Jess and Alex's Wedding

Two weeks or so ago, our good friends Jessica (aka my favorite hippie) and Alex got married in Toronto. John, Matthew, and I made the trip for what turned out to be a fantastic weekend. 

Some highlights: 

Between the ceremony and the reception, we stopped at a bar with some other wedding guests for a drink, and John found this giant Muskoka Brewery chair outside. 

The bride and groom met out in British Columbia, where they were tree planting during the summer, several years ago. A lot of their decor reflected their love of the environment and the landscape out in BC. I jokingly asked the groom how many trees were cut down to make this entrance hall display, and he told me they were already dead. 

Here's me and my favorite hippie on her wedding day: 

The tablecloths were made from burlap, and each place setting was decorated with a few small pinecones. For favors, each place setting received a little sapling, to be planted at home.

Their wedding was at the Baptist church where the bride's father is a pastor, and the reception was at the University of Toronto, in Wycliffe College. It was so beautiful in there! We had dinner in a hall that looked like a library, attached to what may have been a chapel at one point. It was a gorgeous venue with lots of stained glass, and ample room for dancing after dinner (which was amazing! So much great vegetarian food!).

The groom's family comes from Austria, and after dinner, his dad led everyone in some traditional Austrian songs for occasions like weddings.

They had an amazing band that was at once, incredible, but also difficult for me to know how to dance to. Instead, we mostly sat and talked with one our favorite professors who was in attendance.

This painting is part of why I think the room used to be a chapel. We tried for a while to come up with captions for the scene in the painting (Easter morning and the empty tomb, in case you were wondering). The winner was definitely Matthew's partner, Anders, who said, "Whose got two wings and is totally drunk? THIS GUY!"

We stayed at the wedding until late, and then went to the after party. The next day, I didn't have the energy to do much, and the touristy run that John and I tentatively planned went right out the window. Instead, we went with Matthew and our friend Emily, who was hosting us, to a place called Snakes and Lattes. It's a cafe where you pay $5 to get in for the day, and then you can play unlimited boardgames. We started off with Nutella lattes and a game called Cards Against Humanity, which is sort of the R-rated version of Apples to Apples. 

After an hour or so, we moved on to Betrayal at the House on the Hill. This game involves exploring a haunted house by rolling die, until a certain moment when "The Haunting" begins. At that point, one of the players betrays the rest and you have to act as a group in order to defeat him or her. It was obvious that you could play this game a hundred times and end up with a different scenario. After Matthew described it to us, John immediately announced that he wanted it for Christmas.

I'm normally not a huge board game/rpg player, but I really enjoyed Snakes and Lattes, and both of these games, very much. John LOVES playing games like this, and he was sort of overwhelmed with excitement when we walked in; the place is stocked with every kind of game you can think of, and the staff is incredibly knowledgeable, so they can help you select something to suit your mood. It was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon before driving home.

All in all, we had a great weekend, and we're so grateful to be included in Jess and Alex's wedding day!