Stylish Canadian Weddings: Of Course, Food is the Star at Liverpool House Chef’s Wedding

“The wedding dress was by Vancouver-based designer, Calla Blanche. It was the only wedding dress I had put on that I felt like myself in. I really wanted a gown that happened to be white, rather than a traditional wedding dress.”

“Jennifer Behr was kind enough to lend me a stunning hair piece for the day of, a crystal-encrusted comb, which I wore tucked behind my ear with a deep side part and mermaid-y waves.”

“I knew I wanted it to feel warm and cozy and romantic, and I wanted the room to be full of fall colours.”

“Our relationship is built on a deep sense of respect and admiration for one another. Challenging in ways that push each of us to do better and be better.”

“In his speech Ari talked about how everything he learned about having a loving relationship came from his parents—who are incredible people, and the most amazing couple—and how lucky he feels to have found in me all of those qualities. Pretty sure everyone was crying by that point.”

“Ari thought I was walking down the aisle to “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell (my queen) but I told the band to switch it at the last second to Neil Young’s “Motion Pictures”, which was the song that was playing the first time Ari told me he loved me. He heard those first few chords and knew immediately and just completely broke down in tears.”

“The ketubah signing was really special, too. Done before the ceremony, it’s actually where you’re officially married. You really only need two witnesses according to Jewish law, but because we decided against having a bridal party, we wanted to use it as an opportunity to make our closest friends a part of it all. So we had ten witnesses instead: eight of my best girlfriends, and two of Ari’s oldest friends. It was really nice to be surrounded by all of them at that important moment.”

“I was the last of my parents’ kids to be married, and in Judaism that’s called a mezinke. The parents sit on chairs in the center of the dance floor wearing wreaths on their heads (Jews are weird, I know) and everyone dances around them and comes over to kiss them and wish them Mazel tov. That was really nice moment to experience.”

“I’m a person who needs solo time, and being with him felt like being alone but better. And he fascinates me. That’s what captivated me from our first date—the way his mind works, the ideas he has about the world, his ambitions, his principles—and still does today.”

“Our relationship is built on a deep sense of respect and admiration for one another. It’s challenging in ways that push each of us to do better and be better.”

“Planning the wedding was definitely more stressful than we thought. We also picked a venue where everything from forks to knives, tables, chairs, kitchen appliances and everything in between had to be brought in. The upside: we were able to choose every last detail. The downside: we had no choice but to choose every last detail.”

“The one comment we heard most after the wedding was about how awesome the food was. My friend’s fiancé, Mike, actually sent us a message the next morning thanking us for the best meal of his life.”

“We skipped the cake! We had a massive croquembouche instead. It was awesome.”

“Definitely the funniest moment was when Pablo took the mic to give his best man’s speech. He started by talking about Ari’s vast collection of cookbooks and said there’s one for everything you could possibly want to make, but there’s no cookbook that tells you how to roast a chef. And proceeded to (lovingly) make fun of all his quirks and isms.”

“Neither of us is into clubbing—our idea of a Saturday night out is a nice, long dinner with copious amounts of good wine (that may or may not end with closing the place and dancing on a chair or two). That was the vibe we were going for, so our DJ played really great dinner music for the greater part of the night, until the rest of our party guests arrived around 10, at which point he brought out the 90s hip hop.”