Ryan and Emily's wedding in Toronto, Ontario

However, our wedding was at the height of COVID at the end of summer 2021 with the Omicron variant starting to make its presence known in Canada. Plus we have a toddler in only part-time daycare. So this combination made organizing a wedding 10X more difficult than the average wedding (and weddings are already notoriously difficult to organize, as you may know). So we had challenges with our caterer, wedding planner, COVID protocols, and limitations on guest count plus so much more. Hiring the right vendors during this time was a big challenge, but WeddingWire.ca really helped us find the right people, including my hair and make-up stylists, officiants and so many more.

In the end, we had one of the best days of our lives (honestly). A big reason was that we got creative with COVID protocols and we held multi-wave events on the one wedding day to split our guests count. That way we could see everyone and the whole day lasted longer making more memories. So in the end, we had a daytime event, an evening event plus a virtual reception for guests that couldn't make it physically.

For the daytime event, we held our wedding ceremony outdoors overlooking the city skyline from the island, followed by an outdoor 'picnic style' cocktail event with appetizers and a bar. During this time, we visited our virtual guests who had witnessed the entire ceremony as it had been live-streamed and then they joined us in witnessing the signing of our marriage certificate plus they joined us with a virtual champagne toast.

Next, we were able to rent a vintage 1960s bus that's located on the Toronto Islands from a resident artist (his name is Manuel Cappel). He drove our entire wedding party across the chain of islands with a pit stop at Hanlan's Point (the nude beach). While we kept our wedding attire on (LOL), there was a roaring beach party taking place and we got a huge standing ovation from the beach crowd chanting loving messages our way. It was one of those serendipitous highlight of life that you just can't plan for and it made the wedding day that much more spectacular!

The final event was the evening celebration. We we had our next and final wave of guests join us indoors in the banquet hall for dinner, drinks and lots of dancing. We had special toasts, some roasts and surprise video messages from friends around the world. As the final kick-off, we lite up cigars and sparklers on the barge deck outside of the venue as a way of giving a final celebration to an incredible wedding day and night!

Despite COVID, with some creativity and help from our friends, we were able to make this day one of the greatest days of our lives and an incredibly special occasion for our guests. So if I had one message for future brides: It's that it pays to not follow the conventional wedding rules and norms. Instead get creative with how your organize and plan your special day.