This rustic glam soiree is so packed with style elements I don’t even know where to begin. Branded from top to bottom by the talented Bride, there wasn’t a detail overlooked in this ridiculously amazing fête. It’s one you’ll want to spend some serious time devouring, and thanks to Justyna Sokolowski‘s gorgeous images, you can do so right here.
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From the Bride..Ryan and I got married at Trillium Resort and Spa in Port Sydney, Ontario (The Muskoka’s) – we chose this venue for it’s location; we wanted a destination wedding without it being too far for our guests. We wanted to celebrate with our friends and family for a full weekend – not just a day. Our friends and family showed up mid-day Friday to kick-off the wedding festivities with a BBQ and bonfire complete with fireworks! Our wedding weekend felt like such a nice getaway for our guests – a true kick off to summer – especially since the solstice took place this weekend! The intimate resort, the cabins, the food, and the atmosphere were so us, which in turn made it also our guests tastes.
The inspiration for the wedding was rustic glam – I wanted the rustic to come from the resort and atmosphere – and the glam to come with our attire, the décor, and the service. I wanted the mix of high fashion, but with comfort. We wanted our wedding to be a party – a full weekend bash – with a wedding in between. We wanted the weekend to be about friends and family getting together – to celebrate love and friendship. Our main priorities were good food, people, music and fun! We wanted to keep our wedding intimate. We wanted to have enough time to visit and catch up with our friends that came near and far.
I drew inspiration from Coco Chanel fashion show invitations to kick off our wedding stationery and our overall look and feel of the big day. The colours of the wedding were whites, golds, and a touch of black. We created a logo that was included on all stationery that was sent – the save the dates, invitations, thank you cards, menus, weekend itineraries (yes there was three!), table numbers, welcome kits, etc. Our brand for the wedding was LP22 – the LuluParky Wedding – The LP was our names together and 22 was the date of the wedding. The LP22 was inspired by Chanel N5.
On top of branding the entire wedding – it was important for us to include little touches into our big day. Every guest received a custom wedding tote with water, chocolates, gum, cookies, chips, and a specific itinerary based on when they were arriving for the wedding and depending on the location they decided to book – only place for 60 guests at the resort. Another little touch was having beverages at the ceremony by the lake – too often you sit at an outdoor wedding in the heat and get thirsty and there is nothing to drink. Our guests enjoyed lemonade, iced tea, or lemon water – each were in carafes that guests could help themselves. Our program was designed to be a fan to also keep the guests cool during the outdoor ceremony by the lake. For the past year, my mother and I gathered vintage handkerchiefs for the ceremony and each guests was welcomed to take one to dry their happy tears!
Our guests said that our ceremony site was one of the most beautiful locations they have ever seen! Ryan and I got married under an arch made of driftwood that was wrapped with a floral garland with the lake and sand beneath our feet. The ceremony isle was lined with pedals and birdcages filled with succulents.
During dinner on each table was a kissing game that the guests could play to keep the dinner fun and interactive. To make us kiss you could play a round of flip cup against someone at your table, you could sing a song with love in it, or answer a trivia question about us. Our DJ surprised us – when a table sang a song with love it in – he would play the whole song once they were done. People just loved it!
For the reception each table was draped with layered lace vintage tablecloths, that friends and family had found at various vintage, thrift shops, etc. Some tables had a collection of vases with flowers, while others had a larger centerpiece and more candles. There were 3 different table scapes and 3 different table sizes + some tables for the kiddies! We had 14 person tables, 10 person, and the largest head table of 16 people! The head table was draped with an olive branch garland with white peonies and votives. I wanted the centerpieces to be romantic, lush, green, and very white and lit up by candlelight. The reception room was so pretty with exposed wood beams, a fireplace, and rustic floors that I wanted the room to shine through – a ton of décor wasn’t necessary. The kids table had personalized kits to keep them entertained during the dinner complete with candy, mustaches, toys, puzzles, and colouring books. They were a hit!
We had a late night TACO bar and Whoopie Bar that was a huge hit with our guests. The food was a definite highlight at our wedding. Instead of a photo booth – we decided to have a Polaroid station where guests could take photos of themselves in front a flamingo back drop and then tape the Polaroid into our guest book and affix it with neon tape or washi tape and write a message to us. This was a great way to capture our guests at the wedding and gave them something to do during cocktail hour.
