Staying with the feel of Palais Royale, Kyla & Matthew went with a 1920’s old Hollywood theme for their dreamy wedding day. Add in old movie posters, geometric shapes, art deco elements, touches of gold and an amazing photographer with Brian Limoyo Photography (brianlimoyoweddings.com) and you have a wedding that brings the Great Gatsby to life!…

Bride & Groom: Kyla Evans & Matthew Visser

Wedding Date:  September 15, 2018

Ceremony & Reception Location(s): Palais Royale (palaisroyale.ca), Toronto

“The location suited our theme really well and the staff were friendly from the minute we walked in for a tour. It was in Toronto which was a centrally located place for our guests to travel to and close to where we live. Additionally, it had a beautiful tented waterfront location to have our ceremony outside without having to go too far to the inside reception.” – K&M

Colour Palette: Royal/Navy Blue & Gold

Theme: “We were going for Great Gatsby but it kind of turned into anything to do with Old Hollywood/Art Deco. The venue used to be a concert hall from the early 1900’s, so it already was perfect for the theme without trying too hard. We also included decorations that fit the theme. including a movie poster for signing instead of a guest book and gold art deco or geometric design patterns on signs and place cards. I tried to bring the theme into what I wore as well, I had a birdcage veil and “Art Deco” patterned beading on my dress.” -K

Flowers: “Sharon from Coquette Studios (coquettestudios.ca) did our flowers, and I actually found out about her from a featured wedding in the Wedding Ring magazine! We had orchids (my favourite), roses, lisianthus and colourful peacock feathers to fit the theme. They were white and blue/purple along with blue or white ribbon and lots of green to accent. We clicked with Sharon as soon as we met her and she was so receptive to what we wanted while also being patient with how little we knew about flowers ahead of time. She also worked with our budget and timing while still including the bright colours we were looking for, Sharon’s knowledge of colour is perfect.” – K

Décor: “We planned most of the décor elements ourselves with some help from our amazing venue coordinator, Jocilea, and Sharon from Coquette Studios. They both had a great knowledge of the space to know what would look good and on the day of, Jocilea organized perfect mapping of what went where, and they set everything up so we could focus on getting ready.” – K&M

Fav décor element: “The venue had so many stylistic elements and was so beautiful on its own that it was just… perfect!” – K&M

DIY: “There were so many things I saw online in the 2.5 years of planning that I thought we could take on, but I’m not a very creative person. We did decorate the letters “M & K” for the fireplace mantle at the venue, and we designed (with lots of help and suggestion) some of the signage that was placed throughout. The DIY I’m most proud of was what we did for our “favour”. We decided to spend what we would have on favours and give it back to charity because we thought that would be the most meaningful way to spend the money. We set up three vases with three different charity descriptions, and each guest was given 5 marbles to put into the corresponding vases however they wanted to. Then we donated $2 for each marble in the vase to the subsequent charity. We chose a cause that was really special to me, one that was really special to Matt, and one that both of us really admired. It felt really good to give back.” – K

Invitations/stationery: “We used Minted for our invitations, thank you cards and place cards, they made everything really user friendly and fairly painless to order. We also used Etsy to design/print some of our signs (e.g. “Please Sign Our Guest Poster” and “Choose a Seat, Not A Side”), we bought the design and then took the files to Vista Print and printed them for fairly cheap.” – K

Cake: “The Rolling Pin Bakery (therollingpin.ca) made us a beautiful art-deco inspired cake. We bought a tiny decorated cake that fed the wedding party, and then ordered the same flavour sheet cake for the guests and it saved us some money and still tasted amazing.” – K

Wedding favours: “My Mom was nice enough to make some delicious Jamaican rum cake for people to take as a favour. She decorated cute little boxes and had it all cut up. I really appreciate all the work she put into that because the cake is really traditional for my family. We also did the DIY marble activity to donate to charities”  – K

Groomsmen and Groom’s attire: Tip Top Tailers (tiptoptailors.ca) & Freeman Formalwear (freemanformal.com)”The guys wore a navy tuxedo. Bow ties, socks & cuff links were ordered from the Tie Bar online and Matt was able to get personalized links for each groomsman.” – K

