.  We’re different in a lot of ways; we have strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other. But on the big things we agree nine times out of ten. And that was especially evident when it came to planning our wedding.  

We both wanted it fun and not very fussy.  We also didn’t want it to cost a lot of money.  We’re the type that would rather spend on a family home than on one single day, even if that day was our wedding. We also wanted to keep it small because there was only one venue in the world that we wanted to have it at. Our cottage. Our small but magical cottage.

Cottage Wedding

In those 900 square feet we had spent the best times with family and friends. We had celebrated countless milestones and holidays. And we couldn’t think of a more perfect backdrop for us to commit our lives to one another.

Getting ready for the big day was a family affair. My Dad, always keen to get his hands dirty, did planting and landscaping.  RG went lumberjack DIY creating birch tree candle holders, elm tree place cards and a beautiful set of Mr. & Mrs. signs for the back of our chairs.  Ma and I shopped for vintage and personal touches, chose the flowers and place settings and spent months trading Pinterest ideas for the bar, food and overall feel of the wedding. Each of our brothers stood up as best man and “man of honour” and Randall’s father conducted the ceremony.

We kept it simple and local.  We hired an amazing caterer.  And gave our guests maple syrup and sauce from our friends at Dawson’s Hot Sauce.  

And to top it all off, we had an epic firework show that lit up the entire lake (and almost my brother). 

We had about 25 people attend our cottage wedding and it was just about as close to perfect as you could get.  We spent lots of time with everyone.  We danced and drank and laughed until the wee hours of the morning.  Literally, the sun was coming up when Randall and I snuck away to our “mini-moon.”

The only thing that maybe wasn’t so relaxed and simple was my dress lol.  My Ma and I went to Kleinfeld in New York with my friend and wedding fairy godmother @jessicamulroney to find my gown.  I hadn’t really looked at many inspo pics beforehand and I hadn’t tried any on until I got there. I *thought* I would go for something simple.  That is, until the very first dress Jessica had me try on.  Now, I don’t know what kind of magic she has but it was the one I ended up choosing in the end and every time I see a picture of it I fall in love with it all over again.  A Pnina Tournai that was anything but simple.  But it felt so me.  

The exact spot we got married is also exactly where Randall had proposed a year earlier.  It wasn’t planned that way, it just happened. You could call it kismet. Randall explained later that his only goal in proposing was to surprise me. To really “knock me off my feet” he said. He’s a pretty creative guy and had brainstormed a lot of elaborate scenarios in his head, but feared that I would sniff them out a mile away. Our brains are strangely tethered that way; we can think each other’s thoughts a lot of the time. 

His solution to the predicament was pure spontaneity. If he didn’t even know when it was going to happen then neither could I.  So for an ENTIRE MONTH HE CARRIED AROUND MY ENGAGEMENT RING IN HIS POCKET!!! Just waiting for that right magical moment. He confessed to even having it in his bathing suit WHILE SWIMMING a few times. I thought to myself, what kind of reckless wild man swims with an engagement ring his pocket and what exactly have I gotten myself into.

We’ve since moved from that magical little cottage, but before we did Randall pulled up those deck boards where we stood and took them to our new place. One with a little more room for our growing family.  We hope to make those deck boards into something, maybe a swing, and to tell the kids the story of it.

Now, I come from a big Italian family on my Ma’s side and typically weddings are huge. I have the BEST memories of these events. The food. The wine. The dancing. (Mostly to “Gloria” with my cousins) and a big part of me wanted that too. So my parent’s suggested we also throw another celebration in the back yard at their house in Guelph to include the rest of the families. And also, let’s be real here, so my Dad could show off his epic garden.

Guelph Wedding

We loved the idea. I mean who wouldn’t? It’s essentially like having two weddings. And best of all, I got to wear my dress a second time!  

The Italian Canadian Club catered the meal. We drank and ate. Danced and laughed. There was even a bagpiper to honour the McGimsie/Scottish side of the fam.  And got one epic family photo with almost everyone. (My Dad had mysteriously went missing at that moment and is literally the only person not in the picture, a fact he won’t soon let us forget).  

It was two special days that I can remember like yesterday. I’m so grateful RG got to experience a big Italian family wedding, and so glad that our two families came together. It was the best of both worlds and if I could do it all again I wouldn’t change a thing.

Except maybe my hair.