REAL WEDDING: DEVENEY AND JAMES

Part of what we love so much as wedding planners is being able to meet all different types of people, and translating who they are as couples into well-crafted weddings that reflect their styles and values. We do this by asking lots of questions and listening well!

When we first met Deveney and James, they stood out to us as kind, giving, and serene people, and it was a genuine pleasure working with them and bringing their beautiful love story to life. It was very important to them that their wedding be environmentally conscious and low waste, which was a cause we were in full alignment with and absolutely supported!

AN INTIMATE AUTUMN RESTAURANT WEDDING CEREMONY

As wedding planners, it is important for us to get to know our couples, so that we can plan a celebration that reflects who they are as people. But of course it takes a while to get to know someone! At Mad Bash, we find that we like to explore our couples’ personalities not only through the conversations we have during our consultations, but also through our Wedding Planning Questionnaire, which we have written to go quite in-depth. We even recommend that our couples open a bottle of wine and fill it out as part of a “date night,” and encourage them to share all of their intimate details like how they met and how they proposed!

Deveney and James shared with us that they value spaces and things that have sentimental value, that they aren’t interested in trends, and that they cherish time spent with friends and hold space for meaningful conversations. They decided that although they had lots of people with whom they wanted to celebrate, they did want to have an intimate ceremony in a place that they held close to their heart, which was their best friend’s restaurant, Avling on Queen East. It did not fit everyone on their guest list, so they decided to have a morning cermony followed by brunch at Avling, and an evening reception at Evergreen Brick Works with all of their friends and family.

It being late October, they wanted to lean into the fall vibes, and Avling had a beautiful mural with autumn colours that we were able to incorporate into their ceremony space. In keeping with their choice to have a low-waste wedding, we re-painted some of our in-house plinths to match the mural’s colour palette and set up a simple but beautiful space with gorgeous fall florals and pre-loved candles. It was a moving and beautiful ceremony, with the bride in a stunning vintage gown. Deveney and James emanated love, and we’re fairly sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the room! The newlyweds then shared brunch with their closest family and friends before moving to Evergreen Brick Works for the big reception.

A SUSTAINABLE WEDDING RECEPTION at EVERGREEN BRICK WORKS

When Deveney first inquired about our wedding services, she told us that their guiding light for their wedding was for it to be sustainable and low waste. They had already booked Evergreen Brick Works for their wedding reception - the perfect choice, with its historic kiln building being nearly carbon neutral, beautiful surrounding forests, and other sustainable and community-building initiatives.

As the wedding planners, it was our job to communicate our clients’ low-waste wishes to the vendors that we booked, and request that plastic be used as sparingly as possible. The wedding industry uses an interesting mix of sustainable and wasteful practices: It relies heavily on rentals, which is fantastic, but as we all know from daily life, things often arrive wrapped in a layer of plastic. With our vast network of industry contacts, we were able to find companies who shared these values and were on board to adapt their practices for this common goal.

using pre-loved decor to decorate THE wedding reception

Being people who do not shy away from pre-loved items, during our design consultations with Deveney and James before the wedding, it was decided that we would use as many second-hand items as possible in their decor. So we contacted all of our floral friends and were able to source enough colourful pre-lit candles in their autumn colour palette to light the entire reception with. Fortunately we already had hundreds of hurricane candle holders in our in-house rental inventory to place the candles in. To add to the ambience, sparkling fairy lights illuminated the dance floor and coloured uplighting brought a warm and fun dance party vibe. For florals, we re-purposed the ceremony florals for the head table, and mixed floral centrepieces with living potted plants that guests could take home as gifts when the night ended.

Repurposing backdrops to create a stunning DIY seating chart

Using Mad Bash’s in-house inventory, we painted three arched backdrops a beautiful textured green to give them dimension, and designed a flowing floral mural, printed on cardstock, that incorporated the guests’ seating arrangements into it. By using paper products and wood-based items, we avoided using typical signage material like foamcore and vinyl, which contain plastic materials destined for the landfill.

telling your story with our signature wedding planning package

Do you love this sustainably-conscious fall wedding? Do you want your wedding to reflect your values and tell your story? Please, contact us! We would love to hear from you and help bring your vision to life. With a strong team of resourceful creatives who love an event-planning challenge, we are ready to make your custom requests a reality!