Wedding Raising

The happy couple

Welcome to the nerve centre for our upcoming wedding. Here you can find details about the events, find accommodation, RSVP, sign up for activities, connect to other people coming, and more.

What’s a wedding raising?

In the same way that the Amish have barn raisings, bringing the whole community together to accomplish a common task, we’ve decided to hold a wedding raising, and we’re asking you, our family and closest friends, to help us put on this event. We see our marriage not just as the uniting of two individuals, but the uniting of our many communities, and we want our wedding to be a time for people to get to know each other. We know that there’s no better way to bond than to do something together…thus the wedding raising. While we would love to open this to our entire community, our wedding is by invitation only.

How can you help us to raise our wedding?

We’ve planned Friday and Saturday as days full of harvesting, cooking, and decorating, leading up to Sunday as full-on celebration day.  There’s plenty to do, and we’re hoping you’ll help us do it.  You can help by signing up for activities leading up to the wedding, and then coming and joining us for the fun of preparation. This is what we are asking for as gifts, as our house is well set up.  We have enough sheets, pots and pans, towels, blenders, and everything else already.

What if you can only come for one part?

We understand that lives can be busy. We would love to have you join us for whatever time you have available. If you’re not able to join us for Friday or Saturday, we would still be honored by your presence on Sunday at our ceremony.

Events

Setup

We’ll be heading over the the site on Friday morning to start setting up. We’ll be hauling supplies from Toronto, as well as sourcing a number of ingredients from neighbouring farms. We’ll set up a barbeque in the eveing for a light dinner, hang out, and maybe play some games. If you have board games you think people will like, bring them along.

Harvest

In keeping with our support of local and sustainable agriculture, we are planning to specially grow several of the key ingredients in our wedding dinner.

So, on Friday afternoon (depending on arrivals), and Saturday morning, we’ll be organizing groups of volunteers to go do some harvesting!

Saturday morning will start early (for us, at least). A light brunch will be served at 8:30. Harvesting will begin at 9 am.

Cooking

The cooks will start cooking on Saturday morning at around 11. We’ll have a Chef running the kitchen, but we  need lots of sous chefs. For those of you who enjoy cooking, this is the ideal way to mingle and make new friends.

Decorating

Decorating will start after lunch on Saturday afternoon. Two phases of decorating need to be done. A first phase to prepare for the Saturday night social and pavillion party, and a second phase to spruce things up again on Sunday morning for the ceremony itself.

Pre-Wedding Party

After all of the work and play, we’ll all enjoy a spagetti dinner followed by a pre-wedding party. Bring your dancing shoes and get ready to whoop it up while our dj’s spin your favorite tunes.

Wedding Ceremony and Reception

The wedding ceremony will begin at 11 am on Sunday. The reception will begin at noon when we will enjoy the delicious meal that you’ve helped us to harvest and prepare. This lovely meal will be accompanied by sparkling juices, but not by alcohol, respecting the diverse preferences and beliefs of all of our friends and family. The meal will be followed by music and dancing. We expect the reception to wrap up around 5 pm, but we will understand if travel arrangements require you to leave before you’ve had your fill of dancing, eating, and laughing.

Where is the Wedding Happening