Ontario Rustic Wedding

This week we get to share not just one, but two weddings from Canada with beautiful images for us to gush over. Michael Smith of Ash Imagery flew to Ontario to document the wedding of Tegan and Peter. Tegan, the bride, has been reading our site throughout her engagement and took much of her inspiration from Ruffled, along with lots of eco-friendly and heartfelt details. Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us!

We picked the location because it is my father’s farm, he designed and build the whole property which used to be a gravel pit, the barn was built using an old barn hay loft frame and was put up by Mennonites in the area. This is a very unique style in Ontario. My father has put his heart and soul in to the property.

We also wanted all the animals to be part of the day, with the horses in the barn eating their oats while we were eating and the dogs trotting around visiting all the guests. The tables were built by me and my dad.

The catering was all sourced locally and individually with Ontario Beef and Chicken served. The salads were made by a lady 20 kms away, the bread by a company called O’Sheas Farm 25 kms away, I made the ceasar salad and baked potatoes made by the congregation and family. The congregation of the Cromarty Church where we were married served all the food and also each made a dessert for the dessert bar. Other desserts were made by my aunts, with my aunt Matty making over 250 butter tarts from scratch! (pastry included) We sourced drinks from all the areas of the world where people were coming. Coopers Sparkling Ale – Australia, Magners and Guiness – Dublin, Ireland, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Steam Whistle beer from Toronto Ontario, and Finally a Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet from the Barossa Valley in Australia.

All the decorating was done by my two best friends (Simone Rioux and Erin Wismer) who spend the whole week prior at the farm creating, working average of 12 hrs a day. This barn is a working barn so there was alot to do. All the electrical was done by my cousins Monique and Shawn and the old ice cream truck which held all the drink and food belonged to my uncle Johnny. My mom found the chandelier on the side of the road ready to be picked up by the garbage truck. So to say the least it was a family affair including the help of the local community. We wanted to source everything locally, even the rental equipment was only from 10 kms away.

The invitations included the barn and our dogs which was designed by my friend from Law School in Australia. She also designed the stamp which we used on the tags for the Jam which was made by my mom’s friend.

The details were a collection of ideas from Blogs that I collected (I used Ruffled Blog) and my friend Erin who is an artist brought it to life. We found most of the details around the farm or my mother’s house and some from second hand shops. Very few things were new. The plates we used for dinner and dessert were collected by my family and most either donated their old plates or sourced them from second hand shops and/or estate auctions.

We had over 30 people from overseas travel in for the wedding.

My dress was from Australia – Halo was the Designer and shoes were from Canada. When traveling from Australia I had to shove my wedding dress in my hand luggage after arriving in LA from Sydney as American Airlines would not allow me to carry it! It came out relatively unscathed. Bridesmaid dress was from J crew. The horses that pulled the carriage are a breed called Friesians and they are from the province in Holland where my father was born. Also, the carriage was built locally in Bayfield. And the horses were bred locally as well.

I had a day of planner who worked her ass off all day and into the night, her name is Jennifer Vandenberg and she is from Dorchester, Ont. Highly recommend her. Bouquet flowers were done by Mary at Spring Hill Flowers in London Ontario and she also did the amazing Boutonnieres. The Flowers for the tables and decoration were sourced from a flower farm in Sebringville Ont called Black Creek Flowers.

As for the planning, I did most of it from Sydney Australia while I was supposed to be studying with the help of a dear friend Courtney Bergeron from London Ontario.

View more images from this wedding

Wedding Venue and Vendors (Ontario, Canada):

Venue: bride’s family barn / Photographer: Ash Imagery / Hair and Makeup: Heather Wenman from Studio H / Wedding Dress: Halo / Hairpiece: BHLDN