AGO: grey day in Grange park, and a Great wedding!

Here we are in front of the Henry Moore statue group behind the AGO in Grange Park.  There were kids and babies and skateboarders all around, but they gave us a space for a short, lovely wedding.  And the rain held off till the end!

Couple and witnesses, AGO, Grange Park

Grange Park wedding couple and Mary

Signing Register in front of Grange, AGO

nb:  The bride above is an astronomer.  Below is ANOTHER University of Toronto astronomer, and we managed to hold the wedding inside the planetarium! (the new one, in the basement of the physics building).  So, fuzzy pix, but wonderful!  But you can only do this if you are -- an astronomer!

U of T Astronomy wedding

Library Elopement for literary couples

This is actually a HOME library, but delightful, because it's only one floor of the thousands of books in the collection of a literature professor at UofT. This was a wonderful home elopement of a couple who had just a few close friends and family to their simple wedding.  Some of my colleagues from the writing world turned up too, which was a wonderful surprise for all of us. Book people keep bumping into each other, somehow...

I have held weddings in other libraries, including Robarts, and the actual library stacks at the Faculty of Information Studies, as well as many bookstores.  We had a couple of lovely weddings in the Library at the Grange (Art Gallery of Ontario), which will host a small elopement/family wedding and cater you a wonderful reception or historic afternoon tea.   Yay books.

AGO: Frank restaurant for small family weddings

The AGO has many spaces, in additional to the large spaces, like Baille Court. New! You can book the small Grange Library (with High Tea or cocktails), and you can book one end of The Bistro (formerly Frank restaurant) - the gallery area by Dundas- for the ceremony, and the adjacent dining area for the dinner. Not sure about numbers, but maybe 40-50 people?  The backdrop will be whatever art is on show - this wedding was very fortunate, with a vibrant background. And they chose Frank because they met a chef school! This pix is by Alicia Thurston -  there's another great pix from this wedding in an earlier post.

Pop-up weddings, CN Tower, Museums,Galleries, Monuments, Parks and Gardens

It would be wonderful to be able to just turn up at your favourite location and hold a pop-up wedding.  After conducting weddings for almost 1500 people, I have lots of opinions on pop-up, guerilla, flashmob, and other surprise weddings.

Primarily, it is very difficult to hold a popup wedding in public museums and monuments and all those locations where you met, or hung out.  Most public institutions have guards, and lots of closed -circuit television. They understand what you are doing, and they will come and ask you to stop.  This is also the case with wedding photography, as they will also stop anyone who is trying to do engagement or wedding photos without a permit.  THIS IS WHY you do not see millions of wedding or fashion photographers in your favourite museum, monument (such as Union Station) or gallery.  They do this after hours, or they pay LOTS of money for the privilege.

You can certainly buy a permit for a wedding at Allan Gardens, the beautiful 19th century conservatory.  You CANNOT try to hold a popup there without a permit, as the long-suffering guard's job is to stop you.  The same with the Guild in Scarborough, the music garden, the Toronto Botanic Garden, and parts of the islands.  You cannot hold a wedding on the main UofT campus (around Hart House Circle), as you will be stopped.  You will be stopped quite firmly in the Distillery.  Also, parts of the Brickworks. It is the JOB of the guards to come and ask for your permit.

Please read the post on park weddings.  It's a Catch-22:  you must have a permit for a park wedding - BUT, the parks department will not issue permits for all parks.  The problem is that many weddings abuse the locations (bringing too many people, chairs, high heels, confetti, etc.) and the parks department can't supervise locations not set up for weddings.  YOU may have the best intentions in the world to be respectful, but other people have ruined things for you in advance. This is why High Park has now banned all weddings - because bad people treated it as an event space, not a park.

SO.  Here are some ideas. The CN tower (like Grand Central Station in NY)  will allow you to come in and stand in a corner and have a teeny wedding.  You have to buy admission for everyone anyway, so as long as it's short and you don't bother anyone, it's possible. The tourists will smile, or ignore you, or squeeze around you. You cannot do this at Ripley's, tho you can book the party room and then get tickets for all (which I think come with the booking).

You can't use Queens Park (the front of the building), tho you can use Queen's Park PARK, behind the legislature (by King Eddy).  You cannot use the AGO, but you can book the lovely library in the Grange and have a wedding by the fireplace AND HIGH TEA!  You can also use Grange Park BEHIND the ROM. You cannot do Casa Loma without a permit, but you can pay lots of money for a private wedding in the Conservatory at Casa Loma.  The ROM is all on closed-circuit TV.  Don't try it.  But you can use philosopher's walk, beside the  ROM, and then you inside and take some romantic cell phone pix. 

A legal wedding takes some calm, and some time.  It's not like the movies.  Basically, you need 25 minutes, and some peace and calm, and a place to hear, where your witnesses can also hear properly.  Then you need to sit down and sign all those papers. You must also document the wedding with a photo, in case you need to prove this for a non-traditional wedding.  So you need to be able to take at least cell phone photos.

SO, it's best to find a quiet place for a little legal wedding and THEN go and take some post-wedding photos in your fave location.  Or, try talking to your favourite restaurant or bar, and see whether you can have a quiet corner at 4pm between service, for a 'little private event' , and then stay for food and drinks!  Don't say the word "wedding" at first, just say 'celebration'.  Many locations will be happy to give you your 20 minutes and sell you some prosecco and nibblies.

We might also be able to slip into your nearby small parkette, or some friendly spaces like Trinity Bellwoods, Riverdale, etc.,, with a handful of people.  But for a larger event (over 12 people ) find a location which issues permits:  Allan Gardens, Toronto Botanical, Music Garden, etc.  Ask me.

Please write me with your ideas and I'll try to help.  Little popup weddings are great fun, as long as we can relax and hear and do things properly.  And not bother OTHER people, of course.   Your wedding should be fun and memorable, not fraught with being chased out of your favourite location.

Small Family Wedding at FRANK, AGO

Here's a nice venue for food and art lovers:  Frank Restaurant at the AGO.  This was a delightful wedding for about 40 people. You could squeeze a few more in, but not too many, if you're going to have a seated meal after.

We had the ceremony in the front gallery on Dundas street, and then moved to the private dining room behind it for the dinner.  The restaurant was still open to other dining guests, but the wedding guests had their own dining room and servers.   Nice art, lovely couple, airy and bright and easy to reach on the streetcar.  Pix is from Alicia Thurston.

New Venue for small weddings: Grange library at the AGO

Just had two wonderful winter weddings in the library of the Grange, behind the AGO. The library window is the last one on the left.  I remember taking my children here when the Grange was still a museum. And now the event planning staff is experimenting with small weddings in the wee 19th century library off the 'members lounge'.

Today we had 2 weddings; the first had a formal seated afternoon tea service (delicious! Earl Grey pannacotta!), and the second had a cocktail reception.  There isn't room to serve more than about 15/20 max at the tea tables, and 12 is about right, so a seated tea service is limited. You could have more people for a standing ceremony and a cocktail hour, but not much more than 18-20, perhaps? (Same size as Allan Gardens).
The staff will also accompany your group or the couple for photos in the galleries of the AGO itself.  The 2nd couple had cocktails and toast in the library at 5, then dinner at FRANK, which is also easy access.    Drop me a note if you want to know more! You can contact the event manager directly:  Jennifer_prince@ago.net

 This is a dinner setup, not a tea, and it's for about 24, but you can see the setting.  This is too many for a ceremony, as we need to stand together by the fireplace, so ceremony AND TEA should max out at about 18.