Intimate Boho camp wedding in Parry Sound
COUPLE
Katie & Alex
Location
Camp Tapawingo, Parry Sound
From the photographer:
I have never met a more down to earth couple in my life. From the minute we spoke, I was in love with these two and their day was so relaxed, fun and them. Also, Georgian Bay holds a special place in their hearts as Katie's parents own a cottage on the Bay and she has grown up there. What made this wedding unique was their arrival by her dad’s boat, which he brought over from his cottage. There were canoes filled with drinks in multiple spots, their adorable puppy was part of the entire day and since Camp Tapawingo only takes a couple weddings a year we all felt very lucky to be in such a beautiful location.
From the couple:
How did you choose your venue?: We knew we wanted to get married right on the shoreline of Georgian Bay as soon as we got engaged. It was the first and probably the most important thing we decided on right off the bat, and so the search for venues on the bay began! We toyed around with the idea of having our ceremony on the rocks near my family cottage and booking a reception hall elsewhere, but the more we considered that, the more we realized that would be very hard to pull off logistically! Then my mom found out from a friend of her’s that Camp Tapawingo in Parry Sound does private events a couple weekends each fall. We called Liz at the camp, and it turned out they had one weekend left that coming September! We were up in Parry Sound at the cottage that week for Christmas holidays, so we dropped by the camp the next day and met with the camp groundskeeper. We both immediately loved it... the Georgian Bay shoreline was beautiful (albeit frozen at the time), the cabins were rustic and we could tell the camp had a super fun energy about it. We locked in the venue and date the next morning!
Please describe any unique details from your day and why they were special to you: My dress. Wedding dress shopping was very daunting to me because I just felt like there was so much pressure to find this magical dress that somehow takes away all your body image issues and insecurities. When I started trying on dresses, I was pretty much immediately defeated. I felt insecure, uncomfortable and totally unprepared for how expensive they were. With our wedding being at a camp, I didn’t want to wear anything too over the top and I really wanted to feel comfortable. I shopped on multiple days with my sister and my mom, and just couldn’t find anything I wanted. A few weeks later my sister texted me out of the blue “I just bought your wedding dress”. I was like what do you mean?? She called me and explained she was walking by a sample sale at French Connection and they had this white dress on a mannequin that she loved, so she popped in and tried it on (my sister and I are very close to the same size) and loved it. Then she found out it was on major clearance... and only costed $50! So she bought it and never looked back. That weekend I was staying with her in Toronto, because my husband and I had a wedding in the city to attend. The Sunday morning, nursing a post-wedding hangover, I tried the dress on in my sisters apartment with my sister and husband there, and loved it. It felt like the most difficult decision was made easy as pie thanks to my lovely sister.
Any other special details?: We (the girls) arrived in my Dad’s boat! We used the dock at the camp as the “aisle”. Our crazy puppy Rory (she was 5 months old at our wedding) got to spend the whole weekend at the camp with us which was amazing. My sister and Alex’s brother Ian walked her down the aisle. She slept the entire next week straight.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?: Alex and I both agree that the ceremony was our favourite part. We wrote our own vows and it was really incredible, I’d recommend it to anyone. By writing my own vows I was able to vow things that are important to us in our specific relationship, like how I vowed to make the bed and do the dishes at least once per year!
It felt like our whirlwind engagement and months of chaos raising a puppy/planning a wedding all came to this amazing standstill. I remember taking it all in and thinking it was pretty surreal to be surrounded by all our favourite people, in our favourite place, holding hands with each other and getting married. I felt so happy.
.... and then we had a sweet dance party. Alex serenaded me on the dance floor to Pony by Genuine and there is some pretty humiliating footage of it out there!
Our friend Braydon also invented the shot “teginskeymeisters” which helped contribute to the dance party shenanigans. :)
What was the most important thing for you for your wedding day?: Fun. We wanted our wedding to be super fun and relaxed for us and all of our friends. We didn’t want to take it too seriously, or worry about the small things... which was easier said than done! Half way through planning I actually had to delete my Pinterest page because I was getting overwhelmed by all the beautiful weddings and their incredible details and I was forgetting that our day was about us and what we wanted.
What was the atmosphere you were trying to create?: Fun and inspired by Georgian Bay. As much as possible, we wanted our wedding to feel like how you feel sitting on the dock at the cottage after a long work week sipping on a beer.
Our wedding was a weekend event for most of our guests, arriving at the camp on Friday and leaving Sunday morning. Friday night our friend Shawn led trivia in the camp dining hall, and then we had a big campfire. Saturday morning our friend Nick was supposed to lead yoga on the dock but he slept in :) Then Saturday all day our guests had access to camps waterfront, canoes, SUP boards, lawn games and other camp activities.
What was your first dance song?: Angel by Jack Johnson
What area of your wedding did you splurge on? (what was your top priority): Good food. Chef Rons’ Georgian Bay inspired menu was amazing. Location. Our happy place is at the cottage. We live in Newmarket but home to us is on the bay. Photographer. We chose Megan because she had such a great personality and it was worth every penny. She was fantastic and we can’t imagine our day without her there.
What area of your wedding did you save on?: My dress (see above), minimal floral decorations, we borrowed decorations from friends like lanterns, candles etc., we had butter tarts for dessert instead of a wedding cake,
What was your biggest challenge in the planning process?: Pressure to please everyone. And we really didn’t want to exceed our $20000 budget! (Which we did, but only by a little!)
What wedding advice would you give to someone planning their wedding now?: Just remember the real reason for the day. Try not to get too caught up in wedding planning and try not to take yourself too seriously. In the end, if you marry the right person, the day will always be the best day of your life whether or not you had a confetti exit or a calligraphy seating chart.
Vendors:
Photography: Megan Michelle
Venue: Camp Tapawingo
Florals: Pardon My Garden
Caterer: Glenn Burney Lodge
Make-up: Danielle Jones Beauty
Hair: Kailee Dixon
Rentals: Muskoka Party Rentals
Beer(his and her kegs): Muskoka Brewery
Officiant: John Crocker, All Seasons Weddings