An Artistic Affair planner Bryn Allison worked with clients to set up a tasty and attractive Muskoka-themed cake and cupcake table. Classix Beautiful Classical String Music for Special Events S E R V I N G M U S K O K A 705-952-0766 classix.ca Muskoka <strong>Weddings</strong> 2013 39 Photograph: Visual Roots
THOMAS BROWN — CHAPLAIN/WEDDING COMMISSIONER Uniting Hearts within Muskoka S E R V I N G M U S K O K A & S U R R O U N D I N G A R E A S Bringing couples together through meaningful ceremonies in the beauty of Muskoka. Love is universal — gender doesn’t matter. All couples happily welcomed. 705-783-1846 tomabrown@hotmail.ca A New U A - Weights Trying to lose weight with no success? 900 Bay Street, At The Wharf, Gravenhurst noella1029@rogers.com 705-205-1284 | www.anewumuskoka.com For readers with a love for Muskoka 705-646-1314 www.muskokamagazine.com 40 Muskoka <strong>Weddings</strong> 2013 Setting up for a wedding at The Rosseau, the Mode Function team uses birch branches, lanterns and white chair covers, to capture a wintery Muskoka theme with warm elements. cake was delivered by a bumpy route she had specifically warned against. “When they arrived, the whole cake had tipped over, so there was no wedding cake,” she recounts. “But there is always a back-up. I called other people I know. They always have something in case something happens.” Admittedly, some wedding crises are beyond the abilities of even the most capable pro to solve. Hamer remembers one wedding for which the groom didn’t show, standing up his bride and close to 400 guests. “He had cold feet. The bride had a total meltdown,” Hamer recalls. Since everything had been paid for, the decision was made just to make a party out of it, and amazingly, the couple is back together. “But she’s not planning a wedding.” Most people tying the knot in Muskoka are coming from Toronto or even further afield. The Muskoka outdoor wedding, says Hamer, is very trendy and couples make a weekend of it. “A lot of people don’t want to do a typical hall wedding. They want to be outdoors in a nice area, that has a lake.” A Friday-night dinner tends to be followed by a late Saturday-afternoon ceremony with reception from six until the wee hours, then a late Sunday breakfast. “It also works great for long weekends,” she says. Getting hitched outdoors adds planning challenges, though. “You have to rent chairs, tables, tent, cutlery, everything,” Hamer says. “You have to have a generator for back-up if the power goes off. It’s very different than a hall wedding in Toronto, where your perperson price includes everything.” A wedding at an island cottage can be spectacular, says Allison, but adds, “When the only access is water the logistics are about tenfold.” For one 170-guest wedding she arranged on Bigwin Island, the guests were staying in various places on and off the island and she says, “The shuttle organizing was pretty crazy.” But it was worth it, for a ceremony in the resort’s marine dining room overlooking the water. Other Muskoka elements included a birchbark-inspired cake, guest tables named after historical Muskoka boats or steamships and locally-made jams for favours. Allison and other planners like to use local suppliers and service providers. “It’s really important for me and other people to utilize the amazing talent base that is available in the Muskoka region,” she says. Cottage weddings are popular, says Tina Hamer, most of whose clients are Torontonians with cottages in Muskoka. Aside from the most popular season of May to August, she says, “October is pretty much booked because of the colours, and in December people do the winter wonderland thing.” For one simple and elegant autumn wedding at Trillium Resort in Port Sydney, the bride didn’t want rose petals scattered along the aisle, but something different. “I said, ‘Why don’t we collect leaves?’,” Hamer recalls. “She loved that. We just lined the aisle on the grass with all-different-coloured leaves.” For another wedding Hamer planned, at Port Cunnington, all the guests were handed a sparkler for the night-time walk from the reception area to the barn where the dance would take place. Then they formed a spectacularly-shining double line for the newlyweds to walk through. When Laura Cook, daughter of Graven- Photograph: Hasahn Fisher
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