Rachel & Alex Bartolo Diamonds Are Forever
WEDDING DATE: August 27th, 2021 CEREMONY LOCATION: Langdon Hall (www.langdonhall.ca) Cambridge, ON RECEPTION LOCATION: Tapestry Hall (www.tapestryhall.ca) Cambridge, ON PHOTOGRAPHY: Anne Edgar Photography + Film (♥) (www.anneedgarphoto.com) Cambridge, ON "Alex's cousin had Anne as the photographer for her wedding, and I thought that their photos were very classy. So I asked who her photographer was, and then contacted Anne right away!" - R GUEST #: 50 COLOUR PALETTE/THEME: "The ceremony theme was garden party. This was achieved with bright, colourful, loose floral arrangements and bouquets, as well as the white lawn chairs, white rose petals, and my wedding dress with a floral/ vine lace. The reception theme was more of a classy dinner party, achieved mainly because of the beautiful venue, with the black and gold décor and some greenery elements to freshen the space up. We also played crooner music before dinner, with instrumentals throughout dinner, and played a black and white James Bond film after dinner to really bring the class to the evening." - R BRIDE ATTIRE: Bridal Boutique (www.bridal-boutique.ca) Brantford, ON GROOM + GROOMSMEN ATTIRE: Paul Punchers (www.paulpuncher.com) Waterloo, ON FLORAL: Kind Florals (www.kindflorals.com) Cambridge, ON CAKE: Nougat Bakery (www.nougat.ca) Kitchener, ON OFFICIANT: Maeck Weddings (www.maeckweddings.com) Kitchener, ON TELL US YOUR STORY: "I met Alex 5 years ago at work... I was a young co-op student joining a consulting firm and he was there on a 1 year contract. My first impressions were that he was handsome, confident, hardworking, and liked to have fun. Every time I would get up from my desk to walk across the office, I would find my eyes drawn to his desk to check him out. I would catch myself doing it and tell myself I need to stop that! I was seeing someone else at the time, so my heart was feeling quite confused. I can still remember hearing the click of his dress shoes coming down the halls, the copious amounts of coffee he drank, adjusting to the reality that I was attracted to a
24 •The Wedding Ring Magazine | www.theweddingring.ca
bald man, and his ridiculously large lunches. We ate lunch together with a couple other ladies in the office every day that totally knew something was brewing between us before I even knew! I always say, those lunches were the start of our relationship. Though it really got kicked into high gear when Alex and I realized that his best friend was my basketball coach through my teenage years - and Alex had initially told his friend that he should check out the new girl in his office! What a small world we live in. Needless to say his friend wasn't interested, and Alex started bringing me muffins and Timbits in the mornings and inviting me to hangout after work. And now we are married! I sure am grateful for that co-op work term." - R BIGGEST CHALLENGE: "No surprise really, the biggest challenge was anticipating having to reschedule our wedding date. Which we did have to do - but thankfully only once. I was very nervous our wedding wouldn't happen this past summer, and a summertime wedding was my preference. It was difficult having to keep track of all of the COVID-19 news releases and hoping that our wedding could still happen. In the end we got very lucky and only had to push the wedding back by 1 month and all of our original vendors were available on our new wedding date! I made sure to be on top of booking venues and vendors and my dress right away. When we had to move things, I did that right away too, because I knew I would be competing with so many other couples doing the same thing. I feel very lucky that it all came together nicely in the end." - R BEST MEMORY: "Alex and I approached our wedding with a level of practicality. If there was a tradition that we didn't feel was necessary or was something we disliked, we chose not to do it. It's 2021 after all! So Alex and I had not planned to do a first dance because neither of us are dancers and would have found it quite uncomfortable to have everyone watching us dance awkwardly in the middle of the hall. But after dinner and the speeches, Alex's friends gathered on a balcony area in Tapestry Hall and the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" started playing. The guys started singing the song! So I quickly turned to Alex and said that we should get out there and dance. We did! It was such a fun, spontaneous, memorable moment for us. Some times the things that aren't planned are the best." - R •
