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An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

A rain-kissed unscripted romance & Molly Goddard bridal in the Ontario wilderness

Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Windermere House – a storied Victorian-era hotel perched on the shores of Lake Rosseau, Ontario – Andy and Laura’s wedding was a vibrant celebration of everything they hold dear: literary love, unforgettable music, and the kind of serendipitous moments that transform into lifelong memories. From a "Bring The Drama" dress code and a rainstorm that turned their ceremony into an intimate affair to a surprise brass band that electrified the dance floor and the bride’s effortlessly chic Molly Goddard gown, every twist and turn of the day felt like fate playing its perfect hand. Welcome to a wedding where spontaneity stole the show – beautifully captured through the lens of our talented member, wedding photographer Kaela Leone.

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

Our Love Story

^{The Day We Met}

Andy and I met 13 years ago in a university residence hallway. We were both studying English literature, and I was visiting England from Canada for an exchange program. On the night I arrived, I met Andy when he poked his head out of his residence room—which was just a few doors down from mine—to see “who the surprisingly loud voice belonged to.”

^{The Proposal}

Andy proposed during a trip to the Amalfi Coast. We were in Ravello, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, and I’m fairly certain I was blabbering about how sweaty I was right before it happened. We both burst into happy tears and got so swept up in the moment that we forgot to take any pictures.

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

^{The Engagement Ring}

My engagement ring is an antique oval old-cut diamond ring by England-based jeweler William Welstead. I’ve always admired his work and how he uses natural, untreated stones with imperfect proportions for their beauty and character. My wedding band is an archive design by the incredible Danish jeweler Sophie Bille Brahe, whom I used to work with in London. I love that it looks like a looping ribbon, just like the ones we tied around the books at our wedding.

Our Wedding

^{The Vision}

While we currently live in Toronto, Andy is English, and I'm Canadian, so we're always missing someone. We saw this as an opportunity to throw a big, fun party with all our favorite people together for the first time ever, in a place that means a lot to us.

^{Our Team of Vendors}

Our wedding planner was the brilliant Iris Li of Blue Lavender Events. She was a true gem, handling every last detail with such thoughtfulness and care, making the planning journey as special and memorable as the destination itself. Iris introduced us to a terrific team of vendors, including the incomparable photographer Kaela Leone, who braved Muskokan thunder and rain to capture the spirit of the day so wonderfully.

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

^{The Location}

We hosted our wedding at Windermere House, a Victorian-era hotel on Lake Rosseau and the oldest resort in Muskoka. My parents have a cottage nearby, and growing up, we'd boat over to Windermere House for special occasions—some journeys wavier and soggier than others—so it felt very special to get married there.

All our guests stayed at Windermere House for the weekend, which made it feel like a fun summer camp. The evening before the wedding, everyone piled onto a party boat that set sail from Windermere dock for a cocktail cruise around Lake Rosseau. We also rallied our friends for an impromptu midnight swim in the lake the night before our wedding.

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

^{The Ceremony}

Our dress code for the wedding was “Bring The Drama,” and in classic Muskoka fashion, the weather did exactly that. Cue thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour of epic proportions. But, you know what they say—a wet knot is stronger than a dry one! What was supposed to be an open-air ceremony overlooking Lake Rosseau turned into an intimate indoor affair in Windermere House’s conservatory. In hindsight, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

^{The Reception}

After the ceremony, we hosted a cocktail hour on the veranda overlooking the lake while the rain pelted down around us. The reception room was hidden behind a curtain so we could do a little room reveal for our guests. We draped every inch of the walls and ceiling—big thank you to Iris and Jess for turning our draped dreams into reality—to make the room feel like something out of a period drama. Susannah van der Zaag of Bloem wrapped our head table in local flowers and grasses that she had grown and created table arrangements featuring little green tomatoes and sweet pea foliage.

An Enchanting Lakeside Wedding in Canada

For dinner, we served lots of local Canadian produce, like Ontario peach salad, Fogo Island halibut, Lake Brome duck confit, and mushrooms foraged on nearby Tobin Island. Our cake was by KWENTO—a chocolate Guinness, buttercream, and salted caramel creation with a cherry for each guest on top. For music, Andy, who collects vinyl, had a DJ from Record Collective spinning vinyl under a disco ball. Later in the evening, I arranged for a brass band called SHOUT! The Band to parade onto the dance floor and do a surprise set for Andy and our guests. After the reception, we moved to a little cottage in the woods to keep the party going into the wee hours, with a roaring bonfire and a few of our friends—including my little brother Paul—on deck to DJ.

^{The Special Touches}

As a nod to our English literature meet-cute, we sourced a different novel for each of our guests that we thought they’d love and placed them at each seat, wrapped in a red bow with a handwritten love note inside. I can’t tell you how many secondhand bookshops we visited to find them all, but it was worth it. We weren’t expecting all the tears that followed—it was very moving. For our save-the-date, Andy drew a custom illustration of two bears—icons in Muskoka country—dancing on a stack of books under a disco ball, which we printed onto matchbooks for our guests to take home as favors.

^{Our Favorite Moment}

After over a decade together, the ceremony was a bit of a watershed moment for us… in more ways than one. Tears were shed—of emotion and also of laughter—when we realized we were all so wrapped up in the moment that our guests had accidentally remained standing for half the ceremony. Much to Andy’s dismay, they all sat down in unison just as he was about to recite his vows. We all had a good giggle.

Our Style

^{The Bridal Looks}

I had never really mapped out what my wedding would look like, but I had a hunch that if it happened, it would be in a Molly Goddard dress. I work in PR, and when I lived in London, Molly Goddard was my first-ever client. Her designs are very special to me, and I remember her show notes once describing them as “clothes to feel strong and safe in,” which is exactly why I love them.

So, I invited my mum, Dominique, on a whirlwind trip from Toronto to London for an appointment at Molly’s bridal atelier to find my wedding dress. It was such a surreal experience trying on designs I’d seen walk down the runway throughout the years—this time without a PR clipboard and walkie-talkie in tow. Even my mum fell under Molly’s spell, finding a beautiful floor-length navy dress to wear to our wedding. My dress was a made-to-measure design from Molly’s bridal collection. She gives each of her dresses a name, and I instantly fell for Rosalie: a sculptural ivory taffeta gown with a tulle underskirt and a hand-gathered bodice with velvet ribbons.

Our Advice

^{For The Planning Process}

With all the inspiration out there, it can be overwhelming to make decisions and stick to them. We did our best to ground our vision for the day in our personal story and the things that mean the most to us. We also enjoyed making the planning journey part of the fun. Andy and I love to hunt for vintage finds, and it became a bit of a weekend ritual to venture out and uncover bits and bobs for the wedding—like the silver trays we used for hors d’oeuvres, the scallop shells we found for butter dishes, and the books we offered to our guests.

^{For On The Day}

Embrace the unplanned moments. We felt nervous about the ominous weather forecast in the week leading up to the wedding, but the epic rainstorm ended up being one of the most memorable parts of the day for us. Speaking of—always have a rain plan.

^{For Post-Wedding}

If you can, carve out a day or two after the wedding to rest, recharge, and reminisce with absolutely no agenda. After the festivities were over, Andy and I laid down for a nap and woke up… 15 hours later.