Your wedding is a perfect time to celebrate your love for your partner and your love for your culture. With Christine’s roots stemming from Jamaica and Kayan’s from St. Lucia, these self proclaimed foodies knew that they wanted to pay homage to their culture through their wedding menu. Their guests feasted on Jamaican pepper shrimp, and a homemade Jamaican fruit cake that was made by the bride’s mother. While their guests dinned like kings and queens that did not stop them from hitting the dance floor. Their reception was a non stop party, and Christine changed into a short wedding dress to make sure she could get down. You will love their yellow, blue and white décor which was as vibrant as Christine and Kayan’s personalities. Rowell Photography captured all of the beautiful DIY touches that made this wedding one stunning affair.
Quick Facts
- Wedding Date: 10/04/2013
- Wedding Location: Taboo Resort & Spa- Muskoka, Canada
- Wedding Theme: Fabulous Foodie Affair
- Color Scheme: Blue, Yellow and White
- Wedding Flowers: Rose, Dahlia, Hydrangea
- First Dance Song: “Adorn” – Miguel
- Wedding Cake Flavors: Vanilla, lemon and white chocolate & raspberry
- Bridesmaids Gifts: Swarovski Crystal bracelets + DIY survival kits
- Groomsmen Gifts: Pocket watches
Wedding Style
Dress #1: Bling’d Bodice, defined waistline with beautiful flowing chiffon skirt – Timeless & classic.
Dress #2: An amazing creation by the bride and her incredible seamstress :)
Incorporation of Culture
With my family roots stemming from Jamaica and my husband’s from St. Lucia, we wanted to ensure that we found a way to incorporate elements of both of these cultures. With our menu we added little touches like having Jamaican pepper shrimp, Cheesy Callalou balls (callalou is a popular green cooked in the West Indies, similar to collard greens) and curried goat skewers with strawberry raita as part of our hors d’oeuvres line up. My mother also prepared traditional Jamaican fruit cake that we cut and served to guests in addition to the other sweet treat options, which is a key element in West Indian celebrations. A really fun way we incorporated our culture was with our entrance: my sister’s best friend, The Princess of Pan Joy Lapps Lewis played us into our reception with a traditional St. Lucian Zouk song and my hubby and I relished every second dancing around each other with St. Lucian, Jamaican and Canadian flags waving in the air. Music is HUGE in both of our culture and both my hubby and I love all genres, so it was key for us to find a DJ who would cater to our music preferences as well as our diverse guests – our dance floor was packed all night long .
Wedding Menu
OMG – from the beginning, menu was a huge factor of our wedding as I am a HUGE foodie and expressed the need for some delicious bites for our big day. Chef Andrew Dymond at Taboo Resort was so incredible and accommodating and worked with me to create a custom cocktail reception menu which included passed hors doeuvres and fun food stations.
Highlights include:
- Chef’s Select Hors D’Oeuvres: Curried Goat Skewer Shots with Strawberry Raita
- Interactive Stations: Soup Tasters Creamy Celeriac, Gin Tomato Gin & Yam Soups. Chicken & Waffles Warm Waffles made to order, Mac Daddy Mac n Cheese made to order. Carve It Up Slow Roasted Ontario Turkey with Sage & Savoury Gravy Corbread Stuffing, Raw Cranberry & Citrus Chutney
- Dessert: Macaroons: white and yellow “flavors” -> coconut, birthday cake, banana, lemon, passionfruit etc., and Mini Meringue pies.
Most Memorable Moment
The incredible food, my hubby’s hilarious vows, my mom walking me down the aisle and the oh-so-fabulous party – the 50+ were on the dance floor with the rest of us till the end!!!!
Wedding Advice
Whether you are super organized and full of DIY ideas (like myself) or not so organized, I strongly recommend seeking the expertise of a certified wedding planner. I did a lot of the wedding planning myself but still hired a planner for day of, which included 6 weeks leading up to the wedding day. Things are going to get crazy as you approach the big day, so having a second pair of eyes and someone to keep you grounded definitely makes a difference. Also, on the day of your wedding, the last thing you want to do is manage your vendors (I had a ton since I sourced like crazy) and get cheque’s etc. to them. Passing the responsibility off to a planner for the day, helps you sit back and fully enjoy your nuptials.
Vendors
- Photography & Photo Booth: Rowell Photography
- Venue: Taboo Resort in Muskoka
- Officiant: All Seasons Weddings
- Cinematography: Darlington Studios
- Day of Wedding Planner: Holly Carney – Holly Matrimony
- Florist: Adrienne’s Flowers and Gifts
- Wedding Cake: I Do! Wedding Cakes
- Groom’s Cake and S’mores Wedding favours: Eyal Liebman Pastry Chef
- Dance Floor: Dance Floor Decor
- Furniture: Divine Furniture Rentals
- Linens: The Linen Closet
- Balloons: CRFlowers
- Invitations: Aktiv Art & Design
- Hair Stylist: Maxine King – Salon Volume
- Bride’s 1st Dress: Becker’s Bridal
- Bride’s 2nd Gown: Custom creation by bride and Eva Manifold of Eva’s Fashions – friend of the family and seamstress extraordinaire
- Violinist: The Classic String Quartet
- Groom’s Tuxedo: Black by Vera Wang
- Make-Up: Cristina Papadakis
- Steelpan Drummer: Joy Lapps-Lewis
- Jewellery (bride’s, grooms gift from bride, bridesmaids, groomsmen gifts): Graziella Fine Jewellery
- Fruit Cake: Bride’s Mother
- Custom Candy Buffet: DIY by the bride, now Mrs. Fab Channer
- Décor: DIY by the Fab Bride
Thank you so much for this amazing post on our incredible day :-) ?
where could I find the person that created those beautiful bridesmaids dresses
Tamara,
All of the bridesmaids dresses and the 2nd wedding dress were made by my seamstress extraordinaire Eva Manifold. I can send you her contact info, just send me a message via email.
MY EMAIL: [email protected]
I wasn’t sure which color scheme to go with since most brides are using gold and white lately (in my circle of friends). Your choice of colors confirmed to me how much I love Yellow (though I’ll be using Lemon). I’m going to use most of your ideas. Thank you Munaluchi for introducing these couples to us. Christine, your color scheme is gorgeous and I love your Bridesmaids dresses. And the groomsmen look stunning too!
congratulations!
the bride’s makeup is FLAWLESS!!!!!
What gorgeous photos and the details are amazing. Congratulations to the couple.