So here I am as a bride on a definite (and quite small) budget, looking to plan a wedding located somewhere around downtown Toronto, one of the most expensive locations in Canada. Super. Now while I could have gotten stressed, discouraged, or upset (see picture), instead I got to work. This website was definitely very helpful for me. Even though I was looking mostly in an area I knew really well, the above website helped me consider a few places that I would have never otherwise known about.
Anyway, here are some of the places we considered before settling on our amazing venue.
Ontario Heritage Buildings
These are a series on buildings run by Heritage Ontario. I loved the idea of using one of these, but none of them were big enough, so I had to move on.
Art Gallery of Ontario or Bata Shoe Museum
I loved the idea of using one of these as our venue because I volunteer at both of these institutions. Unfortunately, while they both fit my criteria of being somehow meaningful to me, the AGO was definitely out of our price range, and neither place could really be described as cozy or vintage, as they are both strikingly modern in design.
Arts and Letters Club
Lovely building in our neighbourhood. In our budget, very cozy, lovely fireplace to get married in front of. Unfortunately, the person I was in contact with there took ages to respond to every email. I thought that didn’t bode well so I moved on.
Victoria College
This was my college at U of T and Mr. Knitting and I both lived here for a portion of our undergrad degrees. Old Vic is the main building and it has a gorgeous chapel, as well as great spaces for dinner and dancing. It was cozy, in our budget, and certainly very meaningful to us. However, the catering options weren’t really what I was looking for, so we moved on.
Gladstone Hotel
The Gladstone is this gorgeous hotel located in Queen West, which is one of my all time favorite Toronto neighbourhoods (I expect there will be many bridesmaid dress shopping experiences in this neighbourhood!). It’s not our neighbourhood, but it’s certainly in an area where we spend a lot of time. It has kind of an amusing family connection as well, because my great grandfather used to go drinking at the Gladstone every year after the Orangemen parade, while my great grandmother would go home, as it was an inappropriate place for a lady. Hmm thinking of it now I guess she wouldn’t have approved of her great granddaughter getting married there... Anyway, with a $3000 rental fee, that was out of our budget.
Hart House
This ultimately was our second choice of venue. Hart House is a University of Toronto student centre and a place where Mr. Knitting and I both spent a lot of time over the past 5 years. It's where I met two of my bridesmaids. It also has a great family connection in that my grandfather's favourite spot on campus as an engineering undergrad was the Hart House library.
Hart House was one of the two places we actually visited. We met with the event manager who I was acquainted with through work. She was lovely and answered all my questions. I was happy because it was definitely affordable and I'd heard amazing reviews of Hart House catering. The rooms where we would have had the wedding and reception are pictured below.
Debate Room at Hart House. This is where we would have had the ceremony and the dancing later that night.
Music Room at Hart House. This is where we would have had dinner. You can just see the fire place at the end of the room.
I definitely would have been happy to have had our wedding and reception here. Between the lovely spaces, the relative affordability, the wonderful staff, and our very personal connections to Hart House, I was pretty much ready to book. However, the next place we visited turned out to be even more perfect for us.
Stay tuned for where we ended up booking...
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