Bridesmaids attire and accessories: “Dresses were from Jealous Bridesmaids (jealousbridesmaids.com), I wanted the ladies to pick dresses that fit their body type and that they’d feel comfortable in and JB was helpful with that. I also had pearl necklaces made for each bridesmaid by a very talented dear friend who passed away before the wedding and it was a really special moment for me to gift those necklaces from him.” – K

Bride’s dress and accessories: “My dress was from Angie’s Bridal (angiesbridal.ca) in Waterdown, ON. Shoes were on sale from Spring! (Pro tip: shop for shoes during Prom season when they’re on sale!)” – K

DJ: Matt DiDionisio from Tiger 8 Entertainment (tiger8entertainment.com) was incredible and so friendly and fun, his DJ and MC expertise was a huge hit for our night. We also had Aaron Peixoto on piano for the ceremony and cocktail hour, he was perfect!” – K

Hair & make-up: “Kerry Riordan and her assistant made everything so much more relaxing. They worked efficiently while staying upbeat even when we were crunched for time and Kerry was really patient with me as I ran around the venue trying to supervise everything while also running out of time to get hair and makeup done. They were also really calming and did a great job working with both the mother of the bride and groom, both of whom were not fans of any makeup at all but wore it beautifully with a little convincing.” – K

Catering: “Chef Stefan (from Palais Royale). The menu tasting day was one of our favourite in the whole process! Chef Stefan sat with us and listened to what we liked and didn’t like, and even asked what our cultural backgrounds were so he could alter the food with a little cultural flavour (I don’t know how he made Jamaican and Dutch foods work so well together but he did!). The artistry of the food was second to none and it was the most delicious wedding dinner we’ve ever had!” – K

Photographer: Brian Limoyo Photography (brianlimoyoweddings.com) “We actually knew Brian from years ago when he was working at a tea shop while trying to get his photography business off the ground. We ran into him at a wedding show again and really liked his photography style (more photojournalistic, less posed) and already knew he’d do a great job because he was very personable and we would be comfortable working with him. We love that Brian captured some very real and candid moments throughout our day and was really open to trying to capture the photos we wanted (like recreating the movie cover from Bridesmaids) while still guiding us towards things he knew would work well and making sure we hit all the important family combos/shots. He’d recently had a new baby so we know he was probably exhausted but he never showed it once! It’s so fun to look back at the photos we have and bring back all the memories and stories that came with each one. I would recommend Brian to anyone and we’re so lucky we ran into him again!” – K&M

Biggest challenge: “Planning for and remembering all the small details was the biggest challenge. Things got very hectic in the last couple weeks before the wedding as everything was coming together. Payments were due, everyone had questions about directions and transportation (even though it was on the invites!), small details had to be put together and organized to take to the venue, etc. It was tiny things like remembering to make a sign stating the allergens that were in the rum cake and bringing it to the venue… things that you wouldn’t find on a regular “To Do” list. We tackled it with DOZENS of lists. Anytime we thought of small details, even months before, we wrote it down so it would come up again later when we’d once again forgotten. We mapped out payment schedules to tie things up with our vendors. Set email reminders to confirm ceremony details. Just all those little things add up and you can spend hours every day just in correspondence.” – K

Fav wedding memory: “Truthfully, the whole day was a blur! Everything was great. Moments like our first kiss and getting lipstick all over Matt’s face brought us out of the formality and process of the wedding, if only for a moment, and grounded us to remember to take it all in. It also felt pretty cool to walk into the reception and be introduced as husband and wife!” – K

Advice from one couple to another: “Delegate what you can, ask for help when you need it, try to remember those little pieces of advice or input from your friends and family but still plan your day the way YOU want and the way that makes you happy first. And make lists way in advance anytime you think of some little detail that you might not remember to check up on again in 2 months’ time. The best thing someone told me during the wedding planning was a reminder that at the end of the day, a wedding is about marrying the person you love. It sounds so obvious, but unfortunately it’s easy to get caught up in all the details and planning and forget that at its core, your wedding is a day to celebrate a union of two pretty great people. Remind yourself of that frequently when you’re getting overwhelmed in the details. It will all work out!” – K

MORE ABOUT BRIAN LIMOYO PHOTOGRAPHY | Fine art meets photojournalism: Kitchener-Waterloo’s Brian Limoyo Photography (brianlimoyoweddings.com) tells a couple’s love story through his lens (more details in their review in The Ring, here). To find out more, email Brian Limoyo directly using the form below. 🙂