Ashley and Dan's Elegant Botanical Inspired Berkeley Church wedding shared with dreamweaver Events behind the scenes story and captured by Jeremie Dupont Photography.

Ashley and Dan’s Elegant Botanical Inspired Berkeley Church wedding shared with dreamweaver Events behind the scenes story and captured by Jeremie Dupont Photography.

The wedding design and decor beautifully highlights the inherent attributes of the historic building while creating a unique intimate setting and signature style. What were some of the choices and decisions that created this success?

First of all, thank you so much! A big part of Ashley and Dan’s design was heavily reliant on the couples’ choice of the Berkeley Church. Having it basically top their list of venues during our search, and it being available on one of their preferred dates, seemed almost too good to be true, and we jumped on booking right away!

During the design process, it was really important to us all that we let the beauty of the historic building really shine through. You can see that in the way that we used to signature stained glass window as the background of our ceremony arch, and the complimenting colours in the floral hues chosen.

When you first saw the album from the wedding what were your first impressions of how the day was communicated in the album?

I couldn’t have been more impressed. Jeremie did such an amazing job capturing all of the moments of the day. From some of the laughs, the tears, from meeting Julio at the hotel for photos, and the amazing scream-o session towards the dance floor opening, Jeremie captured the story of Ashley and Dan so beautifully. We could not have asked for a better photographer.

How would you describe the feeling and atmosphere your couple wanted to experience on their wedding day and what were some of the ways this was accomplished?

Ashley’s exact vision was to have a garden, bursting in warm hues inside the building. The couple wanted to create a warm and inviting atmosphere from when guests were walking in all the way through their whole experience. We did multiple site visits to carefully select decor elements for each area, from the entrance, the ceremony space (with a signature welcome cocktail, crafted in warm colour), the cocktail hour inviting folks in with additional florals and furniture, and the reception space with the rows of beautiful florals and the greenery hanging overhead.

What were some of the key questions you asked your couple to arrive at the strategy for how you would contribute to their day?

I always ask my couples a long series of questions during what we at Dream Weaver Events call the ‘design discovery’. Meaning that we’ve sort of tailored our client experience to make the design not only about colour or theme, but also about what sort of elements speak to the couple as individuals and as a couple. This couple include ‘what is your favourite restaurant? What sort of things do you like to do as a couple? Do you have any pets?’ For example, for Ashley and Dan, we made sure to include their pets in a lot of elements of the day (beer koozies and cake toppers). The couple is also really into the music scene in Toronto, and they wanted to pay homage to that scene which is why we opted to create custom matchboxes for the couple. We at DWE believe that the wedding should not only be beautiful in terms of colours but also beautiful in the way it tells the story of the couple.

Ashley and Dan had a lot of small touches that speak to who they are as a couple. They offered their guests signature cocktails named for their pets the ‘Boots and Burbon’ and ‘Julio Jalapeno’ named for Boots and Julio respectively. We also provided guests with custom beer koozies and matches. In addition, the couple offered their guests an elaborate sweets table made up of some of the couples favourite sweets around Toronto, a macaron tower from Nadege, doughnuts from Glory Hole doughnuts and Portuguese tarts from a local Portuguese bakery Doce Minho.

Looking back what strikes you as a some of the decisions you made in the planning process with your couple that contributed significantly to the success of the day?

I think one of the decisions that really stands out to me from the day is the decision to invest in the greenery that was whispily draped from the string lights in the ceiling. Ashley wanted to offer their guests something to look at from wherever they were in the room, and the ceiling at Berkeley Church can look so vast. It was a labour of love by Deanna and her amazing team at the Wild Pansy, but it was totally worth it!