Hart House Wedding by Jenn Stark Photographers

It just doesn’t get more classically elegant than this Toronto affair captured by none other than the fabulous Jenn Stark. This gorgeous bride DIY’ed so many of the details to keep her elegant affair under an equally attractive budget, and I must say her hard work paid off. It just goes to show DIY done right can apply to any style soiree. You can see all the prettiness in the full gallery of images, so be sure to set aside some time to be entranced by all the elegance!

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From the Bride…Adam and I both grew up in the west end of Toronto, and we love the city.  When we became engaged, we knew right away that we wanted to get married downtown at Hart House at the University of Toronto.  We had first fallen in love with the building’s stunning gothic architecture and old-world feel when we first visited it several years ago.  We held our ceremony in the outdoor quadrangle (which was a very happy surprise after a morning of thunderstorms!), we held a cocktail hour under the tented canopy at the back of the quadrangle, and we held our dinner reception in the Great Hall – a beautiful room with high arched ceilings, stained glass windows, and pieces of the university’s history decorating its walls.  The old-world charm almost made us forget that we were right in the middle of downtown Toronto!  The Great Hall is such an incredible space that we didn’t feel it required much additional decoration.  My stepfather John is a florist, and he put together arrangements of cream and peach roses with baby’s breath to achieve a simple elegance.

My dad is from Australia and his side of the family wasn’t able to come to Canada, so I wanted to bring a bit of Australia to our day here.  I bought an Australian folk song medley online arranged for string instruments and our classical duo played it beautifully.Later in the night, my dad spun me around the room for our father-daughter dance to a punk version of Walzting Matilda, Australia’s unofficial national anthem, which was a total blast!

Adam and I figured that our wedding was probably the only time in our life where we would be hosting a cocktail party for so many of our family and friends, so we really wanted to be able to attend our own party!  Rather than spending time taking photos during cocktails, our wonderful photographers arranged a time for Adam and I to see each other before the ceremony.  Right before I walked out the doors to see Adam for the first time on our wedding day, our photographer Jenn said to me “pretend we’re not here and just truly enjoy this moment – it might be the only time the two of you will have together alone for the rest of the day” – and she was right!  Those few minutes together were so special, and spending the rest of the evening with our family and friends couldn’t have been better.

Venue: Hart House at the University of Toronto / Wedding Photography: Jenn Stark Photographers / Floral Design: John Dziuma of Florida Flowers (Bride’s Stepfather) / Wedding Cake: Friend of the Bride / Bride’s Jewelry: Heirlooms from Grandmother of the Groom / Bridesmaid Dresses: H&M, Banana Republic + Traffic People / Stationery + Decor: The Bride with Family and Friends / Musicians: Alicia and Trent / DJ: Brian Medeiros of Hi5 DJ / Makeup: Melissa Andre Events