As a stylist the dress of the wedding party, the groom, and myself was a very important detail of the wedding I didn’t want it overlooked. I wanted everyone to look oh so glam! Let’s start with the little people. The junior groomsmen and ring bearer wore straight brim Blue Jays hats with grey khakis, short-sleeve white oxford dress shirts, blue high-top converse and a mustache bow tie. They definitely stole the show! The flower girls wore flower head bands, rose bud white dresses, and gold gladiators for the big day. The groomsmen looked very dapper in grey suspenders, floral tie, white long sleeve shirt with no pocket, and grey fitted straight dress pants and brown shoes of their choice. The groomsmen did not have a boutonnière as I felt the floral tie would be the spotlight of their attire.
My lovely ladies wore Two Bird Bridesmaid Dresses in a colour of their choosing and tied whichever way suited them best. They all had super awesome hair and make-up done based on inspiration of their choosing. Some had extensions that were pink, bright lips, Rihanna hair, etc. All girls wore nude shoes – any style and height they like. I wanted them to feel beautiful on our wedding day – and they were definitely showstoppers. Our gift to the groomsmen and bridesmaids were Rayban Aviators – you will notice they are wearing them in a lot of the photos. Ryan wore a custom made navy suit from Harry Rosen, brown woven dress shoes and crisp white dress shirt with navy tie to the ceremony, and later changed into high top brown sneakers to dance the night away at the reception.
My dress and shoes are quite the story! To start off my bridesmaids are wonderful – they all pitched in to buy me a gift card to Holt Renfrew to buy my dream wedding shoes. I had picked out the most stunning pair of Jimmy Choos – they were dreamy. Gold, strappy, sky-high heels that would have worked perfectly with my dress. I decided 2 days before the wedding to test them out (something every bride should do!) – I walked for a total of 10 minutes – the heel breaks – I scream and on the verge of tears – My beloved shoes are broken. My wedding is in two days. Eek! I race to Holts to replace my shoes – and they don’t have them anymore – and nothing else that would work. I was leaving the next day for the resort – still with no shoes. I decided to check out a store called David’s and found a beautiful pair of Kate Spade shoes that would do the trick. Did I love them? No. Would they work? Yes. I did find a comfy pair of heeled copper Michael Kors runners to wear at the reception with my second dress. So I ended up with 2 pairs of shoes for the wedding day. Well, actually 3 since I ended up wearing the Prada shoes my friend had brought as her back up pair for her dress and didn’t wear the Kate Spade’s until the dance portion of the wedding.
Not only was the shoe situation a bit of a nightmare – but so was my wedding dress! I wanted to get a custom dress made. Again, being a stylist I had visions of cutting and mixing dresses to make my dream dress. Well, the girl I hired didn’t really work out. So, while away for my bachelorette party in Vegas, with only one month until the wedding I went to Nieman Marcus just to see if I could find a wedding dress. With 4 hung over bridesmaids by my side – we found the perfect dress and a second dress to change into in the evening. The wedding dress I chose had the interesting detail I was looking for; elegant, glamorous, fit perfect with no alterations, it was a wedding dress without being a wedding dress. It was stunning! Another crisis luckily averted when it came to the wedding.
Overall, our wedding was a dream! It was absolutely wonderful from the food, décor, the music, and style! Our laid-back personalities really shone through to make sure our guests had a wonderful kick-off weekend to summer! I have had many guests comment that it was the best wedding they have ever been to! The picturesque ceremony site, the cabin accommodations, the wonderful whiskey bar/champagne bar at cocktail hour, to the speedy speeches, and wonderful music! The weather really cooperated for the entire weekend, guests kayaked, canoed, paddle boated, and enjoyed the resort, which added to the relaxed vibe of the weekend. Can I do it again?
Photography: Justyna Sokolowski | Styling: Style By Lu | Wedding Planning: Style By Lu | Floral Design: Sweet Woodruff | Invitations: Paper Plains | DJ: Bello Sound | Ceremony Venue + Reception: Trillium Resort and Spa | Day of Coordination: We Create Hoopla | Minister: sarahmonies | Sweet Table: Sweet